Season 14 starts out with a bang as we get a story about how life can be sad plus also ironic. And anytime an episode has the lovely Charlotte (Considine) Stewart playing a part, you usually know that the offering will be pleasant to the eye.
The main character in this episode is a former lawman and friend of Marshal Dillon, Grant Lyle (Morgan Woodward). Years ago he was intentional disabled when an outlaw named Hoxy took a hammer to his hands making both useless. Today he wears black gloves over the hands which are more of a claw than working part of his body. Grant's son, Jeffrey Lyle (Robert Pine), is a sheriff in a nearby town that is known for his quick draw.
The two Lyle men come riding into Dodge City because the outlaw Hoxy is being released from prison and is due in Dodge in a few days on the stage. Grant wants his son to avenge the injury to his hands by getting into a gunfight with the bandit and kill him. Grant has been planning this moment for a very long time. he has made his son as good and quick as any in the state and now he feels like his revenge will be forthcoming.
The young Lyle does not have the taste of blood that his father has and the thought of killing a man makes him sick. When he comes across an old girlfriend, Iris, that decide to marry. Leaving his crippled father to take the revenge on his own.
Grant gets Newly to modify a gun for him that will fire when the handle is pulled back. the gun is very inaccurate. But with the stage due to arrive, Grant long plan is ready for his revenge but all his planning may be for naught.
Morgan Woodward is excellent as the crippled man that appears his only duty in life is to take revenge. The story was good, the acting was nice and the tension was high. A good watch.
Note- In this episode they show Ma Smalley's boarding house right next to the Dodge House (Hotel). It has always been located outside the main area right before going out of town in a two story house.