THE ROOT OF IT ALL

• There sit our boys, with looks of sweet appreciation, as they gaze admiringly on the attractive women sitting across from them on the stagecoach. Even the sour, elderly lady sitting between the two women doesn’t deter the men from their enjoyment of a nice view.

• I am afraid I am in complete accord with old Prudence…extracting a tooth from the mouth of your dearly beloved on the occasion of her death is just too creepy for words. My instincts tell me: Run from this man. Run fast and far…

• After making the statement that they couldn’t possibly be robbed twice in three weeks, the boys are startled to hear a gunshot…and the Kid places his hand squarely on Heyes’ knee. And he leaves his hand there until they rise to get off the stagecoach. Hmmm…I don’t quite know how to interpret this action; and maybe it is best that I don’t.
  
• The actor who plays the bandit, Mills Watson, has a name that just does not seem to fit him. To me he seems more like an Otis or a Merle.
• MYSTERY POLL: Having come to know me as well as you do by now, can you guess what we are voting on in this picture! *giggle* Go vote your answer to what you think the question is right now, please! You don't know when I might reveal the answer.

• What a lovely view of Heyes climbing back into and backing out of the stagecoach. Of course the Kid was there too, but having gone first he deprived us of a nice moving butt shot. We all know where my preference lies, so I wasn’t disappointed, but I suspect the many “Bennies” out there felt cheated somehow.

• I am quite amused by the fact that Peter cannot seem to speak to Judy Carne without a silly grin or a slathering of sarcasm that his character would have no call to use toward her character right out of the gate. The familiarity and obvious affection is sweet; it moves me. It is my hope that he really enjoyed being with her again; that he truly had fun making this episode, even if he was unhappy with the quality. And that, in the context of Peter’s life, makes me very happy.

*sigh*

• Where did Kid get a shotgun to hold to the back of the head of the older bandit? I thought all the guns were confiscated during the robbery. Why on earth would the crooks leave a high powered shotgun behind? Seems a bit misguided to me.
• Our heroes are mighty cute as they retrieve all the money and mail from the robbers. Kid always seems to stand back with the gun and Heyes takes on the more physical tasks, like rifling through the mail looking for Leslie’s letter. They each seem to know what they are expected to do in any given situation and most encounters go as smooth as satin.
• A funny running joke about not being robbed, and now recognized, twice in three weeks. Of course they were recognized! During the robbery, you could almost physically see the wheels turning in the extraordinarily round head of the bandit…



• Our poor tryin’ to do right boys…always thwarted from getting a reward they richly deserve; even if their good deeds are truly done only for their own gain. The end result is the same. And just who does this bank employee think he is to shut the teller bars in the faces of our favorite fugitives? Was that kind of affront really necessary?

• I don’t understand why Kid hands Leslie back the ring she offers the boys to secure the deal. The whole purpose of offering collateral to guarantee money is to HOLD something that belongs to the borrower until their debt is paid. Glancing at the ring does not make it collateral.

• I am always tickled and amused by the reactions Heyes has when he meets any lawman. Some are over the top; some so subtle you would miss them if not for rewind, but they are always right on the money. I am now putting forth a concerted effort to notice whether Kid reacts too, or is even in any scene, for that matter. *wink* But as is my way, I find myself mesmerized by Heyes until I later question myself, “Oh, was Kid in that scene, too?”
• I enjoy the "date" as Heyes and Leslie and Kid and Margaret go to the dining room. This is not a cheap hotel they are in; the dining room has someone who greets the two couples and leads them to a table for four. It is a very civilized outing and the first date we have seen our boys on together, I believe.

• Ok, the weird guy with his dead wife’s tooth hanging from his vest just broke into the girls’ room. Still smoking his cigar. Does anyone think they might notice the smell of cigar smoke when they return to their room and have some idea someone has been rummaging through their belongings?
• There goes the party of “prospectors” off to look for the $100,000 in buried money. They are all walking their horses calmly along, sitting smoothly and turbulence free in their saddles as they leave the stable to begin their journey. That is, until Ben brings up the rear, bouncing happily along in his saddle. He must just let his body go with the flow, completely loose and without any attempt to sit tight. It is just the most endearing quality about him. He was not an accomplished horseman like Peter, but he definitely had his own unique and amusing style.
• The chubby deputy Treadwell running and trying to put on his gun belt at the same time is hysterical.
• Listen, I understand working with animals can be tricky, and it might cost more money to have to re-shoot a scene in order to NOT film a horse while it is still defecating, but c‘mon…as the posse prepares to head out of town, this poor horse is trying to poop and some fool jumps on him, whips him around with his rear end to the camera and peels out on him…well, I won’t disgust you with details but suffice it to say the horse was still completing his task as he left the scene at high speed…
• There is no human being on the face of this earth that speaks as softly, innocently and without any semblance of personality as this Margaret character. My first impression of this woman? Dumb as a fence post. My second thought…no wonder Curry seems so enamored with her. And when she replies to the Kid saying he bet her father was hoping for a girl, her words, “I never knew him, he died before I was born” were as flat as a road kill squirrel. Not being prone to exaggeration in my musings, *wink* I think I can safely say we may be witnessing the worst actress to have ever worn shoe leather (to steal a phrase from the weird tooth thief Oscar Rosewood). I guess what I read somewhere about the looks of some of the female guest stars winning out over talent was true, particularly in this case.

