User Reviews

This is one of my favorite episodes of this show. It combines all the things we love about the show, Gordon's outfits, fist fights, murders, villains, gadgets(although not much of them in this episode) and adds in a who done it. As West joins the wagon train heading to Denver, he saves the train from an Indian attack. Even the bad guy has to join forces with West to fight it off. But we don't know who the bad guy is yet. As people begin to die on the wagon train one by one, suspects are eliminated as well. It begins to turn into "And then there were none". What makes it great is you really don't know who the bad guys are. The usual suspects for a Wild Wild West episode are all there, but there are so many good ones it's hard to tell. A case could be made for any of them. Knowing who to trust and more important who not to trust becomes paramount. They have all fought with each other, and are on the trail for awhile, so they bond while suspecting each other. You try and take in each scene to see who is around as a killing happens to check off suspects, but it is hard to do with the first viewing. The writers and camera work does a great job of keeping you guessing.

When they finally make it, the plot and who the plot is against becomes revealed, and they realize who the target is. New characters are revealed, and you don't know whether to trust them either. We have seen these types end up as the bad guy as well in the past. This episode works better if you have seen a bunch of Wild Wild West's before, because it plays off them in the fact that the villains are usually a certain type of character, and this episode gives you plenty of those. If you are new to this show, you may can catch the villain quicker because of this. Spoiler here, I was not sure why West lied to the Colonel about whether someone was in danger or not. Maybe West did not trust him yet? But it would seem the official should have been made aware of who the intended victim was at this point and get help instead of just going by himself to help the victim. It was risky to just go all Rambo and save the victim by himself.

All in all, a great episode and it is almost a two for one, as the show is divided between the wagon train ride and the time in Denver. I also rewatched it a couple of times to catch the little hints given as to who the killer is. I think any fan of the show will love this episode and find it highly entertaining. For once you get to kind of know the fluff characters and by giving them personality you actually start to care for them. Usually they are just cannon fodder. I wish they had followed up a little more at the end with the ones who survived and were actually not bad guys, but happy to see them get some screen time.

I found this page by looking up the name of the writer, Edward Lakso. Why did I look him up? Because the episode had a bland, generic feel, much like another episode I didn't care for, "Night of the Cut-Throats". I wanted to see if this was by the same person, and believe it or not, my guess was right -- it was.

The similarity between this and "Cut-Throats" is the mediocrity. Somehow, Lakso writes as if he just doesn't care about the show he's writing for. Note how the show starts: a traveling group of people in the west, a murderer among them, and an Indian attack. Just what you'd expect in The Big Valley or The Rifleman. James West seems less like a Secret Service agent, and more like just another cowboy.

Another reason this reminded me of "Cut-Throats" was the meaningless fistfights. West gets into a fight with a cowboy who never appears before or after the fight scene. The fight just seems contrived and pointless.

Finally, the one intriguing idea -- a murderer with extremely powerful hands -- is spoiled. (Spoiler to follow.) Lakso has Artemis say that "I heard a male voice that was different from any of the men traveling with us." A few moments later we see a really odd-looking, six-foot-tall female. You guess the surprise ending.

I even guessed the secondary surprise. A woman is strangled, but no one checks to see if she is really dead. Only on TV does no one check on that. Then no one attends her burial! Guess the second surprise.

The finale is weak. The guy with the extremely powerful hands **never actually uses his hands** when fighting Jim West! Seeing him demonstrate his strength and almost strangle West would have been exciting. Instead, though, Lakso has West defeat him very easily in a completely conventional fistfight.

I'll give it four stars, for charming performances from the leads and supporting actors, and for moments of nice dialogue.

*Spoiler/plot- TNOT Running Death, 1967. Our agents decipher a dying man's last words on order to stop and assassination of a territorial governor.

*Special Stars- Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, Dub Taylor, Jason Evers, Britt Nilsson.

*Theme- Things are never what they seems, you must see ALL aspects of a dilemma.

*Trivia/location/goofs-Air date 12-15-67. Takes place in St. Louis Mo. Killer is played as a woman and is really a man. Mr. Conrad's short stature/height for a leading man (5'7") was compensated for with shoe 'lifts' in his boots, casting short stunt people, and short leading ladies. In fact his show was known for needing so many short stature love-interest roles for women among females actresses, it became a staple for actresses in Hollywood.

*Emotion- I was entertained and impressed by the 'Man/woman strangler' scenario plot line. The lone traveling female revue plot device set the bar extremely high on this mystery episode. This episode does not disappoint. The inclusion of several exotic action sequences to spice-up the drama was fun and welcomed. Mr. Martin's many disguised characters were fun. This is vintage W3 at it's best. A real who-done-it.