This is the one with the enigmatic title. Bart is playing poker at the Bella Union and plans to buy half the hotel when a showgirl steals his money and heads to Mexico. Karen is the Norwegian can-can girl, and Bart follows her south of the border. A fiesta marking the death of the traitor Judas is in progress. There are fireworks, and a big statue of Judas is burned. People wear masks, and there is dancing. Bart finds Karen and demands his $20,000. She does not have it. She deposited it in the Wells Fargo Bank before leaving New Mexico. Ladies man Bart uncharacteristally gets rough with Karen. She takes a liking to him. The Mavericks are not businessmen or hard workers, so it is a stretch to believe Bart would buy into a hotel.
3 Reviews
Yumpin' Yiminy, a Scandinavian thief
bkoganbing30 August 2018
This episode has Bart Maverick looking maybe to own a gambling establishment
and he's got plans to go into partnership with John Vivyan. Then Swedish saloon
girl Anna-Lisa up and steals his money and unless he gets it back the deal ain't
happening.
So Jack Kelly goes on the trail and the girl has a gift of gab to rival a Maverick. He can't get her to come clean with some facts. In addition Kelly has to deal with Richard Garland who has apointed himself a protector of Anna-Lisa.
Liked the cast, but the script and story was kind of vague from start to finish
So Jack Kelly goes on the trail and the girl has a gift of gab to rival a Maverick. He can't get her to come clean with some facts. In addition Kelly has to deal with Richard Garland who has apointed himself a protector of Anna-Lisa.
Liked the cast, but the script and story was kind of vague from start to finish
A Very Un-Maverick 'Maverick' Episode
Gislef20 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Well, it has Bart in it, so I shouldn't be surprised. This is a season 2 episode, so I suppose it makes sense that Bart has a more serious script, back when Garner was getting the more light-hearted episodes. But "Judas Mask" is dry as dirt.
For starters, Bart is buying into a 50/50 partnership in a New Mexico casino. Why. Because IITS (It's In the Script). Why Bart is giving up the life of a wandering gambler, is never explained. We're pretty tossed into the whole Bart/partnership subplot in media res. How Bart met his partner, Walter Osbourne, or didn't do some checking on him first, is also never explained.
We get a lot of stock footage of Mexican festivities, as Bart chases the enigmatic Karen to a Mexican "village" (which looks bigger than Mexico City!). She lies constantly to Bart, but is also charmed by him and he by her. Also involved is an ex-Andersonville Civil War POW, Elliott, and a local bandit/kidnapper named Enrico.
Karen is eventually swayed by Bart's manly charms. There's some horseback and stagecoach riding, which seems par for the course for a Bart episode. There's a lot of runaround, as Karen takes the money, and escapes, and Bart catches up to her, and she escapes, and he catches up to her, and she escapes. I think it only happens three times, but I lost count because there's a _lot_ padding between the set pieces. And interminable footage of the celebration, which involves Judas and provides an episode title.
And is there some significance to Judas and the masks (there is no one single "Judas mask"). There's a lot of camera-time dedicated to the masks, including Bart staring intently at a burning Judas statue at the end. But nothing ever comes of it.
Also, Anna-Lisa just isn't that impressive a leading lady. She's attractive enough, but it's particular funny when Bart says that he's going to wring her "pretty young neck." Bart would probably break a couple of fingers trying. Anna-Lisa was a mainstay in TV of the 50s and 60s, but she doesn't do well here as a Western can-can girl. Thankfully, we never get to see her dance.
And there's the bit with Enrico. Who is introduced when he's standing outside Karen's room staring at her. Rather than run screaming or grab the 19th century version of mace, Karen just shrugs and lets Enrico saunter off. He's just there to give Bart a third-act opportunity to act manly: he has nothing to do with the story otherwise.
Overall, "The Judas Mask" is another Bart/Western type episode. He gambles a little bit at the beginning, but there's no... Maverick "fun" to the episode. Karen is a forgettable female lead, the whole Bart/Walter is just... there, and so is the bit with Elliott being a broken man because he was a POW at Andersonville. Like the Judas mask(s), I guess we're supposed to make something of it. Because the writers never do.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
For starters, Bart is buying into a 50/50 partnership in a New Mexico casino. Why. Because IITS (It's In the Script). Why Bart is giving up the life of a wandering gambler, is never explained. We're pretty tossed into the whole Bart/partnership subplot in media res. How Bart met his partner, Walter Osbourne, or didn't do some checking on him first, is also never explained.
We get a lot of stock footage of Mexican festivities, as Bart chases the enigmatic Karen to a Mexican "village" (which looks bigger than Mexico City!). She lies constantly to Bart, but is also charmed by him and he by her. Also involved is an ex-Andersonville Civil War POW, Elliott, and a local bandit/kidnapper named Enrico.
Karen is eventually swayed by Bart's manly charms. There's some horseback and stagecoach riding, which seems par for the course for a Bart episode. There's a lot of runaround, as Karen takes the money, and escapes, and Bart catches up to her, and she escapes, and he catches up to her, and she escapes. I think it only happens three times, but I lost count because there's a _lot_ padding between the set pieces. And interminable footage of the celebration, which involves Judas and provides an episode title.
And is there some significance to Judas and the masks (there is no one single "Judas mask"). There's a lot of camera-time dedicated to the masks, including Bart staring intently at a burning Judas statue at the end. But nothing ever comes of it.
Also, Anna-Lisa just isn't that impressive a leading lady. She's attractive enough, but it's particular funny when Bart says that he's going to wring her "pretty young neck." Bart would probably break a couple of fingers trying. Anna-Lisa was a mainstay in TV of the 50s and 60s, but she doesn't do well here as a Western can-can girl. Thankfully, we never get to see her dance.
And there's the bit with Enrico. Who is introduced when he's standing outside Karen's room staring at her. Rather than run screaming or grab the 19th century version of mace, Karen just shrugs and lets Enrico saunter off. He's just there to give Bart a third-act opportunity to act manly: he has nothing to do with the story otherwise.
Overall, "The Judas Mask" is another Bart/Western type episode. He gambles a little bit at the beginning, but there's no... Maverick "fun" to the episode. Karen is a forgettable female lead, the whole Bart/Walter is just... there, and so is the bit with Elliott being a broken man because he was a POW at Andersonville. Like the Judas mask(s), I guess we're supposed to make something of it. Because the writers never do.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
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