This is one of the few "good" episodes of what is basically a mediocre -- sometimes downright idiotic -- soap opera.
As a (unproduced) screenwriter, I am mightily impressed with Jay Simms' excellent script. There's an outstanding scene in which Royal Dano delivers a magnificent "verbal drubbing" that appears to capture the vocabulary and speech patterns of 19th-century Western language. Simms must have had direct contact with people who spoke this way. It's not something that can be learned from a Western-vocabulary book (of which I have a pile).
But the show is Whitmore's. His performance convinces us that Random really is an immoral, nutcase mercenary -- not just an actor spouting lines. This is one of the few "Big Valley" episodes worth watching (for something other than laughs).
As a (unproduced) screenwriter, I am mightily impressed with Jay Simms' excellent script. There's an outstanding scene in which Royal Dano delivers a magnificent "verbal drubbing" that appears to capture the vocabulary and speech patterns of 19th-century Western language. Simms must have had direct contact with people who spoke this way. It's not something that can be learned from a Western-vocabulary book (of which I have a pile).
But the show is Whitmore's. His performance convinces us that Random really is an immoral, nutcase mercenary -- not just an actor spouting lines. This is one of the few "Big Valley" episodes worth watching (for something other than laughs).