Review of "Never Pester Chester," season 2, episode 10 of Gunsmoke

Review of

Never Pester Chester, season 2, episode 10 of Gunsmoke


Four out of five stars

 Should be, “Don’t mess with Dillon”

  Matt is very tired when he receives a report that two cowboys from out of town are drunk and accosting women on the sidewalks. Chester is sent in his place and they manage to rope him and drag him through the streets, leaving him for dead outside of town. Matt finds him and Doc Adams reports that he doesn’t know if Chester is going to live.

 With this knowledge firmly in mind, Matt rides out after the men. He locates them and finds it difficult to restrain himself from taking the law in his own hands. Even though he does not kill them, Matt finds a way to come very close and achieve appropriate payback. The episode ends with a truly fifties television bromance scene between Matt and Chester.

 The half-hour episodes in the early years of the series are by necessity stories that lack the depth of the later ones of a full hour. There is less time devoted to the chase and capture of the two bad guys, which leads to less tension being built. However, there is enough to keep you fixated as to what is going to happen.