"A Cure for Johnny Rain" is an... okay episode. Mostly for Garner as Bret. There's nothing wrong with the episode, but there's nothing particularly right with it, either. It's... okay.
Part of the humor is that the title character, Johnny, is such a gee-gosh "Code of the Old West"-following character, but we just saw a similar character, Smoky Vaughn, a few weeks earlier. He was done more subtly than Johnny is here, and writer Leonard Praskins does a lot of telling, not showing. We keep hearing how Johnny has helped all the townspeople and is such a great guy, but we never see it. It doesn't help that Johnny is a bit of an idiot: he didn't suspect a thing about his girlfriend Millie encouraging him to keep drinking? This makes him at the very least gullible, and a gullible character isn't an enjoyable one to spend an hour's episode with.
Once the "Johnny is so great" dialogue starts coming, it's laid on with all the subtlety of a brick, mortar, and trowel. And again, we never see _why_ the sheriff and deputy are so fond of Johnny that they're willing to resign rather than either hang Johnny when Bret works out that Johnny is the masked robber (did they hang stagecoach robbers, particularly when as we're told over and over, Robber Johnny never hurt anyone?), or at least try to make Johnny's case for him with Mayor Hadley.
It's also a bit odd that Johnny isn't just a blackout drunk as Bret describes, but gets a whole new (split) personality when he drinks. And that the townspeople, despite being so fond of him, let him drink himself into blackouts repeatedly and never check up on him afterward. But hey, alcoholism is funny!
William Reynolds does a good job of switching between the two Johnny "personalities". Maybe too good. He's not a blatant Jekyll/Hyde good/evil personality: Good Johnny tends to "blend in" with Robber Johnny. Also at the end, as Dr. Bret concludes, the shock of Millie betraying Johnny (and shooting him!) causes the two personalities to merge. Kids, don't try that at home!
The best part of the episode is Garner. I like both his reaction to Hadley offering him the job as sheriff, and later his little aside to the fake tree Johnny uses to conceal the mine road spur. "Christmas tree." It does look like Charlie Brown's pathetic Christmas tree, albeit full-sized. There's also Bret's rather smug noting at the end that Johnny arrested the mayor and sheriff on possession of the stolen loot, not intention to return it. Although if that's a true legal ruling, it makes you wonder how Bret ever returned any of the stolen money he recovered in various episodes. Wouldn't possession of stolen money override his intention to return it for a reward?
The rest of the cast is okay. Dolores Donlon is easy on the eyes, and I'm a fan of John Vivyan. Writer Praskins sneaks in several lines about Vivyan's character worrying about his hands, which becomes a running gag of sorts. No one is bad, they just don't have much to do.
Overall, "Cure" is an okay episode of 'Maverick'. Nothing spectacular. Come for the Garner performance, stay for the Garner performance. But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
Part of the humor is that the title character, Johnny, is such a gee-gosh "Code of the Old West"-following character, but we just saw a similar character, Smoky Vaughn, a few weeks earlier. He was done more subtly than Johnny is here, and writer Leonard Praskins does a lot of telling, not showing. We keep hearing how Johnny has helped all the townspeople and is such a great guy, but we never see it. It doesn't help that Johnny is a bit of an idiot: he didn't suspect a thing about his girlfriend Millie encouraging him to keep drinking? This makes him at the very least gullible, and a gullible character isn't an enjoyable one to spend an hour's episode with.
Once the "Johnny is so great" dialogue starts coming, it's laid on with all the subtlety of a brick, mortar, and trowel. And again, we never see _why_ the sheriff and deputy are so fond of Johnny that they're willing to resign rather than either hang Johnny when Bret works out that Johnny is the masked robber (did they hang stagecoach robbers, particularly when as we're told over and over, Robber Johnny never hurt anyone?), or at least try to make Johnny's case for him with Mayor Hadley.
It's also a bit odd that Johnny isn't just a blackout drunk as Bret describes, but gets a whole new (split) personality when he drinks. And that the townspeople, despite being so fond of him, let him drink himself into blackouts repeatedly and never check up on him afterward. But hey, alcoholism is funny!
William Reynolds does a good job of switching between the two Johnny "personalities". Maybe too good. He's not a blatant Jekyll/Hyde good/evil personality: Good Johnny tends to "blend in" with Robber Johnny. Also at the end, as Dr. Bret concludes, the shock of Millie betraying Johnny (and shooting him!) causes the two personalities to merge. Kids, don't try that at home!
The best part of the episode is Garner. I like both his reaction to Hadley offering him the job as sheriff, and later his little aside to the fake tree Johnny uses to conceal the mine road spur. "Christmas tree." It does look like Charlie Brown's pathetic Christmas tree, albeit full-sized. There's also Bret's rather smug noting at the end that Johnny arrested the mayor and sheriff on possession of the stolen loot, not intention to return it. Although if that's a true legal ruling, it makes you wonder how Bret ever returned any of the stolen money he recovered in various episodes. Wouldn't possession of stolen money override his intention to return it for a reward?
The rest of the cast is okay. Dolores Donlon is easy on the eyes, and I'm a fan of John Vivyan. Writer Praskins sneaks in several lines about Vivyan's character worrying about his hands, which becomes a running gag of sorts. No one is bad, they just don't have much to do.
Overall, "Cure" is an okay episode of 'Maverick'. Nothing spectacular. Come for the Garner performance, stay for the Garner performance. But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
