User Reviews

Rancher Henry Marvin (Bert Freed) has married a much younger second wife Therese (Diane Foster), who really has eyes for her stepson Will Marvin (Tim O'Kelly) - something Jarrod notices. Will doesn't know but finds out when Therese tells him that he is adopted - something else that only Jarrod knows. Will's reaction is a bit over the top and he leaves his father to go to work for the Barkleys, but Therese, thinking Will is really after Audra Barkley, goes to get him for herself.

When Therese grabs a gun to use on Audra, they struggle and Therese is killed. Will impulsively tries to take the blame and Audra tries to let him, until Jarrod cross-examines her and gets the truth out. Jarrod goes farther and gets even more of the truth about Therese out until Henry is forced to swallow it.

This episode reminded me of "My Son, My Son," with the malignant family member causing trouble that's denied by the father figure, only here it is the younger second wife and not the son who is the problem. Again, Jarrod finds out the truth and confronts the father figure with it, hard, before the father figure finally accepts it.

Bert Freed and Diane Foster are always good, but Tim O'Kelly is weak in this part. It's not as good as "My Son, My Son," because O'Kelly is so miscast and Foster doesn't gets as spooky sick as Robert Walker Jr. gets in "My Son, My Son" - but who does get as spooky sick as Robert Walker Jr.?

I watch the Big Valley on MeTV network, mostly for the purpose of partaking of Lee Majors as eye-candy. In this episode, the character of Will Marvin, played by Tim O'Kelly serves that purpose quite well. You rarely see a character spend so much time with his shirt off, and he was a fine specimen of beefcake.

The storyline is predictable and commonplace--widowed father has a new young wife with the hots for the good-looking son. The secretive adoption twist to the story seems anachronistic, uncalled for, and detracts from the story rather than adding any interest to it. Why insert 20th century issues into the 19th century?

I'm sure many people are offended by the practice, but if you like looking at pretty boys, The Big Valley is always a good bet, and this is a particularly good episode for it.

A watchable episode concerning a boy who was adopted by his respectable dad. Problem is that the father's second wife is hot for the son, not the man she married....

A fairly good episode which has the Jezebel lust for her own step-son.

The gal who played Therese is a bit overripe at times in her acting (the scene between she and Audra in the drawing room is a bit too overblown) but we really don't like her at all ("She's no good" says Audra) therefore, she DID succeed in the acting department, I reckon.

Physically, the actor who played the step-son is boyishly handsome - but that mouth! - Unfortunately, I can see why he never made the 'big time' His parents could have been Mick Jagger and Carly Simon...