"The Legacy" - Peter Graves goes and visits a creepy old man Moray Powell. Betty Lucas is fun as a former maid who inherits a property that Graves wants to buy... only it really belongs to an aboriginal, the former owner's old adopted son... played by Reg Livermore in brown face. Well, brown body really. This is unfortunately. They hint at romance between Graves and Lucas but he's really keen to get rid of her and get Livermore running the place, running horses for Graves. Livermore plays an amiable child boy. But still it does have a plot about whites trying to con aboriginals out of land. Graves shoots Powell dead - I think Graves killed at least one person an episode.
"Barbed Wire" the always reliable Grant Taylor is a Western style baron who torments a plucky small landholder. A strong episode. Eric Reiman is a henchman of Taylors who engages in a whip duel with Graves - like in Rangle River and Kangaroo - and even better Robert Tudawali is a tracked for Taylor. Tudawali's presence is electric. The final resolution isn't entirely interesting and the story feels American but it's entertaining.
"The Twisted Road". Ben Gabriel is being transported to Brisbane (!) on a charge of murder, doctor Tom Farley is coming along to prove his innocence. They big up Rachel Lloyd. I liked this one - Farley is a beloved doctor who actually hates his patients leading to murder. Farley is an excellent actor.
"Dutchman's Reef". Queenie Ashton hires Graves to find her son, Leonard Teale , who has run off to live with aboriginals. Teale is covered in brown make up. This is silly but works on its own terms. Robert Tudawali is in this briefly.
"Divide and Conquer" Graves helps Harry Dearth look for a pass through a mountain range and comes across some vicious bushrangers led by Owen Weingott; Colin Croft was just joined the gang. Noted aboriginal actor Henry Murdoch pops up in this as a black tracker. This is a good episode - I think the makers were helped by the fact it was an American ish story but it does feel as though it works in Australia. Excellent work from Weingott and Croft, the latter as a more literate crook.
"The Remittance Man" - great fun with Stewart Wagstaff perfect as a gentleman bushranger. The character of Graves' sidekick, the younger kid, is undeveloped in this series. I mean the actor is fine... but more could have been done with it. He would have been better off as a comic relief style character or a woman... or a more wild, hot blooded character. Instead he plays it in the same dead pan style as Graves. I enjoyed Graves' relationship with Wagstaff.
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