The Adventures of Long John Silver: Turnabout

Long John and his new French captain dine together.

Plot synopsis: While returning from a profitable (and legitimate) journey, Long John's ship is grabbed by the French.

Thoughts:

The way in which the French are portrayed doesn't appear to have varied much over the decades. They are always arrogant fops in whatever English show they appear in. They're also always slaves to their bellies. Long John manages to get his ship back largely by appealing to the gourmet wishes of the new captain and offering to serve as ship's cook. The notion that an occupying power would trust an enemy to prepare meals is a pretty absurd one, particularly without forcing the chef to taste the food first.

At one point, Long John is forced to tell how he makes his ragout and quite a few lines of dialog are spent detailing the cooking process. In a modern show, there is no chance that so much onscreen time would be spent discussing food preparation. In the end, it is allowing him access to kitchen utensils which allows him to take his ship back.

The carelessness of the French in allowing Long John to walk out of the kitchen with a good sharp knife is a little hard to believe, but no less so than Long John helping the French officer escape hanging at the end. Governor Strong's relationship with Long John would seem to be undermined seriously if he allowed a French prisoner to escape.

Long John gleefully puts a knife to the French occupier's back.

Favorite moments:

Long John's face when he puts a knife in the French officer's back is a classic Robert Newton Long John Silver look. He just looks utterly devious.

When the French officer is dressed like a woman to escape hanging, he sits on Long John's lap while a British soldier questions Long John. When the officer leaves, Long John pushes him onto the floor in a nice little comic moment.

Favorite quotes:

Long John to his Jim Hawkins (about the ship's name): "The Faithful...Ms. Purity has caused me nort but ridicule naming her that."

Long John to French officer (about the captain of the French ship): "I don't like to be rude, but he struck me as being a bit of a flap in the breeze."

Long John to French officer: "It reminds me of a dish I once had in Asia, but that was a monkey's brain."

Stray notions:

When Long John hears a cannonade from his cabin, he asks Jim to fetch his hat and coat. Is it really necessary to pause and dress properly before attending to cannon fire?

Long John is grateful to the French for "running off the pirates". This is strange considering he and his crew are pirates. You'd think they'd have some empathy for others who fly the Jolly Roger.

Long John smashes his plum duff in the face of the French officer who occupies his ship. I never heard of plum duff before this show, but there's a recipe for it on the BBC's web site here.

Mold to Gold Rating:

I liked a lot of things about this episode including the fact that so much of it took place at sea and that Long John did a turn as cook. That revealed a little about his past before he became a pirate captain. I also liked how Long John used the old trick of dressing up a person he wants to help escape as a woman in order to sneak him past the guards. Though this is pretty old hat by now, I like to think it was a little less stale as a bit when this series aired. The ending is also cute.