"Little House on the Prairie" The Reincarnation of Nellie (Part II) (TV Episode 1981) Poster

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7/10
Bad to the Bone!
ExplorerDS67894 June 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Previously on Little House, Percival and Nellie were settling down in New York to run the family business, Harriet sank into a funk until she managed to adopt a little girl who was the spittin' image of Nellie, and if you can believe it, the child was worse than Nellie. Now as we begin Part II of this madness, it seems Nancy does have a heart in there somewhere as she's taken a shine to Albert. Unfortunately for her, he's into Belinda Stevens, a sweet girl from class who was a shoe-in for the school pageant. Nancy didn't like this one bit. Get this: Nancy manages to lure Belinda into the Oleson ice house because after hearing Willie talk about how one could easily get locked in, she got an idea on how to eliminate her competition. Not only that, but Willie ended up being the one duped into closing the ice house door, unknowingly locking Belinda inside! Luckily she was discovered by Nels the next morning, but the poor child had almost frozen to death. She was rushed to Doc Baker, who declared that she would be alright. Well, sir, Mr. Stevens was furious and went to confront the Olesons. Of course Nancy denied allegations and Harriet defended her all the way. Nancy's pitching a fit brought the matter to a close. And folks, get used to Nancy screaming "you hate me!" because she'll be doing it from now on.

So with Belinda null and void for the time being, Nancy jumped to audition for the pageant. Not only that, but she attempted to steal and copy Willie's homework, but was thankfully caught in the act. Harriet immediately denied Nancy being capable of such a thing, despite the evidence right in front of her gawking face! Nels wanted to pound her ass, and I don't blame him, but Harriet launched into dramatic mode as she begged for her little "angel" to be spared, but on condition that she start helping out at the restaurant. Nancy was against work, until she learned of the concept of pay. As for the pageant, Albert and Willie organized a secret stalemate, leaving Nancy as the only contender. Laura was none the wiser to their ploy. Now you have to wonder, why is Nancy so spiteful? So mean and so deceiving? According to her, she was abandoned by her mother on a street corner. Despite Nancy's love and devotion to her mother, she wanted nothing to do with her. Everybody pitied the little girl and decided to be in the pageant after all. Sad story, huh? Too bad it was all a lie. This was confirmed by Mr. Case who met with Charles, who I was really starting to miss, in Sleepy Eye. Apparently Nancy's ma died in childbirth and she was such a horrible child her grandmother couldn't handle her... man, Nancy just played everybody in Walnut Grove like a harp. The little... c-word! I don't know how much more of this I can stand. She makes me want to rip my ears off! Thankfully Charles delivers the news of Nancy's background to the Olesons, and Harriet realizes she'd been tricked. They were all tricked. What to do with Nancy? Harriet wants to send her to bed without dessert.... how in God's name was this woman allowed to become a mother?! Laura has a better idea, however. Nancy was nominated for a very important position at the school bazaar: a mermaid. Can you tell where this is going? And so, in her prettiest dress, Nancy Oleson became the mermaid of the dunk tank! Yeah, that little bitch really is all wet! Hope she drowns.

This was painful, let me tell you. Wonderfully acted, albeit over-the-top in many instances by Allison Balson, but to her credit this is only her second episode. She was very believable as such a horrible little girl. She puts Nellie to shame. Hell, she makes Nellie look like Shirley Temple; also a shout out to Katherine MacGregor as Walnut Grove's worst mother. Props to Richard Bull as long, long-suffering Nels, awesome as ever. Written and directed superbly by Michael Landon. Again, this episode is painful, Nancy will make you gag, and worse yet, she ain't going nowhere. She will never change. She will be a horrible little monster all the way to the series finale. Again, wonderful performances, but somewhat painful to watch in terms of schmaltz and constant whining. Forget the Kleenex, for this episode you'll need ear plugs.
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7/10
If you liked Part 1...
gregorycanfield8 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
After little brat Nancy locks Belinda in the ice house, everyone decides that she needs to be taught a lesson. Even Mrs Oleson has had it, after realizing that Nancy has been lying to her, as well as everyone else. So, Nancy winds up getting dunked in the water tank. Was that the extent of the punishment? Nancy essentially got a slap on the wrist, for all the cruel, nasty things she had done. Not enough! After this episode, we see less of Nancy. That was good. If she was never brought into the series at all, that would have been better.
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7/10
Exit Nellie, Enter Nancy Part 2
spasek26 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This episode is a bit disturbing as it begins, and frankly, I think Landon (who wrote it) overlooked a major problem.

