Entry 16: Love's Sweet Song

Indy Timeline: 1916

Love's sweet song opens with footage of aristocrats playing a lazy game of shuffleboard on a cruise ship.  With this opening shot (and the title of the episode), I suspected that I was in for another long 90 minute session of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. 

Indy and Remy are making their way across the Atlantic to join the "Great War" in Europe.  They are dirt poor and have to work in a bar in Dublin to save some money for passage to England, where they plan to enlist. 

Once again, Sean Patrick Flannery comes off as young and petulant as Indy here.  He spends their hard earned money on tea and crumpets in an effort to win over a young Irish lass -  - WAIT - what the hell did I just write??  Indiana Jones buying tea and crumpets???  THIS IS NOTHING LIKE THE MOVIES.

Anyway, Indy meets a young Sean O'Casey in the bar and through him gets a pulse on tensions in Ireland and the possibility of a rebellion against the English.  After some politically charged discussions, the two become friendly and O'Casey brings Indy to the Abby Theater where he meets William Butler Yeats.  These scenes are mixed in with the "romance" subplot with "Maggie" and her friend.  They are even more petulant and obnoxious than Indy - obsessed with material possessions and convinced that he is a millionaire (must have been all those crumpets he bought them). 

Maggie's brother, Sean (not O'Casey), wants Indy to keep Indy from getting any closer to his sister and the two end up getting into a fist fight.  After beating up one another, they both start laughing and a homoerotic montage begins.  Indy and Sean ride bikes together, they hug, they go swimming, they prance through a meadow.  I don't know. 

The "Easter Rising" then takes place with Irish nationalists taking over the Dublin post office.  Sean (Maggie's brother) fights for independence, but is captured when the attempted revolution fails.  During the attack, there is a lame effort by Indy and friends to "rescue" Sean.  However, Indy and friends simply turn around and go back to the bar when they get close to the besieged post office. 

Indy and Maggie visit Sean in prison one last time before he is likely to be executed and Indy promptly leaves Dublin.  Peace out Sean!

Once again there is an awkward "bridging" sequence between the first half and second half of the movie where the actors look much older (and different) than they did in the previous scene.  Indy despairs over the loss of his "love", Maggie (although perhaps he is really talking about Sean here).  Remy, who has an insatiable sexual appetite, immediately suggests hitting on more women and pulls Indy over to some women on the ship. 

The second half of "Love's Sweet Song" begins with Indy and Remy in downtown London.  They enlist in the Belgian army together even though Indy is clearly not a Belgian citizen ("they'll take ANYBODY!" Remy explains).  Indy lies about his name, taking on "Henry Deforce", and with this bit of business resolved, Remy is keen to go bang some chicks. 

If that sounds slimy, it is actually a bit worse than that - Remy recognizes the power of the uniform for seducing women, and tells Indy that the easiest women are in fact war widows.  As they have lost their husbands, they are vulnerable and easier to bag.  Thanks Remy! 

Indy gets on a bus to Oxford to visit Ms. Seymour and disgraces himself when he realizes he is seated next to a war widow.

"You're a war widow!  That's great!  That means we will have sex!  You know 'wink wink' SCHWING!!!!  Hahaha!  I am going to give it to you!  I can't wait!"

<<sigh>>

Understandably, she yells at him and kicks his ass before storming off the bus.  This seems to amuse the beautiful feminist suffragette ticket collector played by Elizabeth Hurley (Vicky).  After a German zeppelin attack results in her falling into Indy's arms, a romance begins between the two.

For me, Hurley's performance and the dynamic between her and Flannery are what save this episode from disaster.  She plays a smart, progressive character that is not afraid to stand up to Indy.  One of my favorite sequences involves her and Indy sparring over foreign language skills.  She draws Indy to suffragette meetings and they meet leaders of the movement such as Sylvia Pankhurst. 

When Indy and Vicky visit Mrs. Seymour in Oxford, I was surprised how much I liked Margaret Tyzack's performance.  She still lectures Indy - scolding him for not telling his father about his plans to join the war - but on the whole treats him as an adult.  This leads to some good substantive dialogue between all three actors and is a great way to bridge over the episodes with Corey Carrier to the ones with Sean Patrick Flannery. 

There is another "love" montage here, but this time between Indy and Vicky.  It is not so bad, and I think it is better than the similar montage between Anakin and Padme in Episode II (no bloated tick cows) - but I digress. 

Indy decides he wants to propose to Vicky, but she rejects him because of the circumstances.  This is a more serious situation than Indy's earlier proposal to Sophie Ferdinand in "Perils of Cupid", and Indy is distraught upon being rejected.  He walks out on Vicky before casting his engagement ring into the river.  He does see her once more, albeit for just a moment, when she appears at the train station (where we also learn that Remy has married one of the war widows he was after).  They make eye contact and wave a tearful goodbye as Indy heads off to war.

Frankly, this second half was not so bad due to the strength of the dynamic between Flannery and Hurley.  Her character, with her fire, intellect and combativeness, is in some ways similar to Marion from Raiders (only less gritty).  Nevertheless, the 90 minute "movie" experience of both episodes together pulls down the experience as a whole.

Indy Rating: 6.5/10