Little House on the Prairie (TV Series) Sylvia (Part One) (1981) User Reviews

Reap What You Sow? I Don't Think So!

[ExplorerDS6789 · 8/10 · 24 December 2010]

After a rollicking morning of peeking at dirty magazines (the ladies' undergarment catalog), Willie, Albert and the boys head over to Sylvia Webb's house to peep at her. See, Sylvia is around their age but she's a bit more physically developed than most girls her age, and this can create a whole world of trouble for herself and others. Unfortunately, they were spotted by Sylvia's pa, Hector. He was a horrible man who was very cruel to his daughter and anybody who dared come near her. The others got away, but Hector managed to catch Albert. He was fixing to do something awful to him when Harriet Oleson came to his rescue...you read that right, however she overreacts when she learns what transpired and gave Willie a hard time. Did she stop there? No, the fat bitch then rounded up the town council to publicly humiliate Sylvia and place blame on her for the boys' peeping. Well, after that disgrace, school was officially in session, and as if Sylvia didn't already have enough problems, a monster was lurking in the bushes near the school, watching her hungrily...and waiting for the right time to strike. It came that afternoon as Sylvia walked home through the peaceful woods. She had stopped to gather some flowers when suddenly, the monster attacked. It grabbed her and forced her to the ground and did something you'd never expect on this show...it raped her.

You would think Mr. Webb would be appalled at what happened and want the best care for his daughter. Well not in this lifetime. He swore Sylvia to secrecy and didn't show any sort of sympathy when Willie and the boys began bullying her for no reason. So with nobody else to turn to, Albert Ingalls became her guardian angel, making sure nobody hassled her. Those little bastards tried, but Albert gave Willie whatfor and he ran off crying just like his sister. It wasn't long before Albert and Sylvia's friendship blossomed into love. It was a match made in Heaven, until Hector stepped in. He forbid Sylvia from seeing Albert again and started working her to death. Folks in town became concerned about Hector's behavior. I guess at one point he was a nice guy or something? Unlikely. Reverend Alden attempted to intervene, but got blown off. Yeah, something was real, real wrong with that man; Next day, Sylvia fainted in class. She was rushed to Doc Baker, who quickly discovered the problem and when he reported the news, Albert was almost ready to faint himself. Sylvia was with child. To mark the "blessed" occasion, Hector confined Sylvia to the house and Albert blamed her for getting pregnant. At this point you just have to ask, why does everybody hate Sylvia? What did she ever do to any of them? Nothing! Her father hates her, Albert now hates her, God hates her, that's a huge burden to bare, and as bad as things were now, they were only about to get worse.

If this isn't the saddest and darkest episode of Little House, it is definitely the runner up. Probably the most controversial, featuring an under age girl getting raped and then getting pregnant. Very touchy stuff. Especially for a family show, which already featured babies burning alive and a young girl going blind. It's the kind of show you just can't do anymore; Royal Dano was magnificent as Sylvia's awful father. He was so nasty and so creepy, he can just suck the joy out of ANYTHING. If you remember the episode "Be My Friend", Anna's father is a lot like Sylvia's. Abusive, controlling, religious nuts with dead wives, claiming it was the devil's doing, and have young daughters who they never let off their leash. Lighten up, you loonies! Anyway, this episode is difficult to watch and very taboo, but if you can take it and you're used to the kind of drama Little House dishes out, then I guess you should see this episode, but other than that, I wouldn't really recommend it, mainly for how dark, bleak and depressing it is. Stay tuned for Part II.

