Perce is played by Ed Nelson, who had all the charisma and personality of a wet paper bag. Nelson was a guest on Gunsmoke six times. Nelson/Perce comes to town without any purpose. At the beginning of the episode, Nelson saves Matt Dillon's life by joining him in a gunfight in the bad prairie, against three outlaws. That was the best part of this episode. One of the bad guys that got shot off his horse was Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Spock could was always credible as a bad-ass character because he could look so grim.
Nelson has some money saved up, and then he gets a $500.00 bounty from one of the guys he killed. Before long, Nelson is broke thanks to gambling, and he is in love with greedy and cold-hearted Ida Poe.
Ida Poe works at the Longbranch Saloon, and she is also the mistress of a rich rancher. Ida is played by Norma Crane, who was on Gunsmoke twice. The first time was in 1959 (The Bear). Her main boyfriend is Seeber, played by the villainous and vile Ken Lynch. Lynch was on Gunsmoke twelve times, and he was never a nice guy. In another Gunsmoke episode, Lynch manages to get a little boy killed over a bag of potatoes. When Lynch finds out that Nelson is sweet on Ida, he is enraged at Perce (Nelson). Before long, all hell breaks loose.
The hour long format really drags on, since because it seems like a lot of these episodes were originally set for 30 minutes, and then a lot of filler scenes of characters drinking and talking at the Long Branch Saloon were added. It is an age-old tale of the poor working guy falling in love with a married/engaged woman who is way above his means. Everyone warns Perce/Nelson that he is headed for trouble, but he goes straight to the trouble, like a moth to the flame (and he gets burned).
A plus in this episode is that Chester, Doc Adams, Miss Kitty, and Matt Dillon have a lot more scenes just walking around town and talking to each other. Now that these wonderful actors are all gone, it is always a bonus to see them interacting with each other. The cast of background characters is definitely larger in the one hour format.