Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Young Indiana Jones -- Episode 13: Adventures in the Secret Service


To Watch: Click Here

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:
Indiana Jones is sent to Austria to help two princes obtain a peace agreement from their brother-in-law, the emperor. Then, he goes to Russia to gather intelligence on the Bolsheviks, who want to overthrow the Russian government and pull Russia out of the war. 

Memorable Quote:
What are you looking so pleased about? This whole damn trip is wasted. That letter is worthless!  ~Prince Sixtus
I have a feeling this one isn't.  ~Indy

Highlight:
Good action scene on the train where Indy and the princes elude their pursuers and then Indy makes a dramatic escape into Switzerland.

Lowlight:
Just as in the previous episode, the French commander essentially tells Indy, "You failed to complete the objective in your previous mission, but that's not going to stop me from giving you an even more critical assignment that the fate of the world depends on, even though you're an American kid who we barely know." Then halfway through the episode, he basically says the same thing a second time.

Brushes with historical figures:
  • Austrian royal family
  • Lenin (Vladimir, not John)

Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:
  • When Indy's in Vienna, it would have been a nice touch to see Princess Sophie from The Perils of Cupid
  • I like the two royal brothers, although it's not clear to me why they have to sneak around in their own country. 
  • The advisor to the emperor reminds me of Christopher Lee, a legendary actor in many series including James Bond, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings.  UPDATE: That actually is Christopher Lee!  How did they get Christopher Lee for this part?!
  • I like the storyline with Indy competing with another analyst to gather intelligence, although it's unclear why Indy's new Bolshevik group of friends are happy to hang out with him given that he admits to them that he's working in French intelligence. Maybe they're trying to use him as an asset, but it seems like they genuinely care about him, even throwing him a surprise birthday party with upwards of 75 people. 
  • 1:13:55 mark -- Indy finds a sympathetic and poetic way to let Rosa down gently.  Take note of this line if you ever need to be the bearer of bad news to an admirer: "Rosa, I like you so much. You're smart and funny and pretty. But love is a weird thing. It's kind of like lightning. You can no more make it strike than stop it if it decides to hit you."

Final Analysis:
Decent episode -- not too many high or low points. Ranking it 6 out of 13. 

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad to see you're still blogging! I agree with your comment about the lightning quote. ;) (Surprise!)

    ReplyDelete