Indy Timeline: 1917
The story for “Adventures in the Secret Service” picks up
right where “Attack of the Hawkmen” left off.
Young Indy is posing as the Belgian soldier Henry Deforce and working
for French intelligence in order to accelerate the end of the war. As the episode opens, he is given a critical
mission – sneak into Vienna to obtain the signature of Emperor Karl for a peace
agreement to withdraw Austria from the war.
The idea of ending the war “with the stroke of a pen” rather than
through continued bloodshed fits with the overall narrative arc of Indy’s
changing perspective on the war. Following
his encounter with Albert Schweizer a few episodes earlier, he wants to put an
end to the conflict as soon as possible.
Assisting Indy in this mission are two other soldiers, one
of whom happens to be Emperor Karl’s brother in law. Indy comes off as a more seasoned, veteran
spy when paired with these two, but he still has his moments of petulant whining. On the whole, this first half of the episode
was OK, although the pacing is a bit deliberate (especially compared to
preceding episodes). It is shot in a
film noir style, with lots of shadows and oblique camera angles. This is meant to heighten the tension in what
is essentially a story of espionage and intrigue. The three do make their way to Karl – and his
foreign policy advisor, played by the scheming Count Dooku himself, Christopher
Lee. To add to the tension, the trio is
relentlessly pursued by a spy hunter known as “The Prussian” and this
culminates in a daring escape at the border.
This half of the episode featured a number of nods to the Star Wars/Indy
film cannon, including an escape through the sewers (“what an incredible new
smell you’ve discovered!”) and frantic planning (“I don’t know, I’ll think of
something!”). The train escape at the
end also includes a few nods to Last Crusade’s train sequence.
On the whole, this half of the episode was pretty solid. Not the best the series has offered to this
point, but watchable and far better than the low points in earlier episodes (“Will
you be JOINING us MR. Puccini???”). Unfortunately,
things slow down further for the second half of the episode, in which Indy is
stationed in Petrograd to provide intelligence to the French regarding the developments
on the ground in Russia.
The premise for this half of the episode struck me as a strange,
as Indy is openly working as a French intelligence analyst, but living in a
palatial mansion with a group of fun-loving impoverished Bolsheviks. There is a lot of talking in this episode,
interspersed with long strolls through the streets of St. Petersburg in which
Indy takes in the different bridges in the city. We get to see Indy’s 18th birthday
party, in which there is a ridiculous sequence where the cutting of the cake is
used to symbolize the differences between communism, socialism and
capitalism. I found this more forced and
overwritten than the sequence several episodes earlier when Indy uses a salt
and pepper shaker to explain World War I.
The rest of the episode features a speech by Vladimir Lenin and
a failed love interest, Rosa. Rosa opens
her heart to Indy and he responds by shooting her down with the words: “Love is
a weird thing.” When Indy’s communist
friends plan a demonstration that Indy knows will result in bloodshed, he throws
a tantrum and is once again the petulant young Indy so familiar from earlier
episodes of the series. The episode ends
with everyone in tears.
In sum, this episode felt like a step backwards to me. The episode was driven more by slow, stilted
dialogue rather than action and character development. I hope that this is a blip on the radar and
that Indy continues to evolve away from the whiney brat we have seen so much
of. I’m not entirely confident this will take place.
Indy Rating: 6.5/10
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