Sweet Lady of the Moon

One of the best things about HGWT is that most of the episodes are shot outdoors on location. In the scene after Carl's bath, you can clearly hear the wind and the birds chirping. The scene where Paladin goes out looking for Ben Murdock seems to be actually filmed during a full moon.

The title of this episode is a bit of a head-scratcher. Perhaps part of the answer can be found in Shakespeare's "Othello", where the Moon, "coming more near the Earth than she is wont...makes men mad." And the full moon certainly appears to have an influence on the actions of Carl Soddenberg, who, ruled criminally insane, must run the gauntlet of his slain victim's vengeful relatives while being escorted to an "enlightened" Asylum by Paladin.

This is not an easy episode to watch. Paladin is at first outraged by the way Soddenberg is delivered into his keeping, chained in a coffin-like box. While remaining wary of his "charge" Paladin still treats him with respect and is even impressed by the fact Soddenberg has managed to make at lead one loyal friend. But things go tragically wrong after Paladin and Soddenberg are attacked at the friend's homestead while awaiting the arrival of Soddenberg's Doctor -- and Paladin finds himself forced to kill an unarmed man.

Perhaps it's best to interpret this simply as a classic "Werewolf" tale where the principal player remains in his human form. But one cannot help wondering what challenges the early practitioners of what we now call Psychiatric Medicine --and their supporters -- must have been up against!

Uncompromising look at the Old West. Paladin has to defend a reformed serial killer. Or is he were formed? Once again the show does not take the easy way out it shows brutality