Season 3, Episode 1: The Train

The Gist:
So .... the railroad is coming! Cultures collide. Colleen makes friends (but maybe more?) with a Chinese boy named Peter!  Sully -- who just wants to build a homestead for Michaela -- is completely freaked out and wants to leave.  Michaela and Brian can't wait. Matthew just wants to be like Sully -- and the Reverend is concerned about roustabouts that the train could bring.

Colorado Springs enters into a bidding war with Soda Springs to see who will win the railroad. So you know Jake and Loren are all up in that.  They pretend the town is "better" than it is -- and of course come to appreciate that the town was pretty great already. And then Michaela gets to drive in the first spike.

Commentary:
 1.  The music that plays each time Peter is on screen. It's the standard Dr. Quinn background -- but with Chinese instruments.  It's ... interesting. And it feels a little bit racist.  Not as racist as Hank "get your stinking, dog-eating carcass out of my store" Lawson, of course, but it's not very 21st century.
I suppose that's what one can expect from a 20th century show about 19th century folks.

2. I'm kind of confused by Sully's hyper excitement over building a house.  How does he reconcile his beliefs about humans not "owning" the Earth with ... owning the earth. He's so opposed to the railroad (which I realize is a totally reasonable fear as the train leaves a much larger carbon footprint) ... but seems to experience no conflict about building a house on land that shouldn't even be his. Dude.

3.  I love when Michaela gets to be the deciding vote.  So does she, because she gets to moralize and give speeches about opportunity, community and hard work.  And I really, really love that even though she feels guilty about butting heads with Sully, she stands her ground (even though he's really awful and immature -- he warns that "trains will bring other doctors", which seems like playing dirty to me).  And she refuses to apologize for her joy when the railroad does decide to come through Colorado Springs.   But she does say: "The truth is that the train's coming. You can't stop it and I couldn't have stopped it either.  The world's changing and all we can do is make sure it changes the way we want it to ... it's not easy at all, but since when has that mattered to you? I've seen you fight for what you believe in ... we'll find a way.  But I promise you: if the day ever comes that I  see your breaking and you can't take it any longer, we'll pack up." 

4.  There is a great scene where Matthew and Sully have a talk about whether or not Matthew will take over the old homestead after the Quinn-Sully wedding.  Matthew knows that this is a great option and that he'll be starting his own adult life ... but can't help but feel sad about not living with the family anymore.  This is why college is perfect.   Seriously.  I'm glad that I didn't really have to embark on adult life when I was 18 (or younger!) -- I had this nice buffer of four years where I sort of played at independence and developed critical thinking skills.  And I remember how sad I was when I left my college town (still sad), because I knew that things were really going to be different. And, like Matthew, it just made me feel ... funny. I knew I wanted to move forward ... but I also knew that I'd closed the chapter on my formative years.