A prominent feature of the third season is the more straightforward western themes throughout. The villains are more political in nature, rather than over the top would be conquerors with wild science fiction laced plans. The episodes turned to camp quite often anyway, save for the episodes whose plots could well have fit in with ay of the western series popular in the late 60’s. Case in point is ’The Night of the Jack O‘ Diamonds.” It could just as easily be Matt Dillon as the protagonist as james West.Our heroes are assigned to escort a horse, which is a gift from Pres. Ulysses S. Grant to Pres. Benito Juarez. Just after they have crossed the border into Mexico, the horse is stolen by a revolutionary posing as their contact. He is with a group who wants to disrupt US relations with Mexico. The horse is immediately stolen from him by bandits. Jim and Artie have to sort out the whole mess before a diplomatic incident occurs.
The process of recovering the horse turns into the darkest, most violent episode of The Wild Wild West. Jim pursues the bandits alone and then the revolutionaries alongside the leader of the bandits, a man named El Sordo, once he realizes the horse is a gift for Juarez. Jim racks up an impressive body count by himself against the bandits. He ad El Sordo, combine for far more bloodshed. I stopped counting at thirty dead bodies, but not only did they not stop shooting, Artie eventually joins in to plug a few himself. The horse is recovered after everyone is dead.
“The Night of the Jack O’Diamonds” is as far from a typical episode of the series as it gets. Te violence is brutal and bloody. The pretty girl is thrown in for a few minutes just to fit the motif. There is only one instance of gadgetry. The ending--the entire episode, really--is one big gunfight. There is no cleverness to the plot or any creative twist.
If I was a bigger fan of westerns, I would probably think more highly of the episode, but I like The Wild Wild Wet for its high concept weirdness. It is not a ttal wash, mind you. The darker tone is strangely intriguing. But it feels very out of place compared to the rest of the series.
Rating: ** (out of 5)
