This episode has all the elements of a good, old-style crime drama: a double murder, robbery, a patchwork posse chasing the bad guys in the desert, a couple of shifty characters who are not really what they seem, some cat-and-mouse gunplay up in the rocks, etc.....
So why can't Sterling Silliphant and friends just LEAVE IT ALONE and occasionally write a more-or-less standard drama with few, if any, philosophical strings attached? NO-- I guess it was too much to ask, considering the demand for " meaningful statements" by the social elites of early '60's.
What seems to be a pretty straightforward "shoot-em-up" becomes pointlessly weighed down with Silliphant's phony psycho-goop, as Martin Milner undergoes (yet another) angst-ridden, moral dilemma, needlessly pondering his existence and his role in the Universe, etc etc.. FOR PETE'S SAKE-- just join the posse, go out, shoot some bad dudes, and have a good time. Stop the damn', tortured brooding for once and give the viewer a break from the "messaging"---just this once.
And what's with "Jeannie"-- Tod's pseudo-conscience--with that cheesy electric nightclub organ? And the episode's TITLE? Now, WHAT in the world is that supposed to mean? Just something to confuse us rubes who aren't tuned in to the increasingly artsy, intentionally obscure pretensions of this series?
LR
So why can't Sterling Silliphant and friends just LEAVE IT ALONE and occasionally write a more-or-less standard drama with few, if any, philosophical strings attached? NO-- I guess it was too much to ask, considering the demand for " meaningful statements" by the social elites of early '60's.
What seems to be a pretty straightforward "shoot-em-up" becomes pointlessly weighed down with Silliphant's phony psycho-goop, as Martin Milner undergoes (yet another) angst-ridden, moral dilemma, needlessly pondering his existence and his role in the Universe, etc etc.. FOR PETE'S SAKE-- just join the posse, go out, shoot some bad dudes, and have a good time. Stop the damn', tortured brooding for once and give the viewer a break from the "messaging"---just this once.
And what's with "Jeannie"-- Tod's pseudo-conscience--with that cheesy electric nightclub organ? And the episode's TITLE? Now, WHAT in the world is that supposed to mean? Just something to confuse us rubes who aren't tuned in to the increasingly artsy, intentionally obscure pretensions of this series?
LR