Flawed episode that nonetheless shades its characters nicely. This is one of the first entries to show Bret's all-too-human side-- one of the main reasons for the show's phenomenal success, along with Garner's talent for making us like that human side. On the one hand, Bret does get the sheriff after shooting a respected figure in the community and he does indulge in some flashy gunplay-- both standard requirements for TV Westerns of the day.
On the other hand, he refuses in rather selfish fashion to join the rescue for the trapped miners, at the same time, he accepts the heroic role Ruta Lee mistakenly assigns him in the rescue. Also, he is willing to let the winsome Lee and her dad pursue their lucrative masquerade without doing the right thing and exposing the fraud. These are definitely not standard items in Westerns of the 1950's. They may be morally flawed and all-too-human, but most importantly, they're not the morality-play requirements that story-lines then depended upon.
Nonetheless, such behavior makes Bret unpredictable and interesting, a guy you could have a beer with, instead of putting on a pedestal. Also, note how quickly leading lady Lee succumbs to living a lie in return for a chance at sudden wealth. Apparently the script couldn't leave her in that unethical state, so she does a quick and not very convincing turn-around. But maybe the most unconventional turn are Bret's two belches. TV characters simply never suffered from such impolite eruptions. Probably nothing, however, endeared the character to the audience more than knowing that Bret too has a digestive tract.