Sylvia

I can see that especially during that time...unlike today.

I wish they had a women's perspective a little bit, had Laura or Caroline talk to Sylvia, not having a mother. You never knew how she felt, they never had her talk about it.
I also don't know why, as others have noted, they left the sign up for the blacksmith show after show (not shown every show though) I didn't think about it and maybe not many others thought about it also, but it was an oversight that I think would have been changed if they weren't just on to the next episode..it should have been put away.

I agree it would have been nice to have Caroline or Laura talk to Sylvia.

John Carter became the new blacksmith, so I guess it became his.

Yes, he did but that was years later when the series was ending. I guess many observant fans noted for years when they showed town scenes you could see the old sign..they just didn't think about taking it down.

I wish they would have not only forgotten the sign, but forgotten to put the whole episode on television. I thought the story was awful, Barash's acting terrible, and in short, I don't know how Matt could keep a straight face doing that thing.
Other than that, it was fine! I will always believe it was one of Michael's biggest mistakes.
But what the heck, nobody is perfect........its impossible to do 206 stories and not have one awful one. I'm sitting here looking at all 206 (DVD's) and thats the only one that I NEVER watch.

I've heard people say that about Sylvia and The Godsister....for me the scene that makes me almost roll my eyes (although a serious show) was when Sylvia tells Albert, "Kiss me my love" with all this drama...I mean who writes that?

To me, this was like having Marcia Brady have a "date rape" episode...it just didn't blend well and Sylvia was just disposed of conveniently, not like real life. Kill, the baby, kill the girl, kill the rapist...on to the next show.

The script should have been placed in the outhouse we were talking about yesterday where it could serve a useful purpose.

Oh my, I saw the HUGE sign today for the blacksmith, in the "Love of Nancy" show...they were saying goodbye to Mary and there it was..very eerie.

I think this episode has deleted scenes too. I don't remember which ones, if any, but there has to be, because there's a scene where Albert is talking to his parents over at the house. He was telling them about how Sylvia was screaming and hitting the boys that were bothering her. He said she sounded like a scared puppy, and then I'm pretty sure he said "no wonder Carrie got so scared." I never saw Carrie scared (unless I didn't hear that right), but I'm sure that's what he said. I must have missed that part...unless it was yet another deleted scene!

Davetucson wrote:

I wish they would have not only forgotten the sign, but forgotten to put the whole episode on television. I thought the story was awful, Barash's acting terrible, and in short, I don't know how Matt could keep a straight face doing that thing.
Other than that, it was fine! I will always believe it was one of Michael's biggest mistakes.
But what the heck, nobody is perfect........its impossible to do 206 stories and not have one awful one. I'm sitting here looking at all 206 (DVD's) and thats the only one that I NEVER watch.

Same here, Dave...I'd rather watch "May we make them proud" than "Sylvia"...and even "The Godsister"! Yes! Believe me! This one is absolutely AWFUL...

Vanesa.

It isn't one of my favorite episodes, but I really don't mind it that much. I kind of like the fact that they dealt with a heavier storyline (also the "Chicago" episode). I wish the ending would've been different, but there is nothing that can be done about that now!

Anyway, I will take "Sylvia" any day over "Lake Kezia Monster", "The Godsister" and "The Halloween Dream". Those 3 are barely even watchable for me.

MissOleson wrote:

It isn't one of my favorite episodes, but I really don't mind it that much. I kind of like the fact that they dealt with a heavier storyline (also the "Chicago" episode). I wish the ending would've been different, but there is nothing that can be done about that now!

Anyway, I will take "Sylvia" any day over "Lake Kezia Monster", "The Godsister" and "The Halloween Dream". Those 3 are barely even watchable for me.

The Older Brothers and The Legend of Black Jake fall into the same category for me. I can totally do without them. Although Mrs Olson was pretty funny in the Black Jake thing. When it came to money, that old heffer was something else! Albert boy knew that and he totally messed her over with the bees, the books and the 100% off sale!

