"Love and Honor" basically serves to give Inez (Fabiana Udenio) a back story. Inez is essentially a pawn between Don Paolo and Buck: both view her as a reflection of their own pride rather than any interest in her. Buck is interested in her, but only because she's a woman.
The subplots are more interesting. J.D. tries to woo Casey, with some courtship advice from Josiah. And A. Martinez plays a gunfighter, Raphael, who works for Paolo, but has an honor of his own and seems to either be Chris' equal, or interested in finding out if he is Chris' equal. Not surprisingly, Paolo turns to crooked means and Raphael is offended and turns against him in the end.
Buck gets more-or-less suckered into a sword duel with Paolo, and it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Why don't the Seven just shoot Paolo if he tries to leave town with Inez? Vin seems to take Inez's desire for freedom seriously, even though we don't get any backstory on Vin ias to why Inez is so important to him. It is less about Inez, as Vin seeing her as a woman seeking her freedom who should be allowed to have it.
There are other little bits. As I noted above, Josiah giving J.D. romantic advice is amusing. Mostly because of Ron Perlman, who the production staff realized in the second season was up to whatever they would give him, acting-wise. An over-the-top ex-preacher and scholar is the kind of role that Perlman seems born to, and he chews into it with all of his teeth.
Nathan gets a little bit to do, as we get some backstory on how he used to be a slave and his former master taught him how to swordfight so he could be a sparring partner. Chris doesn't have much to do except seem bemused that there's another gunfighter in town--Raphael--that is his apparent equal if not better. The J.D./Casey thing drags on. And on. And on. What happened to her aunt, who was ten times more entertaining, I have no idea.
Overall, "Love and Honor" is another of the show's "typical Western" episodes. There's nothing surprising that happens here, but it's the 90s equivalent of the TV Western of bygone days. And is entertainiong.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
The subplots are more interesting. J.D. tries to woo Casey, with some courtship advice from Josiah. And A. Martinez plays a gunfighter, Raphael, who works for Paolo, but has an honor of his own and seems to either be Chris' equal, or interested in finding out if he is Chris' equal. Not surprisingly, Paolo turns to crooked means and Raphael is offended and turns against him in the end.
Buck gets more-or-less suckered into a sword duel with Paolo, and it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Why don't the Seven just shoot Paolo if he tries to leave town with Inez? Vin seems to take Inez's desire for freedom seriously, even though we don't get any backstory on Vin ias to why Inez is so important to him. It is less about Inez, as Vin seeing her as a woman seeking her freedom who should be allowed to have it.
There are other little bits. As I noted above, Josiah giving J.D. romantic advice is amusing. Mostly because of Ron Perlman, who the production staff realized in the second season was up to whatever they would give him, acting-wise. An over-the-top ex-preacher and scholar is the kind of role that Perlman seems born to, and he chews into it with all of his teeth.
Nathan gets a little bit to do, as we get some backstory on how he used to be a slave and his former master taught him how to swordfight so he could be a sparring partner. Chris doesn't have much to do except seem bemused that there's another gunfighter in town--Raphael--that is his apparent equal if not better. The J.D./Casey thing drags on. And on. And on. What happened to her aunt, who was ten times more entertaining, I have no idea.
Overall, "Love and Honor" is another of the show's "typical Western" episodes. There's nothing surprising that happens here, but it's the 90s equivalent of the TV Western of bygone days. And is entertainiong.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
