“The Blizzard" - OR - "Miss Beadle Kills the Kids" recap! - Little House on the Prairie 50th Anniversary Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
If you're listening right now to the Little House fiftieth
Anniversary Podcast, we know something about you. We know that
you're obsessed with Little House of the Prairie.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
For more than half a century, Little House on the Prairie,
the series, and the books have been bright lights for
people all over the world who seek out goodness, decency,
and human connection.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Here on the Little House fiftieth Anniversary Podcast, we celebrate
everything that made Little House so special.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
The stories, the characters, the actors, and the messages that
have made Little House iconic family television and a.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Perfect counterpoint to a world that feels like it's going
off the rails every day.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Where's Michael Landon when we need him most?

Speaker 4 (00:43):
I'm your host, Pamela Bob And I'm your Prairie bitch
Alice at Aringrem and I'm Dean Butler, our hashtag imaginary boyfriend.
Join us for our loving, quirky, and often irreverent conversations
about the finest family drama in the history of television.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
And the imperfect people who made it that way.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
In this third season, we are extremely grateful for the
support of visit Seemi Valley dot com for their continuing
sponsorship of Little House on the Prairie and The Little
House fiftieth Anniversary podcast. Hall Hello, ah. We always start
off with a weird bang, don't we Hi, everybody, hivonne
and heads. How are you? This is Pamela Bob. I'm

(01:27):
your host, creator and star of Living on a Prairie
and super fan. I am here as always with your
beloved prairie bitch Allison aringram Ha and your hashtag and
my hashtag imaginary boyfriend, mister Dean Butler. Hello, Prairie Pete. Hey, Hey, Hey,
how are you guys doing?

Speaker 5 (01:46):
Uh good? Good?

Speaker 6 (01:47):
Well, So it's been it's we always talk about the wedding.

Speaker 5 (01:50):
That seems like the opening start.

Speaker 6 (01:51):
So it poured yesterday in tan We're getting a little respite,
but it's supposed to pour again tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
I think later the set and I'm up here in
Tonga where it's getting a bit nippy, just a bit cool.
It's all this lovely spring weather that's over.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
It's cold, got, but don't you need the rain? Is
a rain always a good thing?

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Oh got drought.

Speaker 6 (02:12):
Land desperate, We take it, We take it all.

Speaker 5 (02:15):
But it was very intense yesterday. Catherine sent me three different.

Speaker 6 (02:19):
Videos of the river that was going down West Halm
Avenue yesterday. Uh, you know, just the loaded street and
then the water pouring off the roof and Benny out
with his yellow rain slicker on slicker for Benny.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Those people have boots for your Yeah, those people official
dog people.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Are very good. Because we got that good heat or
that when the air conditioned people came in, we got
the electric you know, four stair heat heaped as opposed
to the gas. Oh, it's lovely when it got cold
in the mornings and we had a little river, little river
rapids going out here down the hill. Yeah. Yeah, it's
it's it's it's gonna snow in the mountains above us.
But we sometimes if the wind blows the right way,

(03:07):
we could get snow in the driveway on like Thursday,
which is just weird that that could happen.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
I'm just sitting here nodding my head.

Speaker 5 (03:15):
Yeah, it's like nothing, what like, who are these rains?

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Okay? Rain?

Speaker 6 (03:23):
I want to bring up something that I sent you
both a thing yesterday about movie meters from Yeah, so
I I did some analysis of this graph, and first
of all.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Were you purposely looking for us on IMDb? I didn't
even know, we were on I.

Speaker 5 (03:46):
Did. I was listening for it.

Speaker 6 (03:49):
And it came up, and it seems it's interesting because
our our numbers go up and down dramatically based on day.
You know, when we drop an episode, like when this
one drops, the numbers will go up. How much they'll
go up as contingent upon what the show is and
if there's.

Speaker 5 (04:08):
A guest and so on and so forth.

Speaker 6 (04:10):
But here's the good news, and we have to thank
the people who watch and listen to us. We are
consistently in the top twenty five percent to the top
percent of all podcasts.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Is that great? Really?

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Thank you?

Speaker 3 (04:28):
I am dB.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
They do. They have these rdeminittries, like you know, we
were talking about that thing, the number where we were
number one million, aware because it's the rating of every
single thing, every single thing that's on IMDb where they rank,
and you know, Margot Robbie is won and then we
all fall in that kind of thing. I'm eleven thousand,
that's amazing, which which you know, no, I'm not going

(04:52):
to be in the I'm not going to be number seven,
yeah or whatever.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
No, eleven thousand, that's actually pretty.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
Good for one m I'm up this week apparently the
star meter, but I get a lot of views.

Speaker 6 (05:06):
But I am like IMDb has got all kinds of
different metrics for all of that kind of stuff, but
it's so contingent upon. I mean, it's all tied into
hits on websites, and I mean they're monitoring a lot
of different stuff to generate these numbers. You know, here
we are, you know, our number seems really high, but

(05:27):
when you look at the number of podcasts that are
out there, you know, we are defined in that meter
as a highly relevant podcast in the you know. And
what they make the point of saying, for a podcast
about a television show that's over fifty years old, it's

(05:47):
an extraordinary level of performance.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
That is true.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
That's why when any of my numbers for anything, when
they come and I go, I'm sixty four years old,
I mean technically an ex child start late middle age
child star whose big hit was what the that's crazy
numbers for someone like me. And for this, yes, a
podcast about a TV show that stopped airing in nineteen

(06:12):
eighty three. Wow, it's amazing to be off the charts. Cuckoo. Well,
it's like like I said, it's like we're star trekking.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah something, well, the power of the Prairie Man.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
You hear that.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
Sponsors, You hear that sponsors, come on down.

Speaker 6 (06:29):
So thanks to everybody who watches and listens regularly. It's
just been you know, it's just an amazing thing and
we we are so.

Speaker 5 (06:38):
Grateful for it.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Well, and it's so funny too, because the three of us,
it just feels like we're just having a conversation, like
how we always talk with each other. We're just hanging out.
And to know it's like, oh, yeah, people are listening.

Speaker 6 (06:50):
You're right, I remember that they're listening.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
They're listening, and they're taking Oh what a hack? Yeah
she's a hack? Then? Uh poor girl. Yeah yeah, well
that's incredible information. And thanks everybody. Thanks our listeners and
our fans and you know, thank you. Yeah, let's get

(07:14):
on this. Did anyone forget that this was actually a
kind of quasi Christmas episode because I forgot all about it.
I didn't remember that at all. Schedules, Okay, we'll talk
about that, because I was interested, like when did this drop?

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Now? I I know this episode because being good friends
with Miss Charlotte Stewart or Miss Beetle. She refers to
it as Miss Beetle kills the kids again. Yes, and
and she just like God, she said, I just am
the worst person.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
Yes, this is a tough one. Okay, this is We're
going to get to the episode that that that is
the Little House's most dangerous Christmas Eve ever ever. I mean,
nothing says Christmas Eve like a natural disaster and jath
So anyway from UBM go and Prairie Partners and oh

(08:09):
I went out of order, UBI and go sure, Prairie
Partners and visit Semi Valley dot com and our wonderful
patrons and listeners and supporters like you all. This is
a Little House on the Prairie fiftieth Anniversary podcast. All right, guys,

(08:36):
let's delve in. This is a tough one. I this
is a harsh episode. It's really oof oof. Okay, Dean,
what are we talking about today?

Speaker 6 (08:45):
Yeah, all right, so today we're talking about episode eleven
of season three. This is Blizzard, which takes place on
Christmas Eve, but interestingly premiered on January third, nineteen seventy seven,
so it was it is not really positioned.

Speaker 5 (09:01):
As a Christmas God. So when you see thematically what
it is.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
And that's why in fact, and that's why it's completely
forgotten that this even had anything to do with Christmas,
because it is so not Christmasy at all. It just
sort of is a drag that it happened. Happens to
be on Christmas Eve, like worse Christmas ever see.

