The Prodigal

"The Prodigal" is the 31st episode of The Rifleman Season Two and the 71st episode overall. Directed by Donald McDougall and written by Robert Sherman, it aired on April 26, 1960.
==Synopsis==
A bank-robbing gunman forces Lucas and Mark to pretend that Mark is his son to please his ill mother.
==Watch==
==Plot==
The episode opens with a man named William Havercourt and his partner Luis raiding a campsite of bank robbers, killing one of them, and taking off with the bank money.
Lucas and Mark are at Hattie's store in North Fork when William Havercourt enters and receives mail from Hattie. He reads the letter, which is from his mother, and it indicates that she is due to arrive in North Fork in about an hour, and she is excited to meet her grandson. Lucas and Mark leave the store, and William and Luis follow them back to their ranch.
At the ranch, William approaches Lucas and holds him at gunpoint. He tells Lucas that he is Billy St. John, an infamous gunslinger. He had lied to his mother over letters, telling her that he got married and had a son, because he didn't want her to know the truth about him, but now she is coming to visit him in North Fork. William forces Lucas and Mark to play along that Mark is his son named Peter and that Lucas is William's business partner co-owing the ranch, in order to please his ill mother, for the duration of her 1-day stopover visit. Lucas and William go back to downtown North Fork to meet William's mother Christine Havercourt, while Luis stays back with Mark at the ranch.
William, Lucas, and Mrs. Havercourt go back to the ranch. Mrs. Havercourt excitedly meets her "grandson" Mark, who gets frightened and runs away. Lucas goes and consoles him and talks him into pretending that Mrs. Havercourt, who is a very sweet and kind old lady, is his grandmother. The group all have dinner together, maintaining the lie. Mark and Mrs. Havercourt start to foster a grandmother-grandson relationship.
The next morning, Mrs. Havercourt is getting ready to leave for the stage to continue her journey to California. As she is saying goodbye to Mark, she faints, and Lucas carries her back into the house. They send Mark with Luis to go to North Fork fetch Doc Burrage. In North Fork, the three bank robbers that William raided and stole from in the first scene see and recognize Luis, and follow them back to Lucas's ranch.
Doc Burrage evaluates Mrs. Havercourt, and tells them that she is dying and has not much longer than an hour to live. At that moment, the three bank robbers arrive and start shooting at the house, calling for Billy. William goes to comfort his mother, who is scared and asking why the men are calling for him. When one of the robbers calls out "Billy St. John", Mrs. Havercourt recognizes the name as that of an outlaw, and asks William if Billy St. John is here. To her horror, William says that he is here, and as he is about to tell her that he is Billy St. John, Lucas comes up and claims to be Billy St. John.
The three outlaws have set a large cart of hay on fire and are threatening to burn the house down with it unless Billy St. John comes out. William tells Lucas to stay back because he is going to take them alone and draw them away from the house, as it's the only way for Lucas, Mark, and Doc Burrage to make it out alive, even if it means William will die in the process. He goes out to face them and gets shot and killed. Lucas grabs his rifle and shoots all three of the robbers down.
Lucas and Mark go back in to Mrs. Havercourt. As Mrs. Havercourt lay dying, unaware that William has just been killed, she tells them to tell William that she has decided to not go to California after all and instead stay in North Fork with him and her grandson.
==Cast==
===Main===
*Lucas McCain - Chuck Connors
*Mark McCain - Johnny Crawford
===Recurring===
*Doc Burrage - Rhys Williams
*Hattie Denton - Hope Summers
===Guests===
*Christine - Josephine Butchinson
*Billy St. John - Kevin Hagen
*Stinger - Lee Van Cleef
*Santos - Warren Oates
*Luis - Rodolfo Hoyos
Category:Episodes
Category:Season Two episodes
Category:Episode pages with completed plot sections
Category:Episodes where Lucas kills someone