Netflix's 'Little House on the Prairie' is a scattered CliffsNotes version of the classic series, and it's hard to see the value in condensing Laura Ingalls Wilder's books into eight episodes. The show feels cursed by aspirations to be a more mature telling of the story, yet it ends up shortchanging the more serious questions it raises. The best episode of the season arrives with a massive snowfall, directed by Erica Tremblay, suggesting a show that's settling into a rhythm closer to the '70s show's. However, the rest of the season never manages to challenge this technical high point. While not as bad as Netflix's 'Avatar: The Last Airbender', 'Little House' falls prey to many of the same adaptation pitfalls, with no greater depth of feeling to be found. Netflix's attempt at adapting 'Little House on the Prairie' is a missed opportunity, and it's hard to see the value in condensing such a rich and expansive story into a limited format. Personally, I think the show's overreliance on montage and cloying score makes it hard to feel fully immersed in its time warp. What makes this particularly fascinating is the show's attempt to grapple with the more serious questions of displacement and settlement, but it ends up sanding down the more sinister truths of its subject. In my opinion, the show's lack of interiority given to most of the Osage characters undercuts any go at reframing key parts of this story. This raises a deeper question: can a limited series ever truly capture the essence of a classic series like 'Little House on the Prairie'?
