If you hate Nancy Oleson, turn back now. The little monster gets even worse. But on the plus side, Harriet won't be in this episode. She's going away to Minneapolis to re-evaluate the store's inventory and since she couldn't trust Nels as far as she could throw him, Harriet had to go and deal with the matter herself. Nancy promises to behave, but then gets in a fight with Cassandra at school. After Laura breaks it up, the class meets its newest student: Elmer Miles, a portly boy. Right away, he took a shine to Miss Nancy, and didn't seem to mind when Willie and his friend Joey made fun of him. All in all, Elmer had a decent first day. Next day, Nancy found out just how smart Elmer was and decided to use this to her advantage. She had him carry her books one day, and do her homework for her the next. Yep, Elmer was her love slave. In addition to being educated, Elmer could eat very fast. Willie loses to him in an eating contest and he even shows off his delightful talent at the dinner table when Nancy invites him over. Eating is obviously Elmer's hobby, but it's not his own doing. His overbearing mother seems to be forcing he and his brother to eat while their father remains submissive. This, in turn, starts eating away at Elmer, and he's determined to do something about it.
Nancy continues taking advantage of Elmer and ends up talking him into doing her chores for her. This was going too far, but luckily Willie gets an idea for the ultimate revenge against his sister. It comes to pass when he sees Elmer's science project: an exotic butterfly collection, and since Nancy was too lazy to do her own damn project, there was no doubt she would try to con somebody out of theirs, and so, knowing that Nancy would eavesdrop on phone conversations like her mother and sister before her, Willie called up Albert and asked to borrow fifty cents to buy Elmer's project, saying he'd sell it to him. Hearing this, Nancy jumped at the chance. So after buying Elmer's project and raining on his parade for losing 12 pounds, Nancy went to school. While Willie causes a distraction, Albert pulls the old switcheroo on Nancy's acquired project. The little brat insists on going first and presents her project: snakes in a box. Needless to say, she was abruptly sent to the corner. Afterwards, she lashed out at Elmer, destroying his confidence. Next day, he delivered his essay on what friendship really means to him and announced he was quitting school. Laura expresses care and concern for her pupil by NOT going after him. What the heck? Well, Elmer's essay got all the kids thinking...except for Nancy, and so they all go to Elmer's house and apologize for mistreating him and they want him to come back, so he does. And so after coming back to school and giving Nancy the boot, Elmer Miles was a much happier boy and went on with his life.
And of course, Elmer was never seen or heard from again. This episode seems to be a reworking of Season 5's "The Man Inside", which focuses on an obese man, John Bevins, whom people criticized for his weight and his own daughter was ashamed of him. Like the actor who played John, you can clearly see that Elmer is wearing a padded body suit beneath his clothing; "For the Love of Nancy" is a good episode, but at times frustrating to watch. Nancy is such a horrible little girl and Harriet is a terrible influence. Allison Balson does a great job at portraying a complete brat, like Alison Arngrim before her. Who was the nastier child? Nellie or Nancy? You be the judge; Props to J. Brennan Smith as Elmer. He's got talent, and it must have been difficult to lug around all that padding, but he pulled it off. Good episode, well acted and well written, and if you can stomach Nancy and her bratty ways, it's worth watching.
Nancy continues taking advantage of Elmer and ends up talking him into doing her chores for her. This was going too far, but luckily Willie gets an idea for the ultimate revenge against his sister. It comes to pass when he sees Elmer's science project: an exotic butterfly collection, and since Nancy was too lazy to do her own damn project, there was no doubt she would try to con somebody out of theirs, and so, knowing that Nancy would eavesdrop on phone conversations like her mother and sister before her, Willie called up Albert and asked to borrow fifty cents to buy Elmer's project, saying he'd sell it to him. Hearing this, Nancy jumped at the chance. So after buying Elmer's project and raining on his parade for losing 12 pounds, Nancy went to school. While Willie causes a distraction, Albert pulls the old switcheroo on Nancy's acquired project. The little brat insists on going first and presents her project: snakes in a box. Needless to say, she was abruptly sent to the corner. Afterwards, she lashed out at Elmer, destroying his confidence. Next day, he delivered his essay on what friendship really means to him and announced he was quitting school. Laura expresses care and concern for her pupil by NOT going after him. What the heck? Well, Elmer's essay got all the kids thinking...except for Nancy, and so they all go to Elmer's house and apologize for mistreating him and they want him to come back, so he does. And so after coming back to school and giving Nancy the boot, Elmer Miles was a much happier boy and went on with his life.
And of course, Elmer was never seen or heard from again. This episode seems to be a reworking of Season 5's "The Man Inside", which focuses on an obese man, John Bevins, whom people criticized for his weight and his own daughter was ashamed of him. Like the actor who played John, you can clearly see that Elmer is wearing a padded body suit beneath his clothing; "For the Love of Nancy" is a good episode, but at times frustrating to watch. Nancy is such a horrible little girl and Harriet is a terrible influence. Allison Balson does a great job at portraying a complete brat, like Alison Arngrim before her. Who was the nastier child? Nellie or Nancy? You be the judge; Props to J. Brennan Smith as Elmer. He's got talent, and it must have been difficult to lug around all that padding, but he pulled it off. Good episode, well acted and well written, and if you can stomach Nancy and her bratty ways, it's worth watching.
