It turns out that my standard for liking a new Little House adaptation is "use more book scenes and actual history than the 1970s TV show", and by that standard, the Netflix show is a success! They mentioned family members from the Big Woods! And the Civil War! And the fact that Pa is illegally on Osage land! We get Carrie as a baby! I was willing to forgive it a lot.
If anything, the adaptation was too soft on the Native American issue, which is surprising, since I'm coming from a context where the discourse is about little else.
I didn't like much of the small town stuff. That is not for this book! But it's a cozy period drama tv show, this is what they do, I guess.
It's got that too-glossy cinematography where the soundtrack gets in the way too much.
Some of the modern-sounding dialogue had me rolling my eyes ("We came out here to be the best versions of ourselves"? Really?), but mostly in a "real people don't talk like that" way, which could be partly because I watch so little modern screen media these days.
The expansions mostly feel like they aren't trying to fix the books or history, but just to bring up context that a child Laura (or even 1930s Laura) couldn't know about.
Apparently '70s Nellie had a cameo? And I didn't even recognize her?
Laura's hat was stupid. It would be so much cuter and more accurate to have her little bonnet hanging down her back.
When they had Mary in blue and Laura in red, my heart swelled. That's them!
Also! Loved that the china shepherdess showed up.
It's hilarious that they made Mr. Scott young and hot.
The kid acting had that same weird feel that it did on Anne with an E. Where everyone's a bit too hushed and overdramatic.
The moment I saw the title card that looks like a clothbound book, and heard the opening fairy tale narration, I knew I could forgive it a lot. It seems to understand that this is a story first and foremost.
Like, in context, the line from the trailer about how "making it out here alone is a myth" isn't a commentary on the books, it's a character commentary on the fact that it's weird Charles took his wife and young daughters out to the middle of nowhere all by himself. The show's better than the trailer made it look.
Anyway, it turns out I'm willing to give an adaptation a lot of wiggle room when I also think of it as an homage to the '70s series.
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