Jack Grinnage, who played Ron Updyke on the Night Stalker, plays Raffie in this episode. Raffie is young man who seems to be suffering from the 1870s version of PTSD or shell shock.
He was a teenage drummer during the Civil War and his experiences have left a mark on him. Raffie travels around with his drum, and it is hard not to see he has mental issues.
When he arrives in Dodge, the main characters welcome him, and he could have been an interesting recurring character. Unfortunately, a couple of drunken thugs start picking on Raffie.
It was not clear if they were bullying him because he was mentally disturbed, or they saw him as a weak former soldier. It looked like Raffie was a Union drummer, and occasionally characters who were former Confederate soldiers were troublemakers on Gunsmoke.
The incidents of verbal abuse of Raffie escalate to physical abuse, and attempts to kill the poor kid. Jack Grinnage really does a great job looking like a young kid (he was 29), and acting like someone with mental issues. The villains are very sadistic, and eventually they meet their just desserts.
As others have pointed out, everyone else welcomed Raffie, and yet after the bad guys are gone, he blows off the main cast and says he would rather go live somewhere else. It was sad, but it seemed consistent with a guy who made bad choices because he was not all there.
Raffie was one of those characters that would have been nice to see again, but on Gunsmoke, almost nobody ever came back (as the same character).
He was a teenage drummer during the Civil War and his experiences have left a mark on him. Raffie travels around with his drum, and it is hard not to see he has mental issues.
When he arrives in Dodge, the main characters welcome him, and he could have been an interesting recurring character. Unfortunately, a couple of drunken thugs start picking on Raffie.
It was not clear if they were bullying him because he was mentally disturbed, or they saw him as a weak former soldier. It looked like Raffie was a Union drummer, and occasionally characters who were former Confederate soldiers were troublemakers on Gunsmoke.
The incidents of verbal abuse of Raffie escalate to physical abuse, and attempts to kill the poor kid. Jack Grinnage really does a great job looking like a young kid (he was 29), and acting like someone with mental issues. The villains are very sadistic, and eventually they meet their just desserts.
As others have pointed out, everyone else welcomed Raffie, and yet after the bad guys are gone, he blows off the main cast and says he would rather go live somewhere else. It was sad, but it seemed consistent with a guy who made bad choices because he was not all there.
Raffie was one of those characters that would have been nice to see again, but on Gunsmoke, almost nobody ever came back (as the same character).