The Adventures of Long John Silver: Dead Reckoning

Long John greets Sir Harwood as they all dine together at the Captain's table.

Plot synopsis: A relative of Jim's threatens to take him away from Long John after a minor incident with the boy who is "practically royalty".

Thoughts:

This episode trots out a concept that I dislike in television shows. That is one in which something is going to be taken away from someone for relatively arbitrary reasons in order to create drama. The reason this doesn't work is that we know that whatever it is (in this case Jim Hawkins) won't be taken away as it's always some essential element of the series. It must be rather inconvenient for writers because they have to choose something important enough for the viewer to care about the loss of it. If it were anything less, it would make more be more suspenseful, but no one would care.

In order to stop the governor from sending Jim away, Long John suggests that they send Jim to a school for "lads of quality" in "Bermuder". This paves the way for another story line which I don't like which is where a nice character is placed in a situation where he is mistreated and can't or won't fight back for various reasons.

I also was not keen on the old trope of the lad of quality, in this case, Algae Harwood, being a "little gentleman" on the outside and a little monster on the inside. You just know that he's going to set Jim up again and again to take the blame or look bad. To his credit, Jim initially doesn't just placidly take a kick from the thuggish mini-fop. He tells him he'll bash his head in if he kicks him again, as one might expect from a kid being raised by a pirate. Unfortunately, the backbone he shows at that moment is undermined by his playing servant to and taking orders from Algae once they reach the boarding school. In order to preserve the abuse Jim takes, the old idea that tattling is worse than anything is used as a thin excuse. Once he reaches the school, Jim is blamed for everything Algae does and punished for Algae's misdeeds.

This was far more annoying familiar story elements than I'm accustomed to in one episode and I'm not going to be as forgiving as I normally am based on the age of the series. I have to imagine that at least some of them were well-worn even in the 50's.

Finally held accountable for his bad acts, Algae rubs his sore behind after a caning as Jim sits on his bunk eating the bread and water he has been put on.

Favorite moments:

Purity actually locks Jim in his room. I guess she wasn't worried about a fire breaking out and trapping him.

Long John goes to dinner with the lord and lady whose little monster Jim is accused of nearly killing and sits down first. There's a pregnant pause as Purity stands back and waits for him to do the proper thing and allow her to sit first.

I always love the over-the-top snooty people when they encounter Purity. There are a lot of eyes cast askance for everything that Purity does from how she speaks to how she ladles soup.

Long John tucks his napkin in at the neck, as all gauche types do.

When the headmaster catches Algae having set up gunpowder under his desk, his overacting is classic and priceless.

Sir Percival Harwood calls Jim a "gutter snipe" and Purity calls Lady Harwood a "pop 'n jay." I loved the use of these old words to bandy about insults.

When Jim and Algae are found, they both look like ship-wreck survivors. It's beautifully too much.

Favorite quotes:

Purity to Jim: "You'll stay in your room with naught but bread and milk." (as a kid, that wouldn't have sounded so terrible to me as I loved both of these things).

Purity to Long John: "Like you, you swivel tongue swab, he lies to me."

Long John to Sir Percival Harwood: "They might grow up to be shipmates together. Put a little red blood in your pasty-faced young 'un."

The man who was coming to take Jim (missed his name) to Purity: "Your tears cannot swerve me one whit from my appointed task, madame."

Stray notions:

The man who wants to take Jim away is "Squire Trelawney". I couldn't help but think of the Star Trek episode, "The Squire of Gothos" and the character named "Trelane." It makes me wonder if the Trek writers remembered the name unconsciously and refashioned it for the show.

There's a part where Robert Newton narrates over a clip of The Faithful (Long' John's ship). Newton stumbled over a few words very briefly. In this day and age, that would certainly have been redone.

I love the look of the old-style chalkboard in the school as well as the desks and chairs.

Locking Jim in his room seems to be an obsession with the adults. Both Purity and the Rosé School headmaster lock him in. This time, someone actually does set a fire while Jim is locked in, though it doesn't really get rolling.

Mold to Gold Rating:

I had a genuine chuckle during this episode, and there were a lot of good moments leading up to Jim's arrival at the Rosé school for gentleman. The predictable nature of so many of the backbones of the story undermined things for me, but not enough to ruin the pleasure I took in the good moments. That being said, the second half is tedious for the most part. The little kid who plays Algae Harwood was also a bad actor. He seems to have gone to the cute/naughty/loud technique of acting that was inspired by old T.V. shows like "The Little Rascals." The various characters' 180 at the end lacks verisimilitude as well. Balancing things out, I'd give the good moments an 8 and the tedious ones a 3. I'm averaging that out for the rating.