Nancy, jealous of Belinda, tricks Willie into locking the poor girl in the icehouse. Fortunately, Nels finds the unconcious Belinda the next morning. The failiure of the episode from this perspective that isn't addressed at all is that Belinda could have easily died. Even as Nancy confesses angrily to what she did to Belinda, it still isn't brought up. I feel that was short-sighted on Landon's part. I understand that he wanted Nancy to do something to Belinda, but this was too over-the-top. Even Nellie had never done anything quite so heinous. However, if it was Landon's goal to show that Nancy was an even worse child than Nellie, than he succeeded.

Once again, Harriet turns a blind-eye to Nancy's lies and deceit. Fearful that she'll run away if punished, she finds a way to prevent Nels from doing just that. Nancy isn't just a girl who gets what she wants. She's also a girl who gets out of doing things that she doesn't want to do. Telling a sob-story about her mother, quickly gains the sympathy of everyone, until Charles finds out the truth.

Laura sets a plan in motion to teach Nancy a lessson. The school decides to throw a bazaar with Nancy as the star. Little does Nancy realize until it is too late, that she is sitting in a dunking booth. Belinda gets first crack at her, and successfully dunks her. Hearing Nancy gloat to Belinda about how she was locked in the icehouse, Mrs. Oleson angrily grabs the balls and dunks her again.

Somehow, Nancy being dunked into the water just didn't seem like enough for me. How can you discipline a child when they don't realize that what they've done is wrong? Nancy never apologizes, and we find it hard to believe that she's sorry for anything. For me, this was another aspect of the episode that came up short.

This would be the first of a long line of episodes in which we'd be subjected to the repeated line, "You hate me!" from Nancy that would very quickly become tedious.
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6/10
Did LHotP jump the shark?
aboos-540014 April 2021
The over the top performance of Allison Balson as Nancy Oleson makes you question the writing of Little House on the Prairie. Were they running out of story lines?
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6/10
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet!
mitchrmp26 October 2013
Nancy is so evil, hateful, and bad! I cannot stand her! Nellie seemed to come by it naturally, and at times she couldn't be nearly as mean as her mother. Nancy, however, seems to have the devil inside her or something. The things she does in this episode are nothing short of cruel, hurtful, and could have resulted in death.

The only thing I really liked about this episode is Willie's being nice and the mermaid booth. If you haven't seen it, the bad parts of this episode are well worth watching just to see revenge at the end!

Locking someone in a ice house so she'd get sick, telling a story so people will be nice to you and let you have your way, and having no remorse for what one does - these are all very bad signs...Nellie was mean. Nancy is nasty.
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1/10
Now I remember why I quit watching Little House SO many years ago
moviereviewer9923 June 2020
Now I remember why I quit watching Little House SO many years ago!

Been watching while we're stuck at home, because of the pandemic. I kept thinking "Why did I quit watching SO many years ago?"

Then the stories with Nancy Oleson (Allison Balson) in that started playing.

I didn't like the character Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim) back then. She reminded me of my narcissistic abusive brother.I quit watching when they brought Nancy Oleson (Allison Balson) on.

Well, I won't be watching the rest of Little House by the looks of it. Cannot stand the Nellie or the Nancy character.
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