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Reviews
Gunsmoke: Kitty Cornered (1964)
Confusing Storyline
Stella Damon (Jaqueline Scott) breezes into Dodge City and ends up at the Long Branch making a clumsy attempt to buy it from Kitty (Amanda Blake). Kitty demurs, but is troubled, as she confesses to Sam the bartender that she doesn't like Stella, that's there's just something wrong about her. (Stella also tried to buy off Matt Dillon, who firmly rebuffs her). A liquor drummer named Eddie (Joseph Sirola) blows into the Long Branch and spills the tea about Stella to Kitty: Stella had a saloon in Pueblo that burned down, with her husband in it. And this is where the story lacks clarity and ultimately only earned a 6 rating from me. Stella's backstory is not explained very well. Bottom line is she's psychotic and burned her place and killed her husband, then collected the insurance money. She goes off the deep end towards the end of this episode and repeats her past, burning down her new saloon and killing Eddie the liquor drummer at the same time. Disregarding the gaping plot hole of Stella's full background and motivations, I still like this episode because of the fabulous Jaqueline Scott as Stella. Scott was a fine actress, and she's really dolled up in this episode, cutting quite the striking figure who oozes both mystery and danger.
Gunsmoke: The Way It Is (1962)
Local Madam Gets Mad at Marshal
The Kitty Russell character was at its best when written as what she really was, a saloon-bordello owner with a cynical, bemused outlook on the various failings and misadventures of her fellow human beings. Amanda Blake shined in episodes with that writing. But Blake was not an actress with great range and in the episodes like this one (of which there were a number of over her 19 years in the role) she just comes across as a petty, unbalanced nut job with delusions of a stable relationship with a guy who might wake up dead every day, while she runs a place where people are getting killed on a regular basis in drunken arguments. None of this is Amanda Blake's fault, she played what she was given. But it's boring to watch her woman-scorned episodes.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Apocalypse Rising (1996)
Sisco the Klingon
Following up the previous episode, Starfleet sends Sisco (with Worf, O'Brien and Odo) to Gowron's heavily guarded refuge to expose him as a changeling. To do this, Bashir uses dermal tech to make them appear Klingon (except Worf, of course). It's quite amusing to see the 3 humans as Kilngons. Avery Brooks in particular looks very good as a Klingon. Gul Dukat, who last season stole a Klingon warbird, shuttle them to Gowron's location, and during the trip blows up another warbird that wanted a visual communication (Dukat's ship has a malfunctioning device that would have shown him as a Klingon). A nice touch showing the Cardassian preference for a more definite solution than talk. Once at Gowron's they are ID'd by General Martin and jailed. They tell Martok the tale of the Founders implying that Gowron is a shapeshifter. He implores them to kill Gowron. Worf presents himself to Gowron and they begin to fight. Odo deduces that the real changeling is Martok, after which everyone in the room blasts him and he reverts to goo and then explodes. A good enjoyable episode.
A note on Worf: TNG often wrote Worf as somewhat of a buffoon, cartoonish even. Once Michael Dorn went to DS9, the writers made the character much more complex, thoughtful and competent.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Fascination (1994)
And Inconsequential Episode
In a season that demands 20+ episodes, not every one can be of importance. Some call them filler, but it is just the normal way of things in episodic television. This episode is as inconsequential as cotton candy. Laxanna Troi is onboard, she's infected with some virus that older Betazoid's are vulnerable to and she proceeds to infect everyone on the station, with comical results. One person who is not infected is Keiko O'Brien. The Keiko character is one of the most miserable people in the Alpha Quadrant. Ever since her debut on TNG, she's an unhappy, wildly inconsistent and angry person. What Miles saw in her is a mystery. As to Troi, she is always intended to be comic relief mixed with a smattering of profoundity, as she is in this episode.
Star Trek: Voyager: Lineage (2001)
Entire Episode Devoted to the Shallowest Character's
Since the very beginning of Voyager, the Paris and Torres characters have had as much depth as a springtime shower rain puddle. After having to endure them for six and a half years, viewers are treated to an entire episode taking a deep dive into rageaholic Torres and her astonishingly dopey husband when she gets pregnant. The two of them fight, bicker, whine. Torres, apparently so filled with self loathing regarding her Klingon half, wants the doctor to start deleting gene strands to eliminate Klingon characteristics from her child. She goes so far as to alter the doctor's program to carry out her insane, Mengele-like desire to alter her child. Really quite sick. The cause, at the end, is the old trope: Torres has Daddy issues. Even the child Torres is annoying. The show was running on fumes at this point.
Star Trek: Voyager: Gravity (1999)
The DNA of TOS Present
As with every Trek series since the original series, this episode uses elements from TOS, in this particular case TOS S3/E23 All Our Yesterdays (Vulcan has emotional walls broken down by an alien female), TOS S3/E11 Wink Of An Eye (time displacement) and the near obligatory reference to IDIC (infinite diversity in infinite combinations) from TOS S3/E5 Is There No Truth In Beauty, New elements are thrown in, of course (Tuvok flashbacks as backstory support, updated sci fi tech babble etc.) and Tuvok does not begin regress to the Vulcan barbarism and violent tendencies of his Vulcan ancestors as Spock did in the original. Overall, a decent but not a standout episode of Voyager.
Hawaii Five-O: The Descent of the Torches (1977)
A Quiet, Thoughtful Episode
Unlike the other extant review, I do not feel this episode was weak in any way. It's one of the few episodes to delve into Hawaiian myth and mysticism, a very real thing for natives. As pointed out by the other review, there is no definitive resolution, but that is because the only suspect died. What was McGarrett supposed to do, interrogate a dead man? The episode is unusual in its calm, deliberate progress through the case, which quite frankly is a refreshing change from the sometimes over-the-top drama of late season episodes. All in all, an interesting change of pace and one of the better late season shows.
Monk: Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike (2006)
One of the Worst Episodes
This episode is so far afield that it's hard to watch. No matter what Monk's phobias are, what this script would have you believe is that Monk would rather lie about a murder than let a garbage strike continue. It's all played for laughs, but it's really not funny. Monk may be loony, but the character is honest. Someone acting like Monk in this episode would be locked up in an asylum, not roaming the streets.