Speaker 6 (09:20):
Some Christmas decorations in the classroom, and you.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Know it's a thing because one of the reasons they're
out everybody. Why is everybody out in what is going
to be their last minute Christmas presents? But everyone and
they're running out to get left. The guys went to
go get the rifle for the god that they're going
to get last minute Christmas presents. And the reason the
kids get let because it's Christmas Eve and they finished it.

(09:45):
It's all they're all going. That's I think what makes
it more horrible is everyone's all excited to get home
for Christmas Eve because they've wrapped the presents.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
And they know we all know, especially that last day
of school before Christmas break. It's just like when we
get go home?

Speaker 1 (10:00):
When? When?

Speaker 3 (10:00):
When? When?

Speaker 6 (10:02):
All right?

Speaker 5 (10:02):
So let me so. This was written by Paul W. Cooper,
directed by William F.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
Claxton.

Speaker 6 (10:09):
Perhaps a more natural placement might have been December twentieth,
nineteen seventy six, when The Hunters aired, but the story
probably persuaded NBC executives to delay it until after the holidays,
just because it might have put a bad taste in
people's mouths.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
I know what the actual Christmas episode was this season was,
so that's interesting. That's interesting though that they didn't air
it on December twentieth, which is still enough time, I suppose.
But maybe they just didn't even want to touch Christmas
because it is dark.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
Maybe and this is our Christmas episode that yere technically,
but it makes it January because boy, it's really cold
in January, so people stuck in the.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
Christmas is over. I'm not ruining anyone's Well.

Speaker 6 (10:52):
This is why we decided to do this now, because
the eastern part of the country has been in.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
This deal freeze. They said one episode. I said, well,
I'm in blizzard winter. Hell, let's do this episode.

Speaker 5 (11:03):
Let's do so Allison, what is the blizzard?

Speaker 1 (11:09):
It says it it's our Christmas episode where everyone dies.
It's our Christmas. It's Christmas Eve in Walnut Grove and
a storm warning arrives over the telegraph. Love the use
of the telegraph.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 7 (11:20):
Very people who rises.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
Poor Miss Beetle makes a split second decision that the
children should go home before the blizzard fully hits, but
the prairie doesn't wait.

Speaker 6 (11:33):
No.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
Within minutes, the storm becomes a white wall, Roads vanished,
landmarks disappear. Some children make it home, some do not.
Christmas turns to terror as parents split, anger follows, people
freak out all over the place. Did Miss Beetle make

(11:54):
the right call? Charles Ingalls and the fathers push into
the white out, fighting wind and freezing cold. So for
their lost children. It's no longer about presence is celebration,
It's about survival. Blizzard is want of a little house
in the Prairie's most harrowing episode is a story about
leadership under pressure, is a fear turning to bloes, and

(12:15):
the thin line between safety and catastrophe on the front
this Christmas Eve, the only gift that matters is getting everyone. Yes,
it's that bad. It's that bad. People like flip up.
Some of the people just like wig out.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
Just like I just like to say my husband, I
was watching on my computer in my room last night
and my husband came in right at the very end,
and I am sobbing. I am sobbing, and he just
looks at me and I just went, that's a really
sad episode. And I started crying and he went, oh,
I'm sorry, and I was just like.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
The poor man.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
Still watched it.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
Watch, oh man. I had one or two words watching them,
And Bob came in from the other room and said,
my god, what is going on in here? Part of
the episode?

Speaker 3 (13:11):
Like Jesus, that's what my husband does too, what does too?
Every once in a while they step in and be like,
what what is happening right now? But he won't watch
it himself, so you know, he can be it can be.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
That's true.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
Actually he does not want to be traumatized. All right, Well,
let's start from the beginning. As we said, it's Christmas Eve.
Everyone is super excited. The kids are in their last
afternoon of school, they're finishing getting their present. They're all
making presents, crafty, crafty for their parents and their families,
and even the ladies are over at missus Olsen's decorating

(13:51):
things because there's going to be a Christmas party literally
in the church. Kay. It's it's everyone super excited, but Also, what.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Are they making?

Speaker 3 (14:01):
This is making it looks like Easter eggs wrapped in
Christmas colors.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
Okay, the Olsons weren't Russian, but yes, there is an
Eastern European tradition of colored eggs at Christmas. But I'm like,
why is missus Olten making? I'm totally baffled. But she's
making red And and then I went a craft in
the living room. It's very odd. And then the family
are so excited because they're getting a child an enormous
gun y Christmas, but.

Speaker 3 (14:26):
The gift that keeps on giving there but I actually
jumped the gun because the episode really starts with this
entire episode are lovable characters that all enter the vortex.
These are one time we never see them, We've never
seen them before, we will never see them again. They
enter the vortex after this done. It starts with the

(14:50):
telegraph tap to the tap tap tap of some men
we have never seen before and we will never see again.
In Long John so Good, the old guy, and the
weather report, the weather report from do we know where
International Falls is?

Speaker 1 (15:09):
And and he's from? And International Fall says we can't
move to we get the report from thief.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
Oh so I don't know where any of these places are,
and that could be a lot of falls, right, okay,
made up?

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Well?

Speaker 3 (15:22):
And also who knew because I didn't that you could
that people were actually tracking weather and we're predicting weather
and we're reporting weather the like. I know that there's
the farmers all that, but I didn't know.

Speaker 6 (15:34):
I think they were telegraph operators were sending what they
what they saw and what they were experiencing and sharing
it to the extent that they.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
Could give you an hour, the wind is blowing.

Speaker 6 (15:47):
South southwest and they could share that, but I don't
know how much.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
Yeah, obviously this was like an hour before everything hit
the fan, right, Okay.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
It was eighteen four They were cranking it out with
the telegrasions, so that was a regular thing to get reports,
the weather thing. I guess it had to be. I mean,
it really was late seventeen hundreds was the beginning, oh
creating this wology. So by more system was adopted in

(16:18):
eighteen sixty five, yet, which had been developed in Germany
in eighteen forty eight, So it does go way way back.
So yes, by the eighteen seventies when this is vaguely happening, Yes,
absolutely having people to let you know what's going on
by morse code from different outlets was.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
Totally stingc totally well. And there is something, I mean,
right off the bat, we know, uh oh man in
long John's tapped to the tap tap, Weather's bad, dundun,
We're doomed. It's classic prairie.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
And the ominous wind. The ominous wind sound was really terrifying.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
Also flash to as soon as this is over, it
flashes to the next scene, which is a sunny, warm,
blue sky day. No one's wearing coats or hats or scarves.

Speaker 5 (17:07):
And Christmas Eve.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
Yeah, oh boy.

Speaker 6 (17:12):
I think you know, the show has all kinds of
little yeah consistencies.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
But that's bizarre. They know it's Christmas Eve. Wear a
freaking coat.

Speaker 6 (17:23):
Yeah, well maybe, And it's to show the contrast weather,
I mean, just being cold and being yeah maybe.

Speaker 5 (17:30):
And so you know you have some place to go.

Speaker 6 (17:33):
If you start in your shirt sleeves and then you're
bundled up with like you know, a scarf under your
neck and your.

Speaker 5 (17:38):
Hat bent down and your collar up, then we know.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
This was also based very loosely based on a real thing.
If you go to you know, the books. But then
you get in the Pioneer Girl. There really really was
a blizzard in the eighteen eighty Long Winner, But in
eighteen eighty eight there was a blizzard. There really really
was a blizzard in eighteen eighty eight, and it was
even called the Children's Blizzard because I spoke about.

