YMMV / Little House On The Prairie S 3 E 17 The Music Box

• Accidental Aesop: Don't believe your nemesis who always gave you signs of being untrustworthy had a change of heart all of a sudden. Nellie's scheme to humiliate Anna happened because Laura believed she changed her mind about letting Anna join the club even though Nellie always rejected Anna and mocked her for her stutter. Laura had already fallen for Nellie's scheme of pretending she wanted to make amends once in "The Talking Machine" and doesn't seem to have learned her lesson.
• Accidental Innuendo: During the credits, the camera passes through a series of itens at the Mercantile, including a rabbit with a string between its legs which resembles an overly-long penis.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Was Nellie's hostility towards Anna purely out of prejudice against her stutter, or was it partially because she was jealous of Anna's friendship with Laura? For that matter, why does Nellie wish to include Laura in her club? Is it a genuine interest in being friends with Laura? Or did she want to make sure all the popular girls were included in a club under her command?
• Realism-Induced Horror: While the episode is best remembered for its nightmarish sequences during Laura's dreams in which she's punished for her theft, the most unnerving part is the psychological warfare induced by Nellie, who blackmails Laura into obedience, giving her the aforementioned nightmares and leaving her a wreck as she's tormented by her own conscience. Along with that there's Nellie's bullying of Anna, which anyone with a disability which attracted bullies can relate to.
• Ron the Death Eater: Some viewers see Laura's theft and her keeping up with Nellie's blackmail as proof that she's just as bad, or worse than Nellie. While it was unambiguously wrong of her to steal the music box and she's rather Easily Forgiven by both Anna and Nels, she's still much more well-meaning in regards with Anna, making great efforts to help her friend with her stutter and never maikng fun of her. Nellie, meanwhile, goes out of her way to mistreat and exclude Anna for no other reason than because she can, and uses the music box theft to lure Laura into a scheme to humiliate Anna just to get back at Laura.