This is a hard episode to gauge because it was so unlike other episodes of this series.
It begins with Maverick winning a hand of poker and being accused of cheating by the losing cowhand. Bret has both hands on the table, away from his gun and the man appears about to draw. He does but before he can shoot the sheriff buffaloes him on the back of the head, just in time.
The next morning, Maverick observes the town is too quiet. He is told the cowhand died and his buddies, let by the head man of the cattle drive, are out to get--not Maverick, but the sheriff who struck the blow that accidentally killed the man.
It turns into a drama about how it seems nobody in the town wants to fight these cowhands, afraid they will destroy either their business place, or the whole town. It seems almost every man in town wanted to let the cowhands do whatever they want, fearful of the havoc they would cause if anyone opposed them.
One man chose to fight with words printed, not in a newspaper but in a broadside, a sort-of 19th Century blog, if you will. This caused the cowhands to return after they had gotten their revenge, and go after him.
Bret wound up trying to convince the citizens to do more, and trying to convince the cowhands to not destroy things.
There was even a shoot-out near the end, just the type of thing you almost never saw on this series.
Throughout the episode, I kept thinking how it seemed like this was a script written for a Bonanza where one of the Cartwrights was visiting another town, or The Rifleman, or some other series. It had none of the usual Maverick plot twists or action.
That doesn't mean it was a bad episode, just so different from what Maverick fans expect. ADD--I've since watched the next two episodes and they also seem like generic Western scripts that were not like most Mavericks. OK shows, but not Maverick-like.
It begins with Maverick winning a hand of poker and being accused of cheating by the losing cowhand. Bret has both hands on the table, away from his gun and the man appears about to draw. He does but before he can shoot the sheriff buffaloes him on the back of the head, just in time.
The next morning, Maverick observes the town is too quiet. He is told the cowhand died and his buddies, let by the head man of the cattle drive, are out to get--not Maverick, but the sheriff who struck the blow that accidentally killed the man.
It turns into a drama about how it seems nobody in the town wants to fight these cowhands, afraid they will destroy either their business place, or the whole town. It seems almost every man in town wanted to let the cowhands do whatever they want, fearful of the havoc they would cause if anyone opposed them.
One man chose to fight with words printed, not in a newspaper but in a broadside, a sort-of 19th Century blog, if you will. This caused the cowhands to return after they had gotten their revenge, and go after him.
Bret wound up trying to convince the citizens to do more, and trying to convince the cowhands to not destroy things.
There was even a shoot-out near the end, just the type of thing you almost never saw on this series.
Throughout the episode, I kept thinking how it seemed like this was a script written for a Bonanza where one of the Cartwrights was visiting another town, or The Rifleman, or some other series. It had none of the usual Maverick plot twists or action.
That doesn't mean it was a bad episode, just so different from what Maverick fans expect. ADD--I've since watched the next two episodes and they also seem like generic Western scripts that were not like most Mavericks. OK shows, but not Maverick-like.