| "Goodbye, Mrs Wilder" | |
| Season 7, Episode 16 #155 overall in Series | |
| Original air date | February 2, 1981 |
| Episode Guide | |
 IMDb
|
Goodbye, Mrs Wilder |
| Written by | Don Balluck |
| Directed by | William F. Claxton |
| Episode Chronology | |
| Previous episode: Make A Joyful Noise" |
Next episode: "Sylvia (Part 1)" |
Laura finally loses her patience with Harriet Oleson's meddling and "suggestions" for the school. So, Laura resigns and lets Mrs. Oleson run the school, a task she gleefully accepts. She implements French lessons and art appreciation into the curriculum, and makes the children wear uniforms to school. She also refuses to stick up for her son, Willie, and a troublemaking student is allowed to push him around and get away with everything while Willie takes the blame. (In fact, Willie is sent to the corner at least a dozen times by his mother, a series record and all for things he didn't do!)
Albert, with support from Willie, leads a class rebellion against Mrs. Oleson's nonsense, but Laura admonishes him for taking matters into his own hands. Meanwhile, Nels – who supports the more traditional curriculum – says nothing, since he knows he can't get through to his wife, so he allows the visiting regional superintendent of schools to do the talking for him.
Notes[]
- In a way, Mrs. Oleson's run as teacher has an unintended effect on her son, Willie, the perennial troublemaker at school. Early in the episode, he is caught shooting a spitball and disrupts a lesson on homonyms, braying like a donkey when Laura explains to the class that "borough" and "burro" have the same pronunciation; he later complains about the class project on New York (since he believes – mistakenly, since his mother, brother-in-law and Laura's husband, Almanzo, are native to the Empire State – that "none of us will ever visit New York). However, as he grows weary of the subjects his mother is teaching when she takes over the classroom, Willie comes to appreciate the everyday topics that are part of Laura's curriculum ... and he takes an interest in the new agriculture textbook he and the rest of the class are given, and what Laura has in mind to teach upon her return. Willie also comes to appreciate Laura as a teacher, since – at the end of the episode – she disciplines a troublemaking student who had been bullying Willie and making him his mark throughout Mrs. Oleson's run as teacher. After this episode, the "bad student" aspect of Willie's character (mischief, making smart remarks, and academic underachieving) is quietly toned down before being dropped completely midway through Season 8, and it is implied he begins shows better scholastic performance shortly after the events of this episode.
Cast[]
Regulars[]
- Michael Landon: Charles Ingalls
- Karen Grassle: Caroline Ingalls
- Melissa Gilbert: Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Melissa Sue Anderson: Mary Ingalls Kendall
- Lindsay Greenbush: Carrie Ingalls
- Richard Bull: Nels Oleson
- Jonathan Gilbert: Willie Oleson
- Kevin Hagen: Hirim Baker
- Dean Butler: Almanzo Wilder
- Matthew Labyorteaux: Albert Quinn Ingalls
Guest stars[]
- Katherine MacGregor: Harriet Oleson
- Walker Edmiston: Mr. Stohler
External links[]
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| Make A Joyful Noise | Sylvia (Part 1) |