I remembered absolutely nothing about “The Night of the Bars of Hell’ before I watched it for this review. Now that I have seen it again after twenty plus years, I am still having trouble remembering anything about it. The episode is about as run of the mill as they come.Jim and Artie go undercover to investigate a corrupt warden who is allowing his prisoners out in order to commit crimes while offering cover for them to return in exchane for a cut. The warden plans to blow up the prison once he has made enough to retire I order to cover his tracks.
The mystery of what is going on is uncovered by the second act. The remainder of the episode deal with a pointless boxing match within the prison Jim is forced into so the episode can meet its fist fight quota and Artie rescuing Jim from bein executed in the electric chair.
Unfortunately, the first electric chair was not used until 1889, which is somewhere between twelve and nineteen years after this episode times place. The dates are a little fuzzy most of the time, but Ulysses S. Grant was president for the show’s entire run. The warden is not one of those diabolical geniuses with inventions far ahead of their time. The electric chair serves as an annoying anachronism.
There is not much to recommend “The Night of the Bars of Hell.” The plot is so thin, it barely merit’s a mention in the final three acts. Jim and Artie’s escape is stretched out over those final three acts. Not that the escape saves the episode with any particular thrills. I cannot honestly call it a bad episode. There is just nothing interesting about it.
Rating: ** (out of 5)
