“Little House on the Prairie” is wonderful and cozy
Updated 10.31 | Published 10.20
TV REVIEW The original with Michael Langdon and Melissa Gilbert is a TV classic called duga.
Now Netflix has dared to make a new “Little House on the Prairie” – and it has actually gone relatively well.
Little House on the Prairie
Season 1
By Rebecca Sonnenshine, with Alice Halsey, Luke Bracey, Crosby Fitzgerald, Skywalker Hughes, Jocko Sims, Warren Christie, Wren Zhawenim Gotts, Meegwun Fairbrother, Alyssa Wapanatâhk, Mary Holland, Rebecca Amzallag.
WESTERN DRAMA. Netflix has, somewhat defying death, made an updated version of the western and family classic “Little House on the Prairie”, which many of us over a certain age grew up with.
It is, of course, set for loud protests and yet another blow in the great culture war of our time, and a bit of a litmus test for the Hollywood remake machine. But also an obvious opportunity for the streaming giant to rake in both curious nostalgics from the past and new, younger generations.
The new series, just like the old one made by NBC in the years 1974-1983, is based on Laura Ingalls Wilders semi-autobiographical children’s books about growing up and living in the American Midwest during the later decades of the 1800s. And the ambition has been to give “a kaleidoscopic picture of the tribulations and triumphs of those who shaped the American West”.
Which means, among other things, a greater scope for indigenous perspectives and a more nomadic lifestyle for the Ingalls family, who in reality moved around continuously while the original series was mainly set in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.
So here it will not be about just one small house on a prairie, but several small houses on different prairies, one must assume.
But the scene of this first season is in any case Kansas, where little Laura Ingalls (Alice Halsey) has traveled from Wisconsin with his father Charles (Luke Bracey), his mother Caroline (Crosby Fitzgerald) and his older sister Mary (Skywalker Hughes) to start a new life near the settler town of Independence.
It begins dramatically, with an incident that is about to end really badly, and continues with what could be summed up as some wine, some water. It is about cohesion, love, faith in the future, resilience, morality, new friendships and the family above all, but also about poverty, disease, war, grief, trauma and ghosts from the past, high child mortality and contradictions between those who have come to stake out their new country and those who already lived there and are now being displaced.
Just like in the original series, which was actually not quite as good and conservative as many may remember it as, the puttenutty, traditional and sentimental family drama is thus mixed with heavier topics and the struggle for survival. But now in a clearer, more modern, more immediate and consciously problematizing way.
Although the beautiful environments, the clear, inviting photography and the generally whole, clean and tidy look keep the series firmly in cozy, Disney-scented territory, where everything looks prepped for Instagram and most things can be solved with hugs and candy after all.
The girls and women are tougher than before, but the pace is pleasantly old-fashioned. The main roles are well cast, and around the Ingalls family there is a mixture of both new and familiar characters. As a family from the Osage people (Wren Zhawenim Gotts, Meegwun Fairbrother, Alyssa Wapanatâhk), a black doctor (Jock Sims), and the tragic but loyal Mr. Edwards (Warren Christie).
And those who miss the infamous Nellie Oleson can take solace in the fact that she will appear in the next season. Because there will be one like that, and maybe, I can imagine, even more besides.
Because even if it would have been exciting with a new version that had been rougher and more realistic, and dared to take the turns in one direction or another, it was probably smart of Netflix to make exactly this, maybe not so bold but cozy and undeniably incredibly beautiful, version.
“Little House on the Prairie” premieres on Netflix on July 9.
