Episode 10: The Man Who Murdered Himself
Sep. 28th, 2025 07:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azdak posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
aliassmithjonesFor an episode where the shooting schedule kept the main actors apart working on separate episodes, this one has a lot of virtues. We don’t see much of the Kid – frankly, we see more shots of the TNT in the wagon he’s driving – but the opening scene (after the teaser) where he and Heyes toss a coin to see which of them will guide a team of archaeologists to Devil’s Hole, and which will get himself blown to kingdom come trying to deliver TNT over bumpy roads, is as cute as a button. After careful watching, I don’t think Heyes cheats on the coin toss. He may use his own coin, but he lets the Kid look at it first and he lets him call heads or tails, and while the Kid may not know what an archaeologist is, I’m pretty sure he isn’t dumb enough to always call heads. And to be doubly fair to the Kid, the episode makes it clear that only one person in the whole town does know what archeologist means, the doctor, who’s a hobby archaeologist himself. Even the main character claiming to be an archaeologist has only a very shaky grasp of what it entails, according to the doc.
Having won the toss, Heyes goes and applies to a Mr Norman Alexander, an Englishman, for the job as guide. He draws a map that proves he knows the territory and then has to shoot a tin can to prove he can handle a gun, the other requirement for the job. His bullet knocks the can into the air, whereupon he shoots it again. He and Mr Alexander bend over the can, which sure enough has two holes in it. Heyes grins smugly. This is a great episode for Heyes smiles, we get a whole array of different ones from fake to heartfelt, smiles for manipulating people and smiles of sheer zest-for-life glee. And it’s nice to have evidence that he’s perfectly competent with a gun, much as the Kid is perfectly competent at poker.
Shortly afterwards, Heyes gets a summons from the sheriff. One of the strengths of this episode is that nothing and no one is quite what they seem, and in this case, for all that the sheriff has just been reading Heyes’s wanted poster, it turns out he actually wants to do Mr Smith a favour. He advises him not to take the guide job because the archaeologists aren’t really archaeologists and one person on the team faked an illness for purposes that are hard to discern. Heyes spends the whole scene with a hilarious expression of innocence on his face, and is terribly polite, but can’t be talked out of his $30 a day, not even by such a representative of authority as a sheriff.
The team of ostensible archaeologists consists of Mr Alexander – he of the sketchy knowledge of his subject - Mr and Mrs Finney, an ill-matched couple on their honeymoon, and a Mr Parker, who has no distinguishing features whatsoever. We subsequently learn that he is a man with enough appreciation of natural beauty not to shoot a mountain goat, but stupid enough to think of firing a gun when he’s being watched by terrifically dangerous outlaws. This is as far as his characterisation goes. I think it’s fair to say that Mr Parker is a bit of a cipher.
Heyes leads the party into the countryside around Devil’s Hole and the gang show themselves ostentatiously on a mountain ridge. Heyes offers to go and negotiate with them and is offered a fat bonus for his pains. He rides up to Kyle, who asks him how he dare show his face after the mess he got them into with Big Jim. I suppose I’m just going to have to live with the way the show is 100% committed to the Devil’s Hole gang being lovely boys who would never kill anyone, yet also wants the audience to believe that they’re dangerous outlaws who could turn on Heyes at any moment. Sure enough, ha ha, it was just a joke, we’ll leave your party alone, Heyes, you did us a favour getting rid of Big Jim (I did chuckle at the one outlaw who says “His ideas was too grandioose”). Kyle even asks after the Kid, so cut to poor Curry having a terrible time, what with the steep hills and the heavy wagon and the really terrible brakes. And that one shot of the box labelled TNT, over and over again. I won’t mention the Kid again, all his scenes are the same.
The whole not-knowing-who-anyone-really-is thing really makes the episode. I’m particularly taken with Finney, who I couldn’t figure out at all the first time I watched this. Him and his weird relationship with his wife, who he is so completely unVictorian about. And my goodness, does Heyes meet his match in Julia “Finney”! She plays the sweet innocent to perfection, while flinging herself at him from the moment they meet. Oh Joshua, will you accompany me down to the river alone in the dark? Just let me take my stockings off in front of you. Just let me hold your hand while I do so. Oh dear, I seem to have slipped, just help me out in my sopping wet clothes that are now clinging to me, would you? There isn’t a single moment you could put your finger on and say “She’s doing that deliberately!” but it all adds up to a thoroughly well-executed seduction. Grace Turner, watch and learn!
