Episode 9: Stagecoach Seven
Sep. 26th, 2025 03:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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aliassmithjonesThis is a great little episode that manages to strike the tricky balance between comedy and tension. It’s well-written, it’s got excellent dialogue and makes you invested – or at least interested in – the secondary characters. It also features no fewer than three named women with lines! Admittedly only one of them has more than one line and for two of them their character arc is “find a new respect and love for my husband when he realises that sometimes you gotta fight to be a man,” while the third has no arc at all, but still, it’s an improvement on everything else we’ve been offered so far. And EVERYBODY in this episode can act, which is no small blessing.
Our heroes are sitting in a stagecoach waiting room with five other passengers – two married couples plus a small baby - when Harry Downs aka The Man You Love To Hate shows up and demands to buy a ticket. The coach arrives and Downs points out that there isn’t room for all of them inside, then tells the baby’s young father, Dan Loomis, to get up on the roof in pretty much the rudest way possible. The baby’s mother, Ellen Loomis, pipes up that she needs his help with their baby – that’s pretty much her one line – but Downs tells her to keep her nose out of men’s business. Excuse me, Mr Horrible, but looking after a baby is very much women’s business! I appreciate, however, that misogyny is here being used to underline that someone is a bad guy, rather than for “humour”, so thank you, episode!
The Kid recognises a bully when he sees one and intervenes, telling Downs he should sit on the roof since he got here last. Heyes doesn’t try to stop him, not even when Downs challenges the Kid to a draw. This time, the Kid’s fast draw is much more convincing than it was in Betsy’s hotel room. It’s all round a great episode for the Kid – well, it is for both boys, but the Kid has so far been kept a bit in the background, and now he not only gets lots to do, he also gets to take the lead (and not just in gun-pulling) AND gets a lot more lines than usual. I also notice that in this episode everyone always refers to “Curry and Heyes” rather than the usual “Heyes and Curry”, so perhaps bigging up the Kid was deliberate. In honour of the Kid’s enhanced role here, I shall follow this usage.
Anyway, Downs has to ride up on top of the stagecoach next to the driver, Joe, and is clearly having a horrible bumpy time of it. Meanwhile Winifred Bowers, the slightly older married woman who isn’t the baby’s mother, has drawn the seating ace and is wedged in between Curry and Heyes. Heyes politely offers to move so her husband can sit next to her, but Mrs Bowers isn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth and has come out with an excuse for staying right where she is before Mr Bowers can even draw breath. And who can blame her? Her husband thinks her explanation goes on a little too long and basically tells her to shut her mouth. Mrs Bowers looks pained and angry. Score two for the show in using misogyny to code characters as unlikable.
Unfortunately for the passengers, the stagecoach is held up and everyone is robbed. Mr Bowers confirms that he’s an asshole by harassing poor Joe, the stage driver, about compensation, but Curry and Heyes are more worried that the lead robber, one Clint Weaver, might have recognised them. And sure enough he does soon after realise that he’s just been face to face with Kid Curry. Clint is a bit of a fashionista, or at least has a unique style. He wears his hat strings tied over his chin (I’m unsurprised that this never went viral) and also has his shirt sleeves rolled up. This makes me realise that I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone else in a Western with rolled up sleeves. Does it have something to do with the way historical clothes were made or is it just an artefact of costume design in Westerns?
The coach finally arrives at a way station run by Charlie and Hannah Utley. Well, it’s run by Charlie. Hannah is just there to be bossed around, even though she proves herself handy with a rifle and more fearless than most of the men. It’s the fate of little old ladies the world over to be overlooked and undervalued. She serves everyone food and coffee inside while the Kid and Heyes stand outside and worry about whether Clint is going to come after them.
Charlie goes to see to the horses and is ambushed in the stables by Clint, who tells Charlie that two of his passengers have a $20,000 dollar rewards on their heads and he’ll give Charlie a $2000 cut if he brings the two of them out quietly. As a gesture of good faith, he gives Charlie the money the gang stole from the coach passengers. The whole scene is really well done, it has some funny lines and it does leave the audience wondering if they’ve misjudged Charlie’s character.
