My Sister's Keeper

Pete Sievers had his wife die some four months ago and having a hard time going on with his life. He has turned to drinking to relieve himself of the pain and has become the laughing stock of Dodge. After his farm burns and he has used up all his money he finds that Chester will try to help. It will not be long until Pete takes a job as a farm hand with the spinster Nell Schuler and her 20'ish year old sister Leah.

But when Pete gets out to the Schuler farm he runs into two sisters that are totally different and each has a liking to Pete Sievers. Nell is an older sister that made a promise to her dead father to protect her young sister Leah from all outside activities until she is old enough. Nell is taking this literally as she refuses to let Leah go to town or see any men. Pete will learn too late that Nell is not the overbearing sister but may actually be mentally sick.

Even though Nancy Wickwire was great playing the domineering Nell, the actress that played Leah was poor. Jennifer Billingsley, that played Leah, is either not taking the show seriously or she needs a class of 'acting 101'. From her first scary appearance of the show to her last camera angle, it just did not go well for her or the viewer. I liked the concept of the story but it loss much value dragging the early part of the show way too long. An average show at best.

The sisters in this one were about as different as black and white. One very young and held back to the point she clearly resented how she was made to live by her older sister. The elder sister truthfully looked old enough to be the mother of the younger one. Watching this I think they both suffered mental issues to a degree. The elder sister practically tried to control every move the younger one made. They hire a hand for their farm. A recent widower whose grief was getting the better of him turning him into a drunk. It getting himself thrown into the street in Dodge that with Chester and Matt's help got him back on track. Once out farming again Pete just wanted to do his job. Leah, the young sister wanted nothing but to throw herself at Pete. I'll leave the rest of this to be watched. It's worth watching to the end. Sad for sure if not a bit creepy.

James Broderick is Pete Sievers, a man who is grieving the death of his wife. He finds solace in drinking. One night while he is drunk, he accidentally burns his house to the ground. He makes his way back to Dodge City where he attempts to get more whiskey. He has no money, and when the bartender throws him out of the saloon, Chester comes to his rescue.

All of these events are enough to make Sievers realize he needs to change his trajectory in life. Mr. Botkin hires him to work at the Dodge City Bank, but Sievers isn't especially happy doing clerical work.

Along comes Nell Shuler. Nell lives with her younger sister, Leah, on a farm outside Dodge. They have lived there all their lives, and find themselves alone after their parents die. At first, we see Nell as a "prim-and-proper" woman who is an overbearing guardian to Leah. Leah, on the other hand, has what Nell calls "the wanderlust." She is lonely, unhappy, sexually frustrated, and trapped on the farm by her older sister. It becomes increasingly apparent as the story goes on that there are some extremely deep-rooted issues at play with Nell beyond what we see initially.

Nell realizes she and Leah cannot properly care for the farm. She approaches Pete Sievers and offers him a job tending to the farm, which Sievers gladly accepts. This establishes the primary plot of this story, as both women want to impose their respective wills on Sievers, but he is only interested in the work. He has no interest in romance from either of the Shuler sisters.

Kathleen Hite had a penchant for creating seemingly hopeless characters that become mired in tragedy and cannot escape. Pete Sievers is such a character. To a lesser degree, so are Nell and Leah.

There is a scene early in the episode where Kitty and Doc are sitting in the saloon more or less gossiping about Pete Sievers while the despondent widower drinks at the bar. Kitty then meets Nell behind the Long Branch (because a proper woman would not want to be seen inside a saloon, or meeting with a saloon owner), and spends a few minutes essentially ridiculing Nell. It is easy to forgive Kitty, because Nell matches Kitty's sarcasm with holier-than-thou condescension, but this entire section of the episode is rather unpleasant.

All of this to say, this is an ugly story in many respects. It plods along much of the time, and it wallows in misery.

The veteran actor (and father of Matthew Broderick) James Broderick is good enough at playing the miserable Pete Sievers character. Nancy Wickwire is positively creepy as Nell Shuler. Jennifer Billingsley, who appeared on the soap opera General Hospital around the same time this episode was made, is the younger Shuler sister. Incidentally, Billingsley, who appeared in numerous television shows and drive-in type movies in the 1960s and '70s would eventually star with Burt Reynolds in the film White Lightning.

Here we go again with perfectly coiffered and dressed old west .'women. There wasa story hereu but lost in the handling of the women.