Albert and Sylvia

[gregorycanfield · 9/10 · 2 February 2022]

The other reviewers describe this as one of the "darker" episodes. Perhaps. Depends on your point of view. For my personal amusement, I always try to link the guest stars to other shows they have appeared in. The scenes between Dr Baker and Mr Webb were interesting. Kevin Hagen and Royal Dano each appeared, as particularly weird aliens, on Lost in Space! In this episode, Dano looks too old to have a daughter of Sylvia's age. He was also a heartless, unsympathetic jerk. In reference to my heading, the story would have been better if the focus had been a simple attraction between Albert and Sylvia. The business of the boys trying to "peek" at Sylvia was curious. Sylvia wasn't shown in that scene, so we don't know what the guys were supposed to be looking at. In general, the female population of Walnut Grove dressed in a way that everything to the imagination. How could the guys even tell which girls were more or less "endowed"? Ultimately, Sylvia becomes a victim, and that sets the unpleasant tone for this episode, as well as part 2.

One of the most dark and depressing episodes of LHOTP

[christianwindsurfer · 10/10 · 8 September 2018]

This was one of the most dark and depressing episodes of LHOTP. I was surprised to find out this episode was written by Michael Landon! There were a few rays of sunshine in this episode. They were the love between Albert and Sylvia. Albert defending Sylvia from the other boys' teasing. Sylvia laughing while learning to fish and catching all the fish with Albert teaching her and he catches nothing. However, even Sylvia's few moments of happiness were dampen by the fact that her stalker was watching her at a distance ready to strike when she's alone! Her father was mean to her and blamed her for being a victim! This episode was so dark from beginning to end! On a good note, the acting by the young teens Matthew Labyorteaux (Albert) and Olivia Barash (Sylvia) was superb and worthy of an award!

Powerful and Disturbing Story That Brings a Dark Reality to Light

[spasek · 10/10 · 22 February 2020]

I remember seeing these two epsiodes when they first aired. Being only 10-years-old, I didn't quite understand the extent and magnitude about what had happened to Sylvia Webb. I did know enough that it was cruel and vile. My parents explained, in basic terms, what the cirme of "rape" was. Again, as a young boy, all I could do was say, "okay" without really fully comprehending what that meant.

These are among my favorite episodes of LHOP because of the theme of innocence taken away. Olivia Barash turns in a haunting performance as the sweet Sylvia Webb who falls victim to a horrendous crime. Living alone with her purtitanical and tyrannical father, she finds that her only support lies with Albert. However, even Albert, in this first episode, doesn't know what has happened to her. He finds Sylvia persecuted and picked on by the other boys, and Albert gallantly chooses to stand up and defend her. I suppose this is one of the things I liked most about this episode because I was like Albert when I was a kid, even fighting two boys who were picking on a pair of girls from class.

I believe that Landon was also dealing with a couple of other things: the natural curiosity of teens growing up, especially boys. And the insanity of blaming girls for what happens to them as if they somehow "asked for it" or "deserved it" by some ridiculous notion. Mrs. Oleson and Mr. Webb, unfortunately, seem to represent that point.

Landon often chose darker subjects for his shows, trying to evoke some thought and bring some awareness to the horrors of the world (drugs, rape, etc.). Given the time in which this episode aired, it was certainly pushing the boundaries of family television, but in a good way. Landon taught us that ignoring such things isn't the answer. You have to bring light and awareness to them. And, to my way of thinking, he succeeds.

We don't choose our parents

[mitchrmp · 10/10 · 21 October 2013]

This episode is one of the darker episodes. A over-bearing father who apparently had a wife who was pretty and liked to show her stuff to other men, ending her life caused him to treat his teenage daughter like crap. The father is played by Royal Dano, who played in many western as various eccentric characters. I can remember him in Gunsmoke and The Rifleman, and I'm sure there are many others! His character was always a bit slow or odd. I don't think I ever saw him play a normal part.

In this episode, he's a totally unlovable jerk. He blames his daughter when curious boys come to peak in her window, then she's blamed when she's raped by an unknown man. When she ends up pregnant, he tells her "We reap what we sow," which I thought was totally heartless. Here's this fifteen year old (or so) girl who has just been violated and all her father can do is shame her! Then when she finds herself scared and alone, he sames her more.

I can't help but feel sorry for Albert. He just got a raw deal, and I love the disgust he has when someone questions him on rather he could be the father of the unborn child. Now days, I'm afraid there wouldn't be that kind of distaste about this...It's accepted too easily.

