"Catawomper" might not be //the worst// "Gunsmoke" episode, but it's down there at the bottom of the barrel. (There's at least one "worst of" list, but "Catawomper" doesn't appear on it.)
I assume most viewers know enough about literature to be aware that the principal characters -- Kate Tassel and Bud Bones -- are named after the principals of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" -- Katrina van Tassel and Brom Bones. (Chester apparently represents Ichabod Crane.) Their relationship is reversed, however, with Bud trying to capture the heart of Kate, and her refusing to warm up to him. ("Taming of the Shrew" comes to mind when he spanks her in public.)
The script is absolutely wretched, the sort Robert McKee could use as a prime example of //how not// to tell a story. Indeed, there's very little story. Kate's motivations aren't at all clear, so we have no idea why she does what she does. Things simply "happen", mechanically and meaninglessly, without growing out of a plausible central conflict. The "deus ex cavalry" ending is particularly strange, with Kate suddenly deciding she likes Bud after all, and will "do anything he asks".
If this is supposed to be a "Women -- ya can't live with 'em and ya can't live without 'em" tale, it works. But as engaging entertainment -- fergit it.
"The other reviewer" and I don't often agree, but here we're in concurrence. I've given three stars to his two, for the one agreeable moment, Dennis Weaver singing an amusing song.
