This is an episode that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Luke is about to get into a shoot out with someone whose face he has seen before. But doesn't this happen in just about every show? I mean, the guy's step dad is John Anderson. Luke has killed John Anderson many times. He didn't look at all familiar to him? John Dehner, Chris Alcaide and so many others that Lucas boy killed multiple times never looked familiar to him. Heck, Sammy Davis Jr made more than one appearance on the show without Luke recognizing him. How could he not recognize Sammy Jr? Richard Anderson was sometimes Luke's long ago best friend, other times a killer. Once or twice he was both. But Lucas never recognized him as a different character. And Peter Whitney. He was John Jupiter, a good guy strongman who married and settled in North Fork, but was never seen again. At least, as Jupiter. From then on, he was a bully, a drunk or a fool. But Luke never thought he looked familiar.
Plus, the idea of a bad guy manipulating a young fast gun into getting into gunfights for his own benefit has been done before. Plus plus, if McCain is so good that he can shoot the gun out of someone's hand whenever he wants, why has he killed more people than cancer?
One more thing- when CC at first turned down the role of Lucas because he wanted more money, the producers considered John Anderson for the lead. Hard to imagine. When they saw Old Yeller and the chemistry CC had with a young boy, they gave him the money.