Entry 10: Perils of Cupid

Young Indiana Jones Chronicles

Indy Timeline: 1908

The third Young Indiana Jones “movie” opens with little Corey Carrier taking horseback riding lessons in Vienna alongside Princess Sophie von Hohenberg, the only daughter of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand.  While taking laps around the stable, the Princess loses her hat.  The music springs to life as little Indy kicks his horse into action and he leans over to retrieve the hat and return it to its owner.  This sequence is a little nod to the scene in “Last Crusade” when Indy is fighting the tank.  It is also the high point in the action for “The Perils of Cupid”. 

“Perils” is not so much about action (or adventure) as it is about matters of the heart (as illustrated in the title screen above).  Following their riding lesson, Indy leads Sophie to an ice skating pond where they share a moment prior to Sophie’s infuriated nanny (played by Shmi Skywalker) stealing her away. 

Indy is forbidden from seeing Sophie again – as he put the princess in danger by leading her to the public pond - and little Corey Carrier’s heart is broken.  His mother explains explicitly that “Sophie lives on a powder keg” as a result of the political tensions confronting Austria.  This was all true, but that particular line in the script seemed awkward to me.  The “powder keg” analogy has been used commonly by historians to describe Europe prior to the outbreak of WWI, but was it something people would say at the time?  “I would go to the park, but given that I live on a powder keg, I best not.” 

More awkward still was a few moments later when Indy’s creepy mom sings him an ethereal lullaby to “help him sleep away his troubles”.  Good luck kid! 

Anyway, Mrs. Seymour recognizes Indy’s suffering and turns him on to love poems.  Thankfully, rather than write his own, Indy opts to get a gift for Sophie.  He gets her a “snow globe”, but is turned away by guards when he attempts to give it to her at the royal palace.  (Once again, this show is filmed on location, so the settings are great.) 

Shortly after being turned away, young Indy finds himself having dinner with Freud, Jung, and Adler to discuss their theories in the new field of psychology.  Freud speaks openly about sex, specifically citing young Indy’s “sexual desire for his mother” prior to Indy opening up about having found the love of his life (in Sophie).  The three psychologists encourage Indy to “shout his love out loud!” and Henry Jones, Sr. nods with tacit approval. 

Encouraged by this support, young Indy then storms the castle gates and demands an audience with the Archduke Franz Ferdinand.  His request is granted (with little hesitation), and mini Indy subsequently asks the Archduke for Sophie’s hand in marriage.  What?  What the hell is going on in this episode?  DON’T ASK QUESTIONS! 

The Archduke ponders the request, but ultimately decides against marrying off his daughter to the 10 year old American and sends him back home, denying him an opportunity even to speak with her one last time.  Indy refuses to accept this, however, and breaks back into the palace. 

This is followed by a pretty decent adventure sequence in which the young Carrier must evade the guards and stalks through the grand palace.  This elaborate break in is kind of fun – especially because it is all filmed on location.  This culminates when Indy weaves his way into Sophie’s bedroom and he gives her the “snow globe”.  We also see Indy’s first kiss here (more of a peck) before he runs off. 

In the next scene (supposed to be the next day), little Indy has aged noticeably and his voice has changed.  The family is off to Florence to continue Henry Jones Sr.’s lecture circuit.  Again, filmed on location in Italy, the city is presented beautifully. 

The Jones family goes to the opera to see La Boheme, and shortly thereafter, is introduced to Giacomo Puccini.  Puccini, a womanizer in real life, wastes no time in aggressively hitting on Mrs. Jones.  While Mrs. Seymour teaches Indy physics, Puccini strives to engage Mrs. Jones in some physics of his own.  He begins by winning over young Henry – at first at least – through his boisterous rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”.  Did I mention that this was a weird show? 

Ruth de Sosa is front and center for this episode as Mrs. Jones – it is definitely her largest role to date on the show.  As I’ve mentioned before, I have found her acting in the series creepy, but in this episode she can be outright scary at times.  Her character is deeply conflicted as a result of her attraction to Puccini, which results in wild mood swings.  At one point she gets angry and verbally lashes out at young Indy.  The wild fire of love burns in her crazed demonic eyes. 

Carrier comes off as dopey and slack-jawed in this episode and once again reminded me of Jake Lloyd from Episode I of Star Wars with his awkward delivery of certain lines (“Will you be JOINING us, Mr. Puccini?”)  The biggest shocker of this episode comes when Mrs. Jones runs off for a series of rendezvous with Puccini.  While the two are shown to “kiss” the editing suggests that the two may be sexing as well. 

After a great internal struggle, Mrs. Jones decides to “remain true” to Henry Sr. and ultimately rejects Puccini’s request that they run away together.  The “movie” concludes with the three Joneses happily huddled together in a loving embrace. 

Once again, I found this edition of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles to be meandering and strange.  It is certainly a long way from the feature films that spawned the series.  I know the intent behind the show was to stoke interest in historical figures, but I find that it is an awkward line for the series to walk.  If there is too much factual exposition, it is a documentary.  If there isn’t enough, it is simply fluff.  As was the case with the prior episode (Passion for Life), the solution seems to be to include a couple of “Fun Facts” about these figures and not much else (Freud’s views on sex, the royalty’s disapproval of Franz Ferdinand’s wife, Puccini’s philandering).  The locations are great, but the acting, storylines and pacing are strange.  I’m still trying to figure out what to make of this show, but I am getting the impression that it is going to take me awhile to get through the next 19 episodes. 

Indy Rating: 4/10