Remember Johnny Johnson, that addle-brained, but good natured youth who managed to turn Laura's head, but not visa versa? It seems Johnny, or J.J. as I like to call him, is tired of living the simple life and going to school, so he'd decided to drop out and go see the world. Now you know he couldn't come up with such a notion on his own, and you'd be right. He was inspired by Mr. Edwards and his tales of traveling near and far. Today, J.J. dropped by Hanson's Mill and as luck would have it, Edwards was about to make a freight run to Mankato, and J.J. asked to come along. Edwards said it was out of the question, so J.J. opted to walk instead. He caught up to the head-strong lad down the road and finally agreed to let him ride along. That night, J.J.'s father Hector paid Charles a visit when the kid didn't come home. It seems J.J. didn't get permission from him before running off, but Charles assured him that his son was in capable hands. Meanwhile, Edwards and J.J. finally make it to Mankato, where the boy was instantly smitten by a saloon girl. After dropping off the lumber, Edwards paid a visit to the Silver Slipper saloon where's got a bit of a history. He was reunited with his old barfly friends and asked for their help in trying to dissuade J.J. from following through with his intentions to run away. The solution: take him for everything he's got in a poker game and ask the saloon girl to flirt with him until he loses. That's some first-class example you're setting for the boy there, Edwards. Sadly, I can't see this going well at all.
As expected, Operation: Winning Streak went wrong, not for J.J., but for Edwards. See, after winning each hand, which J.J. thought was pure luck, he got up and walked away from the table before he could play the last hand in which he was supposed to lose everything. Edwards tried to convince him to keep playing, but it did no good and so, his fair-weather friends kicked his ass. Later on, he confessed to J.J. about the rigged game, but he wouldn't believe him, and he still wanted to see the world. So despite Edwards' protests, J.J. left the next morning to get a ticket on the stage to Minneapolis, only he arrived at the office an hour early. While there, he met that nice girl from the saloon, Mimi. They took a walk, Mimi showed him a blue bird hat in a store front which she wanted more than anything, so as you may have guessed, the sap bought it for her. That ate up all but $1.00 of his money, which was not enough for a ticket, so now will he give up and go home? No sirree, J.J. decided to get a job and earn the money, but there were jobs to be had, not even as a professional scarecrow (See Love of Johnny Johnson to get that joke) and to make matters worse, J.J. saw the hat he'd just bought for Mimi back in the store window. The two-faced floozy. Instead of getting angry and feeling betrayed, ol' gullible J.J. thought Mimi was flat broke and needed the money, so he and Edwards seek her out. As soon as J.J. brought up the hat, Mimi put on crocodile tears and told a sob story about how she ran away from home and wanted to see her folks again before they kick off. Like the world's biggest tool, J.J. believed her and tried to get a job to help her, so now it was up to Edwards to set things right. Time for Operation: Winning Streak Redux. What's he got to lose? Nothing, because he won it all again. He tried giving it to Mimi, but she only promised to go home if he agreed to do the same, so the ruse worked and finally, the little bastard was willing to go back to Walnut Grove. He was happily reunited with his Pa and things returned to normal.
The second and final appearance of Johnny Johnson. Wasn't he a memorable character? Seriously, he's a nice guy and Mitch Vogel played him really well, but he's such a bland, uninteresting character. Thankfully we had Mr. Edwards to liven things up. Victor French was great, as always. Edwards was such a terrific character and he's always a joy to watch. Jane Alice Brandon was a lovely addition to the roster as that conniving floozy Mimi, playing it very convincingly. Fans of Little House should definitely check this one out. To See the World is an intriguing,edge-of-your-seat episode that really drives the point home. So if you like Mr. Edwards, you liked the short-lived Johnny Johnson character and you like road trips, give this one a try. J.J. may not have seen the world, but he got a really good taste of what it's like.
As expected, Operation: Winning Streak went wrong, not for J.J., but for Edwards. See, after winning each hand, which J.J. thought was pure luck, he got up and walked away from the table before he could play the last hand in which he was supposed to lose everything. Edwards tried to convince him to keep playing, but it did no good and so, his fair-weather friends kicked his ass. Later on, he confessed to J.J. about the rigged game, but he wouldn't believe him, and he still wanted to see the world. So despite Edwards' protests, J.J. left the next morning to get a ticket on the stage to Minneapolis, only he arrived at the office an hour early. While there, he met that nice girl from the saloon, Mimi. They took a walk, Mimi showed him a blue bird hat in a store front which she wanted more than anything, so as you may have guessed, the sap bought it for her. That ate up all but $1.00 of his money, which was not enough for a ticket, so now will he give up and go home? No sirree, J.J. decided to get a job and earn the money, but there were jobs to be had, not even as a professional scarecrow (See Love of Johnny Johnson to get that joke) and to make matters worse, J.J. saw the hat he'd just bought for Mimi back in the store window. The two-faced floozy. Instead of getting angry and feeling betrayed, ol' gullible J.J. thought Mimi was flat broke and needed the money, so he and Edwards seek her out. As soon as J.J. brought up the hat, Mimi put on crocodile tears and told a sob story about how she ran away from home and wanted to see her folks again before they kick off. Like the world's biggest tool, J.J. believed her and tried to get a job to help her, so now it was up to Edwards to set things right. Time for Operation: Winning Streak Redux. What's he got to lose? Nothing, because he won it all again. He tried giving it to Mimi, but she only promised to go home if he agreed to do the same, so the ruse worked and finally, the little bastard was willing to go back to Walnut Grove. He was happily reunited with his Pa and things returned to normal.
The second and final appearance of Johnny Johnson. Wasn't he a memorable character? Seriously, he's a nice guy and Mitch Vogel played him really well, but he's such a bland, uninteresting character. Thankfully we had Mr. Edwards to liven things up. Victor French was great, as always. Edwards was such a terrific character and he's always a joy to watch. Jane Alice Brandon was a lovely addition to the roster as that conniving floozy Mimi, playing it very convincingly. Fans of Little House should definitely check this one out. To See the World is an intriguing,edge-of-your-seat episode that really drives the point home. So if you like Mr. Edwards, you liked the short-lived Johnny Johnson character and you like road trips, give this one a try. J.J. may not have seen the world, but he got a really good taste of what it's like.