Speaker 5 (18:07):
There's a book about it. There are lots of things
about it.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
It was horrible and stuff, and they said unseasonably warm weather.
It had been a nice day, which is why children
went to swim without their coats and they were regular
square thing. And everyone thought it was fine, and when
isn't it great We're getting this break. I don't think
it was Christmas at all, but it was a teen
eighty eight and they had a sudden, dramatic, unseasonably warm

(18:32):
weather and tricking children into going to school without their
heavy coats, and all these people thought, oh, it's a
great day. We're getting a break. We're having a little
leg Indian side thing out the winter. And everybody went
out and said, oh, I guess I can drive the
wagon all the way over to so and so's farm
because it's not going to snow tonight. And they thought
it was great and that thing came up in minutes

(18:53):
and it was one of the worst blizzards ever and
it was something like three and four feet of snow
and it killed two hundred and fifty to five hundred people.
They're not quite sure. It was hard to count back
then and finding everybody, many of them school children because indeed,
when it started to suddenly change, the teachers freaked out

(19:14):
and said, okay, what's going on was completely fine.

Speaker 7 (19:16):
They we're not supposed to have snow tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
You should all go. They couldn't make it. It came
so fast, it was like, well, it was almost like
a sudden thing, like a tornado or a title wave.
It came so fast that no one anticipated the speed
of it. And yes, hundreds and hundreds of people died,
many of them. So this is kind of the horrible, horrible,
actual historical incident that they pulled from for this episode.

Speaker 6 (19:40):
It makes me think about Tsunonymous, where you you know,
were winding tracks treat and people walk what happened to
the water and they walk out and all of a sudden,
there's this that's like.

Speaker 3 (19:49):
My most fearful thing is anything involving the ocean and
water like like that On slash.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
I didn't watch that movie about the famous tsunami, the
one until you didn't watch it.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
I actually did, but that was more of a survival.
That was a Bible story that was okay, but like
it's a great movie.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
Really well made. I won't watch it.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
No, no, no, no, I won't watch it a second time.
No no, no, no, not at all. No Tsunamis scare
their crud out of me. That that is.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
Like eighteen eighty eight sixty mile an hour winds. They
went from oh, we're having an early spring to oh, crap,
sixty mile an hour wins and snow. So that really
did happen where everybody went, oh, it's fine, it's fine,
it'll be a great let's all go out, And that
totally happened, and they did get hit with a sudden

(20:41):
blizard and people did not make it. So this absolutely
just a weirdly almost historically accurate episode.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
Okay, so everyone's very happy. It's Christmas Eve. Like I said,
the kids are about to finish. Even the the adult
ladies doing the crafties are are enjoying. And even at
one point, is it Carolyn what looks out the wind
and goes, oh, look it's trying to snow.

Speaker 5 (21:04):
Yea, oh, it looks like it's trying to snow.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
She's trying.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
It's trying.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
Yeah, yeah, we oh the all kids and we might
get a white Christmas.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
That be great.

Speaker 6 (21:13):
Meanwhile, as you as you look out, you know, in
the wide shot of you know, Charles and mister Edwards
driving back into town, it is well, I guess that
would be sort of normal for the east.

Speaker 5 (21:24):
But the hills are brown and.

Speaker 6 (21:27):
The dust, the dust is thick in the air that
they're blowing around.

Speaker 5 (21:31):
I mean it's clear, it's well.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
Also have all of the leaves. It's like, this is
not this is not winter on the prairie right now.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, it might have been shot in October because there's wind.
There's wind, and Bob even watched parts. Is that wind
machines and see me? Or you had someone I go,
if it was shot like octoberish, which was common, we
got quite a bit of wind. I get a lot
of wind out here in October. You could have some
wind and then go, oh good, yeah it's getting Christmas episode.

Speaker 5 (22:05):
Yeah, I think they would have.

Speaker 6 (22:06):
You know, that's to reinforce the idea that something's happening.
They wouldn't have taken the chance on maybe having wind
or not. Those are yeah, sure, I mean yeah, no,
no question.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
Okay, So before we get to the actual event, I
just want to take note that Willy is uh, they're
in class, miss Beedles as Willy. Have you eaten the
paste again?

Speaker 5 (22:33):
Again?

Speaker 6 (22:35):
That was my next comment, Willy eating glue?

Speaker 1 (22:41):
Okay, you obviously weren't.

Speaker 5 (22:43):
Some Yeah, I've never I don't think I ever.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
I never eat the past.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
We probably because probably even by our childhood they had
the commercial stuff and it's crap mucilage or elmers. But
in the old oldie days they had that sort of
homemade paste and a lot of that was flower and
water and salt. It was more organic.

Speaker 7 (23:07):
You could eat it and not like you didn't want
to eat blue.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
You'd get really eating paste like.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
Remember eating people. Everybody eat plato when I was a kid,
and which is disgusting but.

Speaker 3 (23:21):
Is full flour, salt and water, right, like that's cook
early past maybe didn't have tartars. I think we had
powered tartar also in there. It's not flowers but anyway.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
Gross, So you could eat paste, it's disgusting. You're like
eating just flower and water and salt and it's gross,
but you won't die from it. Back then, it was
just there were any chemicals, and there was always one
weird kid in the back, the weird kid.

Speaker 6 (23:53):
Of course, the weird kid, you know, and he's so
sweetness says, no man, I'm not his mouth, and.

Speaker 7 (24:00):
He told me to j.

Speaker 4 (24:04):
No.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
Okay, So he gets sent to the corner like you
do with the Willie. But it starts gently snowing, and
everyone's really excited. Look at the snow, Look at the snow,
and Miss Beetle makes the decision, Hey, it's Christmas Eve.
It's just started a snow. Let's let the kids go.
Unbeknownst to her, oops, I killed the kids because and

(24:27):
she's just everyone's so excited and so happy.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
There's oh my god, we're gonna go home. And then
my favorite except Willie and Nelly.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
Because you live across the street, my.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
Face when she's just like, I do I don't do blackboards,
I don't. I just like the hat comes down.

Speaker 3 (24:47):
I'm like, yeah, what a drag.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
It's just hilarious of like I'm not cleaning.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
So she decides that the kids should go home before
the snow gets worse. And it's just the light snow
for now. And so the kids are now walking home.
We see uh the ingles with the Isaiah's children and
Isaiah and Grace's kids walking home, and the weather has

(25:12):
now turned very very bad, very bad. Carrie is not
having a shining moment in this episode. Carrie the little
girl where you want to slash, very very whiny. I
know she's only four years old, but my god, she

(25:32):
is Carrie. Just instead of saying anything bad, I'm just
gonna say she.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
Couldn't get out of the school war without a problem.
May already Mary's already going Carrie before they.

Speaker 5 (25:53):
Even left, and she was coming and she was just there.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
Because it's a special day. They let her come to
cool that Jay.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
Right right, there's a special and she was so excited.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
But then she gets so whiny and gross. But anyway,
she's four. I know I'll give her a brace. I'm
just gonna say, oh, Carrie every time I'm irritated with her. Okay,
So now the kids are walking home. The weather is
getting bad. The Carl the is it the car No,
Carl and Alicia tried to take a shortcut, so the
kids disperse. Now Charles and mister Edwards are now coming home.

(26:33):
They're still on the wagon and the weather is getting bad,
bad bad. Mister Edwards, however, has a sneaky, sneaky peek
of a bottle of booze with him, nice and comforting.
The guy has a problem in the back of the
wagon always. Okay, then what happens? Sorry, I have in

(26:57):
my notes, Carrie. I'm sorry, Carrie.

Speaker 5 (27:00):
I grew up. I just want to say a quick story.

Speaker 6 (27:02):
I grew up in the country and there was an
older gentleman who was considered sort of the local sheriff.
He wasn't a sheriff, but he we really counted on
him to sort of look after things around the place.
He could produce a little fifth of Jack Daniels in
any tree that you wats fantastic. There was always a

(27:24):
little nip of whiskey available to him.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
Medicinal, yes, sure, precal correct love it. I mean, clearly,
the guy has a problem, but it's adorable.

