Life on “Little House on the Prairie” wasn’t always so wholesome.
On the “Little House 50” podcast, Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson) and Dean Butler (Almanzo Wilder) revisited an episode that aired on Season 3 titled “Bully Boys.” In it, viewers see the Galender brothers — two adult men and a teenager — arrive in Walnut Grove and wreak havoc on the town.
“There is so much woman-beating in this episode,” said co-host Pamela Bob. “It’s crazy.”
“They’re cowards,” said Arngrim, 63. “They don’t want to fight the men. They wanted to attack the girls.”
The star admitted the episode was “disturbing.”
“First of all, I was creeped out by all three,” she explained. “The minute they showed up and went to their cabin, I was creeped out. I didn’t say, ‘Oh, look at the two cowboys and their baby brother.’ I said, ‘This is giving ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ vibes.’”
“I mean, is there inbreeding going on here?” she asked about the on-screen siblings. “They don’t seem right. There seems to be something the matter with these three guys. … Why are they so weird? I thought they [were] creepy and disturbing. I’m feeling ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre.’ … They are disturbing. There’s something wrong with them right away.”
“This plot is very simple,” said Butler, 69. “It’s really about how much people will take.”
Butler noted the Galenders were “an illustration of no moral guardrails of any kind.”
“There is nothing that they won’t do, and they think nothing of it because . . . no one is pushing back, until Mary [Ingalls, played by Melissa Sue Anderson] pushes back.”
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In the episode, Roy Jenson played George Galender, Michael LeClair played Bubba Galender and Geoffrey Lewis played Sam Galender.
“Let’s go back, though, to the schoolhouse,” said Bob. “They’re starting the grift, the intimidation factor. They’re basically robbing them blind, and there’s nothing they can do about it. Then we go to school, and we see Bubba, right? We’re introduced to Bubba, who’s also equally horrible in the school year. This was the craziest scene ever when he, out of the blue, punches Mary in the face over nothing.”
In the episode, Bubba purposely knocks a girl down with a dodgeball, People magazine reported. When Mary confronts him, he punches her, the outlet said.
“He could have killed this girl, by the way,” said Bob. “You could kill someone by hitting someone in the face with a ball like that. So he purposely knocks out this girl. And then when Mary confronts him, he punches her, zero warning. So freaking hard. It’s jarring to say the least. And as a viewer watching this, Laura [Ingalls, played by Melissa Gilbert] is surprisingly a little more nonchalant than I’d like her to be about it.”
People reported that for the rest of the episode, Mary has a black eye. However, she feels pressured to stay quiet. Meanwhile, Nellie tries to be Bubba’s girlfriend, an act Arngrim called “reprehensible.”
“She sees him beating women, and she’s cool with it,” said Arngrim.
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The breaking point, the outlet shared, is when Caroline “Ma” Ingalls [Karen Grassle] is attacked by the two older men.
“It’s all sexual innuendo. It’s horrible. It’s horrific,” Bob said.
“It’s really bad,” Arngrim chimed in. “They’re literally holding her and touching her. Nobody does that. And this is Caroline. I mean . . . That’s your mom. That’s everybody’s mom. And they’re touching her. They’re saying things . . . they won’t let her leave. They have a hold of her. … This is assault.”
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During the discussion, Arngrim praised Grassle, 83, for her performance.
“Her portrayal of trauma from sexual assault is so dead on,” said Arngrim. “The desperation to say it wasn’t that.”
In the episode, Caroline later confides in Charles Ingalls [Michael Landon] about the assault.
Mary and Laura stand up to Bubba, and many of the children band together to fight back.
“The children have said, ‘We’re going to stand together, and we’re going to handle this,'” Butler said. “And this is the . . . powerful allegorical moment for everybody to see. It’s time to stand up together and be counted when someone is treating you wrong.”
In the end, Reverend Alden [Dabbs Greer], who had been sympathetic to the Galenders, calls them out during church on Sunday, the outlet reported. The men then help him eject them from the town. As they’re escorted out, Caroline leads the women singing “Onward, Christian Soldiers.”
“I’ve never seen more woman beating in any television show,” said Bob.
“It’s stunning,” said Butler.
“When I rewatch it, it’s like, holy moly, they actually went there,” said Bob. “Anyway, we’re all OK now.”
