Season 1 Episode 5 “'The Love of Johnny Johnson”- Little House on the Prairie

Laura Ingalls notices a new boy at school who seems to be quit handy with a lasso. She learns that his name is Johnny Johnson and he is 15 years old. She begins to have a crush on him and finds reasons to get him to talk to her and walk home from school with her and Mary. Soon it becomes apparent that Johnny is more interested in Mary, which makes Laura jealous. Mary has no interest in Johnny, other than being a friend to him, but he would like it to be more than that.

Laura begins asking her mother and father about how they met and fell in love. She gets some ideas from them and tries them out on Johnny. Laura invites Johnny on a picnic and to go fishing. He enjoys her company and her friendship. He comes to visit and Laura becomes angry when she finds out he came to ask Mary to help him with his reading. Laura tries other things to get Johnny’s attention, but he is still more interested in Mary.

Laura’s strange behavior and angry words towards her sister Mary become a concern to her mother. Mrs. Ingalls goes to the school to talk to the teacher about Laura’s crush on Johnny. She also finds out that Mary doesn’t like Johnny in a romantic way. Mrs. Ingalls has a heartfelt talk with Laura about relationships and how being yourself is the best way to develop a relationship.

Charles also becomes concerned about the feuding over Johnny that has developed between Laura and Mary. Charles has a talk with Laura as well which helps her deal with her heart ache over Johnny. Laura realizes it’s not Mary’s fault that Johnny would like Mary to be his girlfriend. Laura decides it’s alright to just be friends with Johnny. She also apologizes to Mary and they are friends again too.