User Reviews

Adam West is cast perfectly as a Civil War hero who has 2 sides. One the handsome hero and perfect officer everyone loves, and the other is an alcoholic psycho who stalks women and murders them, while talking to his mom. Almost reminds me a little of Norman Bates, except West's character hates his mom, because she was a working woman. West nails both roles. We see him as the perfect hero, and when he starts to act a little crazy after having a drink, we can't believe he has turned into a psycho. Audra is of course drawn to him, but for once, doesn't fall instantly and madly in love after an hour with him. This is a rare thing with her and a handsome new man in town. After the Major loses it and kills a woman, and frames another man, he turns his attention to Audra. His proposal and asking for Victoria's permission were worth seeing just by itself, as they begin to realize he is just plain crazy. Soon it turns to fear as they realize he may just kill them. I won't go into the ending, but it was a little sad. You know inside him, there was the good man everyone loved, but it just gets overpowered by the scarred man who wants revenge on all women for his mom's behavior. You hope the good man can win the battle raging inside, because you do like the Major. But we know how these typically turn out. An unusual plot with a great guest role makes this a must see.

I am not fond of this episode simply because I think Adam West is a very bad actor.

The theme is sordid and unusual ("Oh, Audra - he's a strange man. A very strange man" states Victoria)....Well, I will say that they picked the right actor! I am not in the obvious majority of liking this episode. It's about a murderous psychopath who has serious issues with women and he shouldn't touch liquor either.

The theme will appeal to some people, but I'm not one of them.

Good material done poorly: the acting is just not up to par - to my way of thinking

I always get a good laugh out of some of these later episodes but why open the 4th season with this unbelievable situation. The heinous murder of a saloon girl, Cora was committed in town very recently but Jarrod and Nick both decide to leave two defenseless women alone at night with just Silas whom we barely see. The sheriff questions the visiting war hero, Maj. Eliot the next morning as he admitted he was in town until late. He never told the Barkleys previously he even went to town and here he is the last person to see Cora.

West was more believable playing crazy than the charming persona. Eliot's sergeant does a good job warning Eliot to stay away from the booze and acting like his guardian, trying to keep him out of trouble to no avail. His piercing blue eyes match West's to a T. It's like everyone wears blue contact lenses for effect.

Later Eliot tells Victoria he is going to marry her daughter, the pure and it's all new to Audra. Victoria labels him a very strange man as they all do yet they go to bed with no worries that he's in the house? Who helped Victoria into bed from the wheelchair? Maj. Eliot?

Later after Audra refuses him he gets into the liquor cabinet so why did he have to go to town the night before for a bottle? I know so he can commit a murder. When Eliot is restless in bed needing a drink the first night he gets up and is wearing modern-day paisley boxers. That is really lame. If it weren't for the fact that fashion dolls were already established I'd be hard pressed to not realize that Audra and Eliot could be the models for Barbie and Ken.