Speaker 5 (27:37):
Yes, she does have a that's well documented in the.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
Has a problem right exactly. Okay, So now the ladies
are leaving missus Olson's. They're heading to the school to
drop off the crafts for the Christmas party the next
day and to pick up their children, and they arrive
to an empty classroom and a horrified Miss Beatle, who
very clearly realizes, oops, I might have killed the kids

(28:05):
by sending them home.

Speaker 7 (28:07):
Just standing Charlotte dis she's just standing in the middle
of the.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
Room crying, and they're like, where where let them go?
And then they go, wait how long? She goes about
twenty thirty and they're like, they're doing doing the math,
going oh no, there's no way they're home, and they're right,
it's bad. They free.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
Charlotte is so devastating. My god, the look on her face,
the horror behind her eyes is yeah, insane.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
And you get you get in this episode how dangerous
it was for us lucky people in this century. Oh no,
there's terriblest is gonna about.

Speaker 8 (28:48):
Ye.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Well, we'll get in our car and we'll get or
we'll pull. Someone will call Triple A and they will
come save us. The paramedics will come. We'll make it
to seven eleven and duck in. They're so out. Look,
we have a chance. These people are in the middle
of nowhere in Minnesota where you get like lake snow
in these blizzards, and there isn't there's no hospital. There's

(29:10):
no hospital to go to if it goes wrong and
you have frostby, there's no triple like nobody's.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
There's no gortex, and they like there's no insulated boots.
There's no nothing right right.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
I saw a lovely shot of Jack Lily in this
getting his big like free coat to go. Yet first.

Speaker 7 (29:30):
You can die without the right coat. And they know everyone.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
Probably every winter, somebody doesn't make it because they just
literally were outside.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
And they know that the death toll in New York
City just over the past couple of weeks with the
homeless population, and they made it a thing in New
York that you are if you see a homeless person
on the street in this frigid, freezing temperature, you call
three on one or you call nine one one, and
they are guaranteed a spot and any shelter. They opened

(30:01):
everything so everyone would be protected. But of course there
are people that are going to be left behind. And
and there was there was something like eleven days last
week or two weeks ago when it was that freezing,
frigid temperature and that's just because they were outside.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
Elderly people get outside, don't make it back to the
apartment in dime and and then this series. But you
the scary thing you see in everyone's eyes. This is
amazing because every actor in it gone, you see, they
know they know that death, yes, in a way that
we none of us have had, that's right, and they

(30:37):
know it. And yeah, it's terrifying, terrifying.

Speaker 3 (30:41):
Yeah, terrifying. Okay, So now Charles and mister Edwards finally
arrive also and they realize the kids are all gone
and there they could possibly die, and they organize a search.
Mister Olsen opens up the shop, you take whatever you need.

Speaker 6 (30:58):
Well, actually he opens up the sho at the invitation
of his wife, which is sort of a you know
that sort of because her children are right there.

Speaker 5 (31:07):
She knows they're safe.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
I was shocked. Nelly's trying to be useful. I'm sitting
in the corner tearing up. She's to make to make
bandages for the frostbite, Like wait, I'm working, and missus
also is like you need to you can't go out
and that She's like she's helping me.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
They were just like, well, you know what, and the
beauty we need that now. And then otherwise they're just
complete monsters. If we don't see this some kind of
humanity in them every now and then, just give us
a touch of humanity so we can forgive them and
move on.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
And Nell's and Hanson they have this relationship, and you
get a little touch of it here, and you also
get why their Walnut Grove cool people because they spirit
a while to Grove. Nell starts getting dressed and Hanson goes,
where are you going? Your kids are fine? And he says, yeah,
and you don't have any kids, you old goat.

Speaker 5 (31:58):
Let's go.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
They don't care that they are not personally taking a
hit here. They don't care that it's not their kids
are going, dummy, somebody else's kids. We're going, We're going. Yep.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
It's really beautiful, really well done. Yeah, and mister Olson
ps has an awesome coat, the fur lined coat. Oof,
it was so pretty. Also, let's mention that they're bundling
all the men up to go out there. And little
Henry's father again, Henry, who we have never seen before,
will never see again. His father. We've met vortex people.

(32:30):
Vortex people, we know they're doomed when they're vortex people.

Speaker 5 (32:33):
Anyway, it's the Star Trek thing. It's them.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
So they're they're getting dressed and mister Olsen is like, here,
take an extra coat. You're going to be too cold
in that coat. And he's like, no, I'll be fine,
and he leaves without a second coat. Miss as the
words of Julia Roberts and Pretty Woman, Big mistake, Big mistake.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
Again them again says they were technically games. These were
these were Miss mister John Carter McGinnis. He was every
judge on law he was a judge four times the
Law and Order. He was always a judge on law
order when he wasn't a priest or the district attorney
on Josie was on mc guyver. He was in everything.
He was in scarface, he was in everything. He's like

(33:20):
brilliant And I was shocked. Letty McGinnis, that's that's Luenna Anders.
I mean I knew that she was besties with my
friend Rich Martini. She's Oh my god, she was. She
was an easy rider. She was a huge star. Jack
Nicholson thanked her. She was the movie Shampoo. She's in Shampoo,

(33:42):
but it's allegedly based on her relationship with her hairdresser.
She was totally involved in the creation of that movie.
That's lou Anne Anders. She was Lisa, an easy rider.
She was in everything she was in. Everything was based
off shampoo. Uh, she was go go google that lady. God,
such a beautiful, huge films. She was thanked.

Speaker 8 (34:05):
She's They had a nice little you know she and
who't No, it had this nice little moment where he's
trying to get her away the tea.

Speaker 6 (34:16):
She won't discover the seventeen dollars discrepancy.

Speaker 5 (34:20):
Yeah, it was very sweet.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
At the same time, I was like, who are these people?
Who are these people?

Speaker 1 (34:26):
Career? And she pops in and she's like gone. She
has a great scene and.

Speaker 3 (34:32):
She's very good in this episode. My god, Okay, so
where are we now? They're going out for the church.

Speaker 6 (34:37):
Oh Mary, Oh, Doc Baker comes.

Speaker 3 (34:40):
The Baker comes. They're setting up the church to be
a triage sort of place for when they all come back,
and he gives them.

Speaker 5 (34:49):
Well, everyone's there, they're not going anywhere.

Speaker 1 (34:51):
He gives the women the speech about how bad and
they actually looked up all the horrible ways you die
from cold. It's not good. You don't want to know.
But the fra bite, in the hypothermia, things happen. There's
different levels of hypothermia. There's okay, kind of freezing to death,
you can be treated, and then there's it's too late,
your body shuts down. Also, the frostbite, you shouldn't all

(35:12):
that rubbing of the feet. No, actually, don't do that
because the skin could get damaged. The skin is so
damaged by frostbite, you really don't want to rub it.
You want to like dip body parts into warm, get
them back to temperature, get them back to body temperature.
And I read a really disgusting thing about what happens
to the frost. I mean there's the starting the red stuff, right,

(35:34):
but there's it's like burns, second degree burns and third
degree burns. If you get cold enough long enough, and
the cert of things, it goes from the little red
to serious bleeding blisters. And that's why we're getting bandages.
And because there's like you need womb treatment if your
frostbite is that bad, if it gets really bad, and
it probably would have then because nobody was going to
a hospital in the first five minutes. And a carapace

(35:57):
is they say a big it turns black like small
pop and a hard shell forms that either.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
So I've seen images of you know the men who
would try to climb Everest or whatever and didn't make it.
But they were frost and and their noses fell off
and it was just like black and they'd fall.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Black and sometimes just the piece comes off and you
could be shaved, and other times so you can die
of frostbite because the wounds are so severe. Also you
become dehydrated, and no giving somebody alcohol in their frock
god alcohol actually.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
Okay, we'll get to that later with mister Edwards. But anyway,
die horribly. He didn't know, he didn't know. Okay, So
in the meantime, and in the meantime, Mary and Laura
and Carrie. Carrie sucks. She's whiny, but okay, she's four.
We'll give it to her. But they're still trudging through
the snow and trying to get this. Also question about

(36:52):
the snow. What was the snow? Where was all of
these snow? I assume this was all done on a
sound stage for the most part.

