Dust

Description: Season 2, Episode 12

Air Date: January 6, 1961

Plot Summary: Divine intervention comes to the rescue of a man about to be executed.

Review: This is pretty much as bland as a TZ episode can get. I struggled to write the plot summary in such a way as not to outright spoil the entire episode, but it's virtually impossible due to how little actually happens in the story. Seriously, all that happens in the episode is some guy is in jail for killing a little girl when he was drunk; apparently it was an accident, and the guy hit her with his wagon or something. This is supposed to be the old west by the way--not that it matters since this has little bearing on the situation. There is an annoying peddler, who looks like a fat Indiana Jones, who revels in the idea that the guy is being executed. The only person who seems to empathize with the guy being executed is the sheriff, but we don't learn much about why he even cares. When the guy's father comes to beg for forgiveness or whatever, Indiana Jones tricks the father into buying magic dust which he claims will make the townspeople spare the man from being executed. When the father tries to use the dust, of course nothing happens, but, magically, the rope being used in the execution snaps. I suppose the townspeople see this as some kind of divine intervention and they free the guy permanently. The episode then ends with Indiana Jones returning the money he received for the dust to random peasant children. And that's it. I mean, what's there to analyze with this one? It's a pretty straightforward tale that is padded out by meaningless dialogue. I guess when you have to fill an entire season worth of stories, you're going to have a few phoned-in episodes.