Meet Annie Crane, a beautiful, angelic young woman with a gift for painting. Despite being blind, the pictures in her mind are clear as crystal, and what appears in her mind is transferred onto a canvas. On this day, she painted a lovely forest portrait outside Nellie's, and gave it to Caroline as a gift. Later that same day, an art dealer named Jeremy Unger rode into town and was fascinated by Annie's painting. When he heard she had half a house full of paintings, Jeremy wanted to buy them. Naturally, Annie and her folks, Sorrell and Helen, were pleased as punch, so they and a boatload of Annie's paintings go to visit Jeremy in Sleepy Eye. He loved the paintings and wanted to hold an exhibit, but first he wanted a little background on young Miss Crane. Her education, cause of blindness and such, and so, she made the papers. It seems she was abandoned by her real parents when she was 2, due to her poor sight, she went to an orphanage, she was adopted and attended the blind school in Winoka until it closed, and by an odd twist of fate, the paper happens to end up in the hands of none other than Annie's mother, Marge Crosby in Bradleyville. Bet she's sorry she abandoned her now. Marge is deathly ill, so you know she ain't gonna last the episode, and desperate to reconnect with her daughter, she sends her husband Victor to the exhibit to see her. He sat with Annie, her foster parents, and Caroline for moral support, and when he broke the news, Annie became very emotional. Not only did she refuse to forgive the old cow for abandoning her, she hated her with a passion and told Victor to leave. The mere mention of Annie's birth mother sent her spirits plummeting, and when they got home, she just wasn't the same.
Annie isn't the only one having motherly woes, Nellie and even Percival are having to bear the brunt of a nosy Harriet who can't leave well enough alone. Nellie is with child and Harriet has nagged Percival about what to do and what not and he's been pretty patient, but now she's trying to forbid him from sleeping with his own wife. After graciously receiving permission from Nellie to yell at her mother, he really lets her have it! One of the great moments in Little House history. After that, Helen came by to see Caroline about Annie. The once vibrant, benevolent girl is now a solemn shell of her former self. Caroline suggests they meet her mother and see if they can perhaps work out their differences and start anew, however they felt it best if Marge came to see Annie and not the other way around. It was out of the question, due to Marge's illness. Caroline decided it was now up to her to save the day, so she went to Bradleyville and met up with Victor, and together, they formed a plan. That Sunday, Victor took Marge for a ride to get some fresh air and they took a ride to Walnut Grove and sat in on their church service. Afterwards, the room cleared except for Annie and Marge. Annie voices her hatred for her mother, until she learns the true reason why she abandoned her: Annie wasn't the only one going blind. So that forgave everything and the two share a tearful embrace. So it all worked out, Annie's paintings were a success, she now had two loving mothers, and they all lived happily ever after, and we never see or hear from them again.
Well, here's the rundown: Madeleine Stowe was beautiful and displayed the perfect emotions for Annie. She reminded me a lot of Jane Canfield in Season 9's "Love", and she really sold it. I liked Annie as a character, very pretty and very strong. Also great were Karen Grassle as Caroline, the proverbial glue of the community because without her, it would fall apart. Constance Pfeifer was also very convincing as Marge, and I really liked Steve Tracy and Katherine MacGregor's cameos where Percival finally gets to tell off his mother in-law. This is an episode Little House fans should definitely check out. Michael Landon and Bill Claxton have painted a lovely portrait of the human spirit that should certainly be exhibited.
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