Bad Blood
THE RIDERS LEARN LOU McCLOUD'S SECRET...
Kid helps Lou pick out a dress as the female rider prepares to visit her brother and sister, whom she had not seen for five years. After buying presents for her siblings, Lou heads out to St. Joe while Kid returns to Sweetwater. In the orphanage, however, a man, claiming to be the children's father, takes them from the nuns. When Lou arrives, the mother superior tells her Jeremiah and Teresa are gone.
In
Sweetwater, Ike is attacked by bushwhackers during his run. He is shot
but Cody manages to take him back to the station. When asked to identify
his attackers, Ike describes a man named Peters whom Marshall Cain says
works for a notorious gunrunner named Boggs.
Lou, who by then has returned to Sweetwater, recognizes the name Boggs. She then joins the riders in looking for the man who ambushed Ike, hoping he could lead her to Boggs and her siblings. The riders find Peters and they learn where Boggs' hideout is from him. When they camp for the night, Kid asks Lou if she knows who Boggs is but she evades the question. The next morning, Kid finds Lou gone and tells Jimmy, Cody and Buck that he suspects Boggs is Lou's father and that she went after him. True enough, Lou goes to Boggs' hide out and attempts to break in, but is caught. She escapes but is captured again.
The
riders arrive at Boggs' place with Peters' help. Cody and Jimmy sneak in
by disguising themselves, while Kid enters from behind the mountain. Buck
stays behind and starts the attack on the camp as a one-man Indian war
party. Kid manages to free Lou and they find her siblings. Her brother
Jeremiah, however, doesn't want to go with her, accusing Lou of leaving
him and Teresa behind. She finally persuades him but as they try to escape
using a secret door, Boggs catches up with them.
Boggs asks Lou who she is, and she tells him that her mother is Mary Louise McCloud. When he says that he had two girls and a boy (he still thinks Lou is a young man), Lou says he still does. Boggs finally recognizes her and calls her Louise (to Hickok's huge surprise). But Boggs doesn't want to let his children go. He tries to shoot his daughter, but Kid manages to wound him fatally before he could hurt Lou. Before he dies, Boggs' tells his eldest that he came for her, too. Now privy to Lou's secret, the boys promise not to tell Teaspoon about the rider's true identity.
TRIVIA: First time Lou is seen in a dress and what a pretty sight she is. No wonder the Kid couldn't take off that silly grin from his face. This episode, just like Gunfighter, marks a lot of firsts -- we mentioned one already. Lou also gets beaten up pretty badly in Bad Blood, unfortunately, she'll get a lot more beatings in future episodes like Lady For A Night, Blood Money and The Exchange.
Since The Young Riders filmed at the Tucson Studios, they had pretty limited set choices. Take note of the structure that's used as the orphanage, that same building will be seen in Then There Was One, The Talisman and The Exchange.
Did you know that Yvonne Suhor nearly didn't get the role of Louise McCloud because the network executives thought she looked too much of a young man that they doubted her ability to transform herself into an attractive lady when "romance" came?
IN THEIR WORDS: Jimmy awkwardly feeds a sick Ike: If you're dogging it man, and it ain't so terrible hurt, I'll kill you...
Cody after Jimmy tells Lou she is the best looking boy he has ever seen: Don't let it go to your head, Lou. I've seen him look at his horse the same way...
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