When Sheriff Coffee is out of town and the Morrisey gang, local troublemakers, are doing what they do best, nobody can reign in their behavior. When things go too far and one of Coffee's deputies is killed by the Morriseys' antics, the Virginia City mayor (a pre-Ted Baxter Ted Knight) decides to hire a bounty hunter to bring them all in.
Wesley Dunn is highly regarded for his focused, no-nonsense style of bringing criminals to justice. But is he really a "Peace Officer," or just someone who will stoop to any level — even murder, without asking questions — to execute his duties? Those come to light as Joe sees it all firsthand.
Tropes seen in this episode:
- Asshole Victim:
- Several members of the troublemaking Morrisey gang. Bounty hunter Wes Dunn severely beats one of the suspects to try to extract information from him about the Morriseys' whereabouts, while later he mortally wounds another without justification.
- Dunn, in the end. Unfortunately for him, his tactics catch up with him and one of the remaining members of the gang mortally wounds him.
- Bar Brawl: How the main plot is set up: The Morrisey gang, looking to cause trouble, goes into the saloon and destroys everything. Unfortunately, one of Sheriff Roy Coffee's deputies pays the price with his life.
- Cowboy Cop: Dunn definitely fits this style of justice. It takes Ben and Joe together to corroborate accounts of Dunn's tactics — killing Morrisey gang member Pa Curtis as he was trying to surrender (his mother had witnessed the incident and informed Ben); and one of the suspects, Cliff, telling Joe that he was severely beaten by him to get the town's mayor to realize he made a mistake hiring him.
- Karmic Death: Dunn lives by the gun, shooting criminals at will ... and it’s by the gun that he dies.
- Oh, Crap!: One of the ruffians smashes a whiskey bottle over Deputy Bill Harris' head, killing him instantly. The Morriseys think that Harris is just lying there, trying to scare them and try to get him to "wake up" ... but when they realize he really is dead, they do the Oh Crap and — save for one of the gang members, whom Joe tackles and holds at bay until he is taken into custody — hightail it out of Virginia City.
- Shoot First Ask Questions Later and Torture First, Ask Questions Later: Dunn's style of tracking down and taking care of criminals.
- The Unfettered: Dunn has no reservations against killing his suspects or using other brutal means to defeat the Morrisey gang.
- Vigilante Man: Wes Dunn, the bounty hunter hired by the Virginia City town council to capture the Morrisey gang. Media accounts glamorize Dunn's tactics, but even the Cartwrights are fooled and unaware that Dunn is a vicious, dirty killer.
- You Rebel Scum!: When Dunn is mortally wounded by one of the Morrisey gang members in the final scene, he spits out "Scum" and tries to fire his gun, but collapses due to blood loss and dies.
