Gunsmoke: Season 17
Season 17 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Gunsmoke Season 16.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 17 Progress Shield
The Lost
Sep 13, 1971 · 45 min
Kitty is in a stage wreck and dazed and confused she sets out in the wild. Meeting up with a wild girl who does not speak, she winds up at a shack where a family takes her and the
Phoenix
Sep 20, 1971 · 45 min
After convict wants to kill a man he has never seen before after he gets out of prison.
Waste (1)
Sep 27, 1971 · 45 min
Matt helps a young boy find his mom while finding an outlaw.
Waste (2)
Oct 4, 1971 · 45 min
Matt helps a young boy find his mom while finding an outlaw.
New Doctor in Town
Oct 11, 1971 · 45 min
Dr. Chapman is arrested by Festus when he tries to sleep in Doc's office even though he has explained that Doc went to Baltimore to hone his medical skills. A letter explains that
The Legend
Oct 18, 1971 · 45 min
Ma Colter tries to dissuade her youngest son from following his older brothers into a life of crime.
Lynott
Nov 1, 1971 · 45 min
A former Marshall helps Matt by filling in for Matt, after he is wounded and sent to bed so he can rest.
My Brother's Keeper
Nov 15, 1971 · 45 min
While trying to hide from a storm Festus finds old Indian is about to die. Festus keeps trying to stop the indian from dying.
Drago
Nov 22, 1971 · 45 min
Drago wants to find the person who killed a woman who helped him.
Gold Train: The Bullet (1)
Nov 29, 1971 · 45 min
A hidecutter starts trouble in the Long Branch and Matt comes to the rescue throwing him out of town. When Festus goes up to fetch Dr. Chapman, he finds the old scudder there hims
Gold Train: The Bullet (2)
Dec 6, 1971 · 45 min
As the train moves along to Denver we meet several passengers. One is a Pinkerton man handcuffed to Beth Tilton, a woman who doesn't want to go back to Colorado to her husband. T
Gold Train: The Bullet (3)
Dec 13, 1971 · 45 min
The conclusion to this three parter. Dillon kills the guard that was gunning for him and the passengers take the train back over. The only problem, all the fuel has been destroye
P.S. Murry Christmas
Dec 27, 1971 · 45 min
The meanest outlady in the US is coming to Dodge, at least that's what Festus has heard, but it's really Emma Grundy out to retrieve her seven orphans from Titus Spangler and take
No Tomorrow
Jan 3, 1972 · 45 min
Ben Justin must try and clear his name of false charges.
Hidalgo
Jan 10, 1972 · 45 min
After Matt is hurt, He makes friends who must help him stay alive.
Tara
Jan 17, 1972 · 45 min
Newly falls in love with a woman who could put him in danger, once her past is known.
One for the Road
Jan 24, 1972 · 45 min
Lucius's daughter wants her dad locked up so she and Tom can have the estate. Judge Broker thinks Mr. Prince is sane and Mr. Prince proves he can be a dad.
The Predators
Jan 31, 1972 · 45 min
A former gunfighter returns to Dodge which worries Matt because Howard Cane was the one to survive the rage war. Can Matt stop him before more trouble comes to Dodge?
Blind Man's Buff
Feb 21, 1972 · 45 min
A man gets shot, loses his memory, and gets taken in by a lonely woman
The Wedding
Mar 13, 1972 · 45 min
A father disapproves of the man her daughter marries.