Little House on the Prairie Season 8 (1981-82)

Revisited
Laura prays for strength

Review

The eighth season of Little House on the Prairie began airing on 5 October 1981 to 10 May 1982 and consisted of 22 episodes. The is the final season of the show as we know it as several regulars have already departed and the Ingalls family themselves will leave Walnut Grove at the end of the season. Nellie and Percival move to New York following the death of Percival’s father, and Adam and Mary follow in their footsteps as there is not enough work for Adam in Walnut Grove. Hester-Sue moves to Walnut Grove after the blind school is taken over by the state and she is told she can’t teach there without the proper credentials.

The season opens with the two-part, The Reincarnation of Nellie Oleson, which sees a depressed Harriet adopting a little girl as she is missing Nellie so much. The girl, Nancy, proves to be even worse than Nellie ever was and poor Willie gets rid of one problem sister only to get a much nastier one in her place. When Harriet dresses Nancy in the exact same way as she did with Nellie, more than one Walnut Grove resident gets a horrible sense of deja vu. Initially it seems that Nancy and Cassandra are going to have a enmity similar to the one between Laura and Nellie, but if filters away after the first few episodes which is a shame since Missy Francis was criminally underused on the series.

The recurring cast has dwindled significantly over the course of the seasons, however Doc Baker finally gets some help when he hires Dr. Caleb Ledoux (Don Marshall) to help in his practice. However, some of the townspeople are not happy about having a black doctor treat them and Doc Baker has to face up to the fact that he does have some bigoted views even though he never considered himself a racist. When Ledoux decides to leave town, Doc Baker persuades himself to stay but we never see him again although he is mentioned. It’s such a pity that Ledoux and his wife, Mattie (Marlene Warfield), didn’t become regulars as they are interesting characters.

One character who does return though is Isaiah Edwards (Victor French) who follows up his guest appearance in the previous season after mending his friendship with Michael Landon. In Chicago, Edwards writes to Charles to tell him that John Jr has been killed and Charles travels to Chicago to help his friend who has started drinking again. When they learn that John’s death was not an accident, Edwards is determined to bring the culprit to justice and discovers John was working on an assignment related to a company who were being awarded lucrative contracts from the city fraudulently. The episode is the start of a downward spiral for Edwards that will see him eventually return to Walnut Grove without his family in A Promise To Keep.

After announcing her pregnancy at the end of the previous season, it seems like the writers forgot Laura was having a baby as some of the earlier episodes span the space of a few months with no sign of a baby bump. In A Wiser Heart, Laura heads to Arizona with Eliza Jane to attend a summer course on Great American Writers and gets some unwanted attention from her tutor, Professor William Woestehoff (Joe Lambie), who threatens to fail her if she does not agree to see him romantically. Surely, Laura could have nipped that in the bud by revealing she was pregnant but she never mentions it. The pregnancy finally makes an appearance in Stone Soup when Laura nearly kills herself watering her fledgling orchard during a heatwave when Almanzo is out of town. This episode is also notable for being a coming of age story for Willie who is suddenly acting more grown up and so much more likeable.

Things take a dark turn in the two-part Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow when Almanzo falls ill with diphtheria but pushes his recovery to the extent he suffers a stroke. Typically, Laura is the one who has to carry the burden as she has to care for Almanzo while being heavily pregnant and it is no easy task as he grows increasingly despondent by his lack of mobility. The situation isn’t helped by the arrival of Eliza Jane (Lucy Lee Flippin) who panders to Almanzo rather than pushing him to help himself and makes secret plans for them to move to Minneapolis. Laura finally gives birth to a daughter, Rose, but Almanzo shows little interest in her. Matters get worse when a tornado rips through Walnut Grove, the Wilder house is completely destroyed so Almanzo and Laura have to move in with the Ingalls. Seeing his wife so distraught, Almanzo is finally spurred into action and he begins working with Charles to regain his mobility. The story is quite harrowing but is utterly spoiled by Almanzo’s selfishness and Eliza Jane’s plotting.

The final episodes to feature the Ingallses are the two-part He Was Only Twelve which sees James critically shot after being caught up in a bank robbery. When a doctor examines James, he tells Charles the bullet is lodged in his spine and he is unlikely to survive. It seems an odd choice to recycle an old Bonanza script to close out the season which means most of the regulars are sidelined. If you ever held any doubt that Landon considered himself the star of the show, this will dispel it. As the weeks pass by, Charles refuses to believe that God will let his son die and won’t listen to reason from anyone as he brings James home to Walnut Grove. Charles takes James into the wild country where he builds a large stone altar with a cross and waits on his miracle. An episode that is nothing more than a vanity project and it is a poor end to the beloved series.

