User Reviews

In this conclusion of a two part episode, Doc and his lady companion, have been captured by a renegade group of bandits headed by an ex-confederate military officer. And Matt, Festus and Newly have penetrated the hideout by pretending to be gunrunners.

Matt will have to pretend to be a hard-nose criminal in order to convince the gang that he is on their side of the law. He will have to battle a suspicious group and also take on a man, in a knife fight, that wants to kill him.

Matt has a plan to get the five out of hideout put it will take planning and the help of diversions to get them all out without injury or death. But when a paralyzed gang member hears the plan it could jeopardizes everything.

Everything was set up nicely in part one making part two more action packed without relying on dialog to set up the scene. This is one of the two part shows that the first part should be watched before trying to understand the complete story. One of the better two part shows in the series. A complete western that is very hard to beat. Good show.

This is an episode that Amanda Blake refused to take part in. The script had written things for Miss Kitty to do that Blake just could not agree with. It is a long and busy story for a series that seems to have lost it's leading edge. This is just not one of the story lines that I cared for.

In each of the latter seasons of Gunsmoke, there is an episode where it appears the producers devote a considerable percentage of the season's budget. Season 19 had "Women for Sale." In Season 18, it was "The River." In Season 17, it was "Gold Train: The Bullet." This two-part story may be that episode for Season 20. I have often wondered if this episode was originally intended to be the debut episode of the season but was delayed after Amanda Blake's departure.

Matt Dillon, Festus Haggen, and Newly O'Brien are inside a hidden, highly secure compound known as Cibola Blanca operated by a former Confederate Army Colonel named Lucius Shindrow and his right-hand man, the notorious former Confederate Major Aaron Coltraine. The residents of the compound -- which are comprised of a large group of ex-Confederate soldiers, Comancheros, outlaws, and prostitutes -- think the trio of visitors are there to sell a shipment of guns they stole from the U. S. Army.

The real reason Matt, Festus, and Newly have managed to infiltrate the compound is to try to rescue Doc Adams and his female companion Lyla Ross, who were taken prisoner in part one of the story. Naturally, Shindrow and Coltraine are suspicious of these visitors, but they are impressed by the tough fearlessness of the three men.

Additionally, Shindrow is deeply worried about injuries to his son, Ben, who was stabbed earlier, is bedridden by paralysis, and is in excruciating pain. Ben begs Doc and his father to give him an overdose of Laudanum so he can die. Ben's suffering acts as a distraction for Shindrow.

Although the tension remains high in the second part of this story, the pace of the events slows with everyone within the confines of Cibola Blanca. The challenge facing Matt is to keep everyone alive while he engineers an escape for Doc, Lyla, Newly, Festus, and himself before Shindrow and Coltraine ask them to join raids.

This is an exciting episode, and the story is not a rehash of themes the series has explored previously. Matt, Festus, and Newly posing as outlaws in what amounts to an undercover operation adds to the tension and suspense in the story.

However, there are questionable aspects to this script:

• Matt's willingness to take both Festus and Newly along with him to investigate the disappearance of Doc and the stagecoach makes little sense. While the viewer knows how much danger Doc faces, Matt does not. It might make sense to take one of the two deputies along, but not both. (The story does make a point of at least addressing the absences by Matt sending for a deputy from Hays City and having Nathan Burke act as deputy in the interim, but the move still seems surprisingly careless.)

• The ease with which the trio from Dodge manage to accomplish their goals in infiltrating the compound and engineering their escape. Shindrow and the residents of Cibola Blanca are supposed to be shrewd bandits that control everything between Santa Fe and Juárez, so much so that nothing freely moves along the trail anymore. Yet, Matt, Festus, and Newly easily gain access to the compound. Once there, they are allowed to move about freely, which makes no sense.

-The climax is...well...anti-climactic -- and it should not be so. The complex story builds to an expected spectacular finish -- and director Gunnar Hellström clearly tries to deliver, but it falls short. For that matter, the entire second part of the story never quite lives up to the promising intrigue built in part one.