Little House on the Prairie (TV Series) Someone Please Love Me (1979) User Reviews

A Horse of a Different Color.

[ExplorerDS6789 · 8/10 · 11 April 2012]

Charles Ingalls has been given a new assignment: purchase a team of horses for Mr. Gargan, a man who don't believe in traveling far or paying with checks, so he tentatively gave Charles his cash money and told him to guard it with his life. After arriving in the city, Charles found his client, Brett Harper, at the local saloon, a beer stein in one hand and a floozy in the other. Brett insisted they talk turkey now, and even invited Charles to stay at his house, rather than some hotel. So while Brett drank and fooled around, the Ingalls patriarch waited patiently for him outside, and then drove him home afterwards. The man had drank himself into a stupor and nearly passed out. So far, Mr. Harper has made a very poor impression. He staggered upstairs, barely even saying hello to his wife, Leslie. It seems she isn't very happy with their marriage and the episode from the previous night was just one of many more exactly like it. For the most part, the Harpers lived in a very nice house on a very nice piece of land, but while the home was nice on the outside, it was the inside that was run-down. Brett was a real dick to his wife, especially when she reminded him of that picnic he'd planned, but obviously neglected to remember, and doing it right in front of Charles too. That's the way to do business. Thankfully Charles was kind enough to take them all on the damn picnic himself.

Instantly, Charles bonded with the harper kids, Samantha and Thomas. Then Leslie tells him how Brett used to be a wonderful husband and a good father, but then one day, he and their other son went for a ride and the horse stumbled, the boy fell off and died later that night. Charles tells her how they lost Charles Jr., and said that his faith is what helped him through it. After that, Charles became a regular surrogate father to those children, even helping to ease their worries about bed-wetting. He also served as a very caring companion for Leslie, helping to restore her self confidence. After all, he'd spent more time around her and the kids in a few days than Brett has in years. Speaking of the breadwinner, he came in with barely a hello, solely focused on preparing Charles' horses. And if you're still not convinced that Brett is a piece of human garbage, get a load of this: so Charles takes Thomas horseback riding and when they get home, Brett went hysterical over his boy getting on a horse and smacked him. Charles called him out for being an inattentive father and "anyone can have a child, that doesn't make them a parent." Truer words were never spoken. Next, Brett tries turning to the bottle, only for he and Leslie to get into a heated argument. Good, maybe she's had enough of this drunken lout and will finally dump his ass. She does decide to divorce him, and I think they'll all be better off. The kids talk with Charles, telling him that their father is suffering from depression. At the kids' request, because they like their father for some reason, Charles tried to talk to him. Brett blames himself for the death of his son and felt sorry for himself, Charles called him just what he was: a coward. But apparently, Brett and Leslie do love each other deep down, and Charles tried to bring it up to the surface. Brett promised to try, and from then on, everything was alright. Charles headed back to Walnut Grove with his team of horses, proud of his good deed.

This was a very well done Little House episode, and an unusual experiment of having only one of the series' main characters surrounded by different people. I think they did it very well. Charles Ingalls out of his element and applying his wisdom to an estranged family worked very well. In fact, this reminds me of an episode of M*A*S*H where only Hawkeye appeared and he spent the duration of the episode talking to a Korean family who couldn't understand him. Needless to say that episode was terrible and a waste of time. It should have been more like this! Someone Please Love Me had a story, a plot, developed characters, everything that the "Hawkeye" episode did not. I mean, can you imagine 60 minutes of Charles Ingalls talking to people who didn't understand him? That would be boring as hell. But anyway, if you like Charles, give this episode a look. Michael Landon did an outstanding job. I think Charles Ingalls should be everybody's role model. Charles Cioffi was good as Bad-News Brett, the wife and kids were good too. That's Kyle Richards (Alicia Sanderson Edwards) as Samantha. Watch this episode and take its messages to heart.

Different

[mitchrmp · 7/10 · 10 August 2013]

Charles is the only regular cast member we see in this episode. He travels to buy some horses, ten in fact, and encounters a troubled family. But then, what else is new? He's always encountering a troubled family!

This family lost a son in an accident, and since then the father has been biter and unloving toward his wife and two other children. Charles comes in and shows the wife what it's like to be cherished - in a total innocent way...

Well, for me I think Charles is towing the line. Remember the episode where Nels has a little fling after leaving Harriet? Well this could have ended up the same way. I doubt that back then a married man would have taken a married woman and her children on a picnic without raising some eyebrows. More so, I doubt that he would have been in the house alone with her when her husband wasn't there. The whole thing was a little too intimate for my tasted...It made me really nervous. Though his interference worked,and all ended well in the end...I still thing Charles did a few no-no's.