Julia even finagles things so the next day she and Mr Smith split up from the rest of the party and ride off on their own. Heyes is clearly VERY smitten with her, but he also takes the opportunity to ask her some searching questions about the things that don’t add up in her story. She admits that she and Finney aren’t married, so obviously that makes it morally entirely okay when she and Heyes then snog passionately. Although the way the camera cuts away to the flowing river, I suspect we’re meant to assume it was more than just a bit of tonsil hockey. Water is a perennial symbol of female sexuality in ASJ.
Having wangled some alone time, Heyes and Julia go into a cave (to search for dead seven-foot-tall-Indians! Get your mind out of the gutter!) And at this point I must make a digression on the subject of Heyes’s hat. For the entirety of their time in Devil’s Hole country, he hasn’t been wearing it, not even when riding. Now, as they enter the cave, it’s suddenly back, only now it has what the internet tells me are called “stampede strings”, tied almost as tightly under his chin as Clint Weaver’s weird fashionista ones in the previous episode. When they exit the cave, he’s still following the Weaver style, but then they ride off and his hat blows off. He manages to catch it (or rather, Pete Duel does, because this was clearly unscripted) and has it in his hand for the rest of the scene. After that, it’s no hat again for all the scenes in Devil’s Hole, then stampede strings again (this time worn loosely, not Weaver-fashion) for all the scenes back in town, including the reunion with the Kid. And from then on, it’s stampede strings all the way. I like to think the moment when the hat blows off was the final straw for the production team and the hat was sent off mid-shoot to get its strings attached, meaning several scenes had to be played bare-headed while they waited for it to come back. I’m not complaining. They certainly made a virtue of necessity, because Heyes is utterly gorgeous with his hair on display.
Back to the cave, hat and all. Heyes and Julia find a skeleton, Julia lets out a little shriek. Catch me going any further into a dark cave after that, even if Heyes took my hand, but Julia is willing. They find another skeleton and Julia lets out another little shriek. This skeleton is really tall and Heyes LIES DOWN NEXT TO IT so Julia can check just how tall it is. This is such a bizarre scene. I don’t care about the Indians or how tall they were or whether their hair was red or not. Also, I’m pretty sure it’s bog bodies whose hair turns red, not random skeletons in caves, but what do I know, I’m yet another person who isn’t an archaeologist.
As they exit the cave, we hear a shot. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we immediately know it’s Parker who’s dead and Alexander who shot him because we saw Alexander making a bungled attempt earlier. I can’t help feeling it would have been more exciting if we hadn’t had this information, but them’s the breaks. Everyone converges on the spot the shot came from and they find Parker stone dead. And I know he had the personality of a paper napkin, but I think it’s really weird that Julia suggests they should bury him in the cave with the Indians. You can tell from Heyes’s “WTF?!” expression that he agrees with me. It IS weird, right? He carries right on thinking it’s weird because when Julia subsequently says she’s frightened and she’s going to stay “as close to you as I can,” he shows none of his previous enthusiasm.
Heyes puts on his leader’s hat (well, he doesn’t, because it’s off getting its stampede strings attached, but you know what I mean), and tells everyone they’re all going back to town, no arguments, because either Finney or Alexander shot Parker. Personally, he suspects Alexander because he was so quick to pin the blame on the Devil’s Hole gang, but of course he doesn’t say this out loud. Shortly afterwards, shots ring out again. This time, Finney has shot Alexander! But then it transpires that the reason Finney has an Irish accent is because he’s from Scotland Yard and he’s been sticking close to Alexander, who has stolen some diamonds, in an effort to recover the jewels. Alexander, whose real name is Ashdowne, killed Parker because they were physically similar and then planted his own ID on the body so Scotland Yard would think he was dead and stop hunting for him. And thus the mystery of the title is revealed. Oh, and Alexander invited Finney along so he’d have an eye-witness to confirm that Ashdowne really was dead and buried.
Back in town, Heyes says a fond goodbye to Julia, but this time there’s no kissing - well she kisses him, but he doesn't return it - and he makes it quite clear he has no intention of ever seeing her again. Good thing you found out about the cray-cray when you did, huh, Heyes? After she’s gone, Finney, who has been looking funny at Heyes throughout the episode, tells him being a policeman makes him a good judge of character and he can tell when a man isn’t quite what he says he is, nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean? Heyes says it’s a good thing Finney has to go back and look for the jewels and Finney agrees. They part on terms of mutual respect and liking, which I think is really sweet. I liked Finney, he kept me guessing to the end.
