SOMETHING TO GET HUNG ABOUT

• My first observation as I begin watching this episode: if I were to ride into town and see these two strikingly attractive men sitting on a porch, watching the afternoon traffic go by, I would definitely rent a room and stay awhile.



• Did someone take in Heyes’ buff colored jeans? They seem to fit superbly well in this episode. Thank you, wardrobe crew. Your skills have not gone unnoticed.
• Yes. Of course I paused the DVD to see the picture Heyes holds up of Mrs. Henderson. You be the judge. *giggle*



• I like that the Kid is left behind to occupy Stokely with some poker while Heyes goes off to talk to Sarah. Kid appears adept and confident playing the game, and even pulls the ol’ no straights or flushes in stud poker trick that burned his partner so badly in the past. Good job Kid! You look nice when you are confident.
• Is it just me or does Kid seem just the tiniest bit flirty with Stokely? I guess while the cat’s away…



• Being a bit of a poker player myself, and having just a freshman understanding of the etiquette of the game, I would venture to guess that in the old west if a player had been as arrogant as to reach over, take his bet back and then handle the cards of the other player he just might “git his head blowed off.” I’m not even sure he wouldn’t in modern times. That whole move is so full of no-no’s, at the very least the offending player would be asked to leave and in professional poker, even fined or banned.
• We aren’t able to see the card the man is dealt, but according to the script he doesn’t make his straight. I think they should have let us see the card; but I must say, the player’s reaction seems it would have been more fitting if he had gotten his straight, in my opinion.
• Meredith Mac Rae is an attractive woman in an unassuming kind of way. I hate the giant hairdos on most of the ladies in the series though, and particularly on her. It is almost too big for her head and makes me think her neck might give out and her head might topple forward from the weight of it at any moment!



• I like Monte Markham. I have seen him in a zillion things, but for the life of me I can’t think of even one right now.



• I enjoy the scene where Stokely tells Heyes he can’t go see Sarah again. I love when Stokely mentions his reputation with a gun and the muscle of our hero duo, the Kid, steps in and in a most wonderful couple’s moment says “Now, the thing is, uh, he’s gotta keep that appointment and if you try to stop him, then I’m gonna have to try to stop you…” God, that is just so perfect, and so delicious. Kid knowing just what to say, and when; Heyes comfortable with Kid acting in the capacity of protector. There is no ego here; just simply a demonstration that each man understands his own important role in their union. It is a wonderful mesh; an exhibit of how these two men, when combined, make a wonderful whole and it is splendid in every instance it has been displayed in the series.



• I appreciate the Kid being given the capability as a character to come up with a common sense solution to the standoff between himself and the threatening Stokely. His suggestion of a shooting contest is just right.
• Heyes sets up the bottles on the rail, and walks back to where Kid and Stokely are standing, preparing for the shootout. I love the new fit of Heyes’ jeans, as I have said, and I love his walk…good lord, boy, do you know the stir you cause when you walk like that? And that nonchalant lean against the wall with one leg at an angle in front? Down right yummy. ®



• HA! That’s our Kid, already shattering the bottle with his fast draw, and Stokely only barely getting his gun out of the holster. Excellent timing and a very well filmed scene, with Stokely stopped in almost freeze frame, still stooped over and drawing his gun.

• A flawless gun twirl perfectly ending with a solid placement of the gun into the holster by Kid! Way to go, Ben! I think you have been practicing.

• Heyes telling the Kid he has an instinct about women—once they think it over, and know they’re wanted, BAM, there’s no place like home—is so cute. He really does fancy himself quite the man of the world, doesn’t he?
• I do so appreciate the habit our boys have of occasionally tucking their gloves into the front of their gun belts. It draws the eye...
• When Heyes returns from seeing Sarah and tells Kid, “Get packed. She’s not going.” it is an enjoyable exchange with Kid questioning Heyes whether he told her about “love and marriage and all like that” and Heyes turning and saying, “Will you shut up?” No one likes to be reminded of something they bragged about that doesn’t pan out. And Kid is incredulous that his idol, Heyes, couldn’t accomplish what he set out to.



• Ben seems to flit back and forth between giving Kid a kind of southern-punk-kid accent, and giving him no discernable accent at all. It would be much less annoying if his accents varied only in different episodes, but this inconsistency is all in the same episode, and I’ve actually never noticed it in any other episode.
• Heyes and the Kid, turning in shock in the direction of the shot fired--knocking the gun out of Stokely’s hand-- cracks me up. It is done in unison and it is so precise and exaggerated it is just very amusing. The only one who doesn’t ham it up just a bit in that instant is Clay who just keeps looking straight ahead…

• It amuses me that our boys, although possessing a core of honor we have clearly seen, also are not above a bit of unethical or “immoral” behavior to further their own agenda. The exchange over whether or not to open Sarah Henderson’s letter is a sweet reminder that our favorite outlaws can be swayed to not-so-correct behavior by convincing themselves and each other what they are doing is for the greater good.

