The Adventures of Long John Silver: The Eviction

The deliciously foppish Lord Ellington.

Plot synopsis: Lord Ellington, a man of some power in England and a coffee bean plantation owner, pressures governor Henry Strong into closing down the Cask and Anchor, Purity's establishment. Long John must do what he can to get the bar reopened.

Thoughts:

This episode has an interesting introductory sequence added in with Jim Hawkins commenting on his status as a lad of quality being raised in a place like Porto Bello. I'm not sure what motivated this change in the series opening, but I believe it is used in some future episodes as well. Perhaps this was done to make the show seem more like it was geared toward the children. Since my episodes are essentially tossed onto the disc in no discernible order (and I'm missing many of them as they aren't available on DVD), I can't know when this change occurred or if it was only added as padding when the story time came up short.

Purity turns on Long John rather quickly when he fails to convince the governor to allow her to keep the Cask and Anchor open. As Purity falls apart at the loss of her reason to live, Long John fumbles to comfort her and invites her aboard his ship. As can be expected, her typical female influence cramps Long John's shipboard style. Long John says her actions turn the ship into a "hen house." The fact that Purity so often acts on what can be seen the most extreme 1950's housewife behavior is one of the reasons that I find her character so grating. It also makes it hard to understand why Long John bothers to maintain a relationship with her. Granted, he's no prize pig himself, but she's always henpecking him like a starving chicken.

Miss Purity adds touches of "home" to Long John's cabin, much to his dismay.

Favorite moments:

The fop (Lord Ellington) antagonist threatens to shut down Purity's "den of iniquity." He is the epitome of the ridiculous blowhard who acts as a thorn in everyone's side. His wig is askew and he blusters loudly. I don't know why I find the thorough embodiment of a stereotype so gratifying, but I do.

Lord Ellington weakly backhands an underling who he has tied to a chair and admonishes him to call him "m'lord" in the future. It's deliciously played out and works largely because the slap is so lacking in force and Lord Ellington's demeanor so nonthreateningly fey. In modern shows, I'm sure this would have been played out visciously rather than limply.

Favorite quotes:

Purity to guards: "I'll thank you to keep your voice down or I'll tear your tongue out; don't you know when you're addressin' a lady!"

Governor Henry Strong to Lord Ellington: "Perhaps you have a penchant for catastrophes."

Patch to Long John: "A man might as well be in the King's own navy as aboard ship with Ms. Purity there."

Stray notions:

The authorities seem to think they can bust in on anyone anywhere as they charge into Purity's establishment and threaten her.

The governor is far too chummy with Long John on some occasions, and far too harsh at others. I guess pirates have a serious polarizing effect on government officials.

A Spanish conspirator hands money to a man who he thinks is Lord Ellington and says, "here is your blood money." I don't know if that moment would have played so obviously in the 1950's because I don't know when the term "blood money" entered the vernacular, but it seems like comically literal writing.

Mold to Gold Rating:

I'm torn about this episode because I love the way Lord Ellington is played to the hilt, but hate the tidy way in which he is conspiring with the Spanish as an easy out for the story and Miss Purity is such a feminist's nightmare. If an average episode can be seen as a "5", I'm thinking that this deserves a small boost for the fine fop and the addition of a little shipboard pirate action sequence (which is all too rare for this adventure series).