Daniel plus fill-in sidekicks Mason (Don McMullen) and Cully (James Wainwright) are on a mission to blow up a gorge plus wagon train of gunpowder for the Chickasaw and Choctaw. Their packhorses are stolen and lost by a family of miscreant emigrants, whom Daniel and company press into service as bearers for the gunpowder.
DB's writers keep breaking through the human-interest dreck in the closing stretch of Season 5 to slip in some Revolutionary War and frontier action tales. Here, the "Dirty Dozen" theme is reworked with an ingrate patriarch, his suspicious son, and son's attractive fiancé as the ragged combatants in need of reform. The most notable of the trio is the fiance, TV journeywoman Ronne Troup. Her entertainment lineage is notable, being the stepdaughter of Julie London and daughter of Bobby Troup, nurse and doctor on the 1970's firehouse drama "Emergency." Reflective of how difficult it is for younger audiences to appreciate careers in their entirety, I was an "Emergency" aficionado for years and unaware that Troup Sr. And London were a notable jazz duo in the 60's.
The runup is mostly garrulous patriarch Greg Mullavey irritating Daniel, but at least Fess Parker apparently feels guilty about previous absences to put in a full day.
The never-do-wells are en route to the Carolinas, a bit too far east for the offstage Chickasaw and Choctaw, who were nominally allied with the Americans during the Revolution anyway.
Redcoat report - eight, acting as entirely fictional mounted infantry. Not possible in the 1770's; muskets were too bulky to carry on horseback fir prolonged periods. Uniformed again as the Royal American Regiment.
The "desperate wilderness mission" has been used on DB before, and in previous iterations was more tightly written, but the action finale payoff us worth it, and its still a pleasure to see the series reverting to its core strengths in its final seasons.
DB's writers keep breaking through the human-interest dreck in the closing stretch of Season 5 to slip in some Revolutionary War and frontier action tales. Here, the "Dirty Dozen" theme is reworked with an ingrate patriarch, his suspicious son, and son's attractive fiancé as the ragged combatants in need of reform. The most notable of the trio is the fiance, TV journeywoman Ronne Troup. Her entertainment lineage is notable, being the stepdaughter of Julie London and daughter of Bobby Troup, nurse and doctor on the 1970's firehouse drama "Emergency." Reflective of how difficult it is for younger audiences to appreciate careers in their entirety, I was an "Emergency" aficionado for years and unaware that Troup Sr. And London were a notable jazz duo in the 60's.
The runup is mostly garrulous patriarch Greg Mullavey irritating Daniel, but at least Fess Parker apparently feels guilty about previous absences to put in a full day.
The never-do-wells are en route to the Carolinas, a bit too far east for the offstage Chickasaw and Choctaw, who were nominally allied with the Americans during the Revolution anyway.
Redcoat report - eight, acting as entirely fictional mounted infantry. Not possible in the 1770's; muskets were too bulky to carry on horseback fir prolonged periods. Uniformed again as the Royal American Regiment.
The "desperate wilderness mission" has been used on DB before, and in previous iterations was more tightly written, but the action finale payoff us worth it, and its still a pleasure to see the series reverting to its core strengths in its final seasons.