The episode ends on a sour note. Knowing where it's going in the next part, I'm afraid to say things just don't ever get better.

Dark Episode

[michellemaxwell-10010 · 1/10 · 11 November 2023]

The episode starts out at Willie, Albert and 2 other boys going over to the Webb farm to peek in Sylvia's bedroom window hoping to see her change from her school dress to her chore dress and are caught by her father. He accuses her of flirting with the boys. While walking home from school, Sylvia is grabbed by someone wearing a clown mask and drags her off. She finally makes it home. After her father finds out what happened, he orders her not to tell anyone about her rape. Willie and the boys starts teasing her. Albert makes the boys leave Sylvia alone. They become friends and starts seeing each other. Sylvia's father finds out and tells her she is not to see Albert anymore. Sylvia's father learns she's pregnant and assumes Albert is the father. He decides to sell the farm and move away from Walnut Grove.

The Most Controversial Episode In The Series

[Camelot_2000 · 4/10 · 20 June 2023]

Yes, I admit there's a range of notoriety on this installment of LHOTP. It carried deep and disturbing overtones and goes against the G rated standards the show usually had. It suddenly bordered on the horror movie genre with a young woman chosen as the victim and one of stalking and rape. The unknown villain, of course, wears a creepy mask and there's also close up shots of his eye whenever he looks at Sylvia while hidden in the bushes. We don't know who he is until the end.

Albert gets caught in the middle of that and also falls in love with Sylvia regardless of the "Trampy" reputation she developed in Walnut Grove. That is indeed an unfair branding. The boys at school were crazy about her due to her seemingly becoming a "woman early". They even went so far as to spy on her at the window of her house to try and see her undressed. Sylvia's dad catches them peeking and they take off, but he gets a hold of Albert. Mrs. Oleson, for a change, made a good difference when she showed up at the right time in her horse and carriage and angrily ordered Sylvia's dad to "leave that child alone!" Albert was let go after that.

Willie Oleson was a part of those "Peeping Toms", but when his mother finds out and confronts him about it, takes the cowardly way of shifting the blame. He said Sylvia got them to do it because of how she sexually "teases" the boys at school. That, of course, got Mrs. Oleson on the war path and focused on putting the blame on Sylvia.

I admit the whole situation was unfair. Thanks to Willie and Mrs. Oleson, Sylvia got depicted as a "tramp" around the realm of Walnut Grove and it didn't help matters either when Doc Baker found out she was pregnant.

Albert was distraught about finding out the news and was also falsely accused of being the father of her unborn child. Mrs. Oleson was to blame for that after snooping in on the conversation between Sylvia's dad and Doc Baker while she was working as the town's telephone operator.

Albert develops a bad reputation from the allegations of "being the father" and his parents took notice, deciding to take him out of school for a while and to tutor him at home. Albert's love for Sylvia knew no bounds though and he wanted to quit school for good to support her and their "baby" by getting a job.

Sylvia, it was obvious to see, was a victim of everything that was going on and was powerless to stop it. She was held under the grip of her stern father and while also having to tolerate the unfair reputation of being promiscuous.

She was a nice and decent girl who should've let people know she got impregnated by her stalker. But she didn't. She kept the whole thing secret until the signs of the rape were discovered by Doc Baker and later, Albert's parents who found out about it from Laura.

Yeah, a disturbing episode to the series in more ways than one. It clearly showed how someone could be so unfairly labeled as the "villain" while the real culprit is allowed to roam free due to his hidden identity. It also vividly showed that gossip and how it can allow people to so easily jump to the wrong conclusions, can be damaging as well.

There are persecutions, condemning talk and downright ignorance to what was going on, but the real victim out of the whole issue was Sylvia. It's sad that most of the Walnut Grove residents didn't pick up on that right away.

The bottom line is, this show reached deep emotional depths regarding tragedy and drama and Sylvia was among one of the casualties from that. She deserved better.