Young Indiana Jones -- Episode 4: Travels with Father

To Watch: Click Here

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:

After getting in trouble with his parents for disturbing a wedding, Indy runs away into the Russian countryside and meets up with Leo Tolstoy. Then, in Greece, he discusses philosophy with his father on their way to a monastery.

Memorable Quote:
Are we being skeptical, cynical, or stoical?  ~Junior
Junior?  Shut up.  ~Senior

Highlight:
There's not one that jumps out at me. I guess I'll go with the comedic aspects of Junior destroying property at the wedding.

Lowlight:

Once the rope supporting the wooden mountain gondola begins to fray, Senior and Junior somehow construct a ladder in less than a minute using wood from the gondola itself. And then they somehow secure this ladder so that they're able to climb up to the top of the mountain. We haven't seen such speedy woodworking since MacGyver built an airplane in 20 minutes.

Brushes with historical figures:

• Leo Tolstoy
• Nikos Kazantzakis (never heard of him)

Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:

• After the first wedding incident where Junior pushes a cart full of glasses into the orchestra, I'd say it's time for the Joneses to go, but instead Dr. and Mrs. Jones just leave Junior by himself with the wedding cake while they stay at the party as if nothing's happened. Needless to say, Junior ends up obliterating the cake.   
• It's unclear why Tolstoy is on the run and who he's running from. 
• Some of this episode was clearly filmed in Greece such as the scene at the Parthenon.
• 1:01:05 mark -- I wasn't expecting that double dose of backside nudity.

Final Analysis:

While it's nice to see Senior and Junior bond at the end, the rest of the Greece portion is like watching a documentary about philosophy. The Russia scenes, by comparison, are a bit better, but not by much as there's little in the way of highlights or excitement. Ergo, as they say in philosophy, I'm ranking this one 4th out of 4.