During my current binge-watch of this show, this is actually the first episode from Season 1 that I didn't like. The first 20 episodes of this classic 60s Western series had me hooked with each one featuring strong acting, good stories, and satisfying conclusions. I felt NOTHING while watching this episode, in fact kept checking to see how much time was left because it was so slow and boring. Even with The Big Valley basically being an episodic series with different stories each episode, this one "Barbary Red" still managed to feel like filler. This silly episode "features" 2 fairly famous actors Jill St. John and George Kennedy. Now, Jill St. John is one of my old school crushes, but I've never been enamored with her "acting skills." Also, I know George Kennedy is an Oscar-winner for Cool Hand Luke, but that's not exactly one of my favorite movies and also Kennedy has never impressed me in anything outside of that film anyway. I thought the acting by both St. John and Kennedy left a lot to be desired in this one. St. John's acting was incredibly stiff and Kennedy's acting was odd to say the least. Also, whatever hairstyle or wig they put on St. John in this episode didn't work at all. She's one of the most beautiful actresses of the 60s and this episode somehow made her unappealing to me. This silly seafaring tale has Nick and a couple of ranch hands shanghaied and kidnapped by St. John and Kennedy's characters to serve as forced labor on ship bound for the South Seas. Nick is way too crafty, smart, and untrustworthy to get roped into a scheme so ridiculous. Then of course as soon as Victoria mentions Barbary Red, the Barkley clan's plot armor is activated as Jared immediately figures out that Nick was probably kidnapped by St. John and Company. It was all too pat and easy. Also, it's rather absurd that a strong guy like Nick and all those burly men trapped with him couldn't just band together and take out their captors. Characters were so out of character in this one, from Jared's ridiculous scheme to Nick's passiveness to Heath's unconvincing drunken sailor bit. After 20 episodes of the Barkley Brothers being given real depth and meaty material to work with, it's a shame the writing let them down so much in this one. Also, this was yet another episode of Jared trying to redeem a past or future client and while that subplot worked in prior episodes, it fell flat in this one. The episode immediately preceding this one with Jared helping the innocent man that he wrongly prosecuted was incredibly powerful due to some great guest acting by Albert Salmi and Bruce Dern. And similar to the previous episode, virtually all episodes leading up to this one featured strong character work with vibrant, lived-in performances from the guest actors. But as soon as Jill St. John's character showed up early in this one, I felt something was off. Her character didn't feel 3-dimensional or had any kind of history with Jared even though the episode was trying to tell the viewer they actually had one. All of their interactions rung false and there was zero chemistry between St. John and Richard Long. For an actual GOOD "Jared and redheaded female client who falls in love with him" episode from Season 1, I recommend "Judgment in Heaven" which featured far better pacing, writing, and acting. The redheaded actress playing the wild girl outlaw in that Christmas-themed episode was a really good actress. St. John? Like I said, it was never her acting that impressed me! Lol The writers overdid it here with yet another Jared/vengeful redheaded client episode. This one fell flat. The extra star is just because this episode is apparently the final appearance of the youngest Barkley son Gene, a character that I totally forgot existed. I think I vaguely recall Gene Barkley from when my Mom used to watch this show when I was a kid. It would have been interesting to see how the writers would have utilized Gene in episodes and plots from later seasons.