Gold fever has been known to make men do heartless things, both to each other and to strangers just passing through -- strangers like Paladin. He's soon minus his horse, coat, and guns and forced into trekking toward a frigid mountain pass, with the assurance that the scavengers who deprived him of all essentials will be behind him making sure he keeps moving toward almost certain death.
Survival is the theme of this episode: literal survival, as Paladin fashions himself a cloak and a weapon from abandoned supplies and fights for a scrap of meat. And it's about another kind of survival, as a trio of exhausted men men clings to a questionable map that they believe holds the key to a fortune. And when their paths intersect with Paladin's the scavengers are immediately on hand, eager to recover whatever may remain in the way of "spoils"; they too have developed their own way of surviving these brutal times.
Desperation, it's said, drives humans to either co-operation or competition: this episode reminds us that our species is fortunate in having chosen wisely which one of those actions to pursue.
Survival is the theme of this episode: literal survival, as Paladin fashions himself a cloak and a weapon from abandoned supplies and fights for a scrap of meat. And it's about another kind of survival, as a trio of exhausted men men clings to a questionable map that they believe holds the key to a fortune. And when their paths intersect with Paladin's the scavengers are immediately on hand, eager to recover whatever may remain in the way of "spoils"; they too have developed their own way of surviving these brutal times.
Desperation, it's said, drives humans to either co-operation or competition: this episode reminds us that our species is fortunate in having chosen wisely which one of those actions to pursue.
