#s3e29

"Honey trapping" is the use of romantic/sexual relationships as leverage to get something or manipulate someone into doing something. Honey traps are stereotypically female (imagine a femme fatale spy, if you will). Well, this episode has Mr. Favor being encouraged to use his charm to get somewhere with the antagonist!

It's an interesting reversal, and it's not a weapon I'm used to seeing Favor deploy intentionally. But it makes sense in this situation, in a way that reveals the power dynamics at play.

Mrs. North, the seeming antagonist who sues Favor for 750 head of cattle at the beginning of the episode, is a rich widow with one of her hired hands as her lover; she's well-regarded in her small town, and everyone's in her pocket, including the judge and local lawmen.

Favor is a trail boss who is just passing through. Drovers aren't exactly highly esteemed by regular townsfolk, so he's got no influence. He's got nowhere near enough money to buy himself out of the situation. And unlike with male antagonists, he cannot threaten the use of physical force on Mrs. North (at least not directly to her face). So he finds himself in the position of women who employ this tactic: at a disadvantage in the (local) power hierarchy, with only his romantic attentions to offer as something that his opponent might be interested in.

Well-meaning Rowdy goes on his own accord to talk to Mrs. North after the first court session. Hilariously (but not improbably), she thinks he is a honey pot! It is she who points out that Rowdy is a very attractive man. Unwashed, but attractive. And she resents what she imagines he thinks she is like, that she might be persuaded by him coming to sweet-talk her! Poor Rowdy has no idea he comes across that way, apparently.

Knowing that one of the co-writers of the episode is a woman, I wonder if this is meant as a little peek into the female experience of being dismissed as "just a pretty face" at best and of being criticized as someone who "uses her feminine wiles" to get her way at worst, but transposed into a male key.

All seems lost for Favor until Mrs. North's lawyer, Lewis Lewis, says that Rowdy's the wrong person to persuade Mrs. North. (The usual early-series "Rowdy's just a boy, and you need a real man [read: Favor] for the job" attitude makes its appearance here.) Lewis tells Favor that Mrs. North has been looking for something since her husband died (hence the lover who is a hired hand). Favor, not Rowdy, might be able to convince her to drop the lawsuit.

So, improbable as it is, and just like in the movie Queen of Outer Space, wherein the fate of Earth hinges on the "sex appeal" of Eric Fleming's character (no joke, it's phrased like that when another character remarks on their predicament), Favor has to charm his way out of losing the herd to a technically justified but morally unfair lawsuit.

He takes on the challenge reluctantly and resentfully, checking into the fancy hotel where he'll stay overnight with a sour quip at the high prices, but he seems to rise to the occasion quite seamlessly.

(Above: Favor complaining about the rooms costing $10 a night, and then acting scandalized when the hotel clerk suggests renting evening wear (or purchasing it). "You tryin' to get me to wear someone else's clothes?")

The lawyer helps him out and gets him to sit at the dinner table with Mrs. North and her family (and lover), and Favor does very well with Mrs. North. He's in evening wear, he drinks French wine, he smiles, and he even dances. (Which raises the question: Where would a trail boss who's been a cowhand since he was old enough to strike out on his own learn how to blend in with high society?)

There's also a bit of "ugly duckling" Cinderella trope going on here - Favor apparently cleans up so well in formal wear that Pete doesn't even recognize him when he's looking straight at him.

Favor does manage to charm Mrs. North enough that she is willing to drop the lawsuit - but she's savvy enough to do so only on her terms, asking Favor to sell the entire herd (not just 750 head) to her, appointing her lover as trail boss to take the herd to Sedalia, while keeping Favor as foreman at her ranch (intimating that she'd prefer Favor to be here with her to deal with the lover and supplant him when he returns). I think Favor got a raw deal, and he knows it. Charm only goes so far when the person you're dealing with still holds all the cards.

Fortunately for Favor and the continuation of the series, events transpire that return the state of things to their natural equilibrium, and he lives another day to say, "Head 'em up, move 'em out."

Zooming out, off the top of my head and having watched only through most of the first three seasons with a few other episodes here and there, I can't recall another episode where the main focus is on Favor or Rowdy intentionally using their attractiveness to get their way. (I do recall other male guest characters doing this, like in the Incident of the Judas Trap.) Having said this, I suppose I will be proven wrong when I watch more episodes.