When the episode starts with a British cavalry chase and a wagon wreck, its am indication that we are in for one of DB's better hours - a mini-action movie equivalent set in the midst of the Revolutionary War.
Daniel and Mingo are operating in the Philadelphia area and attempting to secure the Liberty Bell before the British fully occupy the city, which firmly dates the episode in September 1777. Interspersed between the British and the Americans is Count Alfonso De Borba (Ricardo Montablon) and his freebooters, who wants to secure and deliver the bell for his own purposes.
Montablan happily throws himself into a swashbuckler role, complete with plumed hat, with the same energy he shows as Captain Kirk's adversary in 1982's "Star Trek: The Wraith of Khan." He wants to trade the bell to recoup his fortunes through a British colonelcy and land grants. An interesting though fanciful character placement; a Spanish Catholic nobleman trying to join the British during the American Revolution is akin to a bored American ex-officer trying to join Putin's forces in Ukraine in 2022. In reality, Spanish colonial officials and colonists in America during the 1770's pitched into the American cause during the later half of the war as a means of weakening their British rivals.
An abundance of flintlock and wagon chase action along the familiar southern California ranch road many series viewers will recognize. Mingo gets to be an independent operator for some of the episode, and Carole Cook ("Sixteen Candles", 1984) lends a welcome hand as a saucy Irish tavern keeper.
In 1777 actuality, the Liberty Bell was freighted out of Philadelphia with no great difficulty prior to the British investiture, and hidden under church floorboards in Allentown, Pa. Until 1778.
Redcoat count - about 10-12, and although an arrival of Continentals is hinted at, sadly no budget for that apparently. The British are wearing a variant of the 60th Regiment uniform, also known as "The Royal Americans" due to their initial recruitment in the colonies during the French and Indian War. However, they were nowhere near Philadelphia in 1777, and mostly active in Florida and the south during the Revolution's later phases.
The episode makes a nice trilogy with "The Young Rebels" (1970) episode "The Ring of Freedom," about an attempt to recapture the bell from the British, and "The Six Million Dollar Man's" 1975 Bicentennial outing "The Price of Liberty," in which a rogue agent wires the bell to explode and demands ransom.
A high-effort output from DB, and more amd better is still to come in Season 3.
