“The Night of the Underground Terror’ makes an interesting historical twist. It takes a notorious Civil War POW camp, obviously based on the Confederate prison at Andersonville, and switches it to the union side with all atrocities intact. Highly politically incorrect, no? That is assuming anyone knows anything about Andersonville these days. Or the Civil War, for that matter.Jim and Artie are contacted in New Orleans by a group of former Confederate soldiers who were former prisoners. They have each been mutilated in horrible way, presumably by the torture they suffered at the camp. They have tracked down the escaped commandant, Col. Moseley, and want our heroes to catch and bring him to justice. They agree, considering Moseley has a court martial waiting for him over the atrocities he committed.
Our heroes steal Moseley away from his mansion, but are double-crossed by the former POW. They want to take matters into their own hands because they do not trust the military to bring true justice. They are still Confederates, after all. They take Moseley and Jim back to what is left of the POW camp for a show trial and quick execution.
Their true purpose is then revealed. They are neither crippled, nor former Confederates, but Union officers who were Moseley’s assistants in running the camp. Moseley had stolen a crate of gold for himself during the waning days of the war. They want to know were it is hidden, but could not go after Moseley themselves, so they conned our heroes into it. As far as plot twists for The Wild Wild West go, this is one of the better.
One does have to wonder about a few things. Why would Moseley sit on the gold for ten years without eer digging it up? How did he buy a mansion without ever having spent the gold? Was he not worried the former POW camp would be turn down and the gold discovered? The plan has its implausible elements.
Nevertheless, “The Night of the Underground Terror” is an entertaining episode. The twists are surprising. The story has a certain grittiness to it many episodes do not have. Moseley is played by veteran character actor Jeff Corey, who takes his second turn as a villain in the series. Corey makes a good villain, even in is 80’s on Babylon 5. Corey plays Moseley with the right amount of sadistic menace to mae you believe he gets his kicks from torturing POW
Ratig; *** (out of 5)