Charlie pockets the money but double-crosses the gang, deciding to turn Curry and Heyes in himself. I feel that at this point Charlie might have worked out that his plan was going to put the passengers into significant danger, but perhaps he was temporarily dazzled by the dollar signs in his eyes. He gets Joe’s rifle from the stagecoach and goes back inside, where Mr Bowers is picking on his wife again. Men, they’re terribly poor stuff. At the sound of the rifle click behind them, Curry and Heyes slowly turn around and Heyes says, with hilarious politeness, “I beg your pardon, sir, but your rifle – it’s pointing at us.” This is one of the episodes where I really believe the hype about Heyes’s silver tongue. He exudes irresistible charm under pressure throughout the whole story, and the running gag about them not actually admitting to being Heyes and Curry but if they were, then hypothetically this is what they’d do, is always perfectly pitched. I can only assume it’s his charm that gradually wins the others over, because all the good characters are on their side even before the boys offer to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the baby.
Hannah ties the two of them up. I guess she’s not really on board with Charlie’s plan, because this is the most ludicrously amateurish piece of tying up I have seen outside a c-drama. Joe isn’t on board with it either, but changes his mind when Heyes points out that the gang will want to turn him and the Kid in dead rather than alive, so they’d prefer to stay here if that’s all right with everybody. A passenger is a passenger, even if he might be an outlaw, so Joe backs down. Harry Downs is also not on board with the plan (I really appreciate how there are always lots of sub-conflicts going on in this episode), but in his case it’s because he’s a big old meany, and Charlie has to take his gun off him to make sure he doesn’t try anything.
Charlie shouts through the window that he’s going to turn Curry and Heyes in himself. Gunfire ensues. The boys have to topple their chairs over to avoid the bullets, another great little running gag. The baby cries. Downs seizes his opportunity, wallops Joe over the head and steals his gun. Winifred bravely rushes over to tend to Joe. There’s a lot of quiet female heroism in this ep.
Downs is about to deliver Curry and Heyes to the gang, when Dan Loomis jumps him. He doesn’t think it’s fair to hand the boys over to certain death. His wife beams with pride, even though this means she and her baby are going to get shot at for the next half hour. Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Bowers disagree about whether Dan should have jumped Downs. Downs gets his comeuppance, though, when a ricocheting bullet hits him even though he’s behind the table. Serves you right for being such a bully, Harry.
The shooting starts to get on everyone nerves, especially those of Mr Bowers. He yells at Charlie, demanding that he send Curry and Heyes outside. This is too much for Mrs Bowers. The worm finally turns and she unleashes all her pent-up frustration with her husband in a mighty rant that awes everyone present. Mr Bowers is very much abashed.
But the Kid – see, I told you he gets to take the lead – speaks up and says that Bowers is right, they can’t risk the lives of everyone present just to save their own skins. Heyes backs him up, assuring everyone that they don’t really think the gang will kill them, they were just exaggerating when they said that. Charlie pretends to agree and unties them. Just as they’re about to open the door, he says he was only testing them, and since they passed, he’ll give them their guns back if they’ll agree to fight alongside him. Naturally, the boys are only too happy to do so. Unfortunately, there aren’t quite enough windows to go round, so they turf Hannah away from hers, even though she’s been ably holding her own there throughout the attack. Loomis and Bowers then also offer to join the fight. Everyone is delighted that these two milksops have finally turned into real men and their wives glow with pride and love.
A posse finally arrives from the town the stagecoach was supposed to have arrived at and the gang skedaddle. Charlie hands the money Clint stole from the passengers over to Bowers and everyone gets on the stage, even Curry and Heyes, because Charlie has no intention of collecting the reward on what are now his brothers-in-arms. They all drive off together, the best of friends (I assume Heyes kills time on the journey by telling everyone about their amnesty deal). Joe even finds a good spot where the boys can hop out before they reach town and tells them where they can buy horses.
