Writer Kathleen Hite strikes again with another "woman's perspective" script that, while avoiding the cliche wherein the larcenous Panacea Sykes might turn out to have a heart of gold and reform in some way, gives us a full 50-minutes of a woman with few, if any redeeming qualities, whose razor-sharp contempt and hostility for everyone around her lies just beneath her cunning veneer of charm and grace.
A thoroughly unpleasant character, whose closeness to death near the end of the show fails to deter her from her obsessive need to connive and deceive her fellow man, preying on the kindness of an unsuspecting couple to get her out of Dodge before she causes further trouble.
OK, so she 'fesses up and returns Kitty's jewelry and money she stole earlier, but the viewer still has absolutely no reason to assume that she has changed her thievin' ways; no "redemption" of any sort, though I suppose you can't help admiring-- on some level-- her determination and will to survive. There's a kind of sadness and pity about this tough, unyielding woman in 1870's America, and maybe that's what Ms. Hite was going for.
Don't get me wrong-- Kathleen Hite is an excellent writer and gave us three TOP-TIER episodes in Season 7 ("Long Long Trail, Apprentice Doc, and Cale"), and a couple of others (eg: "The Way It Is" is a "Woman's" script that really rings true). Every time I see her name onscreen as writer, I look forward to an engrossing, insightful drama.
But her misfires and merely average episodes continue to mount ("Root Down", The Cousin, My Sister's Keeper, Anyone Can Kill a Marshall"), even though I realize that they can't all be classics.
Nellie Burt was a very experienced stage performer and carries herself with great authority. And I ALWAYS enjoy Dan Tobin, no matter how small the part-- he was the King of the prissy, fussy, wormy milquetoast-type actors who brought his own special sparkle to every thing he did.
PS-- WATCH THE FINAL SHOT CAREFULLY---it's a DUMMY-MANNEQUIN riding in the wagon in place of Nellie Burt! Much cheaper than hiring a stand-in for the final long shot.
