For the Love of Blanche

Best LHotP episode ever! Well, no, not really. I just watched it again yesterday after not having seen it in several years. I found it's certainly not one of my favorite episodes, but I did find myself laughing out loud a few times. I like it more than The Older Brothers, which is probably my least favorite episode, and probably more than The Halloween Dream. I'd probably rank it below The Godsister, though. One thing (among many) I didn't quite get from For the Love of Blanche was when/how Mr. Edwards taught Blanche how to "play dead". Also, he didn't unload the rifle, but from the perspective shown, I guess it's possible he intentionally missed and it just looked like he shot her. Other than an orangutan showing up in southwest Minnesota in the 1880s, one thing that just wasn't believable was the old man and Mr. Edwards saying they had a "three-year old girl" and not explaining that the "girl" was actually an orangutan. Certainly, Mr. Edwards would have made that clear to Reverend Alden.

I just viewed this episode today. Kind of dumb. There was a funny part though. When Blanche was in Olsens Mercantile throwing eggs at Mrs Olsen and Mr Olsen was up on the counter........then when Mr Edwards came in to the mercantile and introduced Blanche to the Olsens and she was making a face at Mrs Olsen. Way too funny!!! I laughed out loud. Made my day.

A pretty weak episode.

Yes, Blanche saved Rose from the fire, but Blanche caused the fire because Jenny was dumb enough to leave the two of them alone.

MankatoJoe wrote:

A pretty weak episode.

Yes, Blanche saved Rose from the fire, but Blanche caused the fire because Jenny was dumb enough to leave the two of them alone.

I agree that Jenny shouldn't have left the two of them alone, but the fire was caused by Rose tipping over the lantern with her fork.  Overall, I laughed a lot and enjoyed this episode.  

I'll admit that Season 9 is definitely the weakest season.  I recently rewatched it for the first time in many years and after watching Times Are Changing, which I thought drug on, Welcome to Olsenville, which got on my nerves, and Rage, which was so so, I thought I was going to hate it, but I ended up enjoying the rest of the season for the most part.  My low expectations probably helped my enjoyment, but the weakest episode after the first three was probably The Older Brothers which seemed like it tried to be funny like The Three Stooges and failed miserably.  It was good that Mr. Edwards was back and even though I didn't like the Carter's living in the Ingalls house, it seemed like they did a good job keeping the Carter's storylines limited and not shoving them down the viewer's throats.    

I think I heard someone from the cast or crew comment that the show was supposed to be about Laura and that since she was married with a child and too big to run to Pa and sit on his knee, they thought it was time to write the Ingalls out and focus on Laura in season 9.  I don't get that logic since it seemed like the primary focus in at least half the episodes in season 9 was on somebody other than Laura.