Vendetta
Original air date : January 29, 1999
Cast :
Produced by :Lynne Symons and Steve Beers Summary :
Chris's past has come back to haunt him again, in the form of his father-in-law. Hank Connelly is being pursued by a family of violent criminals, looking to avenge the death of one of their own. The family has followed Hank to town, putting everyone in the town in danger, and forcing Chris to face his past one more time. JD experiences jealousy when another man shows an interest in Casey.
Scene One - The Saloon
Ezra is dealing cards to Buck, Chris and Nathan and displaying his flashy card shuffling skills while the others watch with amazement, and maybe a little distrust.
Buck goes to the bar and while he's waiting for his beer he spots a familiar face at the end of the bar - Hank Connelly, who is also known to Chris. Buck and Hank exchange pleasantries and Hank says he's got some business with his son-in-law. He walks over to Chris, who is not happy to see him, and says he's been riding for days to find Chris because he needs his help.
Just then a big black wagon pulls into town, accompanied by seven young men dressed in black mourning clothes. The wagon stops while everyone watches, and two of the men open a door on the side of the wagon and help an older woman down. The woman - Sophia Nichols - is not impressed by her first view of the town. In the saloon, Hank mutters that the newcomers are after him, to avenge what he did. He tells Chris he found the man who killed Chris's wife and son (Hank's daughter and grandson) and killed him.
Scene Two - The Saloon
The man Hank killed was David Nichols, who lived across the valley from Chris's ranch. Chris doesn't believe Nichols was a killer, but Hank says he came from a bad family. Ezra has heard of the Nichols brothers from Kansas City. Their father Jack was an infamous criminal who died in prison ten years earlier. His sons are now running their own criminal enterprise in a very businesslike manner.
When Sophia and some of her sons approach the saloon, Buck and Josiah hustle Hank out the back way, to hide him in the church. One of the men knocks JD out of his chair and onto the floor, and Vin and Ezra draw their guns on the man. Mrs. Nichols intervenes and offers $100 in gold to anyone who can help them find Hank. The Nichols leave and JD picks himself up off the floor.
Chris wants nothing to do with Hank and he's got some supplies and is heading out of town, in spite of Buck's argument that Chris has to stay and help Hank because of their relationship. Chris doesn't agree. Buck thinks Chris is mad because he has been looking for vengeance and Hank beat him to it.
Scene Three - The Street
Peter Nichols and one of his brothers are unloading the wagon when Casey happens by, looking every inch the tomboy she is. Peter calls her boy and offers her 25 cents to help unload the trunks. When Casey sets him straight, Peter changes his attitude and comes over to make her acquaintance. Casey is impressed when Peter tells her he's from Kansas City. JD arrives to find out what Casey is doing, talking to one of the Nichols brothers. Peter offers JD 25 cents to help and JD laughs.
Sophia has come to the church to find a priest to hear her confession while her son John waits outside. While Nathan keeps Hank in the back, Josiah talks to Sophia, to keep her distracted.
Across the street, Vin and Ezra are watching some of the Nichols boys.
The men aren't interested in a conversation with Ezra, or in his hospitality, and they leave him standing in the street, talking to himself.
Scene Four - The Street
Vin is still on the lookout when Buck sits down beside him.
Buck tells Vin that Hank did not approve of Chris, but there was something special between Chris and Sarah and they were happy together. Hank couldn't see the good in Chris and didn't speak to either of them after they got married.
Scene Five - Outside of Town
Chris is riding hard but at the top of a hill he stops his horse and turns around. He knows he has to go back to help Hank.
Scene Six - The Church
Josiah is hearin Sophia's confession, but she is confessing to something she hasn't done yet.
Josiah counsels Sophia to let her son find peace, instead of trying to avenge his death.
Hank and Nathan are listening in a back room and Hank runs out of the church. John Nichols catches him just as Chris arrives back in town. Chris rides at the two men, knocking John down and pulling Hank up onto the back of the horse, and he and Hank ride out of town.
Scene Seven - The Hotel
Three of John's brothers help him into the hotel lobby so Nathan can have a look at him. John's arm is broken and Sophia promises to avenge the injury.
Scene Eight - A Shop in Town
Some of the Nichols boys are terrorizing a shopkeeper, trying to find out the identity of the man who helped Hank escape. Finally, the shopkeeper gives them Chris's name and is facing a gun to his head for the directions to where Hank and Chris have gone when Ezra happens by and distracts the Nichols, offering to help them.
Scene Nine - The Street
Casey is walking by the hotel when Peter Nichols comes out. Casey is looking decidedly more feminine today and Peter can't help but notice.
JD has seen Casey talking to Peter and catches up to her to voice his displeasure, especially about the way she's dressed.
Scene Ten - The Hotel
While Nathan is setting John's arm, John explains that even though Sophia loves all her sons, David was her favorite. Vin and Buck come in, followed shortly by the Nichols boys who were terrorizing the shopkeeper. They announce that they know who Hank is with and where they've gone. Nathan, Buck and Vin start to follow, but Ezra stops them. He has given the Nichols false directions and figures it will take them about two hours to realize they're headed in the wrong direction, enough time to warn Chris and Hank. As the Nichols brothers re getting ready to ride, their mother tells them to fill Hank full of lead, but to bring him back alive enough for her to watch him die.
