Post 18:
“School Mom”

From 13-Year-Old Anne’s Journal —

November 23, 1982 – GOOD

“Miss Beadle sprained her ankle & Caroline had to teach. This one kid named Abel was dumb and she taught him how to read & he wasn’t dumb anymore.”

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From Tracy —

This is one of the episodes I look at completely differently now as an adult. Especially as an adult woman. I hadn’t noticed or at least understood the wistfulness on Caroline’s face all through the show. Maybe I’m putting too much post-feminism into it but it seems as if she’s realizing that she’s not living up to her full potential by being a mother and housewife only. It’s really poignant.
I love how strong Caroline is in the episode and I love how she stands up to Mrs. Oleson instead of going with her usual tactic of turning the other cheek. Pa’s pretty irresistible in this episode too. He lets Ma make the decisions, isn’t threatened by any of it, and playfully uses reverse psychology on her.
At the very end when Caroline walks out of the school I really wanted her to throw her bonnet up in the air in triumph ala Mary Tyler Moore.
Now here’s something I also never noticed as a kid. I’ve watched the really exciting runaway carriage scene with Miss Beadle at least four times and unless that’s genius editing, it look like the actress herself does the stunt! That’s a mighty impressive fall.
Oh and kids? Snakes and horse don’t mix!!

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From Anne —

OK, get out the handkerchiefs. Anything related to the salvational powers of education gets my tear ducts working. But before all that, you’re right: the opening scene with the runaway snake-spooked horse who gives Miss Beadle multiple fractures is one the best action scenes in the whole series (aside from Laura pushing Nellie down a hill in a wheelchair). Can’t quite say that the stuntwoman is definitely the actress, Charlotte Stewart, but it might be. (Oh, did you know that “Miss Beadle” later appeared in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks?)

Your feminist read on this episode is right on, Trace. Imagine — it’s 1974, the height of popularity of the Equal Rights Amendment and Ms. Magazine. Karen Grassle herself worked on domestic violence issues and wrote the TV movie, Battered.

[Given her deadly bat swing, she should have been drafted by the Cubs — they were founded around this time, 1870.]

There were times in this episode when I thought Ma and Abel were going to run away together. Lotta love there. But, as usual, my synopsis is startlingly, starkly unromantic.