This is a pretty good episode and, in my opinion, one of the better ones of the sixth season. This was when the show was at it's best, just before the quality of the series began to decline. It was also when more and more of the plots started to move away from the Ingalls familial relationships and focus on other characters and stories. The story opens with Milo Stavroupolis, who was once the mighty European Heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestling champion and is now a patsy paid to lose in fixed wrestling matches.
His wife is in the hospital, dying, and admonishes him for making himself a laughingstock in the fake matches, and pretending that he loves it. Milo tries to explain, unconvincingly, that he does indeed care because he is only giving the public what they want. In truth, he is only participating in the matches because he needs to pay his wife's hospital bills. His wife, Anna, doesn't buy it and wishes she wasn't in such poor health so he wouldn't have to resort to the wrestling schemes to keep her alive.
As it turns out, the next stop for Milo (traveling as the # 1 Heavyweight Wrestling Contender), Champion Hans Mueller, and their shrewd, conniving promoter, Jimmy Hart is in Mankato. They search for a new "contender" to wrestle Milo, only planning to have him lose the bout to the Champ, Mueller, to lengthen they odds so that they can make more money.
Well, the next guy happens to be Jonathan "Big John" Garvey. Jimmy and Milo take an immediate interest in Garvey, noticing his size and strength while he is unloading his wagon. Milo picks a fight with him, letting Garvey manhandle him. After some conning by Hart, Garvey is persuaded into thinking that he is he's a good wrestler and agrees to wrestle Milo again in an elimination bout, while making him think that he will most likely beat the Champ, Mueller.
After Jonathon beats Milo in the fixed bout, and Milo finds out that his wife has died, Milo has a change of heart, and we learn that Jimmy Hart isn't the only one with tricks up his sleeve. Milo, desperate to redeem himself, confronts Garvey telling him that the bout was indeed fixed, and that he threw the match. After they wrestle again, Garvey is indeed convinced that Milo is the real deal. He agrees to let Milo stand in for him in the Championship bout. Milo then tells Mueller at the start of the bout "This time, I not wrestle like clown."
The ending is actually somewhat predictable, but very redeeming and satisfying. Leo Gordon, playing thugs most of his career, does an excellent job of playing the confused and depressed Milo Stavroupolis. We see his inner conflict and his ambivalence about the predicament he's in. Ray Walston is also excellent as the crooked and smooth-talking conman, Jimmy Hart. Jack Yates is also good as the smug, arrogant Champion.
I wonder if this episode has any historical accuracy, as the premise of the story still has relevance today with the WWF being as fake as it is. The King is Dead is a good character study and more about the redemption of a human being and being truthful, rather than wrestling. This is a well-acted, entertaining, and very satisfying episode to watch. The King is Dead is definitely a contender for one of the season's best episodes.