  

• That is an unfortunate choice of wardrobe for Mr. Henderson…those incredibly unflattering stretch pants make him look like he has round woman hips from behind, and that image is only accentuated when he walks.



• Oh, now, damn it. I just love men who read; smart men who love to learn. Heyes looks quite sexy to me, lying on the bed, his book propped on his flat belly, reading Life on the Mississippi.



• I absolutely adore the whole scene where Kid comes into the hotel room with the reply telegraph from Sarah’s husband and questions whether he should use the word doesn’t or don’t in the sentence “a man doesn’t go chasing after a woman”—and Heyes looks up from his newly found book and says “don’t” with full authority. These are both intelligent, articulate men, and yet we see a glimpse of the fact that they are probably not very well educated because of the misfortune of their childhoods.
• “Mark Twain! Now there’s an alias if I ever heard one!” says Kid. “I wonder what he’s wanted for.” Great line!
• I love, love, love Stokely’s reaction when he sees Kid and realizes the boys have followed him again. It is such a funny scene, and I think Monte Markham does an exceptional job with comedy. He is simply right on the money. I laugh through this scene every time I see it. Something in the way Stokely says, “Where’s Smith? Is he with Sarah?” and looks around just cracks me up. That’s good comedy acting to take an unassuming few words like that and make someone laugh. Great job!



• I get the feeling the scene where Heyes is talking to the back of Mrs. Henderson’s head was pieced together and the two actors were not really in the room together. Peter doesn’t seem focused on where Ms. Mac Rae actually is and it just seems he is probably filling in a scene without her. Of course I could be wrong, and I’m sure someone will hurry to tell me.



• The fight scenes as Curry tries to keep Stokely from going after Heyes at Sarah’s are just wonderful. In order to kill half an hour, Kid nearly has to kill himself fighting with Stokely. The pull down of Stokely from his horse by Kid is good—it reminds us Kid is no weakling, and it is also quite funny if you watch Monte Markham and not Ben in that instant. Stokely flying over the hitching post as he takes a leap at Kid, as if in some grotesque western ballet, is excellent also.



• The conversation between Sarah and Heyes about her husband’s problem with alcohol is haunting. I am sure I am not the only one who stops and thinks, with sadness, of Peter as we see a close up of his face, cheerless and knowing, when Sarah speaks of her husband’s personality becoming ugly when he drinks. And as Peter delivers the lines “Any man can want to change. I know that from a personal fact.” I feel like I want to cry, because I know that Peter also truly wanted to change. When this first aired, I don’t imagine many people were aware of Peter’s struggle with alcoholism, and would have taken the line to mean he is talking about trying to get amnesty. But we, now knowing the pain in his personal life, most certainly think of him speaking of his own struggles with alcohol. It is one of the moments in the series that just almost knocks the wind out of me.



• Heyes returns from talking to Sarah and his inaction as he watches the Kid fall at his feet on three occasions during the fight is so surprising and yet perfect, because we would expect Heyes to get involved and protect his friend. I think both boys kind of like to see the other get knocked around a bit, almost as sport, as long as they aren’t being seriously injured.

• I believe I might take a beating myself, if it meant pulling myself up the legs of Hannibal Heyes to get to my feet. Pretty close proximity to the best of the best… *giggle*

• It was quite a fight, as evidenced by the fact that the stunt doubles doing the fighting and flying through the air actually received billing for their participation in this episode.

• Ben’s facial expressions during the fight scene after Heyes returns are exceptional, and the look on Kid’s face as he dejectedly follows Heyes, who is helping Jim walk after the fight, makes me laugh out loud. These fight scenes are so amusing to me. I think the comedy in this episode is really top notch.



• Our ever-scheming Heyes gets Stokely all comfortable in the hotel room with the promise of a message from Sarah…only to have Kid tie him up at gunpoint. Seems like Heyes is always one step ahead of the game and certainly one step ahead of me at figuring things out!
• No matter how many times I have seen it, I laugh uproariously at the moment the Kid puts the gag in Stokely’s mouth and Jim keeps talking…and when Kid tells him not to get himself all upset, and Jim yells “UPSET?” through the gag I nearly lose myself in hysterics. This is such excellent comedy timing and execution. Just fantastic!

