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episode # (aired): 11 (11/26/65) episode # (filmed): 12 apparent J/A intimacy: ******* although it's not as blatant as in some eps, this is a b/w ep. they always seem more intimate to me in the b/w eps Compelling plot holes to be spackled or fixed: * the only part that I really wanted to spackle was when Artie was complaining about his poor, aching back as the result of riding around to warn the Army. Jim seemed genuinely sympathetic, and, as soon as the women threw them out so they could dress, I'm sure they went back to their room so Jim could give Artie a nice backrub. Reason to spackle the episode anyway: * nothing else I particularly wanted to spackle...except the back rub and whatever happened next. Shirtlessness: ********* oh, yes! When Jim is down in the pit fighting all of the soldiers, he's shirtless and looking divine! Physical contact: * (between J/A) very little, but they do exchange secret smiles h/c potential: * although Artie is certainly concerned about Jim, nothing really happens Angst potential: ** I think that part of the reason that Artie is so anxious about Jim disappearing for a few days is that this is the ep right after TNOT Terror Stalked the Town, and he's still a little nervous about a duplicate Jim being replaced for the real one Jim beauty: ******* oh, yes! Artie beauty: **** and he always looks better in b/w, too. At the end, he's wearing the blue velvet smoking jacket that I think is very cute on him. General bizarreness of episode/bad, strange scriptwriting: ** another plot to take over the Western Territories...yawn. When I was watching this, I could have sworn it was the same bad guy from TNOT Deadly Bed, but it wasn't. Deadly Bed was J.D. Cannon and this was Martin Landau (Mission Impossible?). Could've been his twin. Importance of having this ep on a pimping tape: * it's not a strongly slashy ep, but there are some pleasant moments Apparent relationship status: happily married, but Artie isn't so lovestruck that it keeps him from grumbling at Jim as he runs off to chase bad guys Noteworthy highlights: Before Jim leaves, Artie asks him how long he should wait before taking any action. Jim tells him that he's too gloomy, shouldn't worry so much. But Artie says that it's not that he's worried about Jim (even though he clearly is), he's just afraid that he'll get bored waiting around for his man. Jim tells him to read a good book. Later, when an Army officer comes by, Artie reveals that he is, indeed, reading a book to pass the time. Probably the last instance of Artie doing exacly what Jim tells him to do... What I really enjoyed about this ep was that although Artie grumbled at being left behind and some (particularly the woman who wrote the WWW book) would say that he's "just a sidekick," it's very obvious that Jim absolutely depends on Artie to back him up. Jim might be going off for the initial contact, but if Artie hadn't showed up when he did, the mission would have failed. There's an interesting moment where the bad guy orders Artie to stand with an axe in front of his face and for Jim to shoot at the axe blade. I'm not sure if he's testing Artie's courage (rather the character that Artie is disguised as) or if he's trying to determine if Jim and Artie know each other. They both look a little nervous--who wouldn't be, but Artie steps up w/out objection and Jim succeeds. They both act as if it's not that big a deal when it's finished. Oh, Artie is congratulated on his courage by a pretty li'l thing who says that she's never kissed a colonel, and Artie says he's never kissed a soldier. Hmm, I don't think he was telling the truth. Recap: A senator summons Jim West to San Francisco and informs him that his daughter has gotten a worrying letter from her fiance. Apparently, the guy is involved in a plot to take over the country. Jim and Artie take the train to Mars, Nevada, which looks an awful lot like the majority of Nevada still does today. While Jim gets dressed, Artie saddles up his horse (guess they've gotten rid of Tennyson by now). They talk a little about the mission, and Artie gives Jim some "special tobacco" saying, where you're going, there's no wine, women, or song...(which isn't true, by the way...the traitorous army has all three in their canteen). Well, we might wonder if Artie is giving Jim some wacky weed, but Jim knows that it's an explosive that might come in handy later. Jim tells Artie that if he gets bored, he should just read a book. Jim rides into General Grimm's camp. He proves that he's a good with a gun and good at taking care of himself when some of the guys attack him in the barracks. Oh, he gets this cute uniform w/ a black shirt w/ big puffy sleeves. There's also a yucky-looking hat, and he looks at it disdainfully, and carries it around rather than putting it on to muss his pretty hair. As another test, Jim is put into this arena w/ all of the other soldiers looking down at him. He has to fight off a guy with a big knife, a pitchfork, and barehanded combat, and, of course, he kicks all of their asses, and General Grimm is very impressed and welcomes him to their group. After finding out more about when the attack is supposed to take place, Jim sends one of the pretty li'l soldiers to get a message to Artie (a female), but she has to take along another fella who is loyal to the cause. Luckily, when the guy pulls a gun on Artie, Artie trains the remote control guns on him and he drops his gun, and Artie, dresses up like a teutonic colonel from another fascist group, and he rides into Grimm's camp. I already mentioned that Artie is tested by Jim shooting him. I believe that Grimm already knows who Jim is, but he's overconfident that he can handle anything that Jim might try. Jim and Artie have a beer together in the canteen (Artie doesn't like beer, I'm quite sure. He makes a nasty face when he drinks his. I guess I could have guessed that about him before). They sneak off together to Grimm's office and they go through the guy's paper to discover more about the plot. But Grimm follows them, and when he trains a gun on them, Jim cheerfully introduces himself and Artie, but then he yells at Artie to get out, and he jumps at Grimm. Artie escapes out the window, to go warn the Army, and he gets clean away. Yay, Artie! Jim is sentenced to be shot at dawn. Luckily, he still has that tobacco that Artie gave him. He asks for a cigarette before he's shot, and he rolls one and as he lights it, he also lights the tobacco bag, and he throws it towards the firing squad, and he escapes. He only escapes temporarily. He's recaught inside the arena, and Grimm orders him to be shot, but Jim mocks Grimm about his earlier statement that he would challenge Jim and win in personal combat. Grimm gets mad and decides to fight Jim. They are suprisingly well matched in the fight, but then a knife pops out of the wall, and Grimm falls against it, and he's dead. I think I've mentioned this before, but it does seem like they try to avoid Jim actually killing anyone. He kills Juan Manolo in TNOT Inferno, but do we actually see him killing anyone else during the series? People tend to fall on their own knife or fall off cliffs or...anything so that it isn't really Jim who killed them. After Grimm is dead, Jim looks up at Grimm's followers, and they all skulk away. Back on the train, Jim and Artie are getting dressed in the backroom--odd, that, since they usually get dressed in the parlour, but it turns out that there are girls in the parlour. Anyway, as I mentioned above, Artie grumbles about how sore his back is, and Jim says, no wonder, after you rode 47 miles warning the Army bases, you wonderful man, you. But no time for a back rub. The womenfolk are expecting them. Only, when they go out into the parlor, it's the soldier that went to warn Artie and the head female soldier, and the head female soldier is lamenting about how for a brief shining moment, she was someone, but now she's back to being a woman. She'll probably have to bake cookies or something. The other woman says, it's not so bad. She's got pretty clothes and makeup and.... They shoo Jim and Artie away, so they can gussy her up. Jim and Artie return to the backroom, but instead of Jim offerring Artie a backrub, they guffaw over the very idea of female equality. Well, they may have retired to the stateroom after that... |