Mason (Jim McMullen) is getting married, but the festivities are interrupted when a pair of trappers show up who might have murdered his parents.
The character of Mason is given a big growth spurt here as he goes from sometime Dan (Fess Parker does show up this week) sidekick to more complex individual with his own motivations. By now the production values budget for DB is likely long gone, so to finish out the series more around-the-fort episodes and a whodunnit is easy to do. McMullen looks more like an LBJ-era frat rush chair than a frontiersman, but he does what he can. His romantic interest is Linda Marsh, who would find greater success as a 1980's sitcom producer.
The hour predictably makes Dan the voice of reason, to the point of sheltering the accused in his home from Mason's vengence. More interestingly, Israel is finally written with some stirrings of teen rebellion, calling one of the accused trappers "Cain" and telling Mason " Pa doesn't understand us younger men." But a contrivance obvious to any viewer quickly dials it back and allows the elders once again to demonstrate their infallibility.
No history worth mentioning here, except to note that Mason's tragedy happened in " Shelby" about 15 years prior - Shelby, Ky. Was not founded until 1790, which can serve as the approximate episode date, and Shelby County, Tenn. (Memphis) got underway about 1818.
For the second week in a row a very generic TV Western script is run through the DB production mill, with forgettable results. Unfortunate that the concept of series finale arc was underdeveloped in 1970.