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\n The Ingalls and James ladies get to know each other, and the results are mixed.
\n Photo: ERIC ZACHANOWICH\/NETFLIX\n <\/p>\n
If \u201cA Circle of Blue Sky\u201d teaches us anything, it\u2019s that no matter how badly you want to start over or how idyllic your home looks, you\u2019re always going to run into super shitty people. Assholes and racists are everywhere, we know this \u2014 and now the Ingallses do too.<\/p>\n
Caroline has been invited to a meeting of the Women\u2019s Society led by Jemma James, which gives Mary and Laura the perfect opportunity to spend some time with Jemma and Eli\u2019s twin daughters, Romanzy and Edith. Mary is thrilled \u2014 she does well with, uh, indoor girls \u2014 and Laura is full of anxiety. It doesn\u2019t help that instead of sticking together as a team, both are instead hellbent on showing up the other. Mary has already claimed this outing as her domain, but Laura bets her that she can win over the James twins.<\/p>\n
Romanzy and Edith are exactly like their mother in that they\u2019re both terrible. The fact that Romanzy has that much bluster while wearing two pom-poms on her head \u2014 I don\u2019t care what the fashion was at the time \u2014 really tells you everything you need to know about her. Still, Mary is desperate to make them her friends, and Laura is desperate to get in Mary\u2019s way. They are very much in Mary\u2019s wheelhouse here, playing dress up and pretending to be high society women, and it doesn\u2019t help that anytime Laura makes a comment that the twins find off-putting, Mary apologizes for her sister, who has \u201cno taste\u201d and is \u201ca wildling.\u201d Even when Romanzy goes off on how stupid and ugly Caleb is \u2014 and gossips that his parents abandoned him because something must be wrong with him \u2014 Mary goes along with it. But it only takes a couple of crazy adventure stories from Laura to get the twins to pay attention to her. Laura has the upper hand now; she\u2019s the favorite, and she\u2019s more than happy to join the twins in making fun of Mary when they find her talking to Caleb outside. It\u2019s only when the girls start hurling insults directly at Caleb that Laura realizes she didn\u2019t win much of anything.<\/p>\n
Caroline has a similar experience elsewhere in the James house. She\u2019s excited to be included in the Women\u2019s Society, and Jemma doesn\u2019t hide that she\u2019s basically anointed Caroline her right-hand woman. But it\u2019s clear after even just a few minutes that this isn\u2019t really the Independence Women\u2019s Society but Jemma James\u2019s Women\u2019s Society.<\/p>\n
Emily Henderson certainly learns that lesson. Running late because she had to go flirt with George Tann (an acceptable reason), Emily, who clearly took some pains to get dressed up for the event, arrives at the door only for Jemma to play dumb as to why she\u2019d be here. Oh, she tells her, isn\u2019t it clear? This Society is only for the married women of Independence, sorry, babe. Of course Emily and anyone else paying attention understands that \u201cmarried\u201d is just a stand-in for white. It doesn\u2019t take Caroline too long to figure that out either, especially after Jemma explains why she didn\u2019t let Emily into the meeting, and another woman pipes up that she\u2019s not married, either. But this woman is from a \u201crespectable\u201d \u2014 again, white \u2014 family. \u201cWhat\u2019s not respectable about running the biggest store in Independence?\u201d Caroline asks Jemma.<\/p>\n
It takes a little while, but eventually, Caroline does confront Jemma in front of the entire group and brings up that it doesn\u2019t seem right that not all the women in the community are allowed in this group. She doesn\u2019t note how insane and blatantly racist it is for Jemma to go on about getting women the vote and giving them a voice, but excluding any woman of color, but that would\u2019ve been a good point, too. When no one else in the room backs her up, Caroline leaves and takes the girls with her.<\/p>\n
Caroline finds Emily at the store, clearly hurt but being brave about it. When Caroline apologizes, Emily tells her that there are \u201cbattles worth fighting and Jemma James isn\u2019t one of them.\u201d They giggle thinking about Caroline walking out on her in her own home. This scene and the budding friendship between Caroline and Emily are sweet, but the fact that Little House seems to go to great pains to avoid saying the word \u2018racism\u2019 or even \u2018Black person\u2019 is hard to ignore. Sure, this series leans toward a family-oriented tone, but isn\u2019t that the perfect kind of show to have a thoughtful discussion about this? As we\u2019ve seen with its handling of the tensions between the white settlers and the Osage, Little House clearly has decided, at least so far this season, that alluding to rather than explicitly talking about any violence or discrimination is the way. But this is a show that isn\u2019t shy in pointing out everyone is walking around with both physical and emotional wounds from the Civil War; it shouldn\u2019t be afraid to get a little more into what that war was about. At the very least, it shouldn\u2019t stop short of letting Caroline connect Emily\u2019s treatment with how she, up to this point, has felt about the Osage. We\u2019re glossing over some important themes, motivating factors, and history here.<\/p>\n
