Väike maja preerias Quarantine (1974–1983) Online

This is another precious story of Isaiah and his adopted children. When he takes Dr. Baker to a nearby town that's suffering from Mountain Fever, he unknowingly picks up the fever (or does he merely bring back an infected tick?) from the place. It's revealed in this episode that Mr. Edwards had lost his first wife and daughter to this very same sickness.

The quarantine eventually gets to the Ingalls children. Laura and Carrie are especially at each others' throat. Now that Mary is engaged, I'm guessing she can no longer scrabble with her sister. Charles tells them that after eight days of separation, it's time they get back to life. Unfortunately, the discover that Alisha is indeed sick with the horrible fever.

Laura plays her regular role in getting into trouble, but then putting her family's well-being above everything else. After getting spots, she goes to Mr. Edwards' cabin thinking she's about to die - or hoping? Because at supper the night before Charles told her that one in every two people die - that meant it was either her or Alisha.

I always thought it was odd that nobody caught on to the truth. Laura wasn't even sick. She had no fever. Yet everyone just assumed she had the disease. I would think that Isiah would have figured it out...

Well anyway, it turned out okay...

There's been a huge outbreak of mountain fever in neighboring Elmsville. It got so bad that their doctor couldn't handle the epidemic alone, so he sent for Doc Baker to lend a hand. Back in Walnut Grove, Mr. Hanson, head of the school board, decided that as a precaution, he would close the school until the threat was over. This news caused the children to cheer. No school! Never mind a ton of people died from this brutal disease, but yay! No school! Hanson was able to make the cheers die down by going on to further state that the students were to go right home, a quarantine was in effect. Soon Walnut Grove looked like a ghost town as all businesses were closed and people all stayed at home. Needless to say, the pressure was being felt by both child and adult, as having the girls home during the day was running Caroline and Charles rugged. So while the little house on the prairie gets smaller, things were much worse at the Edwards' place. Little Alicia had taken sick and Isaiah knew right away that it was mountain fever. He blamed himself for having brought it back from Elmsville with him. It seems this happened to him once before, and his previous family had died from it. Without wasting a beat, he bundled up Alicia and took her to his old cabin to ride out the fever. Meanwhile, in order to finally get the girls out of her hair, Caroline sent them to pick raspberries. That's when Laura gets the idea of bringing some to Alicia. Despite Mary's protests and obviously not knowing the meaning of quarantine, Laura goes about her task.

When Laura arrives at the cabin, she hears Alicia crying out for her pa, who had moments ago stepped out for some water. Stupidly, Laura went inside. Soon enough Edwards caught her and ordered her to leave, not wanting another loved one to get the fever. Laura raced back home and didn't tell anybody about being near Alicia. This means of any of the Ingallses fall ill, Laura is to blame. Good job, Half Pint. But that night, on a hunch, Laura awakened and looked at her wrist: the spots had appeared. Looks like she's got it. So, instead of waking up the family to let them know she now has a fatal disease and could very well have spread it to them (Mary especially seeing as how they share a bed), what does she do? She leaves them a note then runs away to Edwards' cabin. I mean, she did the right thing in a sense: containing the outbreak, but she was still a carrier and she was exposed to her family...but then this is only a TV show so there's not much point in over-analyzing. Anyway, as expected Charles and Caroline go searching for their wayward daughter. They arrive at Edwards' cabin. He tells Charles to stay back, but he's determined to take his chances, but then Laura tells him no and he listens to her. So he backs off and goes to find Doc Baker in Elmsville. I hope Charles hurries, because it seems Edwards is starting to come down with a fever himself! Maybe he should have accepted Charles' help after all? Edwards fought tooth and nail, but alas,his strength was giving out. So we rejoin Charles having just arrived in Elmsville where he was forced back at gun point. He then engages in a really stupid fight scene where he could have easily been shot, only to once again be overpowered and knocked out. Good. He had it coming. Lives were in your hands, you asshole! You blew it! Oh, but everything works out alright in the end: Michael Landon allows Charles to find Doc Baker and get back to the Grove, just as Alicia's fever broke. So all was well. The threat was over and everybody was happy again.

I believe the disease in this episode was based on Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which was first recognized in 1896 and this episode must be around 1878 whereabouts. It's very rare today and it's normally carried in ticks. Disgusting little bastards... By the way, how come whenever a fatal disease breaks out, people never wear face masks and gloves? Was that not in practice in the 1800s? It might save some people from getting the disease. Anyway, Quarantine was a very gripping, very dramatic episode. Victor French was outstanding as both director and as Isaiah Edwards fighting for his daughter's life. Young Kyle Richards was also good as Alicia as was Melissa Gilbert as Laura. Now speaking of Half Pint, I really couldn't stand how sanctimonious she was here. She disobeys orders, as usual, she gets exposed to the fever, goes home, tells no one, then she gets it, goes back, and starts taking on the responsibility of caring for both Alicia and Isaiah herself. If you ask me, Laura was shoehorned into the main plot just so we, the audience, would worry about the Ingalls family. I guess having just Edwards made the plot too thin? Anyway, if you can stand Laura being just as sanctimonious as her pa, and if you can stomach gripping stories about fatal disease, and if you like seeing Charles get his punch-drunk ass handed to him, then I recommend Quarantine. Personally I think Season 5's "Mortal Mission" is much better.