Curry and Heyes set off into the twilit outback, saddle bags slung over their shoulders. Heyes is a bit faster and the Kid runs after him and slings a friendly arm over his shoulder. An iconic moment! I told you this was a great Kid episode.
Our heroes are sitting in a stagecoach waiting room with five other passengers – two married couples plus a small baby - when Harry Downs aka The Man You Love To Hate shows up and demands to buy a ticket. The coach arrives and Downs points out that there isn’t room for all of them inside, then tells the baby’s young father, Dan Loomis, to get up on the roof in pretty much the rudest way possible. The baby’s mother, Ellen Loomis, pipes up that she needs his help with their baby – that’s pretty much her one line – but Downs tells her to keep her nose out of men’s business. Excuse me, Mr Horrible, but looking after a baby is very much women’s business! I appreciate, however, that misogyny is here being used to underline that someone is a bad guy, rather than for “humour”, so thank you, episode!
The Kid recognises a bully when he sees one and intervenes, telling Downs he should sit on the roof since he got here last. Heyes doesn’t try to stop him, not even when Downs challenges the Kid to a draw. This time, the Kid’s fast draw is much more convincing than it was in Betsy’s hotel room. It’s all round a great episode for the Kid – well, it is for both boys, but the Kid has so far been kept a bit in the background, and now he not only gets lots to do, he also gets to take the lead (and not just in gun-pulling) AND gets a lot more lines than usual. I also notice that in this episode everyone always refers to “Curry and Heyes” rather than the usual “Heyes and Curry”, so perhaps bigging up the Kid was deliberate. In honour of the Kid’s enhanced role here, I shall follow this usage.
Anyway, Downs has to ride up on top of the stagecoach next to the driver, Joe, and is clearly having a horrible bumpy time of it. Meanwhile Winifred Bowers, the slightly older married woman who isn’t the baby’s mother, has drawn the seating ace and is wedged in between Curry and Heyes. Heyes politely offers to move so her husband can sit next to her, but Mrs Bowers isn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth and has come out with an excuse for staying right where she is before Mr Bowers can even draw breath. And who can blame her? Her husband thinks her explanation goes on a little too long and basically tells her to shut her mouth. Mrs Bowers looks pained and angry. Score two for the show in using misogyny to code characters as unlikable.
Unfortunately for the passengers, the stagecoach is held up and everyone is robbed. Mr Bowers confirms that he’s an asshole by harassing poor Joe, the stage driver, about compensation, but Curry and Heyes are more worried that the lead robber, one Clint Weaver, might have recognised them. And sure enough he does soon after realise that he’s just been face to face with Kid Curry. Clint is a bit of a fashionista, or at least has a unique style. He wears his hat strings tied over his chin (I’m unsurprised that this never went viral) and also has his shirt sleeves rolled up. This makes me realise that I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone else in a Western with rolled up sleeves. Does it have something to do with the way historical clothes were made or is it just an artefact of costume design in Westerns?
The coach finally arrives at a way station run by Charlie and Hannah Utley. Well, it’s run by Charlie. Hannah is just there to be bossed around, even though she proves herself handy with a rifle and more fearless than most of the men. It’s the fate of little old ladies the world over to be overlooked and undervalued. She serves everyone food and coffee inside while the Kid and Heyes stand outside and worry about whether Clint is going to come after them.
Charlie goes to see to the horses and is ambushed in the stables by Clint, who tells Charlie that two of his passengers have a $20,000 dollar rewards on their heads and he’ll give Charlie a $2000 cut if he brings the two of them out quietly. As a gesture of good faith, he gives Charlie the money the gang stole from the coach passengers. The whole scene is really well done, it has some funny lines and it does leave the audience wondering if they’ve misjudged Charlie’s character.