Speaker 6 (37:00):
The yeah, the now, all that close up work that
was done of the girls walking through the.

Speaker 5 (37:06):
Snow, that was all on a stage.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (37:09):
There was you know that early scene where Alicia and
Carl separate from Laura, Mary and Carrie. That's on the ranch.
That's clearly you can see that's on the ranch. But yeah,
once you're inside the intensity of the storm, it's all
on the stage. And there were a couple of stages
and elson you probably worked on some of these stages
I have not, but that were specifically rigged and set

(37:31):
up to do this kind of thing, to do water,
to do snow, to do all that.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
Certain that you could actually even go to the b
tank if you were getting deep enough in the snow.
But they didn't have a big expanse, but you would
have like little you could do a tank, so that
way you could do several feet of this crushed diced
snow like.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
Was it some sort of when you see it blowing.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
On us, you'll see a lot of the wax. This
is sort of a wax flaky plastic thing. But you
could do many kinds of snow. But when you were
in a sound stage and you needed to have the
crunchy crunchy clearly ice you basically like a ski launch machine,
you know, facing and you could have it sit there
and not melt because you're indoors and it's nice and cold,
and you have basically a big old tank of snow

(38:14):
to slog through close us.

Speaker 6 (38:16):
So you know, the technology of movie snow has and
I did something.

Speaker 5 (38:21):
About this recent we were I was.

Speaker 6 (38:23):
Working on I think it was maybe for one of
our shows, but I think it was very likely that
at that point it was a kind of a almost
like a potato, kind of a.

Speaker 5 (38:37):
Dry like potato product.

Speaker 6 (38:40):
By the time we did by the time we did
the Christmas they never forgot.

Speaker 5 (38:46):
It was like shredded garbage bags. It was like shredded
white garbage bags.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
We have that a lot. We had shredded plastic. Even
at Christmas at plum Creek.

Speaker 7 (38:57):
It was very poplar.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
It was it was ea to clean up and it
it kind of clung to your clothes and fluttered nicely.
But you do sometimes if someone would come into the
church with snow on them, you notice it's been melting, because.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
Yeah, right, how cool. And obviously this.

Speaker 5 (39:12):
Was There are whole companies that do nothing but snow.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
But obviously this was a huge production and a lot
of cost, I'm sure because after this they never really
did winter stuff again, not very.

Speaker 5 (39:26):
Until until much years later late Yeah.

Speaker 6 (39:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It is expensive and of course,
we've always talked about you're in you're always shooting these things,
like in August September when it's blistering hot.

Speaker 3 (39:41):
I mean, it was so obvious that it was a
warm summer day in these exterior shots in the beginning
of the episode. I mean, it's it's so very obvious.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
The interior shots really worked it because there's that picture
that somebody took and it's like on Facebook all the time,
and it's the little house when they were like snow in,
and there's fakes snowing there, but they've pulled back and
you see the guy on the ladder with the car.
And we did a lot of that, and that was fine.
You could do that. So if you wanted to do
a snow scene snowed in, you could shoot the whole

(40:13):
thing on the sound stage. You go, sure, fine, whatever
much snow would you like. So that's why eventually people
get to these shacks and these things in so that
they can be soundstage in apart.

Speaker 3 (40:22):
Okay, all right, so the kids again, Karl and Alisha,
they're staggering in the snow. The kids are all staggering
in the snow in the church slash school. The women
are taking care of the kids that have been recovered already.
They're rubbing their feet, which now we know is a
no no.

Speaker 5 (40:42):
Doc Baker gets laudanum for pain. He offers laudanum to people.

Speaker 6 (40:46):
Now what so else you probably know and I don't
know specifically, what is.

Speaker 5 (40:50):
I always think of something like morphine. But it's not
that it's.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
A narcotic. It's it's very bad. Now. Pain relief is
given for extreme hypothermia and frostbite because it hurts like
I'll get out as you start to thaw, and so
giving people actual heavy duty painkillers absolutely a thing. I'm
gonna say lot. I'm trying to remember what's in it.
It's alcohol, but it's everything. That's why it's so popular.

(41:18):
It is an alcohol based tincture of opium used as
so yes, it is an opio.

Speaker 7 (41:23):
And actual opium but with alcohol.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
So yes.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
That's why it must have.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
That scary South Dakota show with with with the swearing
all over the hell they're all of them, they're all
on laudanum. Yes, it's laudanum. Is Victorian ladies who never
leave the house who said that the laudanum is it's
it was highly addictive. It was a big problem in
the eighteen hundreds because it is opium dissolved and booze.

Speaker 3 (41:55):
Give them to the kids. Everybody gets, yes.

Speaker 6 (42:00):
Well, there's a there's a real in this moment. I
think that we're talking about now, such.

Speaker 5 (42:04):
A sweet moment.

Speaker 3 (42:05):
This is the moment, rare moment.

Speaker 5 (42:07):
I know this moment, which is a really sweet.

Speaker 3 (42:11):
It's his best moment in the entire series period, which
is you know, they're all taking care of these cold kids,
and it's everyone's traumatized, and Miss Beetle is just head
on the desk, in a slump at her desk, knowing
that she created this.

Speaker 6 (42:30):
And I apologize. Our gardener is here and I didn't
think they'd be here because it was raining. So it's
like the blowing It's okay.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
It's like it's like the band. It's like the giant
snow machine. That's what we'll think it is.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
Jonathan's so amazing this because again you always just said,
like Nellye usually is fake crying and then we see
real crimes. Jonathan, who's normally just eating paste them in
the corner, suddenly turns on the switch and he is
so sweet and empathetic and there's m He puts his hand,
he like.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
Pets her head.

Speaker 5 (43:04):
She's so touched.

Speaker 1 (43:05):
It's not your fault. It's not your fault. Stunning it, donningly.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
Is It sort of took my breath away revisiting it.
It just was such a moment and her not just
gratitude that he did this to her, but her almost
relief that someone said it. Let alone one of the
little kids, Let alone the worst little kid.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
Right, Like this is telegraphic because remember when Willie grows up,
he becomes nice, he marries that.

Speaker 3 (43:36):
Load he devised his mother.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
Ye, Willy is not as bad as Nelly's, not as bad.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
As what she does.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
This is showing us the secret good person that he
actually is and will be later. This is our moment
we find out he's not evil to the core. He's
a good boy.

Speaker 3 (43:54):
Should we take a break now and then we'll get
to the horrors that are coming up? Or should we talk.

Speaker 6 (44:00):
About I think we should get I think we should
actually get through the second Well.

Speaker 3 (44:04):
I'm sorry, I thought I didn't realize it. Okay, we're continuing.
We're continuing with some horrors now.

Speaker 6 (44:13):
So there's interesting Like, so Doc Baker is serving whiskey
to the children.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
To Randy, Randy to.

Speaker 5 (44:21):
Help them warm up. We're back out in the storm.

Speaker 6 (44:23):
Laura and Mary are confused about where they are now.
They're arguing about what direction they should be going in,
which is a classic disorientation. Parents are out searching in
the storm.

Speaker 5 (44:34):
They find so.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
The two dads go out, Henry's dad and Joey's dad. Yes,
and they find Joey's.

Speaker 6 (44:43):
Yes, and Joey's taken back to the church, and Henry's
dad continues on and we're going to find out what
happens to him.

Speaker 3 (44:50):
Tragic in a few minutes.

Speaker 6 (44:51):
Carrie can't go on, Carrie, they are looking for a shed.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
Yeah, because Mary, come on now listen, And she might
be a narc, but she is the only sensible, strong
like my person on this entire prairie. I swear Mary.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Is bad ass. In this episode, Mary is a total
heart Carrie, I can't and she goes, yes, yes, get up,
like get up, maggot and.

