Sarah Merkle teaches school in Dodge City. A traveling salesman -- otherwise known as a "drummer" -- named Jack Stokes got drunk one night, noticed a light coming from the school building, and raped Sarah. He continues to harass the teacher whenever he is in the area.
Carl Pruitt, a local farmer and widower, lives near Dodge with his son Lester. Carl, whose wife died a couple of years earlier, is in love with Sarah. When Carl sees Stokes acting aggressively toward Sarah, he intervenes and warns the drummer to stay away from Sarah.
Later, Sarah visits Doc Adams, and Doc tells her she is pregnant. Sarah is horrified and runs from Doc's office in a panic. On the street, Carl sees Sarah upset, but neither Sarah nor Doc will reveal the reason behind her outburst.
Eventually, Carl manages to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Pruitt visits Stokes in his room at the Dodge House and threatens him with physical violence unless he marries Sarah. As the two men are leaving the Dodge House, Stokes tries to attack Pruitt, and Stokes falls down the stairs in the altercation. The drummer is gravely injured and soon dies.
Carl refuses to disclose the source of the trouble between himself and Stokes out of his love and concern for Sarah. Matt Dillon incarcerates Carl. Of course, Sarah knows why Pruitt and Stokes were fighting, but telling the Marshal would require her to reveal her pregnancy.
This is the final Gunsmoke appearance for Charlotte Stewart. She portrays Sarah Merkle in this story. Stewart's acting career has been quite varied. She did a considerable amount of episodic television beginning in the early 1960s well into the 1990s. She had a recurring role as the schoolteacher Eva Beadle on Little House on the Prairie. She also appeared in several projects by controversial filmmaker David Lynch, including a prominent, strange role in his first film Eraserhead, and a recurring role in Lynch's television series Twin Peaks and some of the subsequent Twin Peaks films. This marks Stewart's third Gunsmoke appearance.
Lin McCarthy makes his single Gunsmoke appearance in this episode. He plays the Carl Pruitt character. Child actor Todd Lookinland plays his son Lester. This is the second of three appearances in the series for Lookinland. Todd's more famous older brother Mike portrayed Bobby Brady on The Brady Bunch. The resemblance of the two is noticeable in the scenes where the Lester character appears and speaks.
The other prominent guest star in this episode is Scott Walker, who plays the despicable Jack Stokes. Walker's only other Gunsmoke role was in Season 18's "Milligan."
This story marks the second time in the last three episodes of Gunsmoke that addresses the issue of a single woman in 1870s Kansas becoming pregnant after being raped. In one case, the victim is further victimized by the people closest to her. In this story, the people who love the victim can see her as a victim.
The Carl Pruitt character is the hero of the story. He loves Sarah, and her pregnancy does not deter his feelings for her. The character has a great line where he uses a farming analogy when discussing the pregnancy with Sarah. He tells her it is one thing to plant a seed but quite another to nurture it and see it grow to reach its potential. This is quite a contrast to the Graham family in "The Foundling" two episodes earlier. In that story, Joseph Graham considers his daughter's baby inherently evil because it was the result of a rape and born out of wedlock.
Despite the various events in this episode, the story is a love story. As such, it is pleasant enough. However, there is not much in the way of substance to the story. It does not try to seriously address what life would have been like for a single, pregnant woman of the time in which the story is set. It never ventures far beyond the surface of any of the subjects addressed in the plot.
There are some strange aspects to this story, too. First, why does Carl insist Stokes marry Sarah? Even if Carl were successful in this coercive act, what kind of life would Jack Stokes offer Sarah and their baby? The last thing I would want for someone I loved would be they marry a known rapist with an obvious drinking problem.
Second, why is Carl arrested for the death of the drummer? Stokes attacked Pruitt, and then fell down the stairs during their subsequent struggle. Carl could have told his side of the story without revealing why he and Stokes were fighting. Furthermore, if Carl committed a crime related to Stokes's death, why is it not a crime because he was trying to help Sarah?
Third, it never appears Sarah harbors any measure of true love for Carl. She clearly cares deeply for Lester. She obviously feels gratitude toward Carl. Maybe that was enough in the 1870s.
In the end, this is one of those innocuous episodes set in Dodge, tells a story that is missing much connection to any of the Gunsmoke regular characters, and lacks much in the way of interesting content.
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