Whatever Happened to the Class of '56?

One of the dumbest episodes ever. Charles and Caroline already know they don't want any part of that scene, and their characters were poorly written to go off separately with other spouses like that ...

Charles gets to go to...I can't remember where...to represent the Grange and Caroline goes with her to celebrate their 25th class reunion. It doesn't take long for them to discover that everyone has changed, and not for the good. Both Charles and Caroline are propositioned to have an affair, one of the classmates has a drinking problem, and the other is cocky and ashamed of his wife. Caroline breaks down and cries about it one night, which brings the couple closer together.

The highlight of the episode is when Caroline laughs at Harriet's "Twenty Five year reunion" comment. There is no sub-plot in this episode. The entire episode focuses on the twenty-fifth class reunion.

They're in a city this time! A friggin', real city with a hotel that has a lift!

Other reviewers have approached this episode from different angles, and they are right about what they say, but visually and contextually this one is really very different than all others, placing Caroline and Charles under a totally different light. Not emotionally, but with respect to they could have become! The path they haven't taken, the people they haven't married... It's almost like that Friends episode where we get to see the results of a "what if?" scenario.

No, we don't get to infringe the borders of reality with this one, but seeing them among all these people with which they no longer belong is really interesting.

Another strange occurrence is to see Charles Ingalls in quite a leftist position as he represents his townsfolk with the spirit of a true revolutionist. It doesn't contradict with his "man of God" image, no... But it's quite a revolution in and of itself to identify him with the other end of the political binary.

Much as I'm quite skeptical about how true to facts the depictions in LHOTP are, I guess I'll accept to believe in 1881 they had lifts at high rise hotels in Milwaukee. Charles not wanting to take the lift and Caroline, despite her willingness to try it, accompanying her husband, speaks volumes about their dedication to each other.

It's always amazing to notice how modern inventions were either just happening or being stretched right into their geography, while the so-called conquest of the Far West was still fresh and incomplete.

This episode binds together not only real and possible lives of the couple, but also the two-tiered reality of their land and times.

Maybe it's just me, but this feels really really fresh after seasons of country life.