The Blane Wessels Story - Wagon Train, a statement on passive suicide 7/10⭐

 

The Blane Wessels Story - Wagon Train 

A statement on passive suicide, one of the best episodes (if not the best) in the whole series, written by John McGreevey, directed by Virgil W. Vogel Time to read: 5min

Plot:

Duke Shannon (Denny Miller) is transporting 5 wagons to join the main wagon train. In route, the mini train is attacked by Indians.

Duke, Essie and Laura are waiting
for the next wave of attacks 

Four of the wagons scatter, and are massacred. The final wagon has Duke at the helm, and they are fighting for their lives, without much success. But just when it seems the end is near, a lone rider approaches, and takes out the remaining attackers. 

Robert Colbert as Blane Wessels

It appeared he had no thought for his own safety, and simply rode into the fray to save the remaining wagon train passengers. But things are not always as they seem, and it becomes clear that Blane Wessels (Robert Colbert) may not be as fearless as he first appears. 

Virginia Christine as Minna Collins 
Juanita Moore as Essie

There are only four passengers left, Duke, Laura (Lory Patrick), Minna Collins (Virginia Christine) and Essie (Juanita Moore). Mrs. Collins husband, Jim, was just killed in the final raid, and she is inconsolable. She is also very pregnant, and not so young, making her condition more dangerous. She screams that Blane should have let the Indians kill them, that she no longer wants to live, or wants her baby. 

Essie tries to reason with Minna, but with Jim lying there dead, there's nothing they can do to comfort her. 

That night, after they bury Jim, Duke takes the first watch. Blane has a terrible nightmare and talks in his sleep. He keeps repeating he killed someone, a woman. Duke wakes him, but doesn't mention what he heard. Blane takes over the watch two hours early because he doesn't want to go back to sleep.

Essie & Duke

The next day, they take shelter in a nearby relay station, where they find Ed Graham (Douglas Fowley), the station agent, hiding in a secret bunker with enough rifles and ammunition to fend off an army. Ed tells them the raiding party already ransacked the relay station, but didn't find him, or the bunker. They all agree someone has to go for help now, even though they only have one small Indian pony. Ed volunteers, he's got a wound to his arm which makes him unable to shoot. He rides off, and they have no idea if they'll ever see him again.

Duke, Essie, Blane & Ed discuss their next move.

As time goes on, Blane's attitude becomes more and more reckless. It's also not lost on anybody that he's hitting the bottle harder than he should. Essie tries to talk to him, telling a story from her childhood about when she tried to save a moth from dying in the fire. Her mother told her you can't fight nature, but she said it didn't matter if it was hopeless, "It still makes me want to cry to see any living being bent on turning itself into nothing." 

Blane seems determined to get himself killed 

Later, Essie says they are low on water, and without a plan, or a warning, Blane grabs the bucket, and saunters outside to the well. Duke, and the others immediately scream for him to return, but he just leisurely gets the water. Not surprisingly, an Indian sends an arrow flying their way, and grazes Duke. Blane finally comes back inside, with the water.

Laura doesn't like what Blane has to say

Later that night, Duke tells Laura about Blane's dream, and confession. She's been defending him too often, and Duke thought she should know the truth. Blane figures Duke enlightened her, and decides to tell her the whole story, ugly as it is. 

Duke tells Miss Laura some hard truths

Blane had been married to a kind and loving woman who never complained. He knew it was wrong, but he began an affair with a woman he'd become obsessed with. He began to think, "What if..." 

Lory Patrick as Laura

What if something happened to his wife, then he could have everything he thought he wanted. But his wife became pregnant, and she had complications. When he tried to transport her to the doctor, the buckboard turned over, and she drowned in the river. Since that day, he's been no good to anyone. He left the woman he was having an affair with, and has been trying to get himself killed ever since. This isn't what Laura wants to hear, and she excuses herself to help with Minna. 

Minna isn't coping

Minna isn't doing any better than Blane. She's taken a gun, and intends to use it. But she can't fool Miss Essie, who knows what she intends to do, and asks her, "What's the sweetest thing you've known in all of your life?" Minna tells her it was the special love Jim gave her. After 20 years, they still had no children, and Jim was never bitter. They were  just as in love as the day they met. But Jim is dead now, and Minna thinks everything that was good in her life died with him. 

