My TV-watching habits typically fall into two categories lately. The first is true crime and cartel programming. The more grisly the better. The second is classic TV from my childhood or the decades before I was born. One of my favorites is Little House on the Prairie — I think it originally aired before my time, but I grew up watching reruns with my mom. We'd read the books together when I was a little girl, as well. My mom also watched the show pretty religiously during her final years. My point is that Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family almost felt like close friends rather than TV characters based on historical figures.
When I learned that Netflix was going to do a remake, I wanted nothing to do with it. There are some classic works of art that Hollywood shouldn't touch, and I'd consider that one of them. No one could replace the characters played by Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert, and company.
On top of that, I kept reading that the new show would be "woke." While I'm not one to just turn my nose up at TV, movies, or music that may not align with my political or social views, the forced wokeification of various forms of media lately is tedious and exhausting. Given that it's on Netflix, I wouldn't have been shocked if the Ingalls were made out to be a black family and Laura was trans instead of a tomboy or something. But that wasn't the case.
When the show finally debuted earlier this month, I sat down one night and gave it a few minutes. And I will admit that after a few minutes, I turned it off. Something about it was off-putting, and I switched to a true crime documentary.
But fast forward to this past Saturday evening. I'd had a bad day, and on top of that, I wasn't feeling all that great. (Nothing major — I'd just been working my tail off outside in the hot Georgia summer sun for two days and got a little dehydrated.) I got into bed with my fluids, and a friend suggested I watch something lighthearted — something that didn't involve murder and chaos. I pulled up my Netflix account, and there sat the unfinished episode of the new Little House on the Prairie, so I decided to give it another shot. I figured I wouldn't get past the first episode. I ended up watching four that night, and I just finished it up on Monday night.
I'm so glad I did, and now I can't wait for a second season. Here are my thoughts.
Is the show woke? No, not really. It does feature more prominent black and Native American characters, but to be honest, those were some of my favorite characters. There is a minor storyline about racism, and there is some debate about the land belonging to the Osage tribes, but all of that was just background noise — nothing I haven't seen or heard a million times on TV growing up in the 1980s and 1990s.
To me, the real meat of the show is the hardworking, adventurous Ingalls family and how they survive after leaving everything they know to live in unknown territory, and the relationships they make along the way. It was heartwarming, almost saccharine, but in a good way. Problems are easily solved, and drama resolves itself quickly. If I had children, I'd not only let them watch but make sure they did because you won't find much cleaner television these days.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see that it doesn't gloss over or apologize for the family's Christian faith. They sing hymns, they pray, they built a new church and welcomed a new preacher to town, and they celebrate Christmas (that's one of the best episodes).
All of that said, there was still something off-putting about it, and I finally realized what it was after I finished it up last night. It was the actor who played Charles Ingalls, Luke Bracey. Michael Landon was perfect for this role and did such a good job with it that it's hard to imagine anyone but him playing Pa. Bracey had big shoes to fill, which almost isn't fair, but I just didn't feel he even came close.
The actresses who played his family, particularly Crosby Fitzgerald, who plays Caroline, and Skywalker Hughes, who plays Mary, completely outshone him. Bracey's Charles Ingalls felt somewhat simple-minded and overly polished. I wanted a rugged Pa who fiercely protects his girls and loves them even harder, the rock and heart of a family who still makes big mistakes. What I got was Bracey's version, which felt like they threw some Hollywood golden boy in there and told him to just figure it out.
Bracey is Australian, so there's that (perhaps there was some cultural mismatch), and I read that he said going into the audition he had no clue who Charles Ingalls was and had never read the books or seen the TV show, which felt pretty obvious in the end.
Alice Halsey as Laura Ingalls took some time to grow on me too, but I came around to enjoying her role. She's not Melissa Gilbert, nor is she the Laura I pictured in the books, but she was able to create something uniquely her own.
Fitzgerald's Caroline was one of my favorite characters. She's a talented actress who brought Ma's quiet strength and stubbornness to life. But for me, Hughes' Mary was the star. She's a pretty girl, not exactly the rugged, impoverished prairie resident you might imagine, but her acting is so strong that this is not the first thing you notice. She managed to perfectly embody the character's big sister vibes while weaving in touches of preteen awkwardness and a lack of self-confidence that made the Mary feel real and relatable.
Beyond the Ingalls family, I fell in love with several of the supporting characters. Barrett Doss's Emily Henderson, who runs the local general store, is a strong, independent woman, but it's not thrown in your face like something "woke" would try to do. She's also quite soft and caring and takes care of the people around her. I thought she was great.
But Warren Christie's Mr. Edwards may be the best part of the show. His character felt like an homage to Victor French's iconic version in the original series, but he took that and made it his own. I even left with a little crush on him, and I'm glad to see he'll be part of the second season.
Overall, I recommend it if you're looking for something sweet and easy that you can watch with friends and family members of all ages. My only regret is that there are only eight episodes.
