Molly McConnell exits the stage in Dodge with her young son looking to meet up with her husband. As she asks around to find his whereabouts, she learns he has been shot and killed. Enemy of Matt, Sy Sherne tells Molly it was Matt who did the shooting. Although Matt was with the posse when he was shot, it wasn't his shot that killed him, but he allows Molly to believe it just so she doesn't try and go looking up anyone else.
The plot starts to take the path of the typical revenge story, where the surviving party refuses to take into account, the deceased initiated the shooting. Sort of a boring start to the show, but right about then it breaks off into a far more interesting story line. Molly talks to Kitty at the Long Branch and tells her she thinks she can sing. Kitty gives her a chance, but Molly's style is all wrong for saloon patrons. In a fine Kitty moment, she helps to reinvent Molly's persona which transforms her into a real show stopper. She knocks em dead with her voice and performance.
The show has a first rate human interest story going on, with down on her luck recently widowed, not cut out for the old west, young woman finding a way to make good by discovering talent she only remotely suspected she had. Great idea for a script, except one thing, it veered from that path and careened headlong back into the revenge story, in a tragic waste of a potentially great story. From there we get utter silliness, with Molly going from nightclub singer, to gunslinger under the tutelage of Sy.
I didn't much buy into Betty Hutton's acting performance for the show, however I did like here singing, albeit was lip synched. On top of that her performance during the songs is where she was right at home, confident and assured, in addition to really working the crowed. She sizzled in those scenes. That's what made this such a frustrating episode, the show's creators had the goods if they would have just realized they were right in front of them. Could have been a story of a triumph of the human spirit but chose instead an inane and recycled plot. Another thing is, the western genre could always have used a greater input from stories about females. They had one in their hands right here, and let it slip away.
