I thought this was a good episode, but without jumping to an ending and spoilers, I just want to say that I also felt like a huge chunk was missing here.
I am actually watching these episodes on "You Tube" in order, and the early ones were either DVD episodes, or taken from a western channel. After color started, TV Land seemed to own most of them. When it was not TV Land, they episodes were 48 minutes long. The TV Land episodes always hack away six minutes so they can show more commercials. Usually it's a piece here, a piece there, with just a blip that lets you know that somebody had to sell some life insurance or a walker or something.
But this one does take a huge jump. I think it was the cable channel.
Nevertheless, it was a good episode with some people who went on to better things. One thing my wife and I wonder about, though. The "Chunk" character is credited to an actor name Cliff Osmond. We were sure it was Roger Carmel, who played "Harry Mudd" in the "Star Trek" series. Has anyone else noticed this?