Essie helps Minna get her will to live back

But Essie thinks different, and tells her, "No it ain't! It's right here, and it's going to be with you the rest of your life. As long as you live, you've been blessed. Some of us, we lose the thing we care about. And there's no living trace of him left with us. But you're the lucky one! You'll be able to feed and comfort what you and your man shared together. The Lord keeps us around as long as he knows we're needed by someone." 

Miss Essie has to convince Blane
he still has a purpose

Now, Miss Essie has to convince Blane that life is worth living. She tells him about her time as a nurse during the war. She saw terrible things, and the men she treated had wounds much deeper and more visible than Blane's. He asks her, "You ever stop to think how some of the men you helped to live would have rather died right then, and had done with it?" But Miss Essie is undeterred, "Lots of them said as much, but it wasn't  time for them to die. The Lord still had uses for them and as long as that's true, you live. No matter what the living costs you. It'll balance out in the end." 

Juanita Moore as Essie

But just as Essie thinks she may have gotten through to Blane, Indians attack. They manage to fight them off, but one of them was wearing a belt with the initials EG. Blane is quick to point out that they are Ed's initials, and this proves Ed didn't get through. 

Duke gives Essie her hope back

Everyone is feeling hopeless, but Duke points out the Indians could have taken it when they raided the station, while Ed was hiding in the bunker. Miss Essie lights up, and tells Duke thank you for giving her hope back. Duke reminds her, it's a slim hope. But again, Essie is resolute, she tells him the way she grew up, that sliver of hope would last a whole family a year!

Miss Essie knows the real purpose of life

Miss Essie is more than happy to live on that tiny spot of light, and goes to tend to Minna whose time has come. But as the women are delivering the baby, Blane begins to argue that Ed is dead, and someone else has to try for help. Duke cannot hold off the Indians alone, and a fight begins. Blane hits Duke over the head, and opens the door to a full fledged Indian attack, just as Essie tries to stop him. Essie takes a shot to the back, and collapses. But before she dies, she tells Blane, "For everything there's a season and a  time to every purpose under the heaven there's a time to be born and a time to die remember remember that."  

Miss Essie gives Blane his life back

He promises her, he will. Just as all hope is lost, a group of men from the wagon train come over the horizon, and push the Indian raiding party back. It's seems Ed got through after all, and the group is rescued. Minna gives birth to a baby girl, and names her Esther after Essie. When Duke asks Blane what he intends to do, he says he's not sure, but, "I won't be wasting that new life Essie bought for me." 

WHAT WORKS:

*CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IS PHENOMENAL You really believe, everyone is who they say they are, and that's what makes it so powerful.

Blane makes you believe he's a tortured soul

*ACTING IS OUTSTANDING The acting is above average for a TV series. Everyone, including the ancillary characters, do a great job.

Juanita Moore is phenomenal as Miss Essie 

*THIS IS VERY MUCH LIKE A PLAY Almost all of the action takes place in one room, with a small group of players. So if you like character studies, you'll probably like this.

Robert Colbert & Juanita Moore are both
impressive in this episode

TO RECOMMEND OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION:

I would definitely recommend this episode to anyone who enjoys Westerns. It's a beautiful piece of storytelling, and if that's all you get from it, that's fine. But there are deeper, more profound life lessons here, but for that I'll stick to my personal closing notes.

PERSONAL NOTES: 

This episode was more personal to me, because I was passively suicidal (just like Minna & Blane) for many years after losing my beloved husband. I just could not find the will or purpose to go on. Everything was dark, but then I started an animal rescue (Dallas Ghetto Catz and Dogz), and I found what Essie would call my purpose. Some people say what I do is only a drop in the bucket, but for every furry face I've saved, I say those people don't know what they're talking about. Most of our animals have a disability of some kind, and are unadoptable. So they have a forever ♾️ home here. I think the message everyone should take from this episode is what Miss Essie says herself, "The Lord still has a use for you and as long as that's true, you live. No matter what the living costs you. It'll balance out in the end." 

CLOSING NOTES: 

*I HAVE NO CONNECTION TO THE TV SERIES, or production in ANY way. I'm not writing this as a favor, or because I was paid.

*CERTIFIED HUMAN WRITTEN REVIEW This review was NOT written in full, or in part, by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews (less trolls and fanboys), and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.