Further Reading

Explore the characters and books that inspired the series

  • Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon)
  • Caroline Ingalls (Karen Grassle)
  • Laura Ingalls Wilder (Melissa Gilbert)
  • Almanzo Wilder (Dean Butler)
  • Carrie Ingalls (Lindsay Sidney Greenbush)
  • Grace Ingalls (Wendi & Brenda Turnbaugh)
  • Albert Quinn Ingalls (Matthew Labyorteaux)
  • James Cooper Ingalls (Jason Bateman)
  • Cassandra Cooper Ingalls (Missy Francis)
  • Nels Oleson (Richard Bull)
  • Harriet Oleson (Katherine MacGregor)
  • Willie Oleson (Jonathan Gilbert)
  • Nancy Oleson (Allison Balson)
  • Dr. Hiram Baker (Kevin Hagen)
  • Hester-Sue Terhune (Ketty Lester)
  • Reverend Alden (Dabbs Greer)
  • 8.01 The Reincarnation of Nellie Part I
  • 8.02 The Reincarnation of Nellie Part II
  • 8.03 Growin’ Pains
  • 8.04 Dark Sage8
  • 8.05 A Wiser Heart
  • 8.06 Gambini the Great
  • 8.07 The Legend of Black Jake
  • 8.08 Chicago
  • 8.09 For the Love of Nancy
  • 8.10 Wave of the Future
  • 8.11 A Christmas They Never Forgot
  • 8.12 No Beast So Fierce
  • 8.13 Stone Soup
  • 8.14 The Legacy
  • 8.15 Uncle Jed
  • 8.16 Second Chance
  • 8.17 Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow Part I
  • 8.18 Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow Part II
  • 8.19 A Promise to Keep
  • 8.20 A Faraway Cry
  • 8.21 He Was Only Twelve Part I
  • 8.22 He Was Only Twelve Part II
  • CHARLES PHILIP INGALLS was born on 10 January 1836 in Cuba, New York, and was the third of ten children born to Lansford Whiting Ingalls and Laura Louise Colby. Charles married Caroline Lake Quiner on 1 February 1860 and they had five children. Charles died, aged 66 years, in De Smet, South Dakota, on 8 June 1902.
  • CAROLINE LAKE QUINER was born on 12 December 1839, in Brookfield, Wisconsin, and was the fifth of eight children born to Henry Newcomb Quiner and Charlotte Wallis Tucker. Caroline’s father died when she was young and her mother married Frederick Holbrook on 2 June 1849. Caroline married Charles Philip Ingalls on 1 February 1860 and they had five children. Caroline died, aged 84 years, in De Smet, South Dakota, on 20 April 1924.
  • MARY AMELIA INGALLS was born on 10 January 1865 in Pepin, Wisconsin, and was the eldest daughter of Charles Philip Ingalls and Caroline Lake Quiner. Mary lost her sight in 1879 after a serious illness and attended the Iowa School for the Blind from 1880 to 1889. Mary never married and lived with her parents for the rest of her life, and then with her sisters. Mary died, aged 63 years, in Keystone, South Dakota, on 17 October 1928.
  • LAURA ELIZABETH INGALLS was born on 7 February 1867 in Pepin, Wisconsin, and was the second daughter of Charles Philip Ingalls and Caroline Lake Quiner. She married Almanzo James Wilder on 25 August 1885 and they had two children, Rose, born in 1886, and an unnamed son in 1889. Laura died, aged 90 years, in Mansfield, Missouri, on 10 February 1957.
  • CAROLINE CELESTIA INGALLS was born on 3 August 1870 in Montgomery, Kansas and was the third daughter of Charles Philip Ingalls and Caroline Lake Quiner. She married David N Swanzey in 1912 but had no children of her own. Carrie died, aged 75 years, in Rapid City, South Dakota, on 2 June 1946.
  • CHARLES FREDERICK INGALLS was born on 1 November 1875 in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, but died, aged 9 months, in South Troy, Minnesota, on 27 August 1876.
  • GRACE PEARL INGALLS was born on 23 May 1877 in Burr Oak, Iowa, and was the youngest daughter of Charles Philip Ingalls and Caroline Lake Quiner. She married Nathan William Dow on 16 October 1901 but they had no children. Grace died, aged 64 years, in Manchester, South Dakota, on 10 November 1941.
  • ALMANZO JAMES WILDER was born on 13 February 1859 in Burke, New York, and was the fifth of six children born to James Mason Wilder and Angelina Albina Day. He married Laura Elizabeth Ingalls on 25 August 1885 and they had two children, Rose, born in 1886, and an unnamed son in 1889. Almanzo died, aged 90 years, in Mansfield, Missouri, on 23 October 1949.
  • ELIZA JANE WILDER was born on 3 January 1850 in Burke, New York, and was the third of six children born to James Mason Wilder and Angelina Albina Day. After teaching for several years, Eliza Jane married twice, first to Thomas J. Thayer, in September 1893 and their son, Walcott Wilder Thayer, was born in 1894. Eliza Jane died, aged 90 years, in Lafayette, Louisiana, on 1 June 1930.
  • ROSE WILDER was born on 5 December 1886 in DeSmet, Dakota, and was the only surviving child of Almanzo James Wilder and Laura Elizabeth Ingalls. She married Claire Gillette Lane in 1909 but they divorced in 1918. Rose became a writer like her mother and edited the Little House books. Rose died, aged 81 years, in Danbury, Connecticut, on 30 October 1968.

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