The last years of Gunsmoke were some kind of weekly variety show, with bizarre guests showing up to carry the show with the likes of Festus as the main player, since James Arness could not bother himself to show up for work.
I liked Festus in small doses, but a full episode of his moronic remarks and bad English was hard to take. When he was paired up with a good guest actor it was not so bad. However, pairing him up with Eileen Heckert, who looked totally lost on Gunsmoke, was sad. I doubt she had ever watched even one episode.
Even worse, the writing was so bad that there was a full scene that went on for minutes where she read a book to the hillbilly crew that kidnapped her!! Just watching her read. That was it. This episode was just incredibly dull.
The Yawkers are highwaymen that rob everyone, including the local Indians. Festus & Heckert are taking a wagonload of supplies to a mission where Heckert is going to be staying. Festus just spontaneously jumps on the wagon with Heckert, because he is a busybody, and apparently Dillon has no work schedule for his deputy, so Festus can do whatever he wants, as he often does.
I found Heckert to be an annoying character, because she just spends the whole episode being shocked because she is such a lady. Festus seems to be trying to be her knight in shining armor, and it just ends up being somewhere between sad and silly.