The following is the premise of this episode as delivered by NBC voiceover announcer Casey Kasem in teaser promos: "A day that begins in joy threatens to end in tragedy. When fire destroys the School for the Blind, the Ingalls face their greatest test of courage."
So it was with one of the best-remembered and critically acclaimed episodes in the entire run of Little House on the Prairie, "May We Make Them Proud." It is one having themes of high drama, deep grieving, acceptance of responsibility and forgiveness.
Tropes present in this episode:
- Angst Coma: Mary enters a state of catatonic shock after learning her baby son, Adam Jr., was killed in the house fire. Cured when Albert brings a music box playing the same "lullaby" melody Mary hummed to her baby.
- Broken Tears: Jonathan, as he demands, goddamnit, to Dr. Baker that he wants his wife buried in a casket befitting her. And goddamnit, no pine box. The tears continue weeks later, and alcohol only fuels them as he is unable to get past the pain. Fortunately, his son Andy (with help from Charles) is able to give him inspiration to move on.
- Bus Crash: In a horrendous Wham Shot, we learn Jeremy Quinn is now dead and buried- perhaps as Laser-Guided Karma for rebuffing Albert. It is the clincher of despair for poor Albert, as Jeremy was the only relative besides the Ingalls he could flee to.
- Death of a Child: Adam Jr. ... which Hester Sue — as the only sighted person at the Blind School the night of the fire — witnesses full-on. Very chilling and disturbing to watch.
- Happy Ending Override: To multiple episodes:
- "The Wedding" involved Mary worried about how she and Adam would be able to look after their future children being both blind, but being assured they make it work out. Here, her worst fears are realized as she fails to bring her back to safety and he perishes in the fire.
- "Crossed Connections" had the Garveys on the edge of ending their marriage after a Dark Secret from Alice's past is revealed, but they made amends in the end. Here, Alice dies, undoing the happy conclusion from there.
- "Author Author" ended with Caroline's stepfather meeting his baby great-grandson and his surname being given as a middle name to him. Here, Baby Adam dies and it's implied Grandpa Holbrook is still alive when it happens and may or nothave learned about it.
- House Fire: Starts in the basement of the Harriet Oleson School For the Blind after Albert and one of his buddies – upon nearly being caught smoking there during a school picnic – carelessly hide their still-smoldering pipe in some clothes; the fire eventually spreads and traps Alice Garvey and baby Adam Kendall Jr., killing them both. This series of events plays a monumental role in the rest of the series' run.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Albert is wrenched with the worst guilt for starting the fire that killed two people (one being his infant nephew) due to his careless actions. It gets worse when he later presents a bedridden catatonic Mary with a music box; it invokes hysteria in Mary, which in turn makes him scream that he didn't mean to do it and he runs away.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Had Mary grabbed her baby right when she knew what was happening, these tragedies likely would have been averted.
- Oh, Crap!: Alice's reaction once she gets baby Adam from his room … and then realizes she's trapped by flames. No one is even close to being able to answer Alice's plea for help before she and Adam Jr. are swallowed by the flames. Hester Sue also has this reaction as she witnesses Alice and baby Adam's final moments and sees there is nothing she can do.
- Picnic Episode: Which is how the episode begins – a day of celebration and expansion of the current school … and what better way than to celebrate with a picnic?
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: The episode ends with Albert returning to Walnut Grove, the townspeople still in shock for the tragedy, but Adam informs his father promised to fund a new blind school named after Baby Adam and Alice Garvey and the survivors unite to comfort and forgive.
- Smoking Is Cool: Albert and one of his friends go to the basement to sneak a few puffs on a pipe they had smuggled at the beginning of the episode.
- Title Drop: Spoken by the elder Adam Kendall in the closing scene – the groundbreaking for the new Blind School – as the final line of the episode, as they vow to remember and honor the memories of teacher Alice Garvey and the Kendalls' son.
- Tonight, Someone Dies: And indeed, it was … for Alice Garvey and baby Adam.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Why'd we have to lose another baby boy in the Ingalls bloodline?
- Trauma Button: In the aftermath of the fire, Mary and Albert both suffer from severe shock – today, it might be a form of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD – and the music box that Albert buys as a gift for Mary sets off one of the most dramatic, defining scenes of the episode. (Incidentally, nothing is said of Hester Sue — the only surviving sighted person at the Blind School when the fire breaks out — and what trauma she may have had by witnessing Alice and Adam being overtaken by the flames. Nothing is said of it either in this episode or in future episodes.)
- Very Special Episode: How the original NBC promos played up this episode. No moral issues are explored, but given the events of the episode – particularly, a fire sparked by careless disposal of smoking materials and said fire resulting in two deaths – many of Walnut Grove's residents are deeply affected and impacted in a number of ways, and indeed it is a great test of courage, love, resolve and forgiveness that everyone's faced with.
- Wham Line:
- Hester Sue: "THE BABY!!!" With a genuine look of terror on her face, stated once the room where Alice and baby Adam were in were swallowed by flames, and the crying and Alice's pleas for help were silenced.
- Jonathan Garvey: "Promise me, Doc: no pine box. Something pretty." Just the sheer emotion behind that one underscores Jonathan's totally broken statement to Dr. Baker and his complete grief, remarking that he didn't think Alice deserved to be buried in something so inadequate.
- Mary: "MY BABY!!! MY BABY!!! Albert: "I DIDN'T MEAN IT! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! AN ACCIDENT!!!!!" The following exchange happens after Albert brings her a music box and begins playing it to cheer her up; instead, it snaps her out of her catatonic state of denial that Adam Jr. was killed in the Blind School fire and a frightened Albert – finally realizing his careless actions earlier led to the fatal fire – runs off.
