The Adventures of Long John Silver: Execution Dock

Long John frantically asserts that he doesn't want to die as the noose sits around his neck.

Plot synopsis: Long John is sick and while resting, he dreams that he has returned to England to face the Execution Dock for his life of piracy.

Thoughts:

This episode opens with Miss Purity sitting in her tavern peeling potatoes. It struck me as I watched that most video entertainment rarely shows people actually doing practical things anymore. You rarely see someone washing dishes, actively preparing food, making a bed, or vacuuming a floor. Most of the time, the characters are watching T.V., messing around on a computer, or just sitting or standing around talking. If they're eating, you mainly see them consuming take-out food from containers. I'm not sure if this is a reflection of how we live in an age of leisure or not, but I think that the situations in video entertainment play better when people are communicating in something resembling a real life situation.

This episode can be seen as using one of the big contrivances of the video age to tell a story that can't be told within the scope of the show. That is, a dream is used to play out a scenario that could never happen. I'm inclined to be very charitable about this old trope being used since it was a much more youthful trope when this series was made. Also, there's not much of an effort made to masquerade the fact that it must be a dream once Long John reaches England because of the surreal set design, sound effects, and casting choices.

The structure of the episode gives the viewers an opportunity to see a more self-reflective angle on Long John's life than otherwise might be possible. Long John is a relatively simple man who is devious and keeps his feelings about his acts relatively subdued. Those who judge him at trial actually represent Long John's condemnation of himself for his life's work and his protestations are his rationalizations of those actions. It shows that Long John knows on some level that he's using and mistreating some of those who know and love him.

The set design for the trial and execution dock are chillingly brilliant. You have a strong sense that this is what someone like Long John might imagine since he has never seen the real thing and only imagines certain elements. This is a case where cheap set construction worked very effectively.

Long John faces a trial for the misdeeds he has done.

Favorite moments:

While Purity and his pirate's are looking over a sickly Long John, they keep saying his face looks different colors. He says "white, pink, purple, I sound like a flamin' rainbow." Such a line would never get by as a straight one in this day and age; I mean that literally.

Robert Newton, who passed away shortly after this series ended, pounds on the table and insists that "there be 50 good years left in me" and everyone around him shakes a head "no" in turn. Long John responds with a sad and dispirited look and says, "well, 30". I found this very sadly ironic.

Jim Hawkins is a child who explains the pragmatic nature of refraining from smoking, drinking, and excitement to the complaining adult Long John. It's a nice moment as Jim tells Long John that he can go back to his debauched lifestyle if he just abstains for awhile and gets better. It seems like a tender turnabout of the role Long John usually assumes looking after Jim.

Long John writes his will and the collection of items he leaves behind and who he leaves them to is entertaining. In particular, he leaves a shrunken head to one of his crew members saying that it "cures pains in the back."

Favorite quotes:

Long John to Purity: "I've never been sick a day in me life; tis nort but a touch of land-bound fever."

Long John's Doctor to Purity: "He's like a kettle of water left to boil too long. Sooner or later, it explodes."

Purity: "You know there are other things Long John, like the love of a good woman."
Long John: "I don't feel up to that kind of talk."

Stray notions:

All of the officials in Porto Bella are rather foppish, including the doctor who looks after Long John.

Connie Gilchrist, who plays Purity, gets a rare moment of gravity in this episode when she testifies against Long John in the dream sequence. It's good to see her not playing a loud, brash tavern keeper for a change.

The doctor looks deep into Long John's mouth and pronounces him almost completely recovered. That's some diagnostic tool there.

Mold to Gold Rating:

This is considered by many to be not only the best episode of "The Adventures of Long John Silver," but a fairly advanced bit of play writing. I think it would be quite a bit talkier if this sort of episode were written in the modern day, but I'm not so sure that that would make it better.