User Reviews

We have a few different issues going on in this second part:

1. Royal's heart is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Nobody knows when it would happen and Jenny has no idea she's about to lose her father. Laura and Almanzo are quite worried about how his death will effect her. She takes it hard

2. Jeb Carter cannot swim. In order to avoid his secret revealed, Jeb falls out of a tree instead of diving into the water. His father finds out the truth and has a heart-to-heart.

3. Jenny cannot accept that her parents are gone and she's alone. She takes desperate actions that leave Laura and Almanzo both devastated.

I'm not sure what happened to Almanzo in this episode, but he let's Laura do all the talking and disciplining. I want to take the book from him and bash him on the head when he says, "Maybe we should have done that a long time ago." We??? WE??? Almanzo through this whole entire episode practically kept his mouth shut while LAURA did all the talking! It always irks me every time I watch it...

We begin on the local children Willie, Nancy, Jason, Jenny, and the rest going swimming, but Jeb was reluctant. Why? He couldn't swim and was afraid to learn, but he didn't want it to get out. But because of Nancy's constant pestering, Jeb just had to try and prove her wrong. Well, his attempt at diving into the water from a tree failed, resulting in a broken arm. Jeb's first attempt at trying to impress the women. Not bad; Royal was feeling better so he decided to take Jenny on a picnic. He wanted Jenny to be happy in Walnut Grove, and needless to say, she was. Well another misguided forecast resulted in a downpour on the Wilders' picnic and as they dashed back to the house, Royal suddenly keeled over from a heart attack. They managed to get him back home where he and Jenny have one more tender moment, and then...Royal Wilder was gone, and Jenny was absolutely crushed. For days on end, she was distant. Didn't talk to anybody, or want to be around anybody. But one Sunday, she did agree to accompany Almanzo and Laura to church where, following the service, she has a talk with Reverend Alden. They discuss Heaven and the reverend assures Jenny that when her time comes, she would be reunited with her father, and her mother, and others loved ones long passed on. Sadly, she took his message the wrong way, for as soon as she got home, she refused an invite for a picnic and instead made out, of all things, a suicide note.

Before Jenny could carry out her misdeed, Jeb and Jason Carter drop by to show her one of Jeb's homing pigeons and gives it to her in hopes that she'll send an "air mail" his way. En route home, Jeb realizes he forgot to give Jenny the accompanying cylinder for the message, so he goes back to find the house empty. Fortunately he discovered her suicide note and ran off to the pond where he knew she might be. Sure enough, he got there just in time to see Jenny trudging out into the middle of the pond. A sudden rush came over the boy as he jumped into the water, swam out and rescued Jenny. Alright, Jeb! Naturally you'd think the little girl would be grateful for this boy risking his own life to save her, right? Nope, she actually wanted to die. But thankfully Laura finally stepped up and put Jenny in her place, letting her know who she hurt in all this, and it wasn't just herself. And so, from that day on, Jenny Wilder was good as new: she returned to school, and afterwords, she went swimming with Jeb and the others. Of course, Nancy doesn't resist the urge to tease Jeb about his fear of swimming, but he sure does prove her wrong, and even proves that beyond the shadow of a doubt that Nancy Oleson really is all wet...literally. So now it's official: Jeb Carter kicks ass.

Great finish to this gripping two-part drama. Shannen Doherty and Lindsay Kennedy really took center stage and showed real talent in conveying their characters' emotions and feelings. Nicholas Pryor was a very convincing Royal as well, and finally, Melissa Gilbert really shined as Laura trying so hard to reach out to Jenny, and when she gave her that speech towards the end, that really drove it home. The Carters and Jenny are here to stay, and we're very glad to have them. It's too bad the series didn't run longer so we could see this new generation of kids grow up. So, watch both parts of "Times Are Changing" and enjoy Little House: A New Beginning for what it is: a good season.

Now that the plot atrocities presented in the previous chapter have been overcome, in this chapter the new people of Walnut Grove begin to show their characteristics. The drama with Royal's death is present. It is very clear that Royal knew of his imminent end and took Jenny to Almanso and Laura as a stone guest, like a gift package... Of course they accept her as something natural, but in no home does the appearance of a girl of 12 years may be inconsequential and not worthy of discussion.

The courtship is emerging between Jenny (the town's new Laura plays a major role) and Jeb (the Parkers' eldest son). Not knowing anything about the latter ends up making him the hero, saving Jenny from a suicide attempt (Was it necessary?) And the nice but annoying Jason always contributes his own... Michael Landon's daughter as a new teacher emerges very angelic... Evidently she is not as stubborn and temperamental as Laura. At least he doesn't have fun sending Willie to the corner (the eternal student, is he never accepted?)

This episode might be depressing, if everything weren't so ridiculous. Almanzo's brother dies, which didn't bother me all that much. Perhaps, Nicholas Pryor wasn't the best actor for this role. I found his character annoying, and I couldn't sympathize with him. When Royal finally dies, we don't see Almanzo react at all. Maybe, Almanzo didn't like him any more than I did. We only see the effect that her father's death has on little Jenny. Having already lost her mother, her father's death causes Jenny to actually want to "join" both her parents. Is it me, or is this kind of morbid? Not at all believable, either. Children can react negatively to their parents' death, but I don't believe a 10 year old girl would want to die, because she thinks that will reunite her with her parents. Like another reviewer mentioned, why did Laura do all the talking to Jenny? Wasn't she supposed to be Almanzo's niece? I guess everything doesn't need to make sense. As for Laura, I couldn't get over how pretty she looked! Since the episode is called "Times are Changing," I wished the times had changed enough to get Laura into a short skirt! I'm digressing, but this episode offered nothing better than for me to admire Laura's "new look." You can take the compliment, Melissa Gilbert.