User Reviews

This episode has an interesting story. It's about how a young guy really wants to be gentle, but does not know how. He's been encouraged by his father to act rough and be a ladies' man. Robert Walker, Jr. (son of Robert Walker Sr. and Jennifer Jones) is excellent...he's handsome and he's deranged...so you can see why Audra would be simultaneously attracted to, and repelled by, him.

I don't think Audra encouraged the attack. She was confused and she had long-time feelings for him. I like how the writers have the young man killed off at the end of the third act. Probably most scripts would have him die at the end with a tidy little resolution. But in this episode, there's still another ten minutes of screen time after the death, and it sets up a powerful denouement.

The families have to sift through the emotional wreckage, have to stop making excuses about what has happened and have to move forward. Barbara Stanwyck is particularly good. When Victoria kills (to protect her daughter), the action is rife with irony, not to mention Freudian overtones. Therefore, it makes for a rather interesting and justifiable homicide. The writing is solid, the acting is top-notch and Paul Henried's direction is tight and there is not one wasted moment.

Robert Walker Jr. Was probably the best of his era at playing a sick young man. Scary, untamable. Here his sickness is both denied and covered up by the always terrific R. G. Armstrong as his father. Victoria is forced to shoot Walker while he is attacking her daughter Audra. Stanwyck expresses regret and shock beautifully without having to say much. Jarrod rescues his mother and even Walker's parents from the embarrassment and shame of an inquest when he uncovers Walker's many sick criminal actions while he's been away from home. Richard Long hits the right notes in showing compassion for Walker and his family while fervently defending Victoria and Audra. A terrific episode.

An interesting sidetone. Robert Walker Jr.'s father played the creepy sicko murderer in the iconic Strangers on a Train. Jr. Had a lot of family history to draw on. Further interesting note, 77 Sunset Strip did a version of Strangers on a Train called One False Step. It was so close to the original that they credited the writers of the original. It was very good, and the creepy sicko was played very effectively by Richard Long.

Robert Walker, Jr., plays the sociopath/psychotic Evan Miles in this episode from 1965, which predates his portrayal of "Charlie X" in the original Star Trek by one year. The main difference between the two characters is that Evan is malevolent, and Charlie X is a lost boy who never learned boundaries. In both cases they have reached a stage where it is too late to teach them.

The show opens with Audra's birthday celebration at the Barkley ranch. It is well-attended, everyone dressed to the nines, and Audra dances happily with several different men. Enter the Barkleys' long-time friends the Miles family - Wally (R. G. Armstrong), his wife Jenny (Katharine Bard), and their son, Evan (Walker), who has "been away" for years at school. Wally brought him back to help him run the family ranch. It is clear that Jenny has some serious misgivings about her son.

Evan sees Audra, beautiful and grown up after all these years, and cuts in so he can dance with her. As they are dancing, they talk, and it comes out that before Evan was sent away, during their last interaction as children, Audra slapped his face. She says she might do it again if he tries to kiss her.

She goes outside to get some fresh air, and he follows her. They kiss, but she is repelled and wants no more. She tries to leave, but he wrestles her into a gazebo, where he starts to force himself on her. She screams, and Heath comes to the rescue, punching Evan. This incident wrecks the party, and everyone leaves.

The next day, Victoria visits the Miles ranch to discuss the incident and to try to save the friendship. Since Audra told her mother that she might be to blame for leading Evan on, Victoria apologizes to them, in the hopes bygones will be bygones.

Evan is unhappy that his desires were thwarted and that Heath overpowered and embarrassed him. So he contaminates one of the Barkley water holes with alkali, then fences off the Miles property so that the Barkleys can't easily access other, more distant, watering holes. Heath tries to ride through with a string of thirsty horses, and Evan tries to stop him. Heath cuts the barbed-wire fence that Evan put up, Evan scares off Heath's horses by shooting off his rifle several times, and Heath gives Evan another drubbing.

This leads to further problems. Jenny recognizes that her son is sick, and wants Wally to do something, but Wally is in denial, to say the least, and accepts everything that Evan says.

Then there is a confrontation when 3 Barkley cows wander onto Miles' property. Wally decides to keep them as "payment" for the fence, but Nick and Heath demand they be returned. Evan shoots Heath in the arm. Wally sort of wakes up and decides to send Evan to San Francisco. Evan is angry about being sent away again.

Audra goes into town to get medicine for Heath, and Evan spots her. He rides to the Barkley ranch, and hides in the barn, waiting for Audra's return. This does not end well for anyone.

This series is set in the latter half of the 1800s, and it is interesting to watch how Audra blames herself throughout the episode for the unhappy events that occur - like women throughout the ages, she has been socialized to take the blame, while others excuse the men and do not hold them to account. But Victoria and Jenny know the truth, and Victoria has a serious talk with Audra about where the blame really lies. It is also interesting to see another theme: namely, how some people cannot ever hold their children responsible for anything. If Wally had dealt with Evan properly, instead of constantly sending him away and buying his way out of trouble, a lot of loss and tragedy could have been avoided.

All around an excellent, engaging episode.