Rewatch Adventures of Indiana Jones, Part IV

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Travels with Father or Why Indiana Jones Has So Many Daddy Issues

In today's episode Indy travels to Greece and Russia, while illuminating the difficult relationship he has with his father. I definitely found these two episodes more enjoyable than the last set, and they both tackled interesting questions of philosophy and politics in a very easy to understand manner. By far the most interesting part of these episodes, however, is the family dynamic, namely between Indy and his dad.

Greece, 1909
In the first part of the episode Indy and his dad are encouraged/forced to explore Athens and the surrounding Greek countryside together on a trip to a monastery for Henry, Sr.'s research. Henry and Indy connect over learning about philosophy and then having to navigate a tricky situation at the hanging monasteries, which brought out a lot of the father-son dynamic that made The Last Crusade so entertaining. Despite the clear distance between father and son, their time spent together in this episode hinted that the two of them have a lot more in common than even they thought. It was quite impressive how well this episode was able to capture the gradual warming of Indy toward his dad as they adventure together.

Russia, 1909
Continuing the family dynamic theme, Indy once again finds the sour end of his dad's personality in the second part of the episode when he keeps making clutzy mistakes at a fancy party. Indy is so fed up with his father that he runs away to the Russian countryside and encounters the great Leo Tolstoy, which is really what you should expect at this point in a series littered with icons of history and the arts. As it happens, Tolstoy is also running from some family drama, and the two quickly bond. I really enjoyed some of their off the cuff conversation about capitalism and communism without beating the audience over the head with it. The relationship between Indy and Tolstoy was sweet and made what otherwise could have been a pretty boring episode entertaining.

Next up: Indy heads east in Journey of Radiance!