The Big Valley: Presumed Dead (1968)
Season 4, Episode 3
7/10
Lew Ayres and Barbara Stanwyck team up in this nice episode
14 November 2012
Let me first start this out by saying that we all knew this was coming. Each season someone in the Barkley clan has amnesia.

This time it will be matriarch of the clan, Victoria, that is involved in a stagecoach wreck that leaves her unconscious. She is picked up by Jason Fleet (Lew Ayres) which obviously has a criminal background and taken back to a cabin that is occupied by two other characters with poor moral values.

When Victoria awakens she has lost her memory. Jason comes up with a plan to make Victoria believe that she is Hessie Fleet (his dead wife). Even with Victoria still asking questions about her life, Jason does everything possible to make Victoria believe that she is actually his wife. Including the fact that he and the other two are cattle rustlers.

As with every amnesia episode it will only be a matter of time before memory is restored. And with the restored memory comes sadness for some and joy for others. And this episode is no different.

Lew Ayres and Barbara Stanwyck work great together in this sad but entertaining show. As a person that cannot stand when the writers resort to shortcuts by means of amnesia- I will say that this episode was the exception. Perhaps it was because of Stanwyck and a Ayres.
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