Comments from The I Spy Forum continued
The three best scenes are: When Kelly and Scotty are talking at the bar, Kelly seems to be only concerned about their partnership dissolving, but when we see the note, we learn that his real concern is that Scotty is going to be hurt by Tonia, who he naturally has a very low opinion of because of the letter he received. And Scotty is upset because he really likes the girl and hates using her -- "At this point, my job stinks" he says. The second one is when Kelly visits Tonia, and they learn to respect and like one another, and Kelly talks about how important Scotty's friendship is to him, calling him his "family". Kelly says with conviction that Scotty will not prove her wrong, when she suggests that she will take a chance and believe in him. And the third scene is the one I already mentioned, where Scotty seems to believe that Kelly killed the girl, and explodes in anger, but later we learn that he really knows Kelly is innocent, but wants the real killer to think he is "buying it".
Kelly's gambit, telling the story of Rudi's life to Cesare works pretty well, but it's hard to believe that Rudi would really have let it go that far. And I like the scene at the end when Scotty says he has to say good night to a building, and Kelly says "I'll walk with you".
There are a lot of good lines in the episode, my favorites being "I'm known as the Bucket Seat Clarence Darrow", "Creeping Capitalism", and "She thought she was in love with a tennis player. What she was in love with as it turned out, was freedom!"
Overall, one of my favorite episodes from the second season, and I grade it an A.
July 18 2003 at 4:49 PM
From: Alta
Well, what can I say after the Colonel's admirable exposition? Covered every point!
I've always considered this an A episode too . My favorite thing about it is what it showed us about the relationship of the two agents. There was inherent trust from Scotty, concern for a friend from Kelly, a typical offering of comfort from Kelly to Scotty (very low key but there). Best yet was the outburst from Scotty, pool cue and all. Scotty doesn't do wide open emotional outbursts as a rule, so this was all the more shocking and very effective. Gave Bill Cosby some time to show his acting chops too.
Definitely a keeper .
Alta
July 20 2003 at 12:39 PM
From: Chris
Well there isn't much I can add to the brilliant review of the Colonel .. only a few additional thoughts after re watching the episode. I don't have this episode in English so far so all dialogs I am referring to are part of the German dubbing. Should it be too different from the real version, please be gentle with me:-)
I like the episode very much because it's a nice mixture of light easy going moments and serious elements.
Also it's special because it's the only time ( please correct me if I am wrong ) in the whole show that the racial issue was mentioned. So it was a very delicate episode in a way which has been perfectly handled by all actors.
Liked the scene in the beginning when Scotty told Kelly ( with a twinkle in his eyes .. ok .. literally :-) that Tonia thought Kelly would be his master and Kelly's reaction then ... how should she know that that isn't reality, not true anymore.
Maybe I am interpreting too much into it but I always took that as a statement. Race is no longer an issue anymore. Not, that it shouldn't be, it ISN'T anymore.
I enjoyed those wonderful scenes with Scotty and Tonia selling pies, the setting, the easy mood, the music. Everything fits together perfectly.
I also laughed about the very stereotype cliché of the tourists buying the pies. Then the famous bar scene.... great to finally see the duo reversed... Scotty the emotional and Kelly the one speaking as the voice of reason. Great interaction between them!
And I always took Kelly's sentence "the cloth is torn".. (that's the translation we got) symbolic. Of course he was referring to the pool cloth, but this sentence also described the situation between Kelly and Scotty at the very moment... the cloth, the relationship between them was torn, or at
least it had some tears.
Then the key scene of the whole episode ( at least for me ), Zugman explaining Tonia this plan. Here is the racial issue present again ... Zugmann showing the newspaper clips of Kelly's and Scotty's tour around the world. Both as equals together on the photos, not as "star" and his manager, but both as equal friends. There is total harmony, black or white isn't important and that's what destroys his plans and theories. So his main aim is to "correct" this picture by making them split up and pushing a spike between them. Then he won't be confronted anymore with this kind of "negative propaganda" against his theories.
By the way .. have you noticed the very German name Rudi Zugmann?? :-))) I
really wonder whether this is just a coincidence or done on purpose to give this racist a German name. Well, if it was on purpose... a note to the author :-) of this script... This is very very STEREOTYPE again, and the show (and especially this episode) is too good to be in need of such poor propaganda.
As Kelly says later on..."I had prejudices, I was stupid."
Which leads me to the wonderful scene in Tonia's flat. Liked the way Kelly apologized to Tonia very much... this was very pure, very honest and excellently played by Mr. Culp. Kelly was really meaning it, he was ready to accept Tonia as part of his family.
And I think Kelly's statement was in a way also referring to Mr. Culp's own opinion about racial issues and prejudices. (judging from what I have read about his work in the civil rights movement) To have prejudices is stupid and I guess we all agree on that!!!!
I also loved Kelly saying that Scotty is not only his partner, but also his best friend. Very sweet and one of my favourite moments.
Another fave scene of mine is the moment as Kelly is confronted with the news of Tonia's death. Again perfectly played by Mr. Culp... this look of pure shock in his face, which changes immediately to compassion and support for Scotty.
|
Trace the complete plotss of 
