Little House On The Prairie Episode 4 Recap: Is Laura Okay?

Life continues to throw fresh challenges at the Ingalls as their journey in a homestead in the Kansas prairie acts as a learning curve for Laura. Previously, Caroline found herself conflicted after receiving a letter from her mother who asked her to return to Wisconsin with her daughters, and he leaned towards this option even more after going through a horrifying experience of having their supplies looted by a couple of Osage hunters. Charles learned that one of the hunters is Little Puma, Mitchell’s wife, White Sun’s brother, and following a conversation with the family, Charles was assured that nothing similar would happen to his family ever again. Charles and Caroline had an argument over his decision of keeping her in the dark about the ownership of the land, and right then, Laura, afflicted by severe fever, lost her senses.

Spoilers Ahead

Delirious Dreams Bring Out Inner Demons

As it turns out, Laura is not the only one who has caught this strange intermittent fever, which rebounds severely after initial improvement and causes its victims to suffer from bouts of delirium. Caroline, too, has contracted the disease, and in a feverish frenzy, she faces her inner fears in her mindscape. Caroline, who belonged to a well-to-do family, went against the wishes of her mother and elder sister, Eliza, to marry Charles, whereas her family wanted her to marry a rich groom of their choice. In her dreams, Caroline is surprised to see that she has returned to her family home, and meets Eliza, who mentions that she has returned to the family with their daughters at last. Eliza tries to encourage her to seek out a prospective suitor and give up on Charles, and tries to enforce her choice by suppressing Caroline’s. 

Laura and Charles tend to Mary and Caroline, and Laura asks her father to seek Dr. Tann’s counsel. Not having an iota of idea about the severity of this illness, Charles acts a bit casual, and tries to assure Laura that he will seek help if the situation aggravates. However, Charles himself gets down with a fever, and his guilt-ridden mind starts projecting his inner turmoil. Charles reminisces about how George’s psyche broke after he returned from war, and that he had tried to send him to seek help in a psychiatric centre while venturing to the west to settle with his own family. However, their father, Lansford, held on to the traditional notion that seeking help for the betterment of mental health is a shameful act and carries social stigma, and wanted Charles to take George with him. George had overheard their conversation and fled, and this resulted in some sort of tragedy, which might have involved George ending up drowned in the lake. Lansford blamed Charles for the incident, who was only trying to help his brother, and the guilt has hollowed Charles’ soul ever since. For reasons unknown, we don’t get to see whether Mary experiences the same while being down with fever, although it can be assumed her dreams might revolve around her feelings of loneliness. 

Laura Shows True Courage, Jemma Shows True Colours

With her entire family bed-ridden and burning up with fever, the responsibility of tending to household chores and keeping them hydrated falls on Laura. Despite being the youngest member, Laura shows how mature she is by standing up to the task without panicking – and at one point, when she realizes that the situation is worsening, she decides to move out to find Dr. Tann. Unfortunately, their family horses, Pet and Patty, have gone missing – and Laura has no one by her side except her beloved canine companion, Jack. 

In the meantime, the narrative shifts to the town where an overworked Dr. Tann visits Emily’s shop. The intermittent fever outbreak has taken a hold of the town’s populace, and Dr. Tann needs quinine immediately to treat the afflicted ones. Emily reveals her shipment has not arrived, and directs Dr. Tann to Eli and Jemma’s house, knowing Jemma has a good amount of quinine stashed at her place. To no one’s surprise, Jemma, who has been posing as a helpful, sympathetic, pragmatic presence to Caroline so far, straight up refuses to share even a little amount of quinine with Dr. Tann. The desperate doctor tries to pursue her by offering to buy it in exchange for double the amount of its value, and even shares how the afflicted ones are going to be in mortal danger if they don’t get treated in time. However, Jemma refuses to show basic humanity, showing what a coldhearted, selfish scum she really is. To be honest, the way she poisoned Caroline’s mind against John Edwards and Osages, it was pretty apparent that she is up to no good.

Meanwhile, Laura starts her journey towards the town with Jack, and comes across Mitchell’s house, where she finds White Sun and Good Eagle to be down with fever as well. Mitchell has left to find work and won’t return for a couple of days. Despite the previous experience with Osage hunters, Laura doesn’t let her fear cloud her judgment and shows the strength of her character by tending to them. Upon learning that Laura is going to town to seek help all on her own, White Sun’s motherly self prompts her to share guidance, and blesses Laura for protection by praying to the native gods. Laura continues her journey when she too is afflicted with the fever, and starts seeing her grandma present with her – which indicates her desire to return to their old place. Laura falls to the ground while her feverish mind continues to conjure fantasies, and poor Jack continues to try to draw attention for help by barking at the top of his lungs. 

What Happened to Laura?

Fortunately, Dr. Tann finds quinine with the help of Lacey Aubert, who had a pile stored at her place. After getting a bit better, Mary finds Charles walking around in a delirious state and helps him. Both of them are treated by Dr. Tann, and upon realizing that Laura has gone missing, they start searching for her. Caleb, assuming the Ingalls have contracted the fever, wanted to go to their place to offer help, but Emily had asked him not to for fear of having him get afflicted by it as well. Caleb went, nevertheless, and en route, Jack’s barking helped him to find Laura. He takes him to Mitchell’s house, and all of them get treated to normalcy by Dr. Tann.

In her vision, Caroline realizes what made her fall for Charles in the first place – even though he didn’t have a high disposition like her other suitors, his imagination, brilliant, inventive mind, caring soul and passion for adventure made Caroline believe that he is the right person to build a future with. Charles gave her the sense of freedom she had pined for all her life, and even in all those uncertainties she had to face while being with him, his optimism made her believe that even those uncertainties could be considered as possibilities. Caroline finally breaks her mental shackles and returns to her usual self, and Lacey, who is tending to her, reveals everything that has happened so far. Laura also learns that it was John Edwards’ idea to stock up on quinine, as he had a hunch that things might turn out badly for the townsfolk, and he wanted to take pre-emptive measures. Caroline requests that Lacey give John her regards, as it goes without saying that she feels guilty for driving him away. 

At Mitchell’s place, Laura wakes up to the tunes of White Sun’s prayer song, and as they have a conversation, White Sun mentions her late daughter, Julia. Laura had heard her name while White Sun was in feverish delirium. White Sun acknowledges that her coping mechanism of trying desperately to forget the past tragedy has caused her daughter, Good Eagle, to suppress her emotions as well. In Laura’s presence,White Sun acknowledges that Good Eagle is finally opening up again and that she, too, now feels the spiritual presence of her late elder daughter more strongly. 

Finally, Caroline arrives at Mitchell’s place and has a brief conversation with Good Eagle, but she’s a bit taken aback to see stacks of literary and religious books at White Sun’s home. Caroline  probably didn’t expect to see that her family has accepted Westernized ideals in such a way.  Now on better terms with Ingalls, White Sun mentions her approval of the idea Laura had previously proposed, of having Good Eagle tutored by Caroline, along with Laura. Dire times brought the families together, and later, Laura mentions to her father that helpful people in Independence remind her of their old place. Charles shares how proud he is of her, even though she wasn’t able to fetch Doctor Tann as she showed true bravery by taking all the responsibilities on her little shoulder. Sadly, their family horses, Pet and Patty, are still missing, but Charles assures them that they will soon return home. The fourth episode ends on a happy note with the Ingalls celebrating their life going back to normal. But, Caroline still seems worried, maybe she is concerned about her upcoming child 

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