It's initially hard to tell if this is better than part 1. Some of the subplots from part 1 get dropped, like, Ezra and Buck vying over the boy Eugene to get to his mother Alice. The fact that Joshua wins the boy's admiration without even trying, gets dropped for a so-so- plot of Alice being so smitten with Josiah that she starts planning to marry him. Josiah's reaction is priceless, mostly because he's played by frickin' Ron Perlman. Perlman is the highlight of the show, as he describes how he and his family will go on a religious retreat complete with celibacy and insect-eating. But it doesn't go any further than that.
The Vin/Charlotte relationship drags on. To absolutely no one's surprise, because it's serialized TV, Charlotte goes back to her husband (he want her? way to praise infidelity of either sex, writers?), and Vin gets to ride off so he can be with the Seven for the rest of the series.
There's a new plot, with Ezra trying to convince Nathan to let him become a partner in half to the land a dying man granted to Nathan. Because the land has gold on it, and Ezra wants to build a "gamblers' haven" and collect a hefty share of the profits. This does give Rick Worthy as Nathan something to do. But all it really does is establish that Ezra is a greedy conman. It's always fun watching Anthony Starke bit into the role, but we already knew Ezra is a greedy conman.
There's a bit with J.D. deciding to write a romantic letter to Casey. And Buck giving him advice. I'm not sure where this one ended up: Buck steals the letter, and I'm not sure if it's to have a copy of the woo he taught J.D. how to write, or to rewrite it so it's more romantic (J.D. writes about fishing with Casey), or to read it out loud and tease J.D. about it, or what. I don't think the writers knew, either.
And that's part of it. Melissa Rosenberg did the teleplay and story for part 1, but got dropped for part 2. How do you get dropped from writing the second part of a two-parter when you wrote the first one? There's an odd tonal shift: Buck and Ezra are "meaner" than they were in part one. Dicky O'Shea is meaner, and that's a big part of the problem. Bruce McGill gave Dicky little bits of humanity in part 1, but is pretty much a mean ole Big Bad in part 2. He even shoots his own henchmen.
There's a will they?/won't they? with Mary and Chris that doesn't go anywhere. Michael Biehn plays Chris so indifferent to the whole thing that it's hard to tell if Chris is hiding his emotions toward Mary, or is actually happy for her that she's find a guy to marry.
Tim DeZarn as "Powder Man" does get a little more screentime in part 2, and he's arguably the best part of the two-parter. He caper, dances, and sings "Camptown Races" while blowing people up, like he's auditioning for the role of The Joker in a Batman movie. DeZarn, who is one of those HITGs (Hey, It's That Guy!) actors who you'd probably recognize if you saw him but don't know the actor's name is good. But he doesn't get enough screen time to boost the show out of the doldrums.
So "Wagon Train" overall is okay, but nothing that great. It's a pretty standard "Wagon Train" TV series episode, with a little more focus on the Seven because that's the name of the show. But that's it.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
The Vin/Charlotte relationship drags on. To absolutely no one's surprise, because it's serialized TV, Charlotte goes back to her husband (he want her? way to praise infidelity of either sex, writers?), and Vin gets to ride off so he can be with the Seven for the rest of the series.
There's a new plot, with Ezra trying to convince Nathan to let him become a partner in half to the land a dying man granted to Nathan. Because the land has gold on it, and Ezra wants to build a "gamblers' haven" and collect a hefty share of the profits. This does give Rick Worthy as Nathan something to do. But all it really does is establish that Ezra is a greedy conman. It's always fun watching Anthony Starke bit into the role, but we already knew Ezra is a greedy conman.
There's a bit with J.D. deciding to write a romantic letter to Casey. And Buck giving him advice. I'm not sure where this one ended up: Buck steals the letter, and I'm not sure if it's to have a copy of the woo he taught J.D. how to write, or to rewrite it so it's more romantic (J.D. writes about fishing with Casey), or to read it out loud and tease J.D. about it, or what. I don't think the writers knew, either.
And that's part of it. Melissa Rosenberg did the teleplay and story for part 1, but got dropped for part 2. How do you get dropped from writing the second part of a two-parter when you wrote the first one? There's an odd tonal shift: Buck and Ezra are "meaner" than they were in part one. Dicky O'Shea is meaner, and that's a big part of the problem. Bruce McGill gave Dicky little bits of humanity in part 1, but is pretty much a mean ole Big Bad in part 2. He even shoots his own henchmen.
There's a will they?/won't they? with Mary and Chris that doesn't go anywhere. Michael Biehn plays Chris so indifferent to the whole thing that it's hard to tell if Chris is hiding his emotions toward Mary, or is actually happy for her that she's find a guy to marry.
Tim DeZarn as "Powder Man" does get a little more screentime in part 2, and he's arguably the best part of the two-parter. He caper, dances, and sings "Camptown Races" while blowing people up, like he's auditioning for the role of The Joker in a Batman movie. DeZarn, who is one of those HITGs (Hey, It's That Guy!) actors who you'd probably recognize if you saw him but don't know the actor's name is good. But he doesn't get enough screen time to boost the show out of the doldrums.
So "Wagon Train" overall is okay, but nothing that great. It's a pretty standard "Wagon Train" TV series episode, with a little more focus on the Seven because that's the name of the show. But that's it.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