Speaker 7 (45:21):
Instructure, get up, and.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
Can't go any further? Yes she can, and so can you.
And she's dragged. Really she just picks carry up and
picks her up and throw and just starts stomping off. Yes, no,
and she tells Laura and carry no, get up, We're
going there's there's there's shelter and I'm like, how did you?

Speaker 3 (45:40):
And she's the one that remember that there's this abandoned
shelter that they could be in. And also thank god
because that was her gifts. Her gift for her parents
were a candle that came with matches. They have that conveniently, right,
we'll get back to that in a se So all.

Speaker 6 (45:57):
Right, so we can't. They're hanging on. They're looking for there.
We're back in the church. Caroline and Grace are worried.
It's going to be dark soon. Missus Beginnis wants to
know where her husband is. Really freaking they are and
out looking for Henry.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
Henry is here, so Henry. First of all, let's just
talk about Henry against Henry shows up at the school.
He collapses outside the door. They open the door. Oh
my gosh, it's Henry, who's very near death. Shall we
say he's not nice? But anyway, but Henry is there.
They're going to save Henry. But Henry's dad is still
out looking for Henry and doesn't know that Henry is

(46:35):
safe and now he's been found. Also, let's talk about Grace,
because this starts the demise of the mental state, an
emotional state of Grace, who's sitting here waiting for her
children to arrive, and they have still not arrived. And
we see slowly but surely Grace starting to unravel a bit,

(46:59):
which is exactly right. I would be too.

Speaker 5 (47:02):
So the act break is child.

Speaker 6 (47:06):
The act break is Henry is here. And so you
look in missus McGinnis's face and there's a.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
Look of terror, right because Henry. Henry's mom says, where
is my husband? And Joey's dad says he's still out
looking for Henry, and she says, but Henry's here, And
then and I just have in my notes in all caps,
I am not okay. At this point, I was sobbing.

(47:37):
This is this is just like your worst nightmare. This
is your worst nightmare as a parent, as a spouse.
It's just like, holy moly. Okay, So let's take a break.
I need a break. We'll be right back.

Speaker 5 (47:50):
Yeah, we'll come back. While you're thinking about it.

Speaker 6 (47:53):
We'll be back with more Blizzard after this message for
business of them.

Speaker 3 (47:57):
We'll be back.

Speaker 1 (47:59):
When you've seem Valley, California. You're stepping into the pages
of history. Go from the pioneers to the President's Explore
beautiful wildflowers, hike through iconic Hollywood locations, and injured day
aboard the actual Air Force one at the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library and Museum. Throughout the summer, take the Little

(48:22):
House fiftieth Anniversary Tour at Big Sky Movie Ranch less
than fifteen minutes from Los Angeles and thirty minutes from
Universal Studios. Seem Valley has small town charm with big
jime history. Go to visit see Valley dot com for
more information. We are so grateful to visit Seemi Valley
dot com for their commitment to presenting the Little House

(48:44):
fiftieth Anniversary podcast.

Speaker 3 (48:47):
All right, guys, we're back, and Alison tell us what
you were just saying to us during the break.

Speaker 1 (48:53):
Well, they're trying, you know. Dot Baker's given the speech
the stress like, we got to do this because and
he does say minutes the literally what you do in
the first seconds they come in is a different life
and death. He is absolutely correct. That is correct.

Speaker 7 (49:04):
Now, if you take into the hospital and what kind
of can have to.

Speaker 3 (49:08):
Do with in the first minutes, you know.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
You want to slowly not to get them back up
to normal temperature to stop any further damage from the
hypothermia and the frost bite. And you want to assess
is the frost bite it's like burns, is it first three? Secondary?
What degree of frostbite? Are they going to have hunks
of flesh falling off or are they going to have blister?
What is this going to be? And as the longer

(49:31):
they stay cold in the hypothermia the clothes, the sooner
they can die. You eventually you die. So trying to
get them back up to normal body but slowly, and
it's like you get the fingers into warm like room
temperature water. Slowly bad because if you're too fast, you
cause more tissue damage and people will have heart attacks
and terrible things will happen. So slowly get the back.
Pain management is absolutely think so the lot of them, Yeah,

(49:53):
might come out because people are an excruciating pain when
they have all these things happening and have to have
pain manageer, especially when they fall out. In fact, before
you die, if you are freezing to death, you get
all sleepy and feel great and you think you're warm,
and people even will remove layers of clothing, so right, yeah,
but then it's too late. Everything's over, you're finished. So
before that happens, as you thaw out, it hurts, so

(50:16):
you deal with that. Then they're severely dehydrated because weirdly,
even though you're wet and it's snow, as you get
hypothermia and the frostbite, it's terrible dehydration. So they have
to rehydrate people, get them on an IV and get
them rehydrated. So probably nowadays we would not give someone
alcohol in the.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
Situation because they didn't hydraackgen.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
What the hell did they have? So brandy absolutely does
temporarily make you feel better and feel warmer, and it
gets the blood rushing kind of the skin, so for
a few minutes relief, woohoo. Long term and it's terrible idea,
and I don't see anyone giving anybody water, which they
really desperately need to do. For eighteen seven, Doc Baker's

(51:01):
actually almost right on top of it. He's for eighteen
seventies technology. He's doing dearly well.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
If they knew how to properly treat this in the
eighteen seventies at that time, or was this all not
discovered till a little later.

Speaker 6 (51:15):
I would think they did. Well, you're talking about the
FoST fight itself. I mean, he was very clear about.

Speaker 3 (51:19):
It, knowing like, don't get an alcohol, we have to
hide on that.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
I wonder if they knew that then alcohol is such
a popular medical thing, relatively relatively. I mean, why the
Saint Bernard's in the snow with the barrel of brandy.
I mean absolutely brandy was considered medicinal hot toddy. There's
medical articles now going, well, the hot toddy, the part
with the water in the lemon, you should drink that.
Maybe not so much the brandy, but we know why. Yes, okay,

(51:45):
but it really that was recently considered a perfectly reasonable
thing to give someone.

Speaker 3 (51:50):
Okay, so we're continuing. Mary and Lauren Carrey find this
shed the shed and Mary tries lighting the match in
the shed. First it faced. It's there there, windy, and
I was like, everyone circle around Mary, for God's sake,
so the wind doesn't get No one moves, and maybe
marry people could move.

Speaker 1 (52:12):
There's a big hole.

Speaker 3 (52:13):
In the wall right next to her.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Yeah, exactly, you guys, I.

Speaker 5 (52:17):
Mean, but this was shelter. I mean, at least they
were out of the element.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
Finally does get the fire going and she lights the candle. Uh,
it's a bit of a fire hazard, I would say. However,
I would think a burning barn might be better than
just being out in a blizzard.

Speaker 6 (52:32):
I don't know, well, that's what I as she's lighting
the straw and the whole ground is covered with straw,
So thinking this could go very badly in a matter of.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
Yes, I was thinking that too.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
Wet. Maybe a lot of straws wet. Maybe it's so
freaking cold and damp that the ods are favor at
this point. Like so if it spreads a little great, yeah, right, so.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
So go on.

Speaker 5 (53:01):
Charles and Edwards.

Speaker 6 (53:02):
Charles and mister Edwards are out searching somehow out of nowhere.
Charles reaches down and finds Laura's calendar in the snow.
It's like in this cupboard. I mean, how he saw
what a fluke that would be to find something like that.
But it certainly told me.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
They did come this, but they were on the right track.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
But he's good at that. He found her the running theme.

Speaker 3 (53:26):
Which and in the meantime, Henry's dad, mister McGinnis, is
poor guy. Oh this is terrible, freezing to death, still
looking for his son. He does not know that his
son has actually been recovered and returned. And uh, okay,
so we know he's in girl, he's in trouble, right,

(53:47):
we know he's in trouble.

Speaker 5 (53:48):
And he well, he collapses in the snow. It's like
he's he's.

