Dr. Loveless makes his second appearance, firmly establishing himself as our heroes’ archenemy. He continues to be humorously portrayed as a genius of conflicting sensibilities. One who both abhors violence, but has no qualms about killing 5,000 men, women, and children in a quest to get what is “rightfully” his.Loveless concocts a plot with a twist on the old, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” idea by kidnapping Jim and replacing him with an exact double, Janus. Clever, no? Janus, in Roman mythology, is the two-faced god of doorways. With Janus, Loveless will destroy the Secret Service, get his explosive formula back, ad blackmail the country into handig over Southern California.
Loveless has invented plastic surgery, you see. He is far better at it than any modern surgeon, too. But you knew that already.
Two flaws. One, although Jim has learned every minute detail of Jim’s life and passes a close physical inspection by Artie, Loveless does not count on a lie about Jim haven been given another assignment on the sly is exposed by a telegraph from Washington with assurances they have not heard from Jim in two weeks. Two,--and this is really important--Loveless did not force Jim to wear a different outfit than Janus, so when the time comes to execute Jim, Loveless does not know who is who. Some genius.
I am going to overlook the fact Loveless was training Janus to mimic Jim’s voice earlier and assume he was surgically altered. Otherwise, Janus could have just spoken up in his real voice. The issue constitutes a very large plot hole otherwise. I do loathe those.
Artie helps rescue Jim ad foil Loveless’ plot. The maniacal dwarf returns to jail for the second time, which surprises me. I seem to recall from this point on, loveless’ fate is always up in the air at the end of his episodes I order to add to his mystique. Now I am unclear when that theme begins. Soon, I imagine.
“The Night that Terror Stalked the Town,” like every episode featuring loveless, is a true classic and one of the highlights of the series. Yes, I am overlooking that janus voice flaw in my determination.
Rating: **** (out of 5)
