The Best Episodes Written By Don Balluck

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
   

   9.0/10(1 votes)

   #1 - The In-Laws

   S7:E911/24/1980

   Almanzo and Mr. Ingalls expand their business by delivery goods to Sleepy Eye. Both of them believe they know the quickest way to get there. They even place a bet...Whoever got to Sleepy Eye first before 1 o'clock had to cook the other family dinner. Both of them experience problems almost right from the start. Both of them end up making it there after the designated time. The husbands are forced to cook their wives dinner, but that doesn't go so well either.

   Director:N/A

   Writer:Don Balluck

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   Writer:Don Balluck
2. 

   9.0/10(1 votes)

   #2 - Down to a Sunless Sea

   S1:E172/19/1988

   Vincent has foreboding dreams when Catherine's ex-fiancé Steven Bass returns, and with good reason: Catherine is barely aware Steven—whose parents are now dead and who's dying of brain disease, but whose becalmed manner at first belies that he's still a control freak—is obsessed with making her the wife she doesn't want to be, and goes to troubling extremes to make it happen.

   Director:N/A

   Writer:Don Balluck

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   Writer:Don Balluck
3. 

   8.0/10(2 votes)

   #3 - The Aftermath

   S4:E811/7/1977

   Jesse and Frank James hide out in Walnut Grove. The people of Walnut Grove find out who they really are when bounty hunters come looking for them.

   Director:N/A

   Writer:Don Balluck

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   Writer:Don Balluck
4. 

   8.0/10(1 votes)

   #4 - Men Will Be Boys

   S5:E1011/12/1978

   Jonathan and Charles allow their boys to prove their manhood by allowing them to take a trip to Sleepy Eye by themselves. Jonathan and Charles secretly follow the boys. The boys end up making the trip with no problems at all. However, the fathers get into some embarrassing situations following their boys.

   Director:N/A

   Writer:Don Balluck

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   Writer:Don Balluck
5. 

   8.0/10(1 votes)

   #5 - Fight Team Fight!

   S7:E410/13/1980

   A former football star moves back to Walnut Grove. He agrees to become coach of the football team. His goal is to win at all costs. This kind of thinking puts Albert in great danger. Towards the end of the show the football coach starts to realize that winning isn't everything.

   Director:N/A

   Writer:Don Balluck

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   Writer:Don Balluck
6. 

   7.0/10(2 votes)

   #6 - The High Cost of Being Right

   S4:E911/14/1977

   After Mr. Garvey's barn burns to the ground with the crops inside, his wife, Alice, takes a job at the post office. Mr. Garvey opposes this believing that a man should be able to support his family. He is ready to get a divorce until he realizes what his stubborn pride was doing to his family.

   Director:N/A

   Writer:Don Balluck

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   Writer:Don Balluck
7. 

   7.0/10(1 votes)

   #7 - Barn Burner

   S5:E202/18/1979

   It all starts when a local farmer, who is hateful and bigoted, refuses to set a fair price for wheat, since black farmers would be entitled to the same price. The whole thing escalates when the farmer assaults Andy and is later accused of setting fire to the Garvey's barn.

   Director:N/A

   Writer:Don Balluck

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   Writer:Don Balluck
8. 

   7.0/10(1 votes)

   #8 - The Enchanted Cottage

   S5:E212/25/1979

   Mary starts to be able to distinguish light from dark and the Ingalls believe she is regaining her sight. Mary is taken to the specialist only to discover that a brain impulse was causing her to see light when she felt the heat from the sun coming through a window. While Mary is away, Albert and Laura fix up Mr. Edwards' old home. However, the only colors of paint that the mercantile has is pink and purple. Mary returns and talks to Laura in the old Edwards' cabin. Laura tells Mary that her and Albert were building a club house. Mary tells Laura she is glad she can't see the room after Laura tells her what colors they used.

   Director:N/A

   Writer:Don Balluck

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   Writer:Don Balluck
9. 

   7.0/10(1 votes)

   #9 - The Faith Healer

   S6:E1011/18/1979

   Mrs. Oleson invites a charismatic preacher, the Rev. James Danforth, to preach in Walnut Grove. He immediately woos parishioners away from Rev. Alden's congregation with his fiery sermons and "faith healing." But nobody is aware he is a charlatan, and it will soon have tragic results.

   Director:N/A

   Writer:Don Balluck

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   Writer:Don Balluck
10. 

    7.0/10(1 votes)

    #10 - Crossed Connections

    S6:E1212/9/1979

    The telephone comes to Walnut Grove, and Mrs. Olesen is hired as the switchboard operator. She takes advantage of her responsibilities to engage in her favorite pastime: gathering gossip. It will have a very damaging effect on the Garveys' marriage when she learns about Alice's hidden past.

    Director:N/A

    Writer:Don Balluck

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    Director:N/A

    Writer:Don Balluck
11. 

    7.0/10(1 votes)

    #11 - Divorce, Walnut Grove Style

    S7:E711/10/1980

    A friend of Laura begins liking Almanzo. Laura begins suspecting the worse. She goes so far as leaving him when she suspects he is having an affair. Laura later learns that Almanzo can love no one but her.

    Director:N/A

    Writer:Don Balluck

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    Writer:Don Balluck
12. 

    6.0/10(1 votes)

    #12 - The Godsister

    S5:E1412/17/1978

    In this episode starring twins Lindsey and Sidney Greenbush, Charles takes a job on a telephone crew that is working in southern Minnesota, which requires him to be away from home for several weeks. Carrie, heartsick for her Pa and craving attention, only manages to get into everybody else's way, so the lonesome tyke creates an imaginary friend, Alyssa, to ease the pain.

    Director:N/A

    Writer:Don Balluck

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    Director:N/A

    Writer:Don Balluck