EPISODE: The Crucible
Reviewed by Deer
Episode 94, Season 3, originally aired April 8, 1962
Guest Star: Lee Marvin
Written by John T. Dugan
Directed by Paul Nickell
SUMMARY:
Hot sweaty Adam goes into a bar where he meets up with hot sweaty Joe. Being a Cartwright, Adam instantly announces to the world that he has $5,000 on him. Adam also declares he is going to ride up into the hills by himself (and presumably with the $5,000) while Joe decides to stay in town and watch a murder trial. Naturally a bad guy takes note of all this and makes dastardly plans with one of his friends.
Joe and Adam go take a bath. While Joe is soaking in the bathtub (and looking yummy), he and Adam discuss the murder trial. Adam declares that no one could force him to commit murder….with the possible exception of one person: Joe!
Adam goes off into the hills where he is stopped by the two bad guys and robbed. They take Adam’s horse, figuring Adam will just wander around on foot until he dies. But Adam wanders instead into the camp of the prospector named Kane. Kane offers to help Adam, lending him a mule and supplies if Adam will work for him for a few days. Adam agrees.
Meanwhile Joe goes to meet Adam. He is irritated with his brother because Adam isn’t at the meeting place. Joe makes camp to wait for Adam. In morning, after sharing his coffee with Cochise, Joe decides to go look for Adam. When Joe can’t find his brother, he starts to get worried.
While Joe is searching for him, Adam is working for Kane, who is becoming increasingly fond of the idea of having his own slave to work the mine. He begins to devise ways of keeping Adam in the camp, first by shooting the mule and then by threatening Adam. Kane forces Adam to continue working for him while abusing him, cutting his food and water rations and taunting him. Adam does his best to continue to act like a civilized person.
Joe continues to search for Adam, ending up at blacksmith’s cabin when Cochise goes lame. The blacksmith offers to loan Joe a horse, but the horse he offers Joe turns out to be Adam’s. Joe finds out that two men sold the horse to the blacksmith and becomes even more worried about his brother. Taking Adam’s horse, Joe rides into the town where the blacksmith told him the two men were headed. In the town, Joe talks with the sheriff, who tells Joe the two men he is looking for are dead. Joe sends a telegram to Ben and Hoss to tell them what happened.
Back at the mine, Kane is acting increasing insane, finding more ways to make Adam’s life miserable. Adam finally rebels; he and Kane get into a fight. Adam has a chance to kill Kane, but can’t bring himself to do it.
Ben, Hoss and Joe begin searching for Adam. After two weeks, Joe and Hoss try to persuade Ben to give up the search because they feel there’s no hope of finding Adam. Ben is about to reluctantly agree when the three Cartwrights spot a man walking across the barren land below them, dragging something. They recognize Adam and rush to him.
Adam is dragging a travois on which Kane is laying. As Ben, Hoss and Joe rush up to him, Adam ignores them at first. When he finally recognizes his rescuers, Adam moans, “Oh Pa,” and collapses. As Joe and Ben start to take care of Adam, Hoss checks on the man on the travois. Hoss announces Adam has been dragging a dead man. Ben hugs Adam to his chest while Hoss and Joe lay a comforting hand on Ben’s shoulder.
REVIEWS:
"I personally liked how Cain pushed Adam to tears. It was so cute to see the always reserved MIB lose it in his Papa's arms." Victory
"I think that is my favorite Adam scene. He is almost like Spock on Star Trek in a lot of the eps. It's nice to see him emote for a change." Sparky
"I love Adam's "Oh, Pa!" sob as he collapsed. Joe's gently wetting Adam's face and lips with water from his hand is a tender moment as is LJ and & Hoss reaching to touch their father as he rocks Adam in his arms." Ginger
"Besides the obvious reason of enjoying the LJ in the bathtub scene, I enjoyed that part for the Adam & LJ horsing around. I don't remember Adam ever doing anything like that any other time." Ginny
"In this wonderful episode...we are tantalized by young Joseph Cartwright, prince of the Ponderosa, naked...yes, naked...in a bathtub! All soaped up and yummy looking! Arms up behind his leg...showing off those hours in the gym...and well...how many of us have stopped and started and stopped and started this particular scene to check out WAS HE OR WASN'T HE????" Deer
"I now have seen it a few times and I do think that PR does a pretty good job opposite Lee Marvin, who played Kane to perfection. Fave scenes are still LJ in the bath and Adam ducking him (what a shame that ML was wearing those grey pants), the scene where LJ is talking to Coochie and he gives her some coffee and the ending. When Adam says "Oh Pa", it makes me cry and I just love the way Ben pulls his boy into an embrace. Although this is, in the main, a serious ep, I do have to giggle when I see LJ riding Sport, the horse was so big that it's a wonder he stayed on it" Lynne
"I recommend this show heartily to those with vivid imaginations that want them (or anything else) stimulated." Anne
"Well, there's so much to like about The Crucible. Hot sweaty Joe in the bar, the Joe bath scene, Joe drinking coffee with Cochise, hot sweaty Joe looking for Adam, hot sweaty Joe riding his brother's horse and hot sweaty Joe reporting his brother's absence to the sheriff This episode does have a nice balance of shots of hot sweaty Joe and shirtless Joe soaking in the bath. We do see Adam getting hot and sweaty in this episode, but, to a Joe fan, that's not near as interesting. On a serious note (yes, really), this episode shows a nice bit of acting by Lee Marvin as well as Pernell Roberts and Michael Landon. It does have a nice tension to it because the viewer is wondering if Adam will renege on his claim that no one could drive him to murder." Susan
"Wet. Shirtless. Joe. Have I said that somewhere before? In this case, however, he's also pantless, shoeless, sockless, beltless..." Barb
"This is a really great Pa and Adam bonding episode!" Sparky
"And let us not forget the athleticism of the scrub brush toss (Olympic quality) and the beautiful view of the wet shirtless back." Puchi Ann
"This episode was written with me in mind. I was told over and over to let the midget have the bathtub scene, because later on I could share my coffee with him and people would think it was cute. Pernell begged to do the coffee scene with me, but I insisted on the midget. I kind of felt sorry for him." I am Cochise.
"There is some ambiguity in the climax of the conflict between Cain and Adam. Adam is provoked into a murderous rage in which he almost strangles Cain. He only just manages to stop himself before Cain succumbs. Adam’s attack does inflict real damage to Cain. Adam appears to “win” when he decides to try and save Cain. But Cain’s injuries occurred at Adam’s hands. Until the near-strangling, Cain was in better much better physical shape than Adam. The reasonable assumption is that the injury that Adam inflicted weakened Cain too much to walk and contributed to Cain’s death from exposure. So it could be argued that Cain also “won”. Even though Adam’s action was in self-defense, it did indirectly cause Cain’s death." Marjie
"Isn't that the whole point of the episode? That every man can be broken? And Adam reached emotional, although not moral, breaking point." Barb
"I had read somewhere that the crucible was his (Pernell Roberts) favorite ep he loved doing it." Brenda