Adventures of Brisco County Jr. 7 - Pirates!

Plot: Brisco's after Blackbeard LaCutte (Andrew DiVoff), a member of John Bly's gang. LaCutte was a pirate but was driven from the seas by the various navies, and now he's reduced to robbing stagecoaches and covered wagons (albeit with his own armored up stage with a cannon on it). This time around he's robbed a family who was trying to rush their sick child to town. Brisco gets the child to Homestead Acres, but there's no medicine because LaCutte's men take everything. Bowler shows up, following Brisco's trail, and the two reluctantly team up. They're both captured and we learn how much the tycoons value Brisco when LaCutte demands a ransom. Socrates goes to negotiate, which gets him neatly mixed up in this as well. There are swordfights, Brisco swinging on ropes, death traps, double crosses, and Clayton (the sick boy's father) trying hard to be the dad he thinks his son wants.

Does Brisco use his gun? He did. He shot a wine cask to douse some black powder.

Things Comet does: Critique Brisco's lasso throwing. Pull dopes out of quicksand.

Kiss Count: 0 (9 for the season).

John Bly Spreads His Arms Dramatically: 0. Bly's not in this episode.

Is Pete Hutter in this Episode? No.

Pete Hutter Quote: N/A

Non-Pete Hutter Quote: Brisco - 'You wouldn't be offering to help, would you?' Bowler - 'Maybe. You offering me a reward?' Brisco - 'I'm not in this for the money, Bowler.' Bowler - 'You've got a deal.'

Brisco's Coming Things: I can't think of one. I don't believe Homestead Acres is a precursor to those planned, homogeneous suburbs we have today, even if that's what the name suggests.

Bly Gang Count: 1 Blackbeard LaCutte, drowned in quicksand (4 overall). Guess it was too much to hope for that last week was the start of Brisco bringing them in to stand trial.

Stuff the Orb Can Do: N/A

Other: I knew I'd seen Andrew DiVoff in something else, which isn't a surprise since he's been in a lot of stuff. I didn't expect it was A Low Down, Dirty Shame. What? I loved that movie when I was younger. He does make a fine pirate. LaCutte's got the flair I love in a villain. He even has a member of the crew to do illustrations of LaCutte and his men during and after their triumphs. Which is how they catch our heroes after they sneak into LaCutte's hideout. The artist drew the two of them partially hidden behind some crates without realizing what he was drawing. He's quite good, actually. I'd be fortunate to be so skilled.

You can't claim a bounty on a man who's lost to the quicksand. . . unless someone vouches for you apparently. This episode has the series first significant bar fight, when Brisco objects to how some of LaCutte's men are treating the help.

Brisco knows various remedies for diphtheria.

This episode is probably most notable for Brisco and Bowler working together. They've done so previously (The Orb Scholar, No Man's Land, Riverboat), but those have been situations where they approached the mission separately, and were thrown together once things started to get out of hand. Here, they agree to work together before they've even seen LaCutte or his men. It starts as a money thing, Bowler getting the reward for LaCutte, but Bowler encourages Brisco to escape without him at one point, and Brisco naturally comes back to rescue him. Then Brisco agrees to vouch for Bowler as to LaCutte's fate, so Bowler can still get the reward.

Though he's not a huge part of the episode, there's also a nice shift in Brisco and Socrates' relationship. Soc goes to negotiate with LaCutte personally, and is enough bold enough to tell the henchmen, he'll only negotiate face-to-face. Socrates had aided Brisco in his plans prior to that (Riverboat), but always with a bit of trepidation, since his and Brisco's styles didn't overlap much. Plus, that was Brisco getting him out of a mess Soc found himself in. Now he's willing to risk his neck for Brisco and Bowler.

There's a scene where Brisco checks in on the sick kid, and the kid is clearly struck with hero worship, which makes Clayton (who's listening in the next room) feel like less of a man. After he's left (when it won't stop him from possibly doing something foolish). Brisco tells his wife that when the boy's older, he'll understand how he should look up to his own father, for being brave enough to pull up stakes and move out West, take a chance to give his family a better life. It comes back to Brisco's father, I imagine. His dad would have been the kind a kid would look up to: The brave lawman, always out bringing in wanted criminals. The problem with that is it means he's never around for his wife, or his son. Clayton might not be the two-fisted, gunslinging lawman, but he's there for his family, trying to ease the burden on them.