Charlie pockets the money but double-crosses the gang, deciding to turn Curry and Heyes in himself. I feel that at this point Charlie might have worked out that his plan was going to put the passengers into significant danger, but perhaps he was temporarily dazzled by the dollar signs in his eyes. He gets Joe’s rifle from the stagecoach and goes back inside, where Mr Bowers is picking on his wife again. Men, they’re terribly poor stuff. At the sound of the rifle click behind them, Curry and Heyes slowly turn around and Heyes says, with hilarious politeness, “I beg your pardon, sir, but your rifle – it’s pointing at us.” This is one of the episodes where I really believe the hype about Heyes’s silver tongue. He exudes irresistible charm under pressure throughout the whole story, and the running gag about them not actually admitting to being Heyes and Curry but if they were, then hypothetically this is what they’d do, is always perfectly pitched. I can only assume it’s his charm that gradually wins the others over, because all the good characters are on their side even before the boys offer to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the baby.
Hannah ties the two of them up. I guess she’s not really on board with Charlie’s plan, because this is the most ludicrously amateurish piece of tying up I have seen outside a c-drama. Joe isn’t on board with it either, but changes his mind when Heyes points out that the gang will want to turn him and the Kid in dead rather than alive, so they’d prefer to stay here if that’s all right with everybody. A passenger is a passenger, even if he might be an outlaw, so Joe backs down. Harry Downs is also not on board with the plan (I really appreciate how there are always lots of sub-conflicts going on in this episode), but in his case it’s because he’s a big old meany, and Charlie has to take his gun off him to make sure he doesn’t try anything.
Charlie shouts through the window that he’s going to turn Curry and Heyes in himself. Gunfire ensues. The boys have to topple their chairs over to avoid the bullets, another great little running gag. The baby cries. Downs seizes his opportunity, wallops Joe over the head and steals his gun. Winifred bravely rushes over to tend to Joe. There’s a lot of quiet female heroism in this ep.
Downs is about to deliver Curry and Heyes to the gang, when Dan Loomis jumps him. He doesn’t think it’s fair to hand the boys over to certain death. His wife beams with pride, even though this means she and her baby are going to get shot at for the next half hour. Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Bowers disagree about whether Dan should have jumped Downs. Downs gets his comeuppance, though, when a ricocheting bullet hits him even though he’s behind the table. Serves you right for being such a bully, Harry.
The shooting starts to get on everyone nerves, especially those of Mr Bowers. He yells at Charlie, demanding that he send Curry and Heyes outside. This is too much for Mrs Bowers. The worm finally turns and she unleashes all her pent-up frustration with her husband in a mighty rant that awes everyone present. Mr Bowers is very much abashed.
But the Kid – see, I told you he gets to take the lead – speaks up and says that Bowers is right, they can’t risk the lives of everyone present just to save their own skins. Heyes backs him up, assuring everyone that they don’t really think the gang will kill them, they were just exaggerating when they said that. Charlie pretends to agree and unties them. Just as they’re about to open the door, he says he was only testing them, and since they passed, he’ll give them their guns back if they’ll agree to fight alongside him. Naturally, the boys are only too happy to do so. Unfortunately, there aren’t quite enough windows to go round, so they turf Hannah away from hers, even though she’s been ably holding her own there throughout the attack. Loomis and Bowers then also offer to join the fight. Everyone is delighted that these two milksops have finally turned into real men and their wives glow with pride and love.
A posse finally arrives from the town the stagecoach was supposed to have arrived at and the gang skedaddle. Charlie hands the money Clint stole from the passengers over to Bowers and everyone gets on the stage, even Curry and Heyes, because Charlie has no intention of collecting the reward on what are now his brothers-in-arms. They all drive off together, the best of friends (I assume Heyes kills time on the journey by telling everyone about their amnesty deal). Joe even finds a good spot where the boys can hop out before they reach town and tells them where they can buy horses.
Curry and Heyes set off into the twilit outback, saddle bags slung over their shoulders. Heyes is a bit faster and the Kid runs after him and slings a friendly arm over his shoulder. An iconic moment! I told you this was a great Kid episode.
