Lots to think about in this episode. Gideon Seek is a sheep man with 24 sheep. Neighboring cattlemen who have partnered on a ranch, Joe Kell and Hank Voyles, do not want a sheep man so close to their ranch, afraid it will attract more sheep herders and make the land useless for cattle grazing. Actually Kell is the instigator in all of this, Voyles just wants to leave the old man alone, but is too wishy-washy to stand up to his partner. So the two (mainly Kell) shoot dead all 24 of Gideon's sheep while they are penned and while Gideon looks on in horror. When Gideon won't move on they come back and burn down his house and wagon. Finally, when Gideon still won't move on, Kell drags Seek, almost to his death, and leaves him at the outskirts of Dodge City.
Now from the beginning, Matt is suspicious when Gideon comes to town and rearranges his debt payment with Doc, saying all of his sheep died. How do 24 sheep just up and die all at once? He goes out to Gideon's place and finds out that two men did this, but Gideon will not say who. Gideon is a pacifist, does not even own a gun, and says the two will be punished by their own consciences. Matt keeps trying to get Gideon to talk, saying the law is not the same as vengeance, but Gideon never talks, even after almost being killed.
The funny thing is that Gideon is actually wrong. A sharp Matt Dillon picks up on a drunken Voyles at the Long Branch Saloon, notices Kell coming in and saying he's not quitting and they are leaving when he gets back. Voyles is disgusted with how much Kells enjoys the violence and is drinking his guilt away. Matt talks to Voyles, the only one of the two cattlemen with a conscience, and gets the truth out of him. He confronts a sober and completely uncontrite Kells and tells him to put his hands up, he is going to jail. Kells makes the fatal error of mistaking his drunken cowardly partner and pacifist Seeks with Dillon who will arrest you if you can, but shoot you dead if he must. Dillon is forced into option number two.
At the end everybody is saying "It's like Gideon said, evil destroyed itself". But that's not true. Evil (Kells) would have happily ridden out of Dodge and maybe killed Voyles too if he thought he was going to break down and talk, but I'm sure he would have slept like a baby every night for the rest of his life. Instead he sleeps on Boot Hill thanks to Dillon, not some goofy pacifist philosophy.
And here's the irony. The vast majority of the time Matt Dillon did use his wit and psychology to jail the criminals, not shoot them. But this episode that I guess was supposed to champion pacifism is one of the few episodes in which Matt has a traditional gunfight confrontation with the bad guy.
Also note that if Gideon had gone to the law after his sheep were killed, Matt would have just made the two pay for the sheep and put them on notice that if anything else happened to Gideon he would know where to go looking. Instead we have an almost dead Gideon and a very dead Kell because matters were allowed to escalate. Pacifism in this case had a body count.
Now from the beginning, Matt is suspicious when Gideon comes to town and rearranges his debt payment with Doc, saying all of his sheep died. How do 24 sheep just up and die all at once? He goes out to Gideon's place and finds out that two men did this, but Gideon will not say who. Gideon is a pacifist, does not even own a gun, and says the two will be punished by their own consciences. Matt keeps trying to get Gideon to talk, saying the law is not the same as vengeance, but Gideon never talks, even after almost being killed.
The funny thing is that Gideon is actually wrong. A sharp Matt Dillon picks up on a drunken Voyles at the Long Branch Saloon, notices Kell coming in and saying he's not quitting and they are leaving when he gets back. Voyles is disgusted with how much Kells enjoys the violence and is drinking his guilt away. Matt talks to Voyles, the only one of the two cattlemen with a conscience, and gets the truth out of him. He confronts a sober and completely uncontrite Kells and tells him to put his hands up, he is going to jail. Kells makes the fatal error of mistaking his drunken cowardly partner and pacifist Seeks with Dillon who will arrest you if you can, but shoot you dead if he must. Dillon is forced into option number two.
At the end everybody is saying "It's like Gideon said, evil destroyed itself". But that's not true. Evil (Kells) would have happily ridden out of Dodge and maybe killed Voyles too if he thought he was going to break down and talk, but I'm sure he would have slept like a baby every night for the rest of his life. Instead he sleeps on Boot Hill thanks to Dillon, not some goofy pacifist philosophy.
And here's the irony. The vast majority of the time Matt Dillon did use his wit and psychology to jail the criminals, not shoot them. But this episode that I guess was supposed to champion pacifism is one of the few episodes in which Matt has a traditional gunfight confrontation with the bad guy.
Also note that if Gideon had gone to the law after his sheep were killed, Matt would have just made the two pay for the sheep and put them on notice that if anything else happened to Gideon he would know where to go looking. Instead we have an almost dead Gideon and a very dead Kell because matters were allowed to escalate. Pacifism in this case had a body count.