Entry 33: Treasure of the Peacock’s Eye

Indy Timeline: 1918-1919

Peacock’s Eye starts with a bang, throwing us right back into the trenches of World War I, alongside Indy and Remy.  This is the first time in several episodes that we’ve seen Remy, and it is good to have him back as Indy’s avuncular sidekick.  In the context of this heated battle, we witness two key events.  The first is the whistle blowing to formally end the war.  The second, taking place at nearly the exact same moment, is that Indy and Remy witness the theft of an ancient map by a mysterious German soldier from the corpse of a French soldier.  While the first event was historic for world history, the second is key to the development and growth of Indy as a treasure hunter. 

Peacock’s Eye is a clear effort to link the young Indiana Jones of the TV show with the Indy from the films.  In fact, the “Peacock’s Eye” that Indy is hunting for is supposedly the same diamond that Indy is after in the opening sequence of Temple of Doom.  The episode is light on its feet, touching briefly on topics such as the death of Ms. Seymour and Remy’s reunion with his wife and children (which would have been entire episodes in and of themselves earlier in the series).  Instead, the focus here is on ACTION. 

In fact, Peacock’s Eye might have the most action of any Young Indy adventure yet.  There are multiple fist fights, Indy swings on vines, solves puzzles (“he’s digging in the wrong place!”) and even fights PIRATE NINJAS!  No joke.  PIRATE NINJAS.  We also get to see the famous map overlays with the red line “connecting the dots” for travel sequences.  We get ancient Javanese temples, a German villain with an eye patch, a musical number that mirrors the Kate Capshaw’s performance in ToD, and (again) PIRATE NINJAS. 

I was thrilled that the series finally delivered an episode like this – a comic book style adventure.  Unfortunately, the up-tempo nature of the episode does not quite sustain itself the entire way.  After the encounter with the pirates, Indy and Remy end up washing on shore of Papua New Guinea where they meet the Polish anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski.  From this point on, what had been an up-tempo adventure, assumes the standard young Indy episode pacing – a slow grind.  We witness tribal life among the natives.  Indy walks along the beach and contemplates his future.  He gets into an argument with Remy. 

Malinowksi is portrayed similarly as Albert Schweizer was in the “Oganga” episode.  He acts as a wise older man who gives Indy key insights and direction to his life choices moving forward.  This is all well and good, but it effectively kills the momentum of the episode.  Overall though, Peacock’s Eye gives us a nice glimpse of “Indy becoming Indy” and for that, it deserves credit.

Indy Rating: 8.5/10