Big fan of LHOP, but not of this episode

[characters-132-663775 · 1/10 · 8 March 2019]

OK, when you are dealing with a Michael Landon directed episode, they are always chock full of dramatics and emotion. But, this episode did not work for me. Picture this: a stranger (Charles) shows up to buy some horses from a guy he does not know and within a day, is tucking this guy's kids into bed and joining the guy's wife on a romantic picnic. I mean, this would never happen, right? Especially back in the 1880's when it was highly inappropriate to spend time alone with a married woman not your own. Charles even puts his hand on the woman's shoulder! I know it's TV, but when most other LHOP episodes give honor to the period, this one is just weird and uncomfortable.

Show is familiar

[wilsonbecky-20207 · 10 February 2017]

I enjoyed this episode. However, I felt that I had seen it before. Did anyone else notice this show is almost identical to a show from Bonanza, involving Hoss Cartwright as the character who went to stay with a wealthy family while buying horses? I'm not sure what the name of the Bonanza episode was, but I will try to find it. Even the script was word for word in places. I just saw the episode on Bonanza last week. The similarities were surprising. I don't think this story was inspired by Little House on the Prairie books. I think it was inspired by Michael Landon's time on the Bonanza set. Since he was in both shows, I guess he could borrow story themes.

Charles has financial dealings with a man who has been neglecting his family because of his alcoholism and grief.

[tchemgood · 3/10 · 5 January 2016]

This episode is a total remake, sometimes almost word-for-word, of the Bonanza episode "A Dream to Dream." The Bonanza episode has Hoss (not Little Joe) as the main character who encounters a troubled family with an alcoholic father and neglected wife and children. Charles' and Hoss' final conversation with the two children is practically the same. I've seen many similarities between some episodes of the two shows, but these two are blatantly similar. Given the multiple talents (and sets) that overlapped between the two shows, it's not surprising that some parallels would exist, but wow! Having said all that, I'll go farther and say that it's kind of fun to search out these parallels, including guest stars.

Reused story and not very good

[mdc-07431 · 2/10 · 3 November 2023]

Landon reused a story that he wrote for an episode of Bonanza about a man who goes to buy horses for a client and ends up bonding with the horse sellers wife and kids . The whole plot revolves around the horse seller Brett Harper and his cold treatment of his wife and kids .

It's discovered that his oldest son died in a tragic riding accident 4 years prior that he blames himself for and has taken it out on his family. He goes out all night , schmoozes with other women and gets drunk .

The problems with this episode besides it being a reused story is that most of the things that happen are so false and not realistic for the times. Like Charles bonding with the married woman and kids in like a day . Him going on a picnic with her and her kids - this would not have been tolerated in that time period and a married woman most certainly would not have flirted with a married man in the 1870's.

Anet lets not forget the episodes contrived ending where Landon acts as marriage counselor and has the wife going back to her louse of a husband who doesn't deserve her. All he does is say "I'll try" .

That's not a husband , that's an abuser. Like saying Oh I'm sorry that I hit you twice but give me another chance I promise , the battered wife syndrome et all. Poor episode.

Charles Ingalls, Marriage Counselor

[janet-conant · 2/10 · 4 September 2021]

Once again it's Michael Landon to the rescue. Talk about an ego. I read it was done before on Bonanza but it was probably more believable with Hoss as the surrogate father/admirer.

That father is way too miserable so you can't believe the wife and kids lived with this brooding, angry dude for 4 years. Also if he drank so much how did he have such wealth?

Does Landon always have to be the savior in every episode? It's correct that a stranger would not be accompanying a married woman on a picnic even on a lonely farm. When he touches the wife and talks about pretty hands it's not believable but when she appears all pretty and fetching I thought he might jump her. The kids are way too happy with Charles playing with them. They should have shown them as leery of all men and his wife should be plain depressed living in that environment. Instead she turns on the sparkle almost immediately. Again why does Landon always have to be the most amazing man?

Jenny Sullivan, as the wife, was rather good and worth watching but Cioffi's character was plain bizarre.

At the end when Charles climbs the buckboard to leave after getting the couple together, I thought he would look straight into the camera and say "My work is done here."

it's another of the chapters where the protagonists of LHOP look more like messengers from God than normal people.-

[drfernandogil · 2/10 · 4 April 2024]

This is a rather daring chapter, where without a doubt, Charles becomes involved in a strange family far beyond what is prudent. For Harper's wife to say "I envy your wife" is clearly a declaration of love, here and in China as well. The same goes for Harper's kids, who are a second away from calling Charles "dad." It is also not understood that Mr. Harper, being so devoted to alcohol, is such a successful businessman, generally this vice leads you to fail at work as well. Well, it's another of this chapters where the protagonists of LHOP look more like messengers from God than normal people.- Samantha? She's Alice! Don¡t get anther girl to play this perfomance?