A young couple have a baby boy who is ill. Lew Harrod, the husband, is wanted for murder, although he was only defending himself and his wife, Makesha. Lew and Makesha, who is a Comanche, live with their son in an isolated area that is close enough to Dodge City they can ride there. They visit a trading post for supplies, and they otherwise avoid contact with anyone to prevent Lew's capture.
The baby boy's condition continues to worsen. Against Makesha's wishes, Lew rides into Dodge to retrieve Doc Adams. Lew's plans are thwarted when he learns Doc is out of town tending to a dying man, and Newly O'Brien -- the utility man of Dodge City -- is doing what he can to provide medical care in Doc's absence. Newly agrees to accompany Lew back to their cottage.
Newly examines the child and is convinced the baby has the measles. He wants to take the baby to Dodge for treatment, but the parents will not allow it out of fear that Lew will be arrested. Makesha wants to take the baby to her tribe to be treated by a Comanche medicine man, but Newly knows doing so will put the entire tribe in danger.
Newly must contend with Lew and Makesha's fear, especially when they learn he is also a Deputy U. S. Marshal. The couple eventually begins to disagree with the correct course of action for their son with the boy's life hanging in the balance.
Actor Sam Groom portrays Lew Harrod in this story. Groom also appeared in one other episode, Season 17's "No Tomorrow" where he plays a similar character facing similar circumstances. The actor had played recurring parts in a 1965 television series titled Our Private World. The next year, he appeared in a recurring role in a few episodes of the series The Time Tunnel. Later in his career he played several parts in different soap operas.
This episode represents the television acting debut for actress Alexandra Morgan in what would be a career that included a limited number of primarily small television roles and a few roles in softcore films. She fills the Makesha role in this story.
Most of the activity in this story is limited to the Newly, Lew, and Makesha characters. The cast expands later when Makesha takes the baby to her tribe, which includes veteran actor John Dierkes in one of his last acting parts. Regular Gunsmoke viewers will recognize Dierkes as the actor that played the character credited only as "Indian" in the Season 17 episode "My Brother's Keeper." Dierkes plays the Comanche medicine man known as Dahoma in this story. This is his fourth and final Gunsmoke appearance.
This is also the final appearance in the series for the Lakota actor known as Eddie Little Sky. He plays a member of the Comanche tribe named Goriko.
Three Gunsmoke bit-part veterans make an appearance in one scene as a trio of hidecutters that harass Makesha: Pete Kellett, Bill Hart, and Alex Sharp. Combined, the three actors made more than one hundred appearances in Gunsmoke episodes over the years.
The placement of this episode is curious, given that only three episodes previously the episode "The Hanging of Newly O'Brien" was shown with Newly facing a situation where he finds himself away from Dodge providing medical care in a tense situation.
This is a Newly-centric episode, as the other members of the regular cast only make brief appearances, and the Festus Haggen character is never seen.
There is a medical curiosity that figures prominently in the plot of this story. Much is made about needing to take the baby to Dodge for treatment, but there is no cure for the measles. The symptoms can be treated, and there can be subsequent infections caused by the disease. (Newly mentions the possibility of the baby developing pneumonia.) There would have been little, if any, benefit to taking the child to Dodge, and it could have resulted in spreading the disease to others. Isolation was preferable under the circumstances.
The small cast for this episode places more emphasis on the acting. Alexandra Morgan demonstrates why her acting career was short-lived. She is not terrible, but she lacks the emotional range required for this story. She is okay at showing anger, but not much else.
I find this story entertaining, although many of the circumstances are not especially original. The Gunsmoke writers love to put characters into situations where they must choose whether to strictly follow the law, or to go with what their heart tells them to do. I also found Newly's contrived rationale in one scene mildly amusing.
The baby boy's condition continues to worsen. Against Makesha's wishes, Lew rides into Dodge to retrieve Doc Adams. Lew's plans are thwarted when he learns Doc is out of town tending to a dying man, and Newly O'Brien -- the utility man of Dodge City -- is doing what he can to provide medical care in Doc's absence. Newly agrees to accompany Lew back to their cottage.
Newly examines the child and is convinced the baby has the measles. He wants to take the baby to Dodge for treatment, but the parents will not allow it out of fear that Lew will be arrested. Makesha wants to take the baby to her tribe to be treated by a Comanche medicine man, but Newly knows doing so will put the entire tribe in danger.
Newly must contend with Lew and Makesha's fear, especially when they learn he is also a Deputy U. S. Marshal. The couple eventually begins to disagree with the correct course of action for their son with the boy's life hanging in the balance.
Actor Sam Groom portrays Lew Harrod in this story. Groom also appeared in one other episode, Season 17's "No Tomorrow" where he plays a similar character facing similar circumstances. The actor had played recurring parts in a 1965 television series titled Our Private World. The next year, he appeared in a recurring role in a few episodes of the series The Time Tunnel. Later in his career he played several parts in different soap operas.
This episode represents the television acting debut for actress Alexandra Morgan in what would be a career that included a limited number of primarily small television roles and a few roles in softcore films. She fills the Makesha role in this story.
Most of the activity in this story is limited to the Newly, Lew, and Makesha characters. The cast expands later when Makesha takes the baby to her tribe, which includes veteran actor John Dierkes in one of his last acting parts. Regular Gunsmoke viewers will recognize Dierkes as the actor that played the character credited only as "Indian" in the Season 17 episode "My Brother's Keeper." Dierkes plays the Comanche medicine man known as Dahoma in this story. This is his fourth and final Gunsmoke appearance.
This is also the final appearance in the series for the Lakota actor known as Eddie Little Sky. He plays a member of the Comanche tribe named Goriko.
Three Gunsmoke bit-part veterans make an appearance in one scene as a trio of hidecutters that harass Makesha: Pete Kellett, Bill Hart, and Alex Sharp. Combined, the three actors made more than one hundred appearances in Gunsmoke episodes over the years.
The placement of this episode is curious, given that only three episodes previously the episode "The Hanging of Newly O'Brien" was shown with Newly facing a situation where he finds himself away from Dodge providing medical care in a tense situation.
This is a Newly-centric episode, as the other members of the regular cast only make brief appearances, and the Festus Haggen character is never seen.
There is a medical curiosity that figures prominently in the plot of this story. Much is made about needing to take the baby to Dodge for treatment, but there is no cure for the measles. The symptoms can be treated, and there can be subsequent infections caused by the disease. (Newly mentions the possibility of the baby developing pneumonia.) There would have been little, if any, benefit to taking the child to Dodge, and it could have resulted in spreading the disease to others. Isolation was preferable under the circumstances.
The small cast for this episode places more emphasis on the acting. Alexandra Morgan demonstrates why her acting career was short-lived. She is not terrible, but she lacks the emotional range required for this story. She is okay at showing anger, but not much else.
I find this story entertaining, although many of the circumstances are not especially original. The Gunsmoke writers love to put characters into situations where they must choose whether to strictly follow the law, or to go with what their heart tells them to do. I also found Newly's contrived rationale in one scene mildly amusing.
