The Smugglers episode 3 discussion:
R: Well, they tried valiantly to do iambic pentameter.
P: Sounded more like pentambic disaster.
Sp: It came out Klingon. Especially between Kewper and the Squire.
Sc: Yeah, my eyes started to glaze over about halfway through the planning scene.
R: Oh, such treasure they would have! Will there be ducats?
M: Haters gotta hate.
R: We got not just a Billy Fluff this week, but a Benji fluff.
P: He jumped on the next person’s line.
M: I actually enjoyed the language, and that they reached for it and tried. I thought it was fun and fit the spirit of the whole thing.
H: Something about the plotting too. It’s almost farcical the way the intricacy of plotting went. And I don’t mean in a humorous way. Everything comes together.
M: Timing. They’ve had fun with complexity and timing. The story has been intricately choreographed. And that went with the language to make the whole thing feel Shakespearian. Not as good as Shakespeare, but still fun.
Sp: So it was nice to have more Doctor and Pop-Eye and Eye-Candy in this one. It felt like they were more connected to the story. If felt like they went out of the way to have the Doctor reiterate why they should stay there. Yay morale center.
H: And that’s relatively new. We haven’t seen that much before. It really gives the Doctor a morale character that we get to see more throughout the rest of the series.
M: Someone decided to make him a good guy.
R: Instead of “Ah, the tide is out! Let’s dash!”
M: Well, we did learn that Ben will try anything once.
R: Well, he is a British sailor.
<laughter>
H: So, is Polly the designated Dodo of this episode or what? She blurts out everything to Kewper before they can shut her up.
R: I gotta say, Cherub is the best pirate name ever. The name could not be more perfect. He’s a filthy, backstabbing bastard, and the name is just perfect for that.
Sc: Yeah, we got to see Pike pike someone this week. Now we know he’s a bad guy for sure.
Sp: That was a highly disturbing scene.
H: Yeah, that was well done.
P: Not sleeping tonight. I failed to see why Jamaica died though. He died to show that the Captain was evil, but that was about it.
H: He allowed the Doctor and Kewper to escape. He failed, so he needed to die.
P: But he also provided the captain with lots of valuable information…
M: Because he’s a bad, bad man.
Sp: Well, he didn’t just kill him. He berated him, belittled him, humiliated him, got the information he needed, threatened him more, and THEN ran him through.
Sc: Management Secrets of Captain Pike.
M: First we put him on a Performance Improvement Plan.
R: No, that would be too cruel.
Sp: Then we lawyer up because we just killed the only black man on the show, and referred to him as “boy.”
H: Well, it was 1966 portraying 1666.
Sp: So the little gravestone name hunting thing to take them back to the crypt was a bit of fun.
H: I really likely the little touch where they were searching for old tomb stones, and Ben is like “This one is from 1552!” and Polly was like “That’s not that old.”
Sc: Well, I liked it.
Sp: Yeah, this was good.
P: I think, as far as plot velocity, this episode was slower than the previous one.
Sp: I didn’t feel it. I felt like it clipped along, except for the Klingon opera in the middle between Kewper and Poofy Faircut.
R: Sir Leadberry de Fluffbonnet.
A: Gaylord von Swankypants.
H: I just have to say, one of the stills they chose for the Squire talking, was possibly one of the least flattering still pictures I’ve seen in my life.
R: He looks like he just inhaled a fly.
H: He looks like a frog.
K: Final thoughts?
Cz: I felt like this episode should have been the end of it. First two leading up to it, and this one should have been the conclusion. It’s really slow. Is the next one the conclusion?
H: Yes.
Cz: Good.
Sp: Spoilers!
R: Ah, the voice of the Internet generation.
Sp: Herp derp herp derp herp derp.
Cz: DURP!
<argument ensues regarding the spelling of the term “derp”>
H: Moving on.
P: No music. I felt like the story lacked action. While there was plot movement, it lacked action.
Sp: There was stabbing. The scheming didn’t do it for you?
P: I appreciate what I saw, but it didn’t motivate me to follow the plot. Maybe that’s me… I think that the story didn’t move with the same velocity as we had in previous weeks. I didn’t see the Doctor getting kidnapped as predictable, but I did predict what happened in this episode – except the bit where the Doctor gets morales.
M: I thought it was right along that line where the story does what you expect it to, but the characters surprise you, which is good.
H: Some of the thing about the plot of this episode specifically is that it’s more moving to and fro and setting things up for the final episode. That could be why there wasn’t as much action. All the threads are in place, but they delayed getting them together until next week.
M: It was an intermezzo, you might say. Or one of those things in chess where you make a move to setup a move later.
Sp: Zugzwang.
R: For my equine brethren! I’m looking forward to having that fat bastard dying so none of the horses have to look miserable again.
M: Are you kidding! It had pirates, hidden treasure, secret passages, stabbings, damsels in distress!
Sp: And Polly was in distress too!
H: Actually, Polly was in dispants.
<ugh!>
K: <cough cough cough – to sick for comments this week.>
H: Like I said, I feel like this episode is setting us up for a big climax next week. I don’t remember how this ends, I don’t remember who gets it or what happens to the pirates, and I’m looking forward to finding out.
K: Or, maybe you don’t remember cause it wasn’t very good?
H: Nah!
—
