the virginian - the wind of outrage (1968)

the way that shirt drapes over his torso..............

the "is this worth watching for lawrence dane" rating: 2.5/5

he has a pleasantly meaty role as the secondary guest star. top-billed guest is ricardo montalbán (!) and they play off each other quite well; it's believable that they're childhood friends. he gets to sing a little, play with guns, have a ponytail thing and unleash his curly hair, be charming but also menacing... that fake facial hair looks so bad tho, it's tragic. (i know i said i was gonna do him in the littlest hobo next but it was the 56th anniversary recently of this episode's air date so. there we go)

the plot: the episode opens with dane and his group of métis fur trappers intercepting the main characters; the cowboys are looking for an inn and the fur trappers are not welcoming. it turns out they're all looking for the same inn - one that happens to be owned by a character clearly modeled off the real-life louis riel, played by montalbán. dane's group has come to try and persuade him to return to canada after the british government reneged on promises made to the métis and first nations in exchange for montalbán's exile. meanwhile, there's a subplot between one of the main characters and montalbán's wife where apparently she used to be a desperate scammer trying to support her son and scammed the guy out of money he was carrying. (what is it with this show and people getting butthurt about their boss's money? same thing in scathelock lol.) instead of letting her get away with the money so she could feed herself and her son, he ratted her out to the cops and she lost custody of her son. and he's supposed to be the good guy?? at least he respects her wishes not to reveal her past to montalbán. they both have no idea who the other person was before they met.

there's a lot in this episode about past lives and social perceptions, but it doesn't really go anywhere because the majority of