Speaker 3 (53:52):
Also Like what you were saying before, Alison, what what
I know about dying in the snow from cold exposure
and everything, is that you you fall asleep, right, you
get sleepy.

Speaker 7 (54:03):
Yeah, real sleep, and then you feel hot.

Speaker 1 (54:05):
Then you think you're not to death anymore. You get warm,
and hells.

Speaker 3 (54:10):
Down his scart and I was like, oh no, he's
feeling hot now and he's falling fast asleep. He's done.

Speaker 5 (54:17):
Well.

Speaker 6 (54:17):
You know what happens when you get extremely cold is the.

Speaker 5 (54:22):
Blood retracts to your heart.

Speaker 6 (54:25):
I mean, so all the blood is leaving your extremities
and moving because the body is trying to protect itself,
and so you're you know, I mean, as it's protecting itself,
it's really ensuring that it's going to die in a sense,
because you can't move, you can't do anything, You're you're
completely not functioning at that point.

Speaker 5 (54:46):
I mean that's how people drown or die. And extremely
cold water is there.

Speaker 6 (54:50):
You know that that that the blood rushes to your
heart and you feel you feel the tingling in your hands.

Speaker 5 (54:56):
If you've ever been swimming in really cold.

Speaker 6 (54:58):
Water, when you start to feel your fingertips getting numb,
you've got to be heading also.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
I mean this has happened to me, where you know,
you sort of get in extremely cold water and it
takes your breath away. It's so cold you can't even breathe.
It's just a shock to your entire system. Okay, have
you guys had frostbite? I don't think I've had like.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
Medical really cold but not from teeny tiny.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
Bit two times, but like got the hell out of
the snow and got immediate treatment in warm water.

Speaker 5 (55:29):
But it's, you know, something wece you've had this happen.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
I was a stupid California girl who didn't have warm and.

Speaker 3 (55:37):
Definitely definitely as a kid been like the toes get
so cold that you're in excruciating pain and that sort
of stuff. I don't know if that's considered frostbite or
close to frostbite.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
I didn't have boots. I had some more clos had
them some gloves, but my ankles, and when I got in,
I went, why are my ankles there? They look like
that was sipped out the warm water and stuff because
your little marks. And I had the wind blow Edmund
to Alberta, always a fun place. The wind blew through
my pants and I went, what are these big red

(56:09):
patches on my legs? And yeah, so but not pretty?
Yeah yeah, Like I said, this was just the first
part of frostbite, when it first becomes frost's bite, and
was treated immediately, and it was horrible.

Speaker 3 (56:23):
I can't even all right, So again it's just episode
is just an episode of horrors.

Speaker 6 (56:28):
Yeah, so it's it spills. It's one tragedy after another.
I mean, things are getting worse and worse and worse.
Uh So Charles and Charles and Edwards find, they shuffle
in the snow, they find the kids, they get them,
They decide they very quickly. They got to get them
out of there because the shed could collapse in the wind,
so that would be worse.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
But but Carl and Alicia are not with.

Speaker 5 (56:53):
Them, unfound found, and so Edwards keeps.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
Which is dangerous and it dablished.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
This man lost a family years ago, he lost a
child because they stopped us plocked and his wife and
daughter die of an epidemic at some point was mentioned.
So this is not good that mister Edwards is snow
in the position possibly losing four children.

Speaker 3 (57:16):
All right, So Charles is bringing the girls back to school,
and on the way back they find poor mister McGinnis,
Henry's father dead the ad debt like, he doesn't even
check his pulse, dead like it is.

Speaker 5 (57:31):
Confirmed, there's nothing we can do.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
Dead.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
The moment that the girls see him, and you see
Laura just quickly turn around and Mary just sort of
cradles her into her, It's just a terrifying, shocking moment.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
This episode.

Speaker 7 (57:47):
And he has to explain to the children, No, we're
leaving him here. That thing we can do, children, but
nothing we can do.

Speaker 5 (57:53):
We have to go.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
We're going to literally leave this guy dead in the
snow and walk away. How do you tell school children?

Speaker 5 (57:59):
Nah?

Speaker 3 (58:00):
Okay, So now we're back in the schoolhouse. Grace is
spiraling now officially where not only does she say that
she felt jealous when uh was it Joey came and
and every she was so happy that and she was
she was like where are my kids? I felt, and
she felt ashamed that she felt jealous, She felt angry
about it that it wasn't her children. But she is

(58:22):
starting to unravel. I think I would be exactly the
same weight way and and she's like, I can't just
sit here. I have to go. I have to go,
and Carolyn is like we cannot go, and and then.

Speaker 7 (58:41):
Uh, I mean.

Speaker 1 (58:46):
Charles, and Carolyn's almost slapping her. She goes into a
panic bote I'm gonna go out. I'm gonna go out
into the snow. And I'm amazed they psychologically went there,
because that's totally a thing. When she says I felt jealous.
I couldn't believe it. I was called it, but I
went why is her kid alive? That she actually got
jealous that they actually went there, because you hear about
like survival guilt, and then here's someone going, why are

(59:09):
you alive? And my kids you're not here? That these horrible,
horrible situations bringing about these kind of emotions to terrible
This lovely woman who's a very good, super nice, good
Christian woman suddenly feeling that she's angry at this woman
because her kid's alive, and realizing how crazy that sounds
that they talked about this in nineteen seventy four or five,

(59:33):
whenever the hell this thing came out. That's amazing. Actually,
these did the dark turns that people take under this
kind of presuently.

Speaker 3 (59:43):
Also note that mister Hansen and mister Olsen come back.
They've been searching, searching, searching this whole time. I loved
this scene. It's such a small little scene, but it
is so telling. Where they finally get in the school house,
they don't even make it inside. They just sit on
the bench right right inside the door, and they look terrible,

(01:00:07):
and mister Olsen immediately falls asleep, and mister Hansen's like,
he can't hear you right now. He is asleep. Total exhaustion,
total exhaustion. And they still wanted to go out and
search more. And they're like no, no, no, sure you
are not going back out again.

Speaker 5 (01:00:25):
Okay, there was a moment.

Speaker 6 (01:00:29):
We're talking about Grace sort of coming unglued here and.

Speaker 5 (01:00:34):
There's a moment and they don't really explain it.

Speaker 6 (01:00:36):
Maybe the two of you picked up on something, so
she's really losing it.

Speaker 5 (01:00:39):
An off camera, a woman screams yes, and there's no.

Speaker 6 (01:00:46):
There's no explanation of this one has to presume that
someone has expired.

Speaker 3 (01:00:53):
Henry's mister McGinnis's wife finding out that her husband was dead.

Speaker 5 (01:00:59):
What it was that was.

Speaker 3 (01:01:00):
Because Charles comes back, the doc is like, where is he?
And he says, he's he's dead. I found him. And
then the doctor you see walking back slowly into the
room to deliver the news. Grace then starts losing it,
so camera's on Grace, and then we hear in the
background the cry which is Doc Baker has just delivered
the news.

Speaker 5 (01:01:20):
We just don't see that, which is.

Speaker 3 (01:01:23):
Hearing it in the background, and that house of realizing
what has just happened, and.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
How many shows or TV movies would have immediately swung
around and we'd have had a big scene with the
woman whose husband had just died, whaling and drama in
that little house, we don't. We go to this woman
talking about I don't know what I'm gonna do with him,
and meanwhile we hear the screams of a mother who's
now lost her husband, and you're like, and that's just sorry.
People are dying in the background. Oh yeah, it's it's

(01:01:53):
just there.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
It's brutal, Okay, But then what happens is it's.

Speaker 5 (01:02:01):
We cut to mister Edwards is still searching.

Speaker 3 (01:02:03):
Now is it the next dish?

Speaker 5 (01:02:05):
And that's the end of Actor right.

