Television: 'The Adventures of Brisco County jr: High Treason, Part 2' (1994) (Episode 1x26)

It's over. 'The Adventures of Brisco County jr' is over, and they pulled out all the stops to finish it. No gag was left unpulled, no silliness unexpressed, no chance to use Comet's tricks passed by, and there was an airship. The ultimate expression of Professor Wickwire's inventive genius was an airship! Every single recurring character except for Dixie Cousins, who got her own sendoff in 'And Baby Makes Three', reunited in a supreme blob of brilliant nuttiness. In truth, part one was a lot stronger, but a final episode is a very difficult thing to make, especially in the wake of a series' cancellation. This is essentially an encore to everything that ever worked in the show, and a polite forgetting of the things which didn't.

This was a great one-season show, an experiment which worked creatively but never found the audience it needed and deserved, and was one of the pearls of a decade in television caught between the excesses of the 1980s and the revisionism and homages of the  of the 2000s. It was a homage to the old movie serials, a buddy comedy, a fusion of every genre they could fit in to an hour each week, and an optimistic view of the future seen from the now distant past. Yes, it was great to think of 'the things to come' back then, and it should be now too. It's strange to think of that spirit of invention, now long gone. Do people still invent things? Do they?

'Brisco County jr' had the magic balance of a great cast, superb writers, and a gaggle of talented directors. Now it's over. There won't be any more playful banter between Bruce Campbell, Julius Carry and Christian Clemenson. There will be no more flirtatious bantering with the delightful Kelly Rutherford as Dixie, no more wackiness with the legendary John Astin as Wickwire, no more bizarre encounters with dopey Pete Hutter and Whip Morgan. It was great while it lasted.

Did 'Brisco County jr' fulfil its promise? It's hard to say. The most blatant science fictional arc of John Bly and the annoyingly named 'Orb' fizzled badly and eventually was closed out of the show, but the chemistry of the cast and the love of homages to the future and adventure propelled it more and more, especially post-cancellation. For once, a cancelled series did unfurl its wings when there was nothing left to prove, and set out to have some fun while the sun was shining. Yes, you could say that it did fulfil its potential by not having to save anything for future seasons. Every angle did get played, and then it all stopped before it could be played out. Was it ever more than a fun romp? Yes. It was a great fun romp! Thank you, people behind 'Brisco County jr', you did well.

O.


Note: I wrote about the first episode at http://mightyclomp.blogspot.com/2015/04/television-adventures-of-brisco-county.html .