Shadows of the Past

The early scenes in the saloon with Belden (L Q Jones) on his monthly drunken rampage are priceless. Ryker is sent for, telling his storekeeper friend John Conway (Jack Warden) that he knows how to 'talk' to Belden. The conversation consists of fisticuffs. It's the second time Jones and Gulager have come to blows. In the excellent Season 2 episode 'Run Quiet', deaf-mute Jud (Gulager) wildly attacks Belden whom he thinks is stealing the few dollars he worked so hard for.

In this episode, the friendship between the quiet storekeeper and Medicine Bow's Deputy Sheriff seems unlikely, but it works. Each admires in the other skills they lack in themselves but would like to master. Conway is teaching Ryker how to play chess and in return he wants Ryker to teach him how to handle and shoot a gun. Ryker is extremely reluctant to oblige, commenting that the price of Conway losing a gunfight in no way compares to the dime he pays for every lost game of chess.

Learning how to shoot isn't Conway's only new venture. He is about to get married to Rita Bolen (Marilyne Erskine), but that proves equally problematic because of her erratic behaviour. The cause? A fondness for the bottle. Ryker has problems of his own in the form of death threats from two brothers recently released from the prison he sent them to. Conway is in danger of losing a wife, Ryker his life.

All these plot threads come together in a very satisfying finale, and I was left wishing we could have seen more of Conway and Ryker's friendship in future episodes.

The regulars from Shiloh are all absent in this episode and Deputy Sheriff Emmet Ryker is handling this episode himself. Clu Gulager has two sets of visitors one pleasant, one not so.

Old friend Jack Warden has come to Medicine Bow to set up a mercantile and he's got in tow Marilyn Erskine, a woman he wants to marry. But Erskine has a murky past and a nasty drinking habit.. We learn she's had some almost unbearable tragedy.

Also in Medicine Bow are a pair of brothers John Milford and James Beck who are looking to kill Ryker. These two plot elements merge at the climax od the story when Gulager earns what a courageous friend he has.

Nice well written episode that Clu Gulager carries well.

Episode's subplot, two vengeful gunslingers stalking Ryker, is more exciting than storekeeper Jack Warden's rocky relationship with his fiancée, played by Marilyn Erskine. The earthy Warden usually looked out of place in a western, but scenarist Frank Chase cannily turns that unfamiliarity to his story's advantage. When the terrified storekeeper waddles into the fierce climactic shootout with a quivering gun arm and wobbling knees, the viewer wants to applaud his courage in the face of fear. Chase also makes sure the bad guys aren't just stick figures to be knocked over, as in a spaghetti western. John Milford and James Beck flash some caustic wit and even a dash of chivalry as the two gunmen.