Dark Secret: Alice had never told Jonathan that, as a 16-year-old girl, she had married a man 20 years older than her and had been considered a family friend … only for him to have concealed his own wild lifestyle of heavy gambling and drinking. The marriage is a disaster and he eventually is sent to prison after a failed bank robbery. Thanks to Mrs. Oleson eavesdropping on a phone conversation between Alice and her mother – in which it is revealed that her ex-husband has been released from prison – Jonathan is able to find out the truth.
Deliberate Values Dissonance: When Alice's mother is discussing Alice's marriage to Harold with Jonathan, no attention is given to the fact that she was married at sixteen to a man two decades older, whom she'd grown up seeing as a father figure! Back in the days, marriages between teenage girls and much older men were seen as perfectly normal, as long as the husband could provide for them. The only issue discussed is that Harold was a compulsive gambler, and said vice drained his savings and left him desperate enough to participate in a bank robbery, which cost him 18 years in prison plus the end of his marriage, a lifelong criminal record and his strength.
Ironic Echo: Early on, Dr. Baker stops by the bank to ask Bill Anderson about the pharmaceutical stock which the latter just inherited; Bill informs the good doctor that the stock is being manipulated to go up and will likely crash any day, and when Dr. Baker asks how he knows this, Bill replies "In my business, you learn to see the signs", but shows signs of discomfort typically associated with heartburn while doing so. As he prepares to leave the bank, Dr. Baker tells Bill to stop by his office for a heartburn remedy after closing up, and when Bill asks how the former knew about it, Dr. Baker likewise responds "In my business, you learn to see the signs".
Jerkass Realization: After a fight with Alice over her past with Harold, Jonathan takes a trip near Minneapolis, and decides to go there to meet and confront Alice's ex-husband, only to find him to be a shadow of a man, destroyed by 18 years in prison and remorseful for having ruining things with Alice and for ruining his own life. This leads Jonathan to realize he was making a big fuss out of this dark chapter from his wife's past and taking her for granted, and when he returns to Walnut Grove, he makes amends with her and all is forgiven and forgotten.
No Sympathy: Nels' attitude toward his wife after she reveals she had lost her savings in the stock market. Perhaps fully aware of Albert and Laura's plan, he essentially tells her she got what she had coming and that she can go back to work to earn her money back.
Revenge: To teach Mrs. Oleson a tough lesson about the damage gossip causes, Albert and Laura (with help from Mr. Anderson) hatch a plan to give her a false stock tip and blow her entire share of the Oleson finances on investing in a company that goes bankrupt. Nels – whom earlier scolded his wife after Jonathan confronted her about rumors of Alice's previous marriage – has absolutely no sympathy for her when she cries about her losing all her money.