• Is that Peter’s dog Carroll playing with the people on the porch as the carriage Heyes, the Kid and Sarah are riding in passes by? It looks like her, but my wonder dog Justin just isn’t positive—he only professes to intimate knowledge of Shoshone’s bark. I think it is Carroll though, and I am always moved by the idea that Peter had the dogs at the set often.



• Mr. Henderson is wearing an effeminate print sweater vest and orange blouse, er, shirt to welcome his wayward wife back home to the nest. I think, had I been him, I would have been sure to wear something supremely masculine; something that would speak of treasures to come and make her happy to have come home.



• I love that Heyes reads and gets so deeply into the story that he doesn’t really hear Kid talking to him. In some scenes, Kid becomes jealous of the book taking Heyes’ attention away from him, like an ignored wife trying to get her husband’s attention during a football game. It is that love dynamic again…and I often marvel at the fact that the stories of the relationship between Heyes and the Kid are written in a way that one of the characters could actually be a woman. At one point Kid threatens to get his own book if Heyes doesn’t stop reading. The timing of Heyes’ response is exquisite. He looks over at Kid, says nothing…nothing…nothing, and finally lets out the smallest mocking laugh—pretty clearly saying ‘who are you kidding’—before he turns his attention back to his book. Absolutely brilliant comic timing on Peter’s part.



• As I watch the scene of Ben and Peter on the bed as Kid talks to an inattentive Heyes, I wonder what the scar on Ben’s chin is from. I am very familiar with the scars on Peter’s face, and know how they came to be, but I know nothing about Ben’s scar. My guess, though, would be a bicycling accident when he was a boy.



• I know it is just for the purpose of aesthetics, but I am always tickled by the fact that in every crowd scene, our boys very easily make their way to the front of the crowd…it is like the parting of the Red Sea letting them glide through the pack to the front. It always gives me a tiny tingle of pride at the importance of our two outlaws, even though I am certain it isn’t meant to give that impression.
• Maybe Hank Peterson was murdered because of his poor choice of clothing. He certainly should have been.
• Mrs. Henderson sure doesn’t look too broken up over the death of her husband as she enters the sheriff’s office to see Jim. I don’t know if this is the actress’ or the director’s failing, but it is unsettling that she seems no more interested when Heyes gives his condolences than if he had said “Nice weather, ma’am.”
• I can not stand that actor playing the lawyer, Roger Perry. He used to be married to Joanne Whorley (who, by the way, would probably make it on my list of the 25 most annoying celebrities of all time) and I remember always thinking he was a fake because he wore long hair down on his face like pretend sideburns. Even as a kid, I thought he was totally “uncool”. He does ok in this role, but nothing spectacular; and my opinion of him hasn’t changed much.
• The idea that when Heyes stops talking because he is captivated with the book he is reading, the Kid carries on long soliloquies is very intriguing. It is very possible the Kid has been quite intellectually adept all along, but has simply stepped aside to let Heyes shine in that role for the pair, just as we know Heyes is fully capable of taking care of himself with his gun but has always acquiesced to Kid’s skill in that area…
• Heyes is always thinking and has a mind like a steel trap. He is always able to see how something he has learned can benefit the boys in whatever situation they might be in. I love that he reads Life on the Mississippi and finds a thread that helps him develop a scheme to uncover the real killer of Hank Henderson.



• What is that inside the back of Peters’ shirt on the ride to the cabin where the shotgun is? It could be a mic pack, I guess. Or maybe Peter’s back was bothering him and he was wrapped as he often needed to be. Either way, they should have had him in a vest to cover the 20th century intrusion…
• This actor—Roger Perry—gets my nomination as “Least Competent Horse Rider in a Western Series Guest Role”. What a freakin’ dink. I noticed it before as he was urging the horse forward when leaving Mr. Henderson’s house early in the episode, but this scene where he and the boys arrive at the cabin just absolutely takes the cake. This fool is pulling back on the reins, wanting the horse to stop, while at the same time spurring it forward with his feet, completely confusing the horse. I have ridden a horse exactly twice in my life, and even I know you’d have to be a real doofus to not see the dilemma this poor horse is being placed in…
• “I aimed to just wing him, but…I missed.” Said with as much feeling as “I meant to boil eggs, but I forgot.” Aw. Better luck next life, Mr. Foster.

  

• Off ride our boys with Jim Stokely in anticipation of getting paid for proving who murdered Henderson. I think Monte Markham had good chemistry with Ben and Peter, and might have been a fine recurring character. Or dare I say it, a possible replacement for Peter.