Rewatch Adventures of Indiana Jones Part IX

What started as a two-month project has now turned into an entire summer's worth of Indiana Jones! Not that I am sad about that, considering how much I love the character. My TV watching habits are also not conducive to finishing any show in a short amount of time. Here we are, however, for the next rewatch journal entry, and these three episodes are all over the place! Let's jump in.
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Image credit: themoviedb.org

Espionage Escapades - Spain/Prague 1917
The two spy stories in this episode are the wackiest the show has offered so far, and one of them aces it, the other less so. The adventure in Spain was directed by Terry Jones (of Monty Python, of course), and one can easily tell from the style and humor. I loved how wacky this episode was, especially when Indy does a dance on stage as a backup part in a ballet. The spy plot was solid and involved a few good twists, but the plot played major second fiddle to the tone and style of the overall story. Loved the Python-esque humor! The second adventure in Prague was a bit of a play on The Trial by Franz Kafka, in which Indy has to deal with layers and layers of bureaucracy to get a phone for his apartment. Indy even meets Kafka himself who somewhat helps him solve the problem. Maybe I am just not familiar enough with Kafka, but I found this episode an unwelcome departure from the series as a whole and quickly grew tired of the endless paperwork trope. I have enough of that to deal with in real life...

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Image credit: IMDb.com

Daredevils of the Desert - Palestine 1917
By far the highlight of this set of episodes, Daredevils follows one storyline over the course of the episode. Indy once again meets up with his friend T.E. Lawrence in a recurring character bit that I love in this show. Indy takes on a spy mission for the British posing as an Arab merchant traveling with a beautiful woman (played by the amazing Catherine Zeta-Jones!) to help prepare the city of Beersheba for British capture. This episode has intrigue, great action, and some excellent fist fights! Indy even gets to trade punches with a German soldier played by none other than a young Daniel Craig! Overall, this episode was a highlight of the series so far.

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Image credit: IMDb.com

Tales of Innocence - Italy/Monaco 1917
After a banger of an episode, we return to another somewhat underwhelming pair of stories. Both stories revolve around love, and both remind me of how mixed the show is in its portrayal of women. In the first half Indy befriends Ernest Hemingway and commiserates about being outdone in wooing a young Italian girl only to find out that Hemingway is the competition. The two men end up looking like complete fools while the females in the episode have zero characterization. On the other hand, the second half of the episode involves Indy traveling with the author Edith Wharton and discovering love outside the bounds of cultural norms. Wharton is a fascinating character who has interesting things to say about love and relationships, which is quite jarring after the female characters in the previous story. Despite being overall underwhelmed by both episodes, there was a quality spy plot in the second half that gave Indy a chance to show off some impressive deduction skills.

The war is coming to an end soon for Indy, so in the next post I will cover the final three World War I episodes. 
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