The Ingalls ladies aren\u2019t the only ones who have to deal with the bottom of the Independence barrel today. Charles is in town to begin construction on the church. The endeavor gets interrupted when scummy Russell shows up to declare he\u2019s taken it upon himself to arrest the person who has been stealing everyone\u2019s horses and unmasks the \u201cdegenerate\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s John Edwards. Edwards looks even more broken than before, and even with friends in the crowd \u2014 Charles, Dr. Tann, and Mitchell are all there \u2014 he declines to defend himself. It\u2019s Lacey who comes to his rescue first: it turns out Edwards won a bunch of Russell\u2019s money not too long ago, and he\u2019s pissed. She\u2019s about to draw her gun when Eli James steps in and tries to diffuse the situation by putting it off until the Marshal he\u2019s having come down to Independence arrives. Neither Lacey, Charles, nor Mitchell is convinced this is in any way going to help Edwards, and instead ride off to find Mitchell\u2019s brother-in-law, Little Puma, who seems to know about all the happenings in the area \u2014 if someone is stealing horses, he\u2019ll know about it.<\/p>\n
As one may have guessed, Little Puma isn\u2019t exactly enthusiastic about helping out with a settler problem. \u201cYour squatter friends can figure it out for themselves,\u201d he tells Mitchell when they first arrive. But, as Mitchell reminds him, some Osage horses have been stolen, too. This is becoming everyone\u2019s problem. He leads them to the actual thieves \u2014 a group of idiotic kids who are definitely unprepared to take on this crew of adults \u2014 and they get the horses back. Charles even successfully argues to let the thieves go as long as they promise never to come back. Lacey hates this idea, but the group decides to go with showing mercy this time around. At least Pet and Patty will return home, and Edwards will be released.<\/p>\n
So, if Edwards is innocent, why didn\u2019t he stand up for himself? As he confesses to Dr. Tann, today marks six years since he returned from the war and found his wife and daughters dead from cholera. He thought maybe this was his answer \u2014 this could be the end, and he might be able to join his family. This man has actually never been sadder \u2014 and remember how sad he was before? Dr. Tann tries to get through to him, reminding him that there are people here who care about him and he should let them. Edwards needs to, deserves to, start thinking about a future for himself.<\/p>\n
It seems that the pep talk might work, or, at least, might be the beginning of Edwards wanting to turn things around, because when he runs into Charles again \u2014 Charles, who won\u2019t stand for just a handshake because come on, brothers gotta hug \u2014 he takes him up on his offer to join the Ingalls family for dinner. And he brings Lacey.<\/p>\n
There is laughter and music, and when Edwards has trouble getting through a song he says he used to sing for his girls, it\u2019s Caroline who helps him through it. It\u2019s a quiet, moving gesture to resolve any lingering tension or guilt between these two. There may be shitty people afoot in Independence, but not in that little house, not tonight.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Laura sees that Mary is still upset by what happened at the James house and attempts to smooth things over with a cookie and acknowledging how awful the twins are, but Mary isn\u2019t ready to forgive her sister just yet.<\/p>\n
\u2022 After Charles saves Mr. Scott when he almost dies helping Charles dig out a well, everyone\u2019s calling him a hero. This changes quickly once Charles is asked where he fought in the war, and he admits that he stayed home to help his father with the farm. \u201cI guess some people don\u2019t think the rules apply to them,\u201d one of the other men tosses his way. Not joining up for the war effort isn\u2019t going to go over well with a lot of these men.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Lest you think Charles\u2019s fever dream and chat with Caroline fully healed his grief and guilt over his brother, while he\u2019s frantically trying to save Mr. Scott, he calls him George. Once again, lost in that memory of losing his brother.<\/p>\n
\u2022 I know we\u2019ve established that Charles is naive \u2014 Caroline\u2019s words \u2014 but are we really to believe he has no idea what\u2019s actually going on with how the US Government is dealing with Indigenous people? When Mitchell explains he was meeting with the new Indian Agent, Isaac Gibson, and refers to the land deal as a \u201cremoval agreement,\u201d Charles seems shocked by what that implies. Wake up, my guy!<\/p>\n
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