I agree with the Marcia Brady reference, some shows don't do certain subjects well. There was no reason for Sylvia. She ended up not having to deal with the 1800's rape, everyone died, Albert moved on. It was horrifying to see the masked man, this was a "family" show. There was enough illness, lost crops, accidents, etc. to make the drama, this wasn't Law and Order, Special Victims.

I agree about Kezia-whenever I see her I change the channel.

that mime mask used to scare the crap out of me!! This was a sad episode. One of the saddest right behind may we make them proud

eyeliner???


Seriously... if you watch the episode, in all of her closeups and even some of the far-away shots, you can see the black makeup under her bottom eyelashes.


Is that the reason she was considered a sex symbol?

I tried to make this a thread in the Reviews board but it stuck to the Sylvia thread that was already there.

anyway I watched Sylvia on-line recently and I couldn't help but notice how she was wearing eyeliner!!!

I mean, why???

No wonder the boys kept on sneaking over there to take a look! She puts on make up!! (that didn't even "exist" back in the 1880's!!!)

Let's take a look at the other stuff she had or did to attract guys to her...

THE HAIR~~~ was highlighted!!! with roots and was worn down..

She didn't pull her hair back/make herself less attractive/more respectable. If she was developing (however early) she shold have gone to Mrs Wilder(Laura) for pointers on putting her hair back to make her look more respectable.
~~
Traditionally, a girl could not wear her hair up until she was nearly an adult. Wearing one's hair up was a sign of maturity, age, and that a girl was about to come out - to enter the marriage market.
~~
^^ this is not saying that she was ready for marriage at her age but if June seems to be busting out all over then her body really is coming out.

I think all the actress and actors had make-up. But it was shown to look natural.Even on other time period shows the wore light make-up

When I watched this episode, it scarred me really bad! I watched it late at night, when I was home alone, and it scarred the crap out of me! Part of the creepienes was that the girl who played Sylvia looked a lot like my best friend who had been murdered the year before. I guess it was a good episode, but I personally hated it, and I will never, ever watch it again.

I always thought it was ridiculous how they had her hair just hanging there. I wouldn't say it was that bad if they even had her sides tied back. I didn't understand why they "styled" her the way that they did on that show. Unless they wanted to make her look more like a "target" because she was maturing faster than the other girls. Who knows?

Deem714 wrote:

I tried to make this a thread in the Reviews board but it stuck to the Sylvia thread that was already there.

The mods most likely moved it there. We try to keep all of the discussions about the same person/episode/topic in one thread so that it doesn't create a bulk of duplicate topics.

MissOleson wrote:

I always thought it was ridiculous how they had her hair just hanging there. I wouldn't say it was that bad if they even had her sides tied back. I didn't understand why they "styled" her the way that they did on that show. Unless they wanted to make her look more like a "target" because she was maturing faster than the other girls. Who knows?

If we think of Sylvia's back story, her hair makes sense. She lives alone with her father. That man obviously had a low opinion of women. It appears his wife ran off on him, so he wouldn't want Sylvia to attend to her appearance and attract the boys. I think she was supposed to look disheveled. Kind of like a female Luke Simms.

As far as the eyeliner goes, it wasn't historically accurate, but neither was all that colored wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows they insisted upon using when people gave each other gifts. Laura also wore eyeliner. You can really start to see it in Season 6, and by Season 9 she wears a lot of it.

In the beginning show, presents were in brown paper with a ribbon...I remember even when Charles had the angry young man who's grandparents lived in Walnut Grove, his present was in plain paper. I read 1890s for colored paper but England started much earlier.

Makeup was very overused by some, Laura when she was married had obvious eyeliner and blush, even when ill. Mary they were better with, Caroline looked naturally pretty, but Laura used to have quite a bit on. I know they had to wear some, but there is a way to make it less noticeable.