Gen X, This is Why.

When professional boxer, Joe Kagan, shows up in Walnut Grove, everyone wants a piece of the $50 purse for lasting three rounds with the prize fighter. Everyone, except Charles. Nellie manages to bully half the town into taking the bet-including her own father, and after a self-inflicted wound sidelines Garvey, Charles is forced into the ring-why? We aren’t sure. Amye hates boxing and wishes Rocky...

When a fire burns up Jonathan Garvey’s crop, he throws a HUGE temper tantrum in which he walks out on his family (which explains why his son grew up to become Ram in Heathers.) We work on solving three mysteries: Why does everyone drink coffee at night? Where the heck is Laura? And, does Michael Landon hire bad actors to make himself look better? We also get all meta and have a fight about a fight...

When a (super hot) Jesse James and his outlaw brother show up in Walnut Grove, the town must decide whether or not to turn them in. Charles takes a different approach and rents Mary to them for 10 cents a day, while Garvey earns the nickname "The Fixer." Amye recalls her annoying obsession with Young Guns II, we debate the true meaning of a "ride or die," and Jennie relives her...

BONUS EPISODE: Because we missed Carl's Jr and Edwards so much, we went back and covered an episode that we skipped from Season 2! Doc Baker has a nephew, and spoiler alert: he’s trouble. Laura and Carl’s Jr sign up for a fishing tournament right before he plunges a knife in her back, Mary is studying for another test, and Carrie has trouble with basic counting. We relive some trauma around s...

Doc Baker finally realizes what we've known all along- medicine just isn't his forte. When he loses a patient, he decides to buy the farm...literally. We find out what Harriet does in her spare time, Laura has apparently left town, and we meet Stanley- Amye's new favorite rando. Jennie doesn't understand farming nor the birthing process, and Amye once again insults those of Ita...

There’s a mystery brewing in Walnut Grove and Laura is right in the middle of it, as you would expect. Someone is swiping food from the townspeople, but things go too far when someone kidnaps Matilda, Caroline’s prize hen. Laura and Garvey bundle this investigation, causing actual harm to Pa, Harriet, and others. This episode has it all: Some Olesons’ hijinx, a predominantly featured rando, and so...

Charles is called out of town the second after he blows a hole through the kitchen wall, leaving his family open and vulnerable to a grifter who Jennie thinks is super handsome and Amye believes is Satan. This slimy Charles-wannabe has no problem wearing Pa's clothes and playing his precious fiddle, until HERO Mary steps up and puts an end to this nonsense. Amye visits the rage corner, and Je...

Disaster strikes Walnut Grove and as usual, Laura isn't far behind. When Ellen Taylor drowns while swimming with the Ingalls girls, Laura of course bears the burden of her death. We learn the consequences of having no sheriff when someone is shot in the head and absolutely nothing is done about it. Charles has a new ride or die which we are not happy about, and in an odd twist, Doc Baker actu...

Join us as we weigh in on the classic John Hughes love story of a high school torn apart by socioeconomic factors. Andie is an unpopular high schooler who has three handsome boys fawning over her, two of whom are filthy rich, and the other worships the ground she walks on. While Andie struggles to choose which boy she’ll take to the prom, she seeks solace in a variety of characters including: an e...

Pa and Mary go to the big city to visit John Jr, only to discover he's got a side piece: City Mary. Charles is appalled that boozin' and whorin' happens on the reg in the Windy City, and demands justice by shaming a newspaper editor who DGAF. Meanwhile, Caroline gets to stay home and do laundry. It's okay though, she'll see Chicago on a postcard someday. Jennie wakes befor...

Season four starts with a whimper as the only thing really worth talking about here is the death of Jack and the emergence of the adorable Bandit. The “christians” of Walnut Grove are on their worst behavior as they refuse to let an 80-year-old window into their congregation. Jonathan Harvey comes to town with some whiskey, Mary is her narc-iest yet, and Laura carries the weight of the world on he...

Join us as we struggle to understand exactly what the message was supposed to be here. Is it: don’t turn punk because your parents don’t pay attention to you? Is it: Don’t be a poser? Is it: Don’t become a daycare counselor if you’re a punk? Or is it: Do some research and learn what a punk is before you slip into an airport bathroom and change into what you think is a punk costume only hours befor...

Pa and Mr. Edwards decide to take the families west to gold country after Walnut Grove gets a f*ck ton of rain. They first land in Deadwood where Carl’s JR, Edwards (and Jennie) would fit right in, but end up going on to a small, quiet replica of Walnut Grove. When they and their new rando best friends start hitting the color, this sleepy town turns into the next Deadwood, and chaos ensues. Caroli...

