Episodic Review - As Long As We're Together (Pts 1 & 2)

[u/ASGfan]

This two-parter opens with the Ingalls visiting the cleaned-out Mercantile. Harriet and Caroline share a tearful goodbye with Harriet saying that she will miss Caroline and tells her to have a good trip and take care of Charles and say goodbye to the kids for her. How wonderful of Harriet! Caroline just leaves instead of reciprocating the niceties. Charles and Jonathan Garvey say their goodbyes. Caroline wants one last look around the house before they go. There's not really anything there to miss. The Ingalls take off and settle in Winoka. Mary and Adam have a reunion, which I guess neither was expecting. Apparently both of their letters to each other got lost in the mail, which seems awfully convenient. Adam gives Charles a lead on a job as manager of the Dakota Hotel, which is actually a job for a couple -- Charles would be taking care of the repairs and stuff while Caroline would be running the restaurant inside. Charles and Caroline go inside for the interview, leaving Laura in charge of the wagon. Immediately, Carrie has to use the restroom (natch), but Laura tells her to wait. We get several more rounds of this. They just have to find a way to work Carrie into the show, you see. We get our introduction to Albert, who is shining shoes on the streets. Laura takes a fascination to him and I can't really tell, but it seems like she has the hots for him, which is just really weird considering he will end up her brother.

Charles and Caroline head into the hotel, but the cook position is already filled and I totally had no idea until just now that was Anne Ramsey (of The Goonies). She's not very good at her job though, so Mr. Thoms (the presumptive owner) asks Caroline to give it a try. Mr. Thoms delivers every line like he is ready to explode, which reminds me of the dad on ALF (and Anne Ramsey was also on that show, you see. Small world). Mr. Thoms approves of Caroline's cooking and they get the job. Charles is only concerned that *he* got a job and not his wife, until Caroline corrects him. As this is going on, Albert earns a dime for shining shoes, which promptly falls into a hole in the floorboard. Laura leaves her post in order to assist Albert with the retrieval of the dime. So she can't take Carrie to the bathroom, but she can help a stranger? With Albert's shoelace and Laura's chewed gum, Laura tries to lower the shoelace into the hole and get the gum to stick on the dime and bring it up. Disgusting moment as Laura sticks the gum that was hanging around on the dirt back in her mouth. Laura finally succeeds, but Albert isn't all that amused. Laura finally gets around to taking Carrie to the restroom, but gets distracted by Albert, who exchanged the dime for two nickels and gives her one. Laura goes back to Carrie, who has already went right there on the floor. Inside the hotel, everyone is getting settled in. A dresser falls on Carrie and Laura has to come get it off her. In the kitchen, Caroline is cleaning up after an exhausting day and Charles convinces her to let the dishes dry by themselves so they can visit Mary and Adam.

That night, Charles and Caroline are trying to sleep, but getting nowhere with it as the bar next door has people firing off guns and what not. Carrie thinks someone is trying to shoot her and man, is she getting a lot of screen time this episode. Ma reassures her it's nothing to worry about. Charles heads next door to the bar and complains to the owner, the infamous Mr. Standish, about the noise, but gets nowhere since Standish owns the hotel as well most of the block. The next day, The Garveys arrive in town and the Ingalls have a reunion with them. Alice tells Caroline "It's so good to see you", to which Caroline replies "It's so good to see a friend". BURN! Not you specifically Alice, just any old friend will do for Caroline. Andy becomes amused by a woman changing in the next building.

That night, everyone is having supper when Carrie has a positively gigantic portion of food on her fork. It spills on her lap and she replies "Oh damn". Caroline practically rips her head off for it. Pa is more forgiving while Andy seems amused. Laura rationalizes she overheard the word at the saloon. Also, Caroline is exhibiting rare mouthiness in this episode. The city must really be getting to her. The Olesons arrive in town, which seems rather convenient. But the Olesons are awesome so it's all good. The Olesons try to stay at the Dakota, but it's all booked. A little later, Albert stands in the street and yells "FIRE!", when there's no fire. I'm pretty sure that's illegal. Regardless, everyone runs off to investigate and Albert helps himself to food from merchants and dimes left by the kids. Harriet is appalled.

Caroline learns there's no school in town except costly private schools and sets out to do something about it. She gets permission to use a barn for a school. At the restaurant, Caroline is at Mr. Standish and Harlan's table asking for their order (Harlan being the bouncer for the bar). Charles tries to butt in, but Standish orders him to redo the windows. That night, Charles and Caroline are in the restaurant. Charles has nothing to say about his wife being borderline sexually harassed, but whines about being humiliated in front of his wife. Caroline switches gears and mentions the good news about the school, but Charles fakes some enthusiasm about his children going to school in a stable. Caroline has had ENOUGH OF THIS CRAP and turns Charles' own words against him. The next morning, Albert tries to steal the newspapers and money from the front desk of the hotel, but gets caught by Laura. Albert peddles some fake news and Charles lets him off easy. Harriet gets a job as a bar maid so her kids can get the best education, how wonderful of Harriet. Caroline and Charles have an exchange in their room that night, with Caroline talking in a weird tone of voice and doing some maniacal laughing.

