Mayblossom

It might not be one of the most exciting episodes, most action packed episodes, or story driven episodes but it is still one of my favorites. I don't know for certain but I have a feeling with this episode they were trying to feel out the possibility of adding Ken Curtis's Festus as a regular character. We start to see more of his background by introducing more family other than despicable Uncle Jack. And quite honestly this early Festus has always been my favorite. I was never a fan of Festus until I saw these early episodes with these more calm and mildly spoken version of him. I understand the need to make a memorable character that stands out to help a series but early Festus before he became a weekly character will always be my favorite Festus. Everyone involved in this episode does a wonderful job.

In possibly one of the worst (and most bizarre) teleplays ever written for "Gunsmoke", a distant cousin (May Blossoms) of Festus comes to Dodge to carry out an arranged marriage between Festus and herself. A carpenter (named Lon), whom Festus bested in a poker game, insults May Blossoms and Festus stands up for her and bests Lon again in a street fight. May Blossoms (Laurie Peters) wants her mule to stay at the boarding house with her, but the manager won't allow it; so Festus buys an old shack for her and the mule to stay. The rest of the teleplay involves lust by Lon, cold-blooded murder (which is shrugged off as almost nothing), and a solution (which comes out of the blue) to one character's plight. Laurie Peters (Jon Voight's first wife) gives a fine performance here as May Blossoms, but there is little else to recommend this episode other than Ken Curtis becoming more entrenched as Festus in the long-running "Gunsmoke" series.

Laura Peters is a very beautiful young lady in this episode. I think there is some humor in the episode but a couple major issues are held in a surprisingly very low-key way. Fun to watch just in the performances of the key actors, but the treatment of major plot developments are not entirely understandable.

I'm not a regular Gunsmoke viewer, although I've seen at least a couple of dozen episodes in my life, even going back to when it was first run in the 70s when I was a kid. I grew up a Bonanza fan and Gunsmoke wasn't as fun for me to watch I guess. I came across this episode because I set up my DVR to record anything with Charles Gray. A funny story here is I watched the whole episode looking for "Charles Gray" the English actor from James Bond and Rocky Horror Picture Show fame not realizing there was an American actor named Charles Gray also! This is not the first "comedic" Gunsmoke I have watched but it is the second one (the first comedic one I watched was 1971's Captain Sligo), and I see by other reviews it is considered a rarity. Everyone else has commented on the rape plot aspect and I agree, I was actually wondering what happened (was it rape or something less?) until a few more lines of dialog were spoken and even then it's pretty nonchalant. Then Festus kills the guy, who's played by Charles Gray (of course! Lol), in cold blood. I was glad Festus didn't give Mayblossom the level when she was leaving as that would have reminded her of the rapist, I'm surprised he kept it for himself since it came from the rapist, but no one seems to care too much, like its just some sort of a thing in those days around Dodge City. One strange episode for me. I'm surprised this episode rates so high (almost an 8), I found the soundtrack very loud, repetitive and annoying, and the "humor" of Mayblossom got old fast too. 6 of 10 is, for me, being generous, but it got me to write a review so it's definitely a memorable episode I wont forget. I'm surprised it was in black and white in 1964 since Bonanza had been in color for 5 years already. I guess CBS losing out on the color TV system wars to RCA (which was the owner of NBC, Bonanza's network) was slow to adopt it? I bet those CBS execs in the 1970s to 2000s really regretted not adopting to color earlier because it kept black and white programs like earlier Gunsmokes off of syndication for decades. Now I know there are two Charles Grays too, even though Xfinity doesn't know this (they have the English actor's pic on the DVR settings)!

This is one of those episodes that you are either going to like or dislike. Because I took this for a comedy, I found this one to be one that was excellent.

Festus's cousin Mayblossom arrives in Dodge and since both of their parents shook hands many years ago the two are bound for marriage on that handshake. Mayblossom is a young woman that is experiencing her first time in the big city. Everything is new to her and exciting.

However there is this one guy in town that takes advantage of Mayblossom which results in Festus taking the law into his own hands. Not to mention that another cousin wants to get Festus out of the way so that he will be the one that marries Mayblossom. It is a Haggen story as Festus has to deal with more than one situation.

It is a simple plot with a simple ending. But in the meantime we learn a lot about Festus and his respect for the Haggan name. Not necessarily a great show but one that will be remembered for the fun time had by all.--- Well, except for that sexual assault thing.