Seems like 2020 wasn’t the only election dividing families and towns. In this episode, Ms. Beadle holds a class election for the new president. Mary, Nellie are nominated, as is a perfectly lovely boy named Elmer, who has a Steinbeck vibe about him. Younger siblings shine in this one as Laura invents the first negative campaign ad and Willie smokes a stogie like a boss. Amye is triggered by some t...

In part two of the worst-named episode ever, Charles finds work with a racist Willie Wonka and almost kills himself and a whole crew of innocent men with his literal tunnel vision. Amye is MOTHER DEBBIE DONE with Charles, as he alienates everyone, including his Ride or Die. Caroline debuts “city hair,” while sleeping in a laundromat, and lest we all forget: this was all Jack’s fault. We take a tri...

Jack earns his title as second most hated pet when he causes Mary to get kicked by a horse and almost die. This is the beginning of Mary’s martyrdom, as she insists she’s fine before collapsing in an intense jump rope competition with Nellie. Doc Baker once again fails to diagnose this condition and resorts to fat shaming for good measure. Charles and Caroline take Mary to Rochester which is a mil...

*TRIGGER WARNING: eating disorders and suicide* In part three of our Time Capsule Crown coverage, we discuss episodes six, seven, and eight. Charles and Di head to Australia in what turns out to be the happiest one week of their marriage, Margaret discovers the Queen Mum is problematic, and Margaret Thatcher and the Queen square off. Jennie gets super dramatic about spiders in Australia and finall...

*TRIGGER WARNING: eating disorders and suicide* In the final installment of our Crown, Season 4, coverage, we look at episodes nine and ten of the series. Billy Joel causes some real issues between Charles and Di, Charles turns into a huge jerk, and we see the royal marriage careening towards a cliff.  Amye continues with her horrible impressions, while Jennie struggles to understand the word &quo...

This week’s episode hits a little too close to home as the residents of Walnut Grove are under strict quarantine orders to avoid the spread of Mountain Fever. As expected, they completely boggle this pandemic: Doc Baker heads out of town, Edwards drinks from a rando’s bottle and almost kills everyone, and Laura can’t mind her own business long enough to survive a week. Amye relives the trauma of c...

John Jr grows even more insufferable this episode as he stops to ponder EVERYTHING, even a hawk flying overhead, which results in a full poetry scholarship to University. Edwards struggles to understand basic grown-up emotions and struggles with John Jr’s “thinkin.”  While Grace, hero of the episode, encourages John Jr to get an education. Charles offers up Mary as a child bride, which puzzles us...

*TRIGGER WARNING: eating disorders and suicide* In this second installment of our Crown Season 4 coverage, we focus on episodes 3, 4, & 5: Fairytale, Favourites, and Fagan. Charles and Diana are getting married, and we see Diana happy for a brief moment. We both feel bad for everyone involved, including Camilla.  Amye watched a different documentary and talks about it incessantly, while Jennie...

In this episode we discuss episodes 1 and 2 of Season 4 of The Crown. With “The Troubles” as a backdrop, Prince Charles meets Lady Diana Spencer and Margaret Thatcher comes to power. Amye does a horrible British accent, Jennie dorks out on the British monarchy, and we both have some unpopular opinions around Charles and Camilla. We have a brief aside about murder shows set in the UK, we struggle t...

It’s another drama-filled episode as Miss Beadle almost kills the children of Walnut Grove by letting them out of school just as a blizzard hits. Charles snaps into hero mode, but later abandons his Ride or Die. There is a festival of randos who blatantly embezzle money from their own business and enable Edwards’ drinking problem by paying him in hooch.  We have a good, inappropriate laugh at froz...

Join us as we look back on the Little House episodes we’ve covered in 2020. It’s been an interesting year in Walnut Grove- from Laura’s constant disappearing act to Mary’s incessant need to study, we set out to rank some of our favorite- and in true Gen X fashion-our least favorite moments of 2020. Who is most likely to get someone killed? Which character did we identify with the most? What was th...

Another episode, another rando family. This time it’s a cranky Burl Ives and his awful son. These randos are forced to help save Charles’ life after Laura accidentally shoots him with his own loaded hunting rifle-and that’s only the first time she almost kills him in this episode. Amye struggles with the appropriateness of finding a mortally wounded Charles kinda hot, while Jennie is profoundly di...