The Return of Jimmy Blackhorse, April 28, 1998

By Shirley

This was the much-hyped episode with Grammy winner Trisha Yearwood - her dramatic acting debut. Here and now I have to confess my total ignorance of country music - old country, new country, country & western, whatever. I had heard of her, but that was the sum of it. My husband assured me that the songs they played during the episode were all hers. I am not here to critique her songs, although I must say that I enjoyed them in the context of the show. I thought she did a good job portraying Lt.Cmdr. Teresa Coulter, and I don't even need to qualify that statement in any way. Acting debut or not, she was totally convincing. I liked her character, too.

This is more than I can say about the story itself. I found it to be rather contrived. I kept feeling that TPTB were filming this episode as though they were under close scrutiny, stepping gingerly on eggshells, and scared to death of offending someone, anyone. They couldn't seem to decide which way to go with the Navajo characters either. For instance, I felt that the character of Margaret could have been much much stronger, but the script backed off after the initial strong impact, and we were left in the dark. The actress portraying her, Betty Carvalho, certainly would have been capable of sustaining this role of a grande dame with a heart, who was as tough as she needed to be, commanding respect and obedience from everyone, native and white alike, for the entire length of the episode.

In point of fact, at times, especially during the party scenes, it felt almost like I was watching a National Geographic documentary. At other times, it was a collage of clips of many other shows, jumbled together. I found it most unsettling, even boring.

This was the episode where Harm gives up smoking cigars. Apparently DJE had given up the habit months earlier, and his character was now following suit. I am a rabid anti-smoker (being severely allergic to smoke), but I have to admit that, from the safety of my smoke-free living room, there is something so very sexy about the way that DJE as Harm handles his cigars. Some of my very favourite pictures of Harm are the ones where he is playing with a cigar. (For goodness' sakes please erase all thoughts of any kind of symbolism from your minds. We're talking about a pure art form here. <BG>). I enjoyed the little bits of business involving Harm's struggle to kick the habit, especially the one of Coulter lighting up and the pathetic look on Harm's face as he stared avidly at her cigar. Of course, the last scene with the chocolate cigar was wonderful. Yum! Hey, I love chocolate, OK? <LOL>

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