There's a new family in town, but Mary seemed to know plenty about them even from the moment they arrived. She knew the woman, Amelia Stokes, had been captured by some Sioux Indians during a raid in the tail end of the Civil War, and now she's come with her son, Spotted Eagle, back to town, but his grandfather, Jeremy, has forced him to live under the moniker of Joseph Stokes. Got all that? As expected, Jeremy is a dick who is ashamed of his daughter falling in love with a Native American, and he didn't except Spotted Eagle as kin. Next day, Spotted Eagle began his first day of school, the kids had never seen a real, live Indian before, and as expected, several made fun of him. However, he proved to be a math whiz, solving a long addition problem long before Nellie and Seth. Out of envy, and because he's a bigoted moron, Seth wanted to lean on Spotted Eagle after school, but the wily boy took off running. Meanwhile, Caroline tries to get chummy with Amelia, her new neighbor, and she reveals the stories about her being a captive were vicious lies. She ran away and married White Buffalo, and they had a miserable life on the reservation so when he went out for some game, the soldiers killed him for breaking "their rules." Speaking of which, Jeremy forced Spotted Eagle to go to church, and then chastised him when he didn't show the proper respect. This guy's an animal. I don't blame SE for taking off like that.
Laura found him in the woods, doing his own kind of praying. He'd put on face paint to hide himself and wishes he were as free as the eagle. After that, a lovely Sunday picnic was ruined when Jeremy went psycho on Spotted Eagle for wearing what he thought was war paint, but Laura informed the big jerk that he was praying for peace between them. He was actually speechless, even unable to apologize for his actions. Next day, dummy Seth decided to play rodeo by trying to tame his wild horse. He fell off twice, and when he tried to use brute force, Spotted Eagle stopped him, so now it's changed from a rodeo to a fighting match. Eagle knocked him down easily and beat a little sense into him. He then showed everybody the right way to tame a horse: do it in the water. I guess this particular horse is aquatic. After that, Spotted Eagle claimed the horse as his own, per Indian law. But in white man's law, it's called theft. In these times, being a horse thief could get you hung. An infuriated Jeremy took the horse back to the Johnsons', and thankfully Omaha Johnson was a nice guy about it and didn't press charges. But he's actually an abusive prick who makes Seth feel like dirt, which explains why he's such a bully. Finally deciding her father was a horrible person not worth being around, Amelia wanted to leave and Spotted Eagle back to the reservation. As if the boy hadn't been shat on enough, Seth and his co-horts chased him through the woods. Laura ran back to get Charles, but by the time they returned, they found Spotted Eagle beaten within an inch of his life. He didn't let a little thing like that get him down, because almost instantly he went back to school. I guess seeing his grandson all beat to hell managed to dig deep enough and find Jeremy's heart, because he admitted before the whole class that this boy was his kin and he's here to stay.
Powerful episode, and very well done. Well written by Arthur Heinemann, well directed by Victor French, and of course, very well acted. George Murdock was really good as bigoted Jeremy who has a change of heart and becomes good. Willie Aames was good as Seth, one bad seed. Caesar Ramirez was fantastic as Spotted Eagle, and I hear he went on to do very little. I guess it's good Harriet Oleson wasn't in this episode, because I think Spotted Eagle endured enough bigotry from small-minded folks here. You know what I find really hard to believe? That three seasons later came an episode called The Halloween Dream, the worst episode of Little House, and it pokes fun at the Native Americans. How can series that gave us Injun Kid, a story that gives you reverence for the Indians and paints a realistic picture of they've had to endure, then turn around and do a mockery of them? I'm sure Native Americans were offended by that episode, but I hope they were not offended by Injun Kid, because it was extremely well done and it shows them in a very good light. So watch Injun Kid, and NOT The Halloween Dream, it was garbage. While tough to watch in many places, this episode was still a masterful work and mustn't be missed.
Laura found him in the woods, doing his own kind of praying. He'd put on face paint to hide himself and wishes he were as free as the eagle. After that, a lovely Sunday picnic was ruined when Jeremy went psycho on Spotted Eagle for wearing what he thought was war paint, but Laura informed the big jerk that he was praying for peace between them. He was actually speechless, even unable to apologize for his actions. Next day, dummy Seth decided to play rodeo by trying to tame his wild horse. He fell off twice, and when he tried to use brute force, Spotted Eagle stopped him, so now it's changed from a rodeo to a fighting match. Eagle knocked him down easily and beat a little sense into him. He then showed everybody the right way to tame a horse: do it in the water. I guess this particular horse is aquatic. After that, Spotted Eagle claimed the horse as his own, per Indian law. But in white man's law, it's called theft. In these times, being a horse thief could get you hung. An infuriated Jeremy took the horse back to the Johnsons', and thankfully Omaha Johnson was a nice guy about it and didn't press charges. But he's actually an abusive prick who makes Seth feel like dirt, which explains why he's such a bully. Finally deciding her father was a horrible person not worth being around, Amelia wanted to leave and Spotted Eagle back to the reservation. As if the boy hadn't been shat on enough, Seth and his co-horts chased him through the woods. Laura ran back to get Charles, but by the time they returned, they found Spotted Eagle beaten within an inch of his life. He didn't let a little thing like that get him down, because almost instantly he went back to school. I guess seeing his grandson all beat to hell managed to dig deep enough and find Jeremy's heart, because he admitted before the whole class that this boy was his kin and he's here to stay.
Powerful episode, and very well done. Well written by Arthur Heinemann, well directed by Victor French, and of course, very well acted. George Murdock was really good as bigoted Jeremy who has a change of heart and becomes good. Willie Aames was good as Seth, one bad seed. Caesar Ramirez was fantastic as Spotted Eagle, and I hear he went on to do very little. I guess it's good Harriet Oleson wasn't in this episode, because I think Spotted Eagle endured enough bigotry from small-minded folks here. You know what I find really hard to believe? That three seasons later came an episode called The Halloween Dream, the worst episode of Little House, and it pokes fun at the Native Americans. How can series that gave us Injun Kid, a story that gives you reverence for the Indians and paints a realistic picture of they've had to endure, then turn around and do a mockery of them? I'm sure Native Americans were offended by that episode, but I hope they were not offended by Injun Kid, because it was extremely well done and it shows them in a very good light. So watch Injun Kid, and NOT The Halloween Dream, it was garbage. While tough to watch in many places, this episode was still a masterful work and mustn't be missed.