• Boy, that Kid Curry can sleep anywhere! There he snoozes on the bunk in jail as our nervous-Nelly Heyes paces.

• Peter’s interaction with Judy Carne all throughout the episode is fun. I see glimmers--but just teeny ones--of David Willis in his delivery at times. Although I have never been taken with Judy's looks, they are a cute pair. I think the combination of their noses and dimples would have made adorable children. What a silly thought.



• I think that bandit’s round head pretty much fills up his bowler hat.
• I really find looking upward into someone’s hairy nostrils—in this case Deputy Treadwell’s as Leslie wakes him with a gun in his face—to be quite unpleasant. There are just some things I would rather not see. Maybe I am persnickety, but it would seem reasonable to me that someone might inform the actor and his makeup person before shooting such a scene and suggest some trimming might be in order.
• Need I say more?



• Out around the campfire Heyes and Leslie kiss—twice. But the camera angle is bad, and we really only see the backs of their heads. What a disappointment. I enjoy watching the boys kiss women.
• Oh, my god, Heyes’ pants (the infamous buff colored jeans) are pulled up way too high on him as the group counts out paces to find the money. I find that when the men wear their gun belts, it adds such a flair and masculinity that when they are off they seem less than macho.
• Kid, stop!! Don’t suggest a coin toss!!! Are you nuts??
• It always tickles me how much enjoyment Heyes gets out of Kid’s foibles. He takes pleasure in seeing his partner falter or look foolish. But it isn’t offensive because we know with these boys if it were something serious Kid were up against Heyes would give his life to help him, and the same can be said for Kid. No matter what, when the chips are down, they always have each others’ backs. It is an extraordinary friendship that I truly adore seeing all the tiny and meaningful nuances of.

• Too bad the water they find the treasure in wasn’t waist high. Seeing our favorite young men in clinging wet jeans would not have ruined my day.
• I wonder if there were any female stunt people on the show for fast horse riding. I could tell in Return to Devil’s Hole someone was riding for Diana Hyland when they sped out of Devil’s Hole, but I couldn’t tell if it was a woman or a man dressed as a woman. And now, I really don’t think Judy Carne is doing her own riding as she follows the gang of bandits at high speed. I wonder if it is Monty Laird in drag in either of these instances. We’ve seen he isn’t afraid of dressing in women’s clothes in the past. He really seems to be game for just about anything.
• After walking for what I would guess was miles, our abandoned four stop to cool their feet in a pond. How did Kid’s legs get so tanned in comparison to Heyes, Margaret and Sour Old Prudence? When has the Kid ever exposed his legs to any light, let alone sunlight? Ben has a tan, but Kid shouldn’t. And on the subject of legs and water, look how cute it is that Kid splashes Margaret’s bare leg with a bit of water…what a flirt! I half expect to see Margaret twirl her hair and go all coy on us. But true to her aforementioned lack of personality, she sits there with no reaction or interaction at all.
  
• I don’t like scenes where horses fall. How can we be sure they won’t be hurt?
• Am I losing my mind? I could swear I hear Kid’s voice say, “Hey look, a railroad track!” as Heyes points and turns to Kid like he is saying it. Rewind please, as you face your *chore* of rewatching the episode to go along with my notes, and tell me what you see. I see both men pointing, but I really get the feeling Heyes is meant to be speaking even though it is Kid’s voice we hear.
• Why am I conjuring up the image of Dudley Doright as our two macho boys use their strength and stamina to propel themselves and the two damsels in distress down the tracks on the railroad cart? And could they be any cuter doing it?

  

  

• Wow! That is some grab of Kid’s inner thigh as you hoist yourself up onto the rail cart, Leslie. About one inch higher and we may have had a real show!
• Margaret surprises the Kid when she takes the initiative and kisses him at the railroad station. I like seeing him taken a bit off guard. They kiss again, and for a second there I thought I sensed a whisper of involvement from Margaret. But on second take: nope.

• Margaret has been kissed by one man, and now she is suddenly an independent woman. She tells Leslie “I can get along fine on my own. Now.” Never saw a worse kiss be such a life changing experience. Too bad it didn’t change this woman’s acting skills also. I wonder what member of the production staff she was related to…
• I love Kid’s laugh as our sexist heroes prepare to flip a coin for a woman. Knowing Kid’s history with coin tosses, it seems obvious that Heyes gets the girl, which is, of course, fitting.

*tsk tsk*

The Mystery Poll question we were voting on was:

"Who Looks Best From Behind in This Picture?"