Ep 1. The Sharpshooter

In The Rifleman season 1 episode 1, entitled "The Sharpshooter," we meet the main character of the series, Lucas McCain, played by Chuck Connors. The episode begins with McCain and his young son Mark, played by Johnny Crawford, arriving in the town of North Fork in the New Mexico Territory in the late 1880s.

McCain is a Civil War veteran and a sharpshooter who has moved to North Fork to start a new life as a rancher and farmer. He is determined to leave his past behind and starts to build a home and a farm while living moments with his kid.

As he starts to settle in, McCain enters the town to buy some supplies where he is confronted by a group of men who are impressed by his reputation as a skilled shooter. They challenge him to a shooting contest, hoping to prove that they are better than him. The men are led by a local gunfighter named Johnny Crawford, played by Paul Fix in a reversal role. Crawford is known as the best shot in the territory, which he proves by humiliating the town's previously best shooter, Bert Hanlon.

Despite his reservations, McCain accepts the challenge, and the contest is set for the following day. Throughout the episode, a beautiful and confident woman named Lou Mallory, played by Patricia Blair, serves as a source of distraction and ultimately helps adjust the outcome of the contest.

The next day, McCain and Crawford face off in the shooting competition, with the winner to be determined by who can shoot the most number of bullseyes in two minutes. As the two men take their positions, tensions rise, and the entire town gathers to watch the spectacle.

The duel quickly turns violent as Crawford tries to sabotage McCain's efforts by shooting out his target, which leads to an intense confrontation. McCain remains calm throughout and manages to maintain his composure, which is then put to a true test when Crawford draws out his gun. Unfurstnately, things get serious when people get hurt by the guns.

It isn't until Lou persuades Johnny to listen to reason and forget about the contest that things finally calm down, and the town is able to return to normalcy. Though the competition was never officially finished, McCain is ultimately declared the winner due to Crawford's unsporting behavior.

Throughout the episode, we see McCain as a moral man who tries to avoid violence except as a means to protect himself or his family. We see his courage and intelligence when he tries to control the situation and not let his emotions take over. We also witness his marksmanship, which he uses with discretion, and his desire to be a fair and honest man.

The Sharpshooter episode of The Rifleman is a story of a man who embodies the values of the wild west- courage, integrity, and self-reliance. Although it's telling a story of past times, the situation and the relation between the characters are still very fitted in the modern days. It catches your interest, and the plot introduces some excellent characters with a lot of room for growth over the course of the show. The Rifleman is an excellent series which was like a western show to be a hit at a time when western genre was popular.