If I thought the fake Romanian accents in the previous episode were too Boris and Natasha, I had not seen anything yet. “The Night of the Tartars” features nothing but Americans playing Russians. They are not plotting doom of moose and squirrel, but Jim and Artie.Our heroes are assigned to escort to escort a distant member of the czar’s family, who has been arrested for running an extortion ring against Russian immigrants in San Francisco, to Siberia in exchange for the falsely arrested American consul. He escapes Jim and Artie in an attempt to grab the hidden money and run, but fatally injured I the attempt. They decide to go to Siberia anyway, with Artie posing as the extortionist log enough to make the prisoner exchange. It wll work, because Artie speaks fluent Russian.
Of course he does.
Local dignitaries are not satisfied. They drug, kidnap tour heroes, and shanghai them to Siberia where they become the prisoners of Count Nikolai Savanov,. Savaov is also part of the extortion ring. He needs the money to pay off huge ambling debts so he can return to his lavish lifestyle back in St. Petersburg.
After various torturous episodes, the imprisoned American consul decides to tell Savanov where the money is once Jim theorizes where the extortionist was headed when he had his accident. The consul, surprisingly crooked, wants to split the money with Savanov. He winds up killed as Jim and Artie execute an elaborate escape.
The fun twist is they discover they have been fooled, Mission Impossible style into thing they have been drugged for the month long trip to Siberia when they are actually still just outside San Francisco. Very creative.
Savanov is played with vicious style by John Astin with more than a hint of Gomez Addams’ quiet sadism. It is a joy to watch into chew up the scenery in his over the top manner.
One bit of note is hi death scene. It is particularly gruesome for this show. Jim has to throw a knife to keep from being shot by Savanov. The knife embeds near hi heart, but Savanov calmly walks over to a table and pours himself a glass of vodka before collapsing. Maybe it disturbs me because it is such a unusual thing to see Astin play such a scene. He usually plays such likable, goofy characters, there is an added shock value to his character’s fate here.I cannot help but think “The Night of the Tatars” had a different receptio during the Cold War Era than it does now. I am a history buff, but I can only recognizea few subtle jokes and allusions the episode made to the then current Soviet Union without any of the emotional response. It is a picture of a poit in time with which I can oly appreciate the pro-freedom stance I the historical sense. It is an enjoyable episode nevertheless.
Rating : *** (out of 5)
