The producers said Gunsmoke would be dark and focus on the real, often unhappy, endings many westerners experienced. This episode is right up there with Joe Maross an excellent villain. Paul Birch also gives a good performance, one of my fave "B" level actors. You knew the bad guy would get his comeuppance and he does. Personally, I really like it when they bring in the wind and smoke machines, which add a really eerie feel to any episode and particularly so in this one out on the prairie. It was also nice to see Bill Boyett at the end, a guy who labored for years on Highway Patrol a couple of years earlier.