Speaker 3 (01:02:07):
Goes to sleep. The Edwards and the kids are still
not back. The next morning, Charles wakes up. He's the
first one to wake up in the schoolhouse. He opens
the shutters to the windows. The storm is over. It's over,
and in that moment, but at least the lizard itself
is over. That's when the door's open and mister Edwards
and Carla and Lisia arrive safe and sound.

Speaker 5 (01:02:32):
They'll be hungover for a while.

Speaker 3 (01:02:33):
He says, yeah, they're all drunk.

Speaker 5 (01:02:40):
Or something.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
Yeah, it's totally the elong John's through the river kind
of thing. Mister Edwards always survives the unsurvivable and burst
through the door, goes, I'm here, Merry Christmas. This is
his thing and he's done it again. And what did
he say, my son? He could he could teach an
Eskimo how to build a snowhouse, because apparently he is
a survivalist child and built himself a snow structure which

(01:03:03):
indeed would have protected body he lived.

Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
So in this moment, this is yet again another horrifyingly
devastating moment. So everyone's cheering and laughing and thanking God
that they've arrived and everyone's saving sound. And then we
turn around and see poor Missus McGinnis and her son Henry,
who are the ones who have indeed lost their husband
and father in this thing, and everyone seems to have

(01:03:29):
forgotten that for a moment. It is devastating to see.
And then Charles, who was supposed to didn't they say
he was supposed to give a sermon the next day.

Speaker 5 (01:03:39):
He was going to give it because.

Speaker 3 (01:03:44):
And then Charles opens up the Bible and reads the
passage about the birth of Jesus Christ. I bring you
a great titant of joy. And that's how this frickin
episode ends. People, and I am a disaster at the
end of this episode, I have to tell you, I'm

(01:04:06):
I I mean, I kept saying like, oh, I am grace,
that would have been me, that would have been me,
I am grace. The pain of a mother like that,
I cannot even This episode was a rough and beautiful
and amazing, but really tough. That's when my husband walked in.
I went this episode was really sad.

Speaker 6 (01:04:29):
You know, I can't help but wonder if in Michael's
mind as he was laying out the season, that he
did not design this in his mind as being the
Christmas episode. I mean, why would you do it? Why
would you do it in January? Everyone's past that. But
I'm thinking I'm thinking that NBC said you just can't

(01:04:53):
do that to the audience five days before Chris.

Speaker 1 (01:04:57):
Episode, because it's that thing of like, Okay, everything has
gone so bad and we know that many people are dead.
Besides yeah, mister, because we know how bad it is.
That we know it's you know, because I said the
big bills are killed hundreds, so we know it's horrible.
Many people are gonna be found dead in the next
few days. And but then it's like, oh, right, it's Christmas,
because it's Christmas, even all the things. And he goes, well,

(01:05:17):
I guess I'm doing the thing. And he reads the
Christmas Story and it's like it's okay, it's like the
Peanuts special when Linus don and yes, but it's Christmas
and this is why we're here and this is why
we have Christmas and start sorry about the Savior and
you're like really now, well, but it's.

Speaker 7 (01:05:36):
Little right, and that you lean on.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
They are going to lean on God because that is
what they're going to do, because this.

Speaker 3 (01:05:43):
Is I did wonder, And obviously, yes it's a Christmas episode,
and yes that is the passage you're going to read.
But I did wonder. There's no other passage in the
Bible that would comfort these people a little bit more.
But unless unless the meaning of that passage is exactly
what you said, which obviously true, which is their leaning
on God now to get them through this.

Speaker 6 (01:06:06):
But I mean, I think that's as not being an
overtly in any way really a religious person at all.

Speaker 5 (01:06:15):
I always feel like, you know, the.

Speaker 6 (01:06:16):
Bible as I look at it, the Bible or as
I look at it, the Bible is there to help
explain things that at the time it was written could
not be explained any other way. And it's to give
people hope and comfort and the sense that we will
be okay and we can find some logic for all
of this whatever this is that we're facing right now.

(01:06:39):
And I think that's the power of it, and that's
why in times of crisis we turn to that because
we need that hope.

Speaker 1 (01:06:46):
Well, the crazy thing too, is that the gist is
the ideas and we says for us as born a savior.
Is that all right? Anyone who's dead and being in
Wolnut Groven attending church Rivenaldo, even Jesus, So they're going
to heaven there he maybe did his body and we
are going to see them again with Jesus in heaven

(01:07:08):
and we are going to talk to Jesus and turn
in prayer during our suffering and all of that is
a guaranteed thing that they have been talking about for
the whole show and all of their lives, et cetera,
would be a thing. And I read a fascinating book
what it's called. It was a religious writer and he
was talking about crazy things that people have taken from

(01:07:31):
the way they think about God is like some sort
of slot machine, you know, handing out gifts that you know,
people people praying to God for their bossars, their Emmys,
their sports teams. Yeah, not so much kids, and saying
like people you know don't quite understand. And the phrase
he used that was kind of like whoa. That's what
he said. Your car is broken down the middle of

(01:07:54):
the nowhere in a snow bank. There's no phones, there's
no anything. No Jesus isn't the one who come and
sends the triple a truck. Jesus isn't the one who
does it. Jesus lays down with you in the snow
bank and dies along. So now that's pretty harsh sounding,
but when you think about it, that's what it is.

(01:08:15):
That the relationship with God. The idea is that it's
something that if everything is gone, everything is gone, everything
is good, everything's gone bad. Yes, you are going to die.
I know that all the exits are out, that somehow,
this presence, this thing is still with you.

Speaker 3 (01:08:31):
You count alone.

Speaker 1 (01:08:33):
Yes, that's the that's where there's.

Speaker 3 (01:08:36):
Anyone can get with that. I mean that that can
be a universal message for sure. And what a comfort
in that as well.

Speaker 5 (01:08:45):
Yes, yes you're not alone.

Speaker 3 (01:08:47):
And of course you'd lean on that in the face
of tragedy and devastation. Of course you would. You'd be
crazy not to. How else would you get through anything? Yeah?
All right, well.

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
Where music can get The credits.

Speaker 3 (01:09:07):
Ruin all of it. Oh my gosh, even when the
ending credits even came on, I was like, no, God, no,
I thought of you.

Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
I thought of you. I laughed so hard because no
sooner has he said, you know, And the word of
the Lord. Amen didn't and.

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
That is he is really dead. He is dead. Yeah,
I even haven't my notes ending credits dash in all
BA crap letters and he ruined. Just why why did
you have an alternate ending credit? Like why there are shows,

(01:09:52):
very episodes they have different ending credits so that it's
not a happy joyous thing?

Speaker 5 (01:09:58):
Was that was not? Doesn't Michael? That was not Michael.

Speaker 3 (01:10:03):
It is such.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
We could have had another piece of David Rose, could
have went into the course, but that's not what you're.

Speaker 3 (01:10:09):
Going out with us. Kill it's so inappropriate. It's I
was going to say kill joy, but it's not really joy.
They're killing. But it's just inappropriate.

Speaker 6 (01:10:20):
It's format. It's format, yes, and you are you have
a format. You open this way, you close this way,
you bridge this way. That's how we do this, and
that's that's what it'sive.

Speaker 3 (01:10:35):
It feels abusive. It feels like you are an abusive relation,
like am Id is dead in the snow as guess.

Speaker 5 (01:10:48):
Well, let's do our own version of that right now,
take us out of this.

Speaker 3 (01:10:52):
Deep do do do do. Thanks for joining us, everybody,
We will see you next time. Listen, We appreciate you.
Being here. Come join us on our website Little House
fifty podcast dot com or our socials Little House fifty Podcast.
I'm exhausted and traumatized. I'm sure you are too. Anyway,

(01:11:15):
let's end this thing, Bob, get the wig, let's fly,
or perhaps we'll sled down the hill this time.

Speaker 5 (01:11:23):
And don't get lost in the deep stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:11:26):
Were your goratees and your waterproofs?

Speaker 1 (01:11:29):
Please had a compass? Don't had a compass.

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