User Reviews

Great episode with a strong script. The performances are extremely compelling, and the subject matter is portrayed so accurately that it was actually a bit hard to watch at times.

I like the overall tie-in of hope with Kitty, Chester, and Matt discussing Tennyson's delicate poetry at the beginning, contrasted with Kitty's harsh indictment of "the prairie" and how its hardships shape people, often for the worst, as is presented in theory by the behavior of the wife-abuser: his cruelty vs his wife's hope, a powerful yet fragile thing that his cruelty finally snuffed out, at the cost of his own life.

The episode uses this theme to explore the subject matter in a way that specifically incorporates the setting; it was an extra step that the script didn't need to tackle, but it did.

Overall this was a good episode centered on an ugly topic. Decent acting and writing.. except for one ignored event. When Matt had the abusive husband cornered in the stable, the husband shot Matt in the arm. Nothing more was said about it and charges were never placed. A bit odd indeed.

****Spoiler Alert****

This is not so much a review as it is a guess as to what happened after the onscreen story ended.

We saw Hester shoot and kill her abusive husband, Sam. Then, we saw Marshall Dillon escort her back to his office. Even though it is not spoken, the implication seems to be that Hester will be arrested for murder.

I'm not so sure that's what happened. No one was present to hear the final conversation between Hester and Sam that led to the killing. In fact, it could be believed by the law that Hester bailed Sam out of jail for the purpose of killing him herself. But, we the tv audience saw what happened. Despite Hester's attempt to be kind to Sam, he made serious threats against her all the way to the end. He also took (basically stole) her money pouch near the end. When she took the gun, he made a move toward her. It is very clear to me that she shot him in self-defense. Can she prove it was self-defense, rather than a planned killing? I think so. Hester's money pouch was still on Sam's body as he lay dead on the sidewalk. Sam's main interest at the time he died was in whatever money still remained from the sale of the broach and the bail payment. Given his despicable behavior all the way up until the time he was released from jail as well as his possession of the money pouch (which demonstrates how little gratitude he had for Hester's sacrifice), there should be enough evidence - even if some of it is circumstantial - to provide reasonable doubt in a court of law that Hester planned this to be a murder.

My guess is that after Marshall Dillon takes Hester back to his office and listens to her story, she would be released. I thought this was an excellent episode, and especially hard-hitting (no pun intended) at the time of its original airing.

**SPOILERS** I liked the way Hester coolly squeezed a nice wadcutter right into Stinkin Sam's rotten guts. I liked the way the judge was resurrected from the dead (yesterday, he was "Crowbait Bob"), and the way that he and Matt both hated wife beaters, so do I. I agree it was a summary execution, but, he had it coming, after all. I say let her go and tell her not to do it again. Too bad she sold her brooch, though. I also agree with another reviewer in that Matt should've preferred charges of A.D.W. against old Sam ( I don't like using a great name like Sam for a creep like this; I had a terrific dog named Sam); THAT would have kept him in the slammer for a good long spell, and Hester might've gotten away from him. Of course, she did anyway, and I like him being a goner. 24 Years before "The Burning Bed", Meston pointed out a basic truth. Once a wife beater, always a wife beater. One way out.