The Innocent

The last years of Gunsmoke were some kind of weekly variety show, with bizarre guests showing up to carry the show with the likes of Festus as the main player, since James Arness could not bother himself to show up for work.

I liked Festus in small doses, but a full episode of his moronic remarks and bad English was hard to take. When he was paired up with a good guest actor it was not so bad. However, pairing him up with Eileen Heckert, who looked totally lost on Gunsmoke, was sad. I doubt she had ever watched even one episode.

Even worse, the writing was so bad that there was a full scene that went on for minutes where she read a book to the hillbilly crew that kidnapped her!! Just watching her read. That was it. This episode was just incredibly dull.

The Yawkers are highwaymen that rob everyone, including the local Indians. Festus & Heckert are taking a wagonload of supplies to a mission where Heckert is going to be staying. Festus just spontaneously jumps on the wagon with Heckert, because he is a busybody, and apparently Dillon has no work schedule for his deputy, so Festus can do whatever he wants, as he often does.

I found Heckert to be an annoying character, because she just spends the whole episode being shocked because she is such a lady. Festus seems to be trying to be her knight in shining armor, and it just ends up being somewhere between sad and silly.

Festus Haggen is helping Dodge City's Mr. Jonas by delivering a wagon load of goods to someone who plans to establish a mission school. Festus assumes the missionary is a man and is quite surprised when he discovers the missionary is a determined, naïve woman named Athena Partridge Royce.

Festus -- being the chivalrous type -- does not think Athena should be attempting the two-week trip to the location of the school alone and chooses to join her. They soon encounter a group of Kiowa on the warpath. Festus fears the Kiowa will attack them, but the Kiowa are not seeking Festus and Athena. Athena shows no fear and surprises Festus by communicating with the Kiowa and generously providing them with some of the porridge she had prepared. (A porridge Festus had previously refused to eat.)

When a wheel is damaged on their wagon, a group of mean, ornery men from the hill country named Yewker decide to rob them. Fortunately, the Yewkers are as stupid as they are evil. They are not willing to repair the wagon wheel and have to wait for Festus to make the repairs. To entertain themselves, the Yewkers force Ms. Royce to read Bible stories to them.

This is the fifth and final Gunsmoke appearance for Barry Atwater, and the seventh and final episode for Anthony James. All of the appearances by James occurred in Seasons 13, 14, and 15. James was a veteran of both television and film roles. He holds the notable distinction of having both his first (In the Heat of the Night in 1967) and last (Unforgiven in 1992) major film roles occur in films that won the award for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The other members of the Yewker clan are played by Lee de Broux, another Gunsmoke veteran, and Tom Nolan in his only Gunsmoke appearance.

Eileen Heckart fills the Athena Partridge Royce role. Her only other Gunsmoke guest-starring involvement was as a strong, determined woman in Season 10's "The Lady." This episode was obviously meant as a vehicle for Heckart to shine, and she does an admirable job.

Eddie Little Sky and Manuel Padilla, Jr. Play small, key parts as members of the Kiowa tribe. Little Sky appeared in eleven different Gunsmoke episodes, and Padilla can be seen in four different stories over the course of the series.

Too much of this episode involves Festus arguing with Athena and the Yewker men sitting around with blank, nearly lifeless expressions on their faces which is obviously intended to make them appear to be more imposing. There is a large amount of time-killing "filler" in the story, especially as the Yewker men force Athena to read to them. The resolution of the situation with Festus and Ms. Royce is a surprise with implications of divine providence. There are also some puzzling, unexplained issues with the Yewker characters once the story ends.

Most of the regular cast members are absent throughout this episode, although Matt Dillon and Doc Adams appear near the end. Those final scenes in Dodge City are amusing and arguably the best part of the episode.

There was potential with this story. It includes another outstanding cast and a good mix of humor and drama. Unfortunately the story never manages to deliver on its promising premise.

When I saw that Eileen Heckart was in this episode I was excited. From the time of my childhood I have always liked her acting ability and thought she was entertaining. However before the first commercial break I was ready to turn the channel to something more interesting. But I continued hoping that it had to get better before approaching the ending of the show.

An eastern missionary teacher is to arrive near Dodge and Festus is to meet him, with supplies, as he makes his way many miles from Dodge to beginning teaching. Much to Festus surprise when the person arrives it is a woman named Athena Royce. And when Festus tells Ms Royce that it will take two weeks to get to her destination he feels led to accompany her. (Why Festus can take two weeks off to help this one person is beyond me)

Anyway they encounter a group of hillbillies set on taking all there supplies. And with Ms Royce being so naive, she cannot see that they mean harm to her and Festus. And so the story continues as Ms Royce begins accepting that the hillbillies is not an innocent as she first thought.

There was little to this episode. Even with the writers trying their best to inject humor in some of the scenes - it just did not play well. The final scene was humorous but that was about all that even stirred interest. Not one of the better shows.

Festus decides to accompany a school teacher on a three day ride. Athena (played by Heckart) speaks Kiowa to fend of an Indian war party but is taken in by the evil Yawker family, the people who stole from the Kiowa. Manuel Padilla, between roles in Tarzan and American Graffiti, can identify the Yawkers. As the story progresses, Athena sees that Festus was correct about the danger she faced. Athena says: you are a remarkable man. A foreseeable ending with Wyandotte porridge. Token appearances by Doc and Dillon toward the end.