Lacey

I know that Kathleen Hite was a very good researcher, especially when it came to writing episodes that feature a woman as the emphasized character. I can't really add to what's been written already.

But there is one glaring error that is brought up between Lacey and Jess, and again between Lacey and the Marshal. Jess had told Lacey before her Pa was shot dead (all off-screen) that no woman had been hanged. Later, Lacey asks Matt if he'd ever seen a woman hanged. Matt say he hasn't.

While probably an accurate statement on its own, Dillon probably did read about a woman who had been hanged in the previous decade prior to when Gunsmoke was set. It was the hanging of Mary Surratt in 1865 of being involved in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. She owned the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth met with Mrs. Surratt's son and the other co-conspirators. She and three others were hanged at the same time less than 3 months after Lincoln's murder.

Ironically, Mrs. Surratt's son was eventually tried in a civilian court, and after a hung jury, a mistrial was declared. Although he admitted to the kidnapping part of the plot, he never admitted to being a part of Lincoln's assassination. He lived into the 20th Century.

This is what makes Gunsmoke exceptional. They took a story that's been told countless times( a father stands in the way of his daughter and her beau )but still made it compelling. Great acting and a solid script keeps the viewer's interest till the end. Once again Matt gets a little sloppy with the law but that's necessary to have the ending the writers wanted. Good watch.

This episode had one redeeming feature. The beautiful Sherry Jackson. Other than that this episode played like a talky soap opera.. There were even scenes where someone was talking to someone with their backs turned to the listener, just like in soap operas. Even the great Jeremy Slate could not save this episode.. Too long and not much plot. Not one of the best.

You can see plain as day this ep would have worked better as a half hour ep. Except in one regard-- that would have given less time to look at Sherry Jackson. She's beautiful and appealing to look at in every way.

She was another actress who linked up this series with the original Twilight Zone. She appeared in a third season TZ ep called"The last rites of Jeff Myrtlebank". It seems like in many ways that this and the original Twilight Zone were sister shows to each other with so many cast members like Sherry appearing. Her Gunsmoke appearances outnumber her Twilight Zone one. And that was TZ's massive loss!

Yet again, the Season 7 predilection for stories built around female characters is present in "Lacey." Lacey Parcher is in love with Jess Ayley. Lacey's father, Cyrus, strongly disapproves of the relationship. When he finds Lacey and Jess kissing in the barn, Cyrus tells Jess to leave and never return. This leads to an ugly scene inside the Parcher house where Cyrus further refuses to condone the relationship between Lacey and Jess and even slaps Lacey.

Soon, Lacey and her mother, Ellen, ride into Dodge City. They go to Marshal Dillon's office and Lacey confesses that she has killed her father. The primary plot centers around Matt's efforts to discover exactly what happened.

I think it is often the little glimpses into life in Dodge City or the lives of the Gunsmoke characters that make the show so interesting. In this episode, we get to spend some time with Ma Smalley who runs a boarding house in the town.

Unfortunately, this is one of those episodes that perhaps would have been better in the half-hour format from the previous six seasons. The story plods along at times. Matt tries his best to find answers that make sense, but no one is willing to tell everything they know. This requires many slow, talky scenes with characters staring longingly into the distance.

This episode features a strong cast with Sherry Jackson as the pretty, young Lacey, Dorothy Green as her stoic (and stubborn) mother, and Jeremy Slate as Jess, who is too stupid and careless for his own good.