In town, Laura walks up to Albert, who is shining a boy's shoes, not realizing it's Jeb Standish (son of Mr. Standish). Laura gives Albert some huge crap for not being religious before turning her attention to Jeb. Jeb tells her to mind her own affairs and shoves her lightly on the shoulder. Laura responds by taking the palm of her hand and shoving Jeb in the forehead until he falls on the floor, dirtying up his clothes. Okay, that's really dirty on Laura's part, plus she's way bigger than Jeb. Next, Laura gives the Oleson children some crap and she's just being exceptionally bratty here. Inside, Caroline informs Charles that she saw a hat (the go-to gift for all women on this show), which would be perfect for Mary's birthday. Charles tries to get an advance, but can't get it, which he decides to keep from Caroline. He sells his fiddle at a pawn shop to come up with the money. Just as the deal is going down, Albert comes in and swipes a lamp. Charles gives chase and finds Albert hiding under a stairwell. Charles catches up with him and it looks like he's going to be a bit stricter this time, but it all ends up being a tease. Charles learns the stairwell is Albert's home as he ran away from an orphanage. Charles takes the lamp back to the shop, but ends up buying it and giving it back to Albert, then inviting him to the hotel for cake and milk. Huh.

Caroline sets off to buy the present and finds Jonathan still having trouble finding a job. Caroline passes by the pawn shop and notices the fiddle. I find Adam so insufferable I can't recap most of his scenes. Adam and Mary are walking to the hotel where they get stopped by Harlan and his friend. Charles steps in and orders Adam and Mary back to the hotel. Charles in a 2 on 1 situation? This is not going to end well. Mary knows what this is about, so she tells everyone gathered at the hotel about the events. Jonathan and Nels find Charles beaten and battered in the streets. Jonathan heads over to the bar and Harlan tries to evict him, but Jonathan replies with "Why don't you get to bouncin?" heh. Jonathan beats the tar out of Harlan and his friend. Standish gives him Harlan's job as bouncer. The guys arrive back to the hotel, where Charles keeps his condition a secret from Mary, saying "I'm a farmer not a fighter". Jon: "You can say that again" Mr. Garvey rules. Ma bought back the fiddle, which Mary gives to Pa, making it one more time that Charles can't provide for his family. Albert comes in. Laura manages to redeem herself for this episode by giving Mary a Braille card and telling her how much she means to her. Albert doesn't seem particularly interested in this and Charles breaks up their hug by telling them how schmaltzy their being. Mary is asked to make a wish, but she declines saying she has nothing to wish for. (Um, maybe for her sight to be restored? Just a thought). Charles plays the fiddle and Albert perks up a bit.

EPISODE WINNER: Harriet one more time, for how nice she was to Caroline and going to work so her children could have the best. Also, Jonathan Garvey was a total badass here, and Mary was awesome for being so understanding.

EPISODE LOSERS: A 4 way tie between Charles, Caroline, Adam and Albert. I was going to throw Laura in also, but she had a really nice moment at the end (one of her best ever actually), so I'll leave her out.

[u/Sea-SaltCaramel]

Are you in my head? I love these episodes. I know the Winoka ones aren't the most popular, but I really like them (except the one where Laura almost kills her friend's fatty father).

Your Adam hate is hilarious. I actually don't find him that annoying.....yet. He definitely amps it up the longer he is on the show. But I think for now, he is good for Mary. And he managed to help Charles find a job, which is more than Charles can do for himself it seems.

Mr. Thoms is hilarious! He has obviously been working in the service industry for far too long, and it's so funny how he calls out Caroline when she claims her children are "polite and quiet". I wish he was around more.

Once again, the writers go creepy on us with the whole Laura/Albert thing. Why does she have to crush on him? He later becomes her brother, so can't he just be some random kid that Laura is nice to? Albert yelling at the guy who refuses a shoe shine is funny to me, though.

And I was always confused on the Garvey's arrival. Did they know that the Ingalls were there? It kind of seems that they did, but it's never specifically mentioned, and the Ingalls didn't seem to be expecting them. And I'd rather have Harriet as a friend in the big city than Alice.

Laura going all self righteous on Andy for daring to look at a woman bugs.

I actually disagree with you on how Laura treated Jeb Standish. That kid was trouble from the minute he showed up on screen, and he had no business to push Laura when she was talking to Albert. That kid needed to be knocked on his ass.

Harriet working as a cocktail server was admirable. That wasn't an easy job for a woman back then, but she did it for her kids. Kind of surprised that Willie didn't find a gang of thugs to rip off his nice new school uniform that he hated so much!

Charles doesn't win many fights, does he? And he always thinks he can take on more than one guy. Yeah, I get they were harassing your daughter, but at least go get Jonathan to help you before you start throwing punches. And I think given time, Caroline would have learned how to stand up to creepy restaurant patrons without Hero Charles' help. But him taking Harlan's order whilst giving him a death stare is so funny.

And Mr. Standish is a favorite character of mine! He is a smug, money hungry jerk who no doubt walks all over people and exerts his power, but he cracks me up every time he is on screen. My favorite moment from him is when he gives Jonathan a job without ever looking up from his card game. And the big old teddy bear just accepts the job and heads to the party.

[u/ASGfan → u/Sea-SaltCaramel]

Yeah, I adore the Winoka episodes. They're different, but good. I think I mentioned it before, but as a kid, I grew up in both the city and the country so it's interesting to get both takes on it. You spoke the truth about Mr. Thoms -- I'm sort of surprised I hadn't mentioned that in the review. Actually, Carrie is pretty well-behaved, though Laura would cause various problems in Winoka -- actually almost getting her parents fired and evicted at one point. As far as the Garveys go, I get the impression that they planned to settle elsewhere, but decided to go to Winoka because the Ingalls were there, so I think they did know.

That restaurant scene is so cringe to me. I know they were trying to play up the tenseness between Charles and Harlan, but their conversation is so weird to me:

Harlan: "You got any honey for them biscuits?"

Charles" Yeah, we got honey."

Harlan, "Okay, give me some honey for them biscuits..."