Scene Eleven - Chris's Place
Hank is telling Chris about David Nichols and what kind of man he was. He says David was forcing out all of the homesteaders in the area because there was silver on the land. Hank has been carrying a cloth with knots tied in it and he keeps tightening and playing with the knots. Chris asks why and Hank says it's so he'll remember not to forget. Chris says there are some things he doesn't want to remember and some he doesn't want to forget. Hank comments that it must be hard for Chris to carry around so much anger and now have no one to be mad at.
Scene Twelve - The Countryside
The Nichols boys have realized Ezra misled them and they have to find someone to give them directions. There is a farmer working on top of a nearby windmill who the brothers intend to ask.
Scene Thirteen - The Church
Sophia is lighting candles and telling Josiah about David and what a good person he was.
Scene Fourteen - The Countryside
The Nichols have killed the farmer and left him hanging from the windmill, like a crucifixion. Vin and Buck happen to see the Nichols on the road and realize the brothers have figured out they were tricked and are on their way to Chris and Hank.
Scene Fifteen - Chris's Place
Chris is cooking chicken and dumplings. He says it was his and Adam's favorite meal, but Sarah only made it on Sunday, although Chris never knew why. Chris tells Hank there was always a place for him at their home.
Scene Sixteen - Chris's Place
The next morning, the Nichols boys arrive at Chris's shack and start shooting up the place. When it's full of holes, they go inside. Nobody could have survived the hail of bullets.
But Chris and Hank aren't there. They managed to get away before the killers arrived. Vin, Buck, Chris and Hank are riding away. Vin doubles back to make sure they aren't being followed. The other three make camp that night in a clearing. Buck tells Hank he has to be on his way inthe morning.
Scene Seventeen - The Town
Josiah is sitting out on the boardwalk that night, having a drink. Sophia is pacing up and down when her sons return and tell her they were tricked by the town's seven protectors. Josiah tell Sophia to take her sons and leave town. Sophia tells Josiah to let the seven men know she intends to send them and Hank straight to the devil.
Scene Eighteen - The Countryside
While Hank sleeps, Buck and Chris talk about Sarah and remember when Chris was first courting her. Buck says it wasn't just Chris that Hank didn't like.
Vin arrives back in the morning to report the Nichols headed back to town. Chris tells Hank tht Mexico is the best place for him and offers to go with him, but Hank prefers to go alone. Hank hopes they'll see each other again and tells Chris he (Hank) was wrong about him.
As Hank is riding away he passes another rider on the road. Hank stops and turns around with a strange smile on his face.
Scene Nineteen - The Town
The Nichols boys come out of the hotel and Peter spots Casey acros the street. He tips his hat to her before he joins his brothers. JD comes along.
JD walks around the corner and runs straight into Peter and three of his brothers.
Scene Twenty - The Saloon
Ezra, Josiah and Nathan are eating breakfast and laughing about how the Nichols are all talk, since they have done nothing to punish Ezra for his trickery. Chris, Buck and Vin arrive and head to the bar. Josiah and Nathan are talking about Sophia and her conviction that David was innocent. While everyone is occupied, JD arrives and heads to the bar, but nobody notices him. Then he speaks...
Chris catches JD before he hits the flor. He has been badly beaten and has brought the message that the Nichols intend to kill them all for helping Hank. JD's six friends spring into action and get ready for the fight.
Hank wanders in through the back door, telling Chris he found the man who killed Sarah and Adam, and he puts the gun he used on the bar. It's a different gun from the one he had before - Hank killed the stranger he passed on the road and everyone suddenly realizes Hank is crazy and has killed at least two innocent men in his madness. He's raving about the green-eyed monster that wanted Sarah, and Hank killed him before he could get her.
Sophia calls from the street for Hank to be sent out. Chris goes out to talk to her. He explains that Hank is not sane and he will be taken to face justice.
She drops her handkerchief as a signal and the gun fight is on. As the bullets fly, Hank sits in the saloon playing with his knots and Sophia stands on the street, praying out loud. During a lull, while everyoneis reloading, the Nichols' wagon pulls into the street in front of the saloon and three of the Nichols boys inside start firing. When they return fire, Nathan and Vin realize the wagon is armor-plated.
Ezra takes a bottle of whiskey and heads out to the wagon. The bottle is shot out of his hand but Josiah throws him another one. Ezra climbs onto the roof of the wagon and drops the bottle down the chimney into the burning stove, which instantly explodes and starts a fire. The men inside emerge into the gunfire and two of them are killed.
Inside the saloon, Hank looks at Buck and sees another green-eyed monster. He shoots Buck in the arm, but he's now standing in the doorway and oneof the Nichols boys shoots him. Hank falls into the street and the fighting stops. Sophia heads to Hank's body, to watch him die, but Josiah pulls her away.
Josiah forces Sophia to look at the carnage on the street. Three of her sons are dead and two of them are wounded. Sophia realizes for the first time what has happened to her sons.
Sophia kneels beside one of her dead sons and asks for his forgiveness. Then she asks Josiah to forgive her.
Chris is kneeling beside Hank, who is not quite dead.
As he takes his last breath, Chris pulls the cloth of knots out of his hands.
Trivia :
Tyne Daly as Ma Nichols Ed Lauter as Hank Connolly
Dana Barron as Casey Michael DeGood as Unknown
Geoff Meed as Unknown Jonathan Quint as Peter Nichols
Clint Lilley as Anthony Nichols Casey O'Neill as Luke Nichols
Ty O'Neal as Matthew Nichols Will Cascio as Mark Nichols
John Kendall as Shopkeeper
Written by : Mark Haskell Smith
Directed by : William Wages
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