Gunsmoke: Season 5
Season 5 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 4.
- 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 5 Progress Shield
Target
Sep 5, 1959 · 26 min
Ironic tragedy results when Danny Kader stubbornly disregards his father's predispositions (and Matt's pragmatic advice) in order to attempt an elopement with a young gypsy woman.
Kitty's Injury
Sep 19, 1959 · 26 min
When Kitty is hurt in a fall from a horse, she and Matt must seek help from shiftless dirt farmers who are oddly uninterested in aiding them.
Horse Deal
Sep 26, 1959 · 26 min
Horses with Bar S brand are being sold to unsuspecting buyers. Deesha moves in to claim the horses, leaving the buyer with nothing.
Johnny Red
Oct 3, 1959 · 26 min
A man suddenly turns up in Dodge City claiming to be Billy Crale, the long-lost son of a well-to-do local widow. Matt knows that Billy Crale was reported dead during the Civil War,
Tail to the Wind
Oct 10, 1959 · 26 min
A father and son bully a farmer and his wife who won't sell their land, but the farmer is oddly reluctant to let Matt arrest the two, even when they resort to gunfire.
Annie Oakley
Oct 17, 1959 · 26 min
Is the homely, sharp-tongued, middle-aged wife of a homesteader really inspiring men to fight to the death for her affections?
Kangaroo
Oct 24, 1959 · 26 min
Chester saves a man from a zealot's violent "justice" then faces a dose of the same himself.
Saludos
Oct 31, 1959 · 26 min
Matt, escorting 3 men back to Dodge, claims a beautiful wounded Indian woman will be able to identify the one who shot her and killed her husband.
Brother Whelp
Nov 7, 1959 · 26 min
A man wants to gunfight when he returns home, after years away, and finding his brother married to his girl.
The Boots
Nov 14, 1959 · 26 min
Onetime gunman Zeno Smith faces an unenviable choice. If he does not help would-be gambler Hank Fergus rob Mr. Jonas's general store, Fergus will tell 12-year old orphan Tommy the
Odd Man Out
Nov 21, 1959 · 26 min
Matt is uncertain what to make of Cyrus Tucker's confused claim that his wife of 32 years "just ran off", especially when a homesteader claims that he saw the old man digging a lar
Miguel's Daughter
Nov 28, 1959 · 26 min
A father threatens to kill the two drifters who have been plaguing his daughter.
Box o' Rocks
Dec 5, 1959 · 26 min
A man enlists the aid of a parson to fake his own death.
Tag, You're It
Dec 19, 1959 · 26 min
When hired gunman Killion comes to Dodge, many of the men get scared thinking he is after them.
Thick 'n' Thin
Dec 26, 1959 · 26 min
A quarrel between two partners in homesteading escalates to the point of gunfire. Matt tries to make peace between them by locking them up together.
Groat's Grudge
Jan 2, 1960 · 26 min
An ex-Confederate waits to settle the score with the Union man whose unit cost him a loved one and property in the late war.
Big Tom
Jan 9, 1960 · 26 min
Despite a serious heart condition, onetime prizefighter Tom Burr is determined to go through with his plans to fight vicious Hob Creel. The only way Matt can stop the mismatch and
Till Death Do Us
Jan 16, 1960 · 26 min
Someone takes a shot at a hard man who is brutal to his wife, and someone is overheard claiming he was offered money to kill the man.
The Tragedian
Jan 23, 1960 · 26 min
Matt and his friends try to come to the aid of a has-been actor caught cheating at cards.
Hinka Do
Jan 30, 1960 · 26 min
Matt has reason to believe that the new overweight, gun toting, straight shooting, female owner of the Lady Gay saloon may have killed the previous owner, or did she?
Doc Judge
Feb 6, 1960 · 26 min
While Matt is away on business, Doc gets threatened by an ex convict (Brice Harp) who claims that Doc Adams sentenced him to a long term in Prison.
Moo Moo Raid
Feb 13, 1960 · 26 min
Old man Onie has a great swimming cow that can lead herds across rivers, and when they both come up missing, one trail boss accuses another of killing them.
Kitty's Killing
Feb 20, 1960 · 26 min
Kitty gets caught in the middle when a crazy-eyed man goes hunting for his former son-in-law, whom he blames for the death of his daughter in childbirth.
Jailbait Janet
Feb 27, 1960 · 26 min
After a train sparks a fire that destroys a family's crops, the man, his son, and his daughter rob another train of fifty thousand dollars. A baggage clerk is killed and the crusty
Unwanted Deputy
Mar 5, 1960 · 26 min
Determined to avenge his murderous brother's hanging, Vince Walsh begins a self-serving campaign of unofficially helping to keep the peace in Dodge City over Matt's objections. Wal
Where'd They Go
Mar 12, 1960 · 26 min
When Jonas accuses Clint Dodie of robbing his store, Matt and Chester set out in the bitter cold go to Clint's farm to make an arrest.
Crowbait Bob
Mar 26, 1960 · 26 min
When the greedy relatives of a dying man (Crowbait Bob) learn that he might be dying, they come to Dodge to grab anything of value they can get from the dying man.
Colleen So Green
Apr 2, 1960 · 26 min
A southern belle charms Chester and many others in Dodge, but Kitty isn't falling for her charms.
The Ex-Urbanites
Apr 9, 1960 · 26 min
Far from Dodge, Chester finds himself in the uncomfortable position of trying to extract a bullet in order to save Doc's life after the two are ambushed by a pair of savage prairie
I Thee Wed
Apr 16, 1960 · 26 min
A man beats his wife and is sentenced to fifty days or fifty dollars by the judge. The beaten woman scrapes together the money for her husband's fine, only to be beaten again.
The Lady Killer
Apr 23, 1960 · 26 min
A saloon girl shoots a man who came to her room, claiming he attacked her, but as the dead man was to testify against a man from the woman's past, Matt is suspicious.
Gentleman's Disagreement
Apr 30, 1960 · 26 min
Ed makes no secret of his intention to kill Bert for marrying the girl Ed wanted. So when Ed is the one who turns up dead, folks assume that Bert did it.
Speak Me Fair
May 7, 1960 · 26 min
There's a cattle drive near town, and the cowboys are nervous about a series of cattle rustling events that have taken place recently.
Belle's Back
May 14, 1960 · 26 min
Belle Ainesly rides into town after 3 years absence. Seems she ran off with an unsavory character 3 years ago, and all of Dodge feels she's a "bad" woman. Belle says she is coming
The Bobsy Twins
May 21, 1960 · 26 min
Two brothers have decided that it is their mission to rid the West of Indians.
Old Flame
May 28, 1960 · 26 min
Kitty doubts the veracity of Matt's old friend Dolly Winters, who arrives in Dodge seeking the Marshal's help and claiming to have been robbed, beaten, and jilted by a man named Ra
The Deserter
Jun 4, 1960 · 26 min
Matt is on the trail of a badly wounded corporal for robbing the army payroll and falls into a trap when the father of the corporal gets the drop on him and wounds Chester.
Cherry Red
Jun 11, 1960 · 26 min
The widow of a stagecoach robber is courted by the man who, unbeknownst to the widow, is the one who shot her husband.