Tuesday, November 29, 2016

BJ and the Bear S2 E11: Fly A Wild Horse


Originally aired on December 8, 1979
Directed by Christian I. Nyby II
Written by Richard Kelbaugh

B.J. and Bear are tooling through the desert, minding their own business. And, of course, you know that means they're about three feet away from trouble. A herd of wild horses being led by a young Native American gentleman named Sixkiller cause B.J. to crash his rig. Oh well. He'll get his rig free and keep on going. And, of course, you know that means that some police will be showing up soon. Yes, a sheriff and a fat deputy. But, the twist here is that the sheriff is a good guy and the deputy is crooked. But, once the rig is free, B.J. can be on his way. And, of course, you know that means that he and Bear will become involved with a greedy land owner who is rounding up all the wild horses, illegally, from the reservation. Of course, you might also realize that B.J. has a delivery for the greedy jerk. But, once the delivery is made, B.J. can return to Country Comfort...  No. He winds up meeting up with Sixkiller and his very attractive sister Zena...  and he helps them stop the greedy land owner from rounding up the horses...  And then he marries the sister and settles down in the desert.

Some of that paragraph was a lie. But not much.

I think I'm more Native American than this guy
I am, however, quite fond of his sister

Fly A Wild Horse is a variation on most episodes of this show, mainly from the first season. B.J. stumbles into the lives of a bunch of people. He and Bear help out these people. (Of course, we're working under the theory that he's automatically on the right side of things.) Then, he leaves their lives, never to return. It's just this time there's a white guy pretending to be a Native American guy. And there are lots of horses.


Guess which one is the jerk

I had a tough time getting terribly interested in this episode. It's just far too generic. Once we meet the greedy jerk and his henchmen, it all seems so familiar that I was hoping we wouldn't have to watch all the conniving...  and the fat deputy being a jerk...  and the sequences where Sixkiller and B.J. meet, distrust and then bond...  and the sequences with the sister (no, I liked her)...  and all the plot that we've seen before. The only part of this episode that grabbed me was the reveal of what the jerky guy is doing with the wild horses. That I liked. The rest carries the viewer along with the minimum of fuss...


Oh that jerk!

All right, I don't want to run down this episode. It's substantially no different from most of the others. I think it may have been when I watched it. I wasn't quite in the mood but I am (to be frank with y'all) wanting to post the Christmas episode up in Early December. So, I'm watching Fly A Wild Horse while simply not in the mood. And, it comes up frighteningly generic. And this is slightly worrisome.

He runs the Desert Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things

I've always championed B.J. and the Bear as being awesome awesome television even when it sometimes clearly is not. But, oh boy...  when I come across an episode that sort of washes over me and I have to struggle to remember it (and has another rotten cop on it) I could be falling prey to what I am trying to defend against. I hope not, though. I'm hoping it has something to do with just not being in the mood. I know I enjoy the Christmas episode and we are now halfway through this season...  I can see my least favorite episode looming but we'll deal with that when we come to it...

Big Rig Hits Abandoned Car In The Middle Of The Desert!
Film at 11

For now, all I can muster is "If you like the show, this episode is more of it." Not the most inspiring thing I've said about our favorite Trucker With A Chimp program. But, sometimes it's all you've got. It's been a long year, folks. Consider this episode a sacrifice so we can get to the Christmas show...  and move along. (Maybe after Season 2 has been fully reviewed I will re-review this one?)

 Letting out the wild horses

If she had been on the show two episodes before,
she could have been one of "B.J.'s Sweethearts."

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