It's 1919 and the Great War is over. Indiana Jones (Sean Patrick Flanery) has returned from his adventure in New Guinea, and is now working in Paris as a translator at the palace of Versailles, where the French, British and American leaders are working together to secure a lasting world peace. Later, when he returns home, Indy assists a brilliant rocket scientist while encountering racism and trying to reconcile with his father (Lloyd Owen).
The Paris section is not typical Indiana Jones, but is nevertheless brilliant through it's depiction of the political intrigues and double-dealing at the heart of the so-called peace process. Douglas Henshall returns in his last appearance as T.E Lawrence, but there is also terrific work from Micheal Maloney as historian Arnold Toynbee, who utters his doom-laden lines with a gentle conviction, and Jeroen Krabbe as the tortured leader of the condemned Germans. Josef Summer is also good as the conflicted Woodrow Wilson, torn between his beliefs and the demands of his allies.
The Princeton segment is only slightly less successful. Flanery's Indy has yet another forgettable love affair, but has excellent scenes with Lloyd Owen as his cynical and emotionally impenetrable father. It sets the scene nicely for what happens in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". Stephen Micheal Ayers does well in his scenes as scientist Robert Goddard, and Kevin Jackson (as Indy's schoolfriend Paul Robeson) almost evokes Barack Obama - see the speech he makes at his graduation ceremony.
There is almost no adventure at all in this episode, but it's still a stimulating and thought-provoking watch.
The Paris section is not typical Indiana Jones, but is nevertheless brilliant through it's depiction of the political intrigues and double-dealing at the heart of the so-called peace process. Douglas Henshall returns in his last appearance as T.E Lawrence, but there is also terrific work from Micheal Maloney as historian Arnold Toynbee, who utters his doom-laden lines with a gentle conviction, and Jeroen Krabbe as the tortured leader of the condemned Germans. Josef Summer is also good as the conflicted Woodrow Wilson, torn between his beliefs and the demands of his allies.
The Princeton segment is only slightly less successful. Flanery's Indy has yet another forgettable love affair, but has excellent scenes with Lloyd Owen as his cynical and emotionally impenetrable father. It sets the scene nicely for what happens in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". Stephen Micheal Ayers does well in his scenes as scientist Robert Goddard, and Kevin Jackson (as Indy's schoolfriend Paul Robeson) almost evokes Barack Obama - see the speech he makes at his graduation ceremony.
There is almost no adventure at all in this episode, but it's still a stimulating and thought-provoking watch.