The Big Valley The Battle of Mineral Springs (1965–1969) Online

Jarrod and Victoria get detoured into a town named Mineral Springs. Little do they know they are going to become victims of a town that will price gouge them into jail. From a dinner that was triple the average cost to being charged for reading material in their hotel room, Jarrod becomes livid and demands a court hearing on the outrageous prices.

The Judge, which is also the Mayor, makes them pay a fine, court cost, contempt of court fees, messenger fees and even a breakfast fee. With Jarrod stating previous California case law and Victoria telling him just to pay the fine- Jarrod finally runs out of money and has to send a bank draft into another town for payment.

But later the Barkleys learn why the town is into money enrichment. They decide to help the town with a freight and stagecoach route to help to bring money back into Mineral Springs. But that will lead to other problems from a neighboring town's leader named Ed Crawford.

The first minutes of the show was some of the funniest moments in the entire 'Big Valley' series. Barbara Stanwyck and Richard Long worked great with each other to perform the comedy lines with great timing. Even when the show dealt with the serious matter of the neighboring town- the show continued to entertain. A good story with some great acting.

Jarrod and Victoria detour to Mineral Springs, becoming the victims of price gouging by the town's likable inhabitants. Jarrod is flustered by the wrongness of it all and Victoria takes a bemused view of his inability to fight the system in Mineral Springs. The rival town of Brazo is controlled by a greedy sneak who has stolen all the commerce in the area. He must be outsmarted to help revive Mineral Springs.

This might be my favorite episode of one of the best TV series ever. I found it very clever and playful. Richard Long's comedic timing and delivery is pitch perfect.

Thoroughly enjoy each grinning moment of this one.

Okay: here we having Jarrod and Victoria connived into going into a town which is seriously hurting in the economy arena.

The duo dine at a diner and have a really lousy meal and are charged an astronomical price for eating their two bitefuls! The hotel charges for their guests to read books.

Stanwyck, essentially a self-confessed serious individual played this one for laughs and she's quite funny.

But the story lacks realism and the script isn't very inspiring, to say the least.

A forgettable 50 minutes is this installation.