The Kid arrives back in town, utterly frazzled by his adventures with the TNT, but still in one piece. His nerves, however, are so shot to pieces that when Heyes tells him he didn’t get paid for the guide job and offers him a free punch, the Kid decks him. It happens off-screen, but judging by the sound effects, the Kid packs one hell of a wallop. Luckily, Heyes is the forgiving type. Or perhaps he isn’t, perhaps he nurses his grudge all the way to Ten Days to Tenstrike. After all, revenge is a dish best served cold.
Having won the toss, Heyes goes and applies to a Mr Norman Alexander, an Englishman, for the job as guide. He draws a map that proves he knows the territory and then has to shoot a tin can to prove he can handle a gun, the other requirement for the job. His bullet knocks the can into the air, whereupon he shoots it again. He and Mr Alexander bend over the can, which sure enough has two holes in it. Heyes grins smugly. This is a great episode for Heyes smiles, we get a whole array of different ones from fake to heartfelt, smiles for manipulating people and smiles of sheer zest-for-life glee. And it’s nice to have evidence that he’s perfectly competent with a gun, much as the Kid is perfectly competent at poker.
Shortly afterwards, Heyes gets a summons from the sheriff. One of the strengths of this episode is that nothing and no one is quite what they seem, and in this case, for all that the sheriff has just been reading Heyes’s wanted poster, it turns out he actually wants to do Mr Smith a favour. He advises him not to take the guide job because the archaeologists aren’t really archaeologists and one person on the team faked an illness for purposes that are hard to discern. Heyes spends the whole scene with a hilarious expression of innocence on his face, and is terribly polite, but can’t be talked out of his $30 a day, not even by such a representative of authority as a sheriff.
The team of ostensible archaeologists consists of Mr Alexander – he of the sketchy knowledge of his subject - Mr and Mrs Finney, an ill-matched couple on their honeymoon, and a Mr Parker, who has no distinguishing features whatsoever. We subsequently learn that he is a man with enough appreciation of natural beauty not to shoot a mountain goat, but stupid enough to think of firing a gun when he’s being watched by terrifically dangerous outlaws. This is as far as his characterisation goes. I think it’s fair to say that Mr Parker is a bit of a cipher.
Heyes leads the party into the countryside around Devil’s Hole and the gang show themselves ostentatiously on a mountain ridge. Heyes offers to go and negotiate with them and is offered a fat bonus for his pains. He rides up to Kyle, who asks him how he dare show his face after the mess he got them into with Big Jim. I suppose I’m just going to have to live with the way the show is 100% committed to the Devil’s Hole gang being lovely boys who would never kill anyone, yet also wants the audience to believe that they’re dangerous outlaws who could turn on Heyes at any moment. Sure enough, ha ha, it was just a joke, we’ll leave your party alone, Heyes, you did us a favour getting rid of Big Jim (I did chuckle at the one outlaw who says “His ideas was too grandioose”). Kyle even asks after the Kid, so cut to poor Curry having a terrible time, what with the steep hills and the heavy wagon and the really terrible brakes. And that one shot of the box labelled TNT, over and over again. I won’t mention the Kid again, all his scenes are the same.
The whole not-knowing-who-anyone-really-is thing really makes the episode. I’m particularly taken with Finney, who I couldn’t figure out at all the first time I watched this. Him and his weird relationship with his wife, who he is so completely unVictorian about. And my goodness, does Heyes meet his match in Julia “Finney”! She plays the sweet innocent to perfection, while flinging herself at him from the moment they meet. Oh Joshua, will you accompany me down to the river alone in the dark? Just let me take my stockings off in front of you. Just let me hold your hand while I do so. Oh dear, I seem to have slipped, just help me out in my sopping wet clothes that are now clinging to me, would you? There isn’t a single moment you could put your finger on and say “She’s doing that deliberately!” but it all adds up to a thoroughly well-executed seduction. Grace Turner, watch and learn!
Julia even finagles things so the next day she and Mr Smith split up from the rest of the party and ride off on their own. Heyes is clearly VERY smitten with her, but he also takes the opportunity to ask her some searching questions about the things that don’t add up in her story. She admits that she and Finney aren’t married, so obviously that makes it morally entirely okay when she and Heyes then snog passionately. Although the way the camera cuts away to the flowing river, I suspect we’re meant to assume it was more than just a bit of tonsil hockey. Water is a perennial symbol of female sexuality in ASJ.
Having wangled some alone time, Heyes and Julia go into a cave (to search for dead seven-foot-tall-Indians! Get your mind out of the gutter!) And at this point I must make a digression on the subject of Heyes’s hat. For the entirety of their time in Devil’s Hole country, he hasn’t been wearing it, not even when riding. Now, as they enter the cave, it’s suddenly back, only now it has what the internet tells me are called “stampede strings”, tied almost as tightly under his chin as Clint Weaver’s weird fashionista ones in the previous episode. When they exit the cave, he’s still following the Weaver style, but then they ride off and his hat blows off. He manages to catch it (or rather, Pete Duel does, because this was clearly unscripted) and has it in his hand for the rest of the scene. After that, it’s no hat again for all the scenes in Devil’s Hole, then stampede strings again (this time worn loosely, not Weaver-fashion) for all the scenes back in town, including the reunion with the Kid. And from then on, it’s stampede strings all the way. I like to think the moment when the hat blows off was the final straw for the production team and the hat was sent off mid-shoot to get its strings attached, meaning several scenes had to be played bare-headed while they waited for it to come back. I’m not complaining. They certainly made a virtue of necessity, because Heyes is utterly gorgeous with his hair on display.
Back to the cave, hat and all. Heyes and Julia find a skeleton, Julia lets out a little shriek. Catch me going any further into a dark cave after that, even if Heyes took my hand, but Julia is willing. They find another skeleton and Julia lets out another little shriek. This skeleton is really tall and Heyes LIES DOWN NEXT TO IT so Julia can check just how tall it is. This is such a bizarre scene. I don’t care about the Indians or how tall they were or whether their hair was red or not. Also, I’m pretty sure it’s bog bodies whose hair turns red, not random skeletons in caves, but what do I know, I’m yet another person who isn’t an archaeologist.
As they exit the cave, we hear a shot. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we immediately know it’s Parker who’s dead and Alexander who shot him because we saw Alexander making a bungled attempt earlier. I can’t help feeling it would have been more exciting if we hadn’t had this information, but them’s the breaks. Everyone converges on the spot the shot came from and they find Parker stone dead. And I know he had the personality of a paper napkin, but I think it’s really weird that Julia suggests they should bury him in the cave with the Indians. You can tell from Heyes’s “WTF?!” expression that he agrees with me. It IS weird, right? He carries right on thinking it’s weird because when Julia subsequently says she’s frightened and she’s going to stay “as close to you as I can,” he shows none of his previous enthusiasm.
Heyes puts on his leader’s hat (well, he doesn’t, because it’s off getting its stampede strings attached, but you know what I mean), and tells everyone they’re all going back to town, no arguments, because either Finney or Alexander shot Parker. Personally, he suspects Alexander because he was so quick to pin the blame on the Devil’s Hole gang, but of course he doesn’t say this out loud. Shortly afterwards, shots ring out again. This time, Finney has shot Alexander! But then it transpires that the reason Finney has an Irish accent is because he’s from Scotland Yard and he’s been sticking close to Alexander, who has stolen some diamonds, in an effort to recover the jewels. Alexander, whose real name is Ashdowne, killed Parker because they were physically similar and then planted his own ID on the body so Scotland Yard would think he was dead and stop hunting for him. And thus the mystery of the title is revealed. Oh, and Alexander invited Finney along so he’d have an eye-witness to confirm that Ashdowne really was dead and buried.
Back in town, Heyes says a fond goodbye to Julia, but this time there’s no kissing - well she kisses him, but he doesn't return it - and he makes it quite clear he has no intention of ever seeing her again. Good thing you found out about the cray-cray when you did, huh, Heyes? After she’s gone, Finney, who has been looking funny at Heyes throughout the episode, tells him being a policeman makes him a good judge of character and he can tell when a man isn’t quite what he says he is, nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean? Heyes says it’s a good thing Finney has to go back and look for the jewels and Finney agrees. They part on terms of mutual respect and liking, which I think is really sweet. I liked Finney, he kept me guessing to the end.
The Kid arrives back in town, utterly frazzled by his adventures with the TNT, but still in one piece. His nerves, however, are so shot to pieces that when Heyes tells him he didn’t get paid for the guide job and offers him a free punch, the Kid decks him. It happens off-screen, but judging by the sound effects, the Kid packs one hell of a wallop. Luckily, Heyes is the forgiving type. Or perhaps he isn’t, perhaps he nurses his grudge all the way to Ten Days to Tenstrike. After all, revenge is a dish best served cold.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-28 06:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-28 07:02 pm (UTC)