User Reviews

Jeb Drummond has a flock of sheep, a crew to move them across the land and an attitude that nothing will stand in his way. When they reach the boundary of the Ponderosa, one of his men refuses to ride against Ben Cartwright. Unwilling and unable to tolerate any dissent, Drummond deals harshly with his former hand. This sets up a major clash of wills between Drummond and Ben Cartwright, Drummond is first determined to take his sheep across the Ponderosa on his way to California and then to actually take the land from the Cartwrights. To do this, he takes Adam hostage and will kill him unless Ben signs over some of his land. This is an episode that shows Ben Cartwright in a somewhat negative light. When Adam counsels him to seek the help of the sheriff, Ben refuses, demonstrating a stubbornness nearly equal to that of Drummond. This is where the premise is implausible, no person could possibly think that such a scheme to rob a man of his land would ever work. In the end, Drummond is exposed for what he is, and the Cartwrights gain a friend. Throughout the series, Ben Cartwright is portrayed as a man of integrity that follows the law. In this episode, he expresses a willingness to go to guns and risk their lives before he goes to the law and speaks very harshly to Adam about the issue. Although at the end, he acknowledges the error of his ways.

Up to this point, Ben has always stressed the importance of doing what the law says. In fact, just a few episodes back, his sons struggled with bringing a man in with the posse instead of hanging him. They fought to keep the killer alive. That's always been the voice of the Pondarosa speaking - stay on the side of the law.

In this episode, Ben behaves differently. When a group of sheep herders try to cross the Cartwright land, he's willing to take the law into his own land and kill every last one of them. That didn't quite ring true to the vision we are to have of Ben. I suppose a lesson was learned in the end, but it was one that shouldn't have been taught in the first place.

3 dead, 1 injured