A lot happens in this episode. It is certainly a showcase for Barbara Stanwyck who gets to play an ambitious cold-hearted woman. Nora Holloway is cut from the same cloth as Phyllis Dietrichson in DOUBLE INDEMNITY and the title character in THE FILE ON THELMA JORDON. Only this time her husband is a military captain, and a lover she has on the side is also employed at the fort.
Personally I thought the subplot with the lover was a bit too much and unnecessary. They could have just shown her manipulating a man who might have fancied her; then in the end, believing she could maybe have a life with him when her marriage fell apart. We didn't need the soap opera drama of her making love to one of her husband's colleagues. There was already plenty of other stuff going on in the episode without needing to include that.
I do like how Gil Favor and his men need to venture to the fort and how they become embroiled in all of this. Hey Soos has a bit more to do in this story than he usually does in other episodes. Rowdy is not part of the action. The focus is on Favor having to deal with the captain's treacherous wife.
I have to admit I was surprised that one of the other wives was killed (off screen). Mainly because she was sort of a minor character, and because I thought writer John Dunkel was setting up the boy to be a casualty, since the captain's wife had such fondness for him. It probably would have been more dramatic if her actions had indirectly led to the kid's death.
I thought Robert Lowery, who played the captain, made the most of his screen time. And the scene near the end where he realizes how badly his wife had abused his trust, was very well-played. One couldn't help but feel sorry for him!
As for Stanwyck's character, we're supposed to dislike her, perhaps even hate her...but I do think her death at the end, which satisfies a sort of moral code about punishing wrong-doers, ultimately makes her sympathetic.
Personally I thought the subplot with the lover was a bit too much and unnecessary. They could have just shown her manipulating a man who might have fancied her; then in the end, believing she could maybe have a life with him when her marriage fell apart. We didn't need the soap opera drama of her making love to one of her husband's colleagues. There was already plenty of other stuff going on in the episode without needing to include that.
I do like how Gil Favor and his men need to venture to the fort and how they become embroiled in all of this. Hey Soos has a bit more to do in this story than he usually does in other episodes. Rowdy is not part of the action. The focus is on Favor having to deal with the captain's treacherous wife.
I have to admit I was surprised that one of the other wives was killed (off screen). Mainly because she was sort of a minor character, and because I thought writer John Dunkel was setting up the boy to be a casualty, since the captain's wife had such fondness for him. It probably would have been more dramatic if her actions had indirectly led to the kid's death.
I thought Robert Lowery, who played the captain, made the most of his screen time. And the scene near the end where he realizes how badly his wife had abused his trust, was very well-played. One couldn't help but feel sorry for him!
As for Stanwyck's character, we're supposed to dislike her, perhaps even hate her...but I do think her death at the end, which satisfies a sort of moral code about punishing wrong-doers, ultimately makes her sympathetic.