Healer and animal magnetism practitioner Faith (Julie Harris) stumbles through the woods near Boonesborough in poor health, and comes upon the cabin of misanthropic trapper Jody Brown (Jeff Morrow) Brown leaves her with the Boones, who get her back into shape, but complications arise from Faith's contacts with tribesmen and townspeople.
Season 4 of DB concludes with a human interest story, and 1960's TV aficionados might recall this period as one in which the upward trend in violence through the Vietnam War and domestically (Martin Luther King was assassinated the day this debuted) provoked public and congressional pressure against violence on tv. Hence, less action-adventure and more about human relationships, as in this hour. In the long run, the jury is still out as to whether regulating the behavior of 1968 TV characters has done much to reduce gun violence or promote peace abroad for America in 2023.
Multiple Tony Award winner Harris does her best to portray an offbeat frontier woman, and movie sci-fi journeyman Jeff Morrow (a British officer in DB, Season 3) lets his hair grow wild enough to make a very convincing Kentucky frontiersman. He is bitter over his family's massacre by the Shawnee (a near-complete shutout season of digs at the tribe), and the nearby Creeks (up from Georgia and Tennessee for the week) get his ire. The Creeks have problems of their own, thinking Faith might be tied to a panther who has been killing tribespeople.
The hour is largely a tolerance parable, as former schoolteacher Harris - who has been run out of her hometown and a wagon train for what are considered offbeat ways - tries to make a new home in rough-hewn Boonesborough. The expected beauty and the beast story between Harris and Morrow quickly comes to the fore, although one wishes the hour would have simply showcased Harris's formidable stage talents.
Less believable is that a tribe of hunters would be so cowed by a single big cat. But worthy of five rawhide bones is the performance of Morrow's "fierce" hound, a rather bemused and playful German Shephard.
As the new paradigm of less violence and more human interest went, a reasonably engaging around-the-fort episode to conclude DB, Season 4 - but in the series' remaining outings, the downgrading of action-adventure will not be to the show's benefit.
Season 4 of DB concludes with a human interest story, and 1960's TV aficionados might recall this period as one in which the upward trend in violence through the Vietnam War and domestically (Martin Luther King was assassinated the day this debuted) provoked public and congressional pressure against violence on tv. Hence, less action-adventure and more about human relationships, as in this hour. In the long run, the jury is still out as to whether regulating the behavior of 1968 TV characters has done much to reduce gun violence or promote peace abroad for America in 2023.
Multiple Tony Award winner Harris does her best to portray an offbeat frontier woman, and movie sci-fi journeyman Jeff Morrow (a British officer in DB, Season 3) lets his hair grow wild enough to make a very convincing Kentucky frontiersman. He is bitter over his family's massacre by the Shawnee (a near-complete shutout season of digs at the tribe), and the nearby Creeks (up from Georgia and Tennessee for the week) get his ire. The Creeks have problems of their own, thinking Faith might be tied to a panther who has been killing tribespeople.
The hour is largely a tolerance parable, as former schoolteacher Harris - who has been run out of her hometown and a wagon train for what are considered offbeat ways - tries to make a new home in rough-hewn Boonesborough. The expected beauty and the beast story between Harris and Morrow quickly comes to the fore, although one wishes the hour would have simply showcased Harris's formidable stage talents.
Less believable is that a tribe of hunters would be so cowed by a single big cat. But worthy of five rawhide bones is the performance of Morrow's "fierce" hound, a rather bemused and playful German Shephard.
As the new paradigm of less violence and more human interest went, a reasonably engaging around-the-fort episode to conclude DB, Season 4 - but in the series' remaining outings, the downgrading of action-adventure will not be to the show's benefit.
