User Reviews

Heath is out on the range, sees vultures circling, goes to investigate, and finds a dead cow. Unfortunately, a criminal band of rawhiders is laying in wait, and they shoot Heath before he can mount up and leave.

They only injure him though, and when they are going to strip the body, the leader of these brigands, Daddy Cade (John Dehner) finds Heath's cattle account booklet, stops his sons from finishing Heath off, and comes up with the plan to take Heath back home with the story that they saved him, and see if they can get a reward.

Victoria is very happy when they bring Heath back, and sends Audra to fetch the doctor. A young woman from the rawhiders band, Allie Kay (Yvonne Craig) has been caring for Heath. Although she is dirty and somewhat disheveled, she is not nearly as disgusting as everyone else in the group.

Unfortunately, the other Barkley men and most of the ranch hands are out on a cattle drive, although Victoria expects them to return that day. Shortly after the arrival of the rawhiders, Victoria receives a telegram that the men on the cattle drive will not be returning for another week, so she, Audra, the wounded Heath, Silas, and a ranch hand with a broken arm are the only people at the home.

Victoria gives Daddy Cade $100 as a reward and tells him that he and his people can sleep in the barn overnight. She almost manages to hide her fear and disgust. Daddy Cade, on the other hand, is disappointed, as he was hoping to receive at least $1,000. He and his band decide they are going to steal as much as they can.

The doctor (Noah Keen) comes and tends to Heath, and tells Allie Kay that the bandages she used on Heath are "filthy." When he leaves he tells Victoria to let Allie Kay get cleaned up. The doctor has a small role, but it is a good one, and definitely adds to the episode. He leaves and says he will return later.

The Barkleys are kind to Allie Kay, and not only have her take a bubble bath but gift her a beautiful new dress as well. Because of their kindness and because she clearly has feelings for Heath, she wants to protect them from the rawhiders.

Here are a couple of the plot holes: -Victoria fears the rawhiders, yet leaves the telegram out where they can find it, and fails to secure the guns in the house. -Daddy Cade will not let his sons kill the doctor, who leaves and does come back, and leaves again. The first time he leaves, it is understandable that the Barkley women do not ask him to send help. But the second time, why don't they ask him to get a message to the sheriff?

Emboldened with the knowledge that the Barkley men will not be returning for a week, the rawhiders "invade" the Barkley home (hence the episode title), remove all the guns to the barn, then eat and drink and slop around on the fine furniture to their hearts' content. Victoria hears the ruckus, sees what they're doing in the parlor, and angrily demands to know if this is how they repay her hospitality. (Hospitality? Really, Victoria? Letting them sleep in the barn?)

At this juncture, Daddy Cade points out that he has been a widower for 2 months, and he knows Victoria is a widow, and offers to marry Victoria so they can both satisfy their lustful desires. Victoria shows great restraint by neither laughing at the proposal, nor barfing on the carpet. Instead, she and Audra start to go upstairs, and Victoria tells Daddy Cade she needs to change into more appropriate clothing.

Upstairs, Allie Kay manages to smuggle a gun to Heath, and he covers the women while they sneak down the back stairway and out of the house, taking Silas with them. One of the rawhiders sees their escape, and informs Daddy Cade, who decides it's time to murder everyone on the property and make off with everything of value.

Heath manages to kill a couple of them, and as he leaves the house and faints, Daddy Cade is going to kill him but gets shot down by Victoria and Audra.

The acting is pretty good, especially Victoria's. The story is engaging. Of course you know none of the series' regulars are going to die, but there is suspense about the others. And of course if one thinks about the isolation and vulnerability in those days (and this episode brings that across), it adds to the story.

Overall a good episode.

Which is the main reason to watch this episode. I mean, that is one sexy bubble bath. Unfortunately, it only occupies a few minutes of the shows 60-minute runtime. However, fear NOT dear reader, Yvonne Craig always looks adorably sexy through out this entire episode. Whether she's in the tub or out.

Which is a bit of a problem for this episode and her role in it. Because, while John Dehner(Daddy Cade) is very convincing as the dirt poor matriarch of his nomadic illiterate family, along with the other actors chosen to play his 3-proverbial "chip off the old block" sons of Cade's dumber than dirt rotten family.

However, Yvonne(Allie Kay) being cast as the only daughter and female of this same clan is just WAAAY too movie star attractive, intelligent and visually mesmerizing to convince anyone that she's related to Daddy Cade's ignorant dirt poor family.

OH, they tried to make Yvonne look more convincing by covering her with dirt and rubbing dried mud on her face while providing her with a worn out dress to wear. Courtesy of the studio costume department. But, their efforts couldn't hide her adorable pretty face, gorgeous figure and those electrifying exotic eyes that she had.

After Daddy Cade and his 3-sons ambush Heath Barkley(Lee Majors) using their old Buffalo hunting rifles, Cade calls an audible and instead of murdering and robbing the unconscious Heath, he instead plans to pose as Heath's rescuer in hopes of acquiring a reward from the Barkley's. Predictably, Yvonne immediately crushes hard on Heath upon first sight and after arriving at the Barkley estate she takes a strong personal interest in Heath's recovery while he's completely unaware that Yvonne's family are the ones who ambushed him.

This would later become a common theme in the Big Valley series, where one of the Barkley sons (usually Heath) would find themselves in a desperate situation involving a nefarious family or gang, and there was always at least one pretty young lady around to assist the Barkley men (usually Heath) to aid and comfort them. But, I believe this was the first episode where that particular theme was used in the series.(But don't "quote" me on that)

Anyway, needless to say, Yvonne successfully conspires against her own family to help Heath save the Barkley's after Barbara Stanwyck(Victoria Barkley) refuses Cade's self-delusional marriage proposal. Daddy Cade then decides to murder Victoria and her family as a consequence for turning down all that he had to offer her. Like the dirty smelly buckskin off his back.

This results in Heath killing Cade and his entire family with the exception of Yvonne of coarse. And, what is Yvonne's reward for saving Heath and the Barkley's at the expense of her father and brothers lives?

Maybe she would get a marriage proposal from the piece of eye candy that she would do anything for. Even if it resulted in the killing of her entire family in hopes that she could live the rest of her days as the dutiful wife of Heath Barkley and the mother of his children.

NOPE! Nothing like that for Yvonne. Just a new dress and a fancy buggy ride out of Stockton was all she received for saving the life of her object of love and affection. Which she seemed perfectly okay with, and wasn't heart broken at all. Thanks Allie, and good luck with your future career as a saloon girl.

As a big fan of "The Big Valley" series as a whole I'm actually giving this episode 7 out of 10 stars. For, despite my many criticisms of this episode I actually really enjoyed the ominous dramatic tension lurking just beneath the surface of Daddy Cade's interaction with the Barkley family.

Dehner's performance as Daddy Cade always provided a sense of danger to the unsuspecting Barkley's of his true intentions, and you definitely didn't want to get on Daddy Cade's bad side. Another terrific yet convincingly subtle performance by John Dehner carries this show from start to finish, even if the last 5-minute conclusion to the story is ridiculously unrealistic. But, you could say the same about almost every Western TV drama of that era.

But the biggest reason I would strongly recommend watching this episode at least once, is Yvonne Craig. Although, she was terribly miscast for this particular part, she was always a delightful sight to watch do stuff on screen, and her bubble bath scene was worth the price of admission alone.

I used to watch Big Valley religiously in 1975-76, just loved it being about 20 and enjoyed Nick, Jarrod and Heath. The Invaders really was one etched in my memory because of the performances of Stanwyck and Dehner.

John Wesley Cade a.k.a Daddy is a haunting and disturbing presence who descends on the ranch as the head of a gang of rawhiders and lies about finding Heath bushwhacked and left to die. Dehner's performance is so intense he can be full of graciousness and manners one minute then a cold blooded menace the next. When he starts acting like the man of the house you can sense his foreboding nature. The other members of the tribe are cutthroats like Daddy but Dehner owns this. Stanwyck shows her utter horror knowing that these killers are aware they have a free rein and no real help to fight them.

Alley Kay is the love interest of Heath who nurses his head wound and falls in love. She would have been more believable if she were plain looking and not had those manicured nails. How could a beautiful woman stay with this band of unwashed bushwhackers?

When Daddy says he's going to pop the question to the quality lady I agreed with Pinto she will spit in your face. Victoria does a good job convincing Daddy that she will consider his proposal and he actually thinks 'there's gonna be a wedding!'

How Heath, Victoria and Audra defend themselves against the siege of the ranch is worth the whole show. Once again John Dehner delivers a strange and unsettling performance and the casting was perfect.

To me, this is a rather silly 'filler' episode. I didn't think the acting very good (excepting the girl who knew her herbal remedies and nurses Heath back to health).

I have never been a John Dehner fan and his personality grates on my nerves as the cunning man his outfit refers to as "Daddy"...

As I have already mentioned, this episode seems to be a 'meat-and-potato' filler and it's pretty lame in all departments.

No series is going to have solid-gold episodes so this one is forgivable.

But just barely.