Sweet, Sensitive Dorothy Jane

Dorothy Jane thought that she was a delicate and sensitive soul, too refined for her family, neighbors, and the rest of Pyramid Corners, but there is some evidence that she was not.

Dorothy Jane (Olivia Burnette) was in a sort of "eternal quadangle", having a crush on the handsome Riley Roberts (Michael Landes), several years older than her, who, as was his legal duty, did not return the feelings. Riley had a crush on another girl his age, but I forget whether she returned the crush, and also her name.. And the fourth person was Kirby Scroggins (Paige Gosney), a boy Dorothy Janes's age, who had an unrequited crush on her.

Despite feeling her own suffering when Riley didn't return her love, Dorthy Jane was constantly rejecting Kirby's attentions without seeming to care that he suffered at least as much from being rejected as she did. She could have rejected KIrby more gently.

Kirby suffered much worse than rejection in some episodes.

In one episode Dorothy Jane was talking with another girl, I forget who.They were in an ice cream parlor, and Kirby was sitting at a table eating a bowl of ice cream.

To illustrate a point, the other girl went over to Kirby's table and kissed him. Kirby fainted from shock and his face landed in the bowl of ice cream. The girl lifed up his head, looked at it, and said that he was unconscious all right, and let go. Kirby's head plopped back into the ice cream, and the girls resumed their talk. And nobody in the place bothered to do anything about Kirby.

Everyone working on the show knew that Paige Gosney was conscious and could take care of himself. But in the story Kirby Scrobbins was unconscius and couldn't save himself from drowning in ice cream or suffocating because oxygen couldn't get through the ice cream. Dorothy Jane didn''t do anythng to save his life.

In the previous week's episode, Dorothy Jane tried out for the school play when Riley got the role of Romeo. Dorothy Jane was overjoyed when she got the role of Juliet. But then Riley had to drop out and he was replaced by his stand-in - Kirby. Dorothy Jane was disgusted by the thought of having to be kissed by Kirby. I note that every year thousands of amateur and professional girl actors have to be kissed by boys they aren't in love with, and they get over it.

But at the last minute Riley returned and could play Romeo. Dorothy Jane was overjoyed. Which is all well and good. But she then turned and kicked Kirby in the groin for no reason!

So if The Torkelsons was a realistic show, Dorothy Jane might have talked to the man in the Moon from a jail cell for the rest of the series.

I think that most episodes in tv shows with episodic and non serialized formats happen in alternate universes of their own, different from the alternate universes of other episodes.

Thus the episodes of The Torkelsons could happen in alternate universes where Ruth Ann and Stephen Floyd were born, while the episodes of Almost Home could happen in alternate universes where Ruth Ann and Stephen Floyd were never born.

And possibly Dorothy Jane went to jail for letting Kirby drown in ice cream in one episode, and for assaulting him in another episode, and later episodes of The Torkelsons where Dorothy Jane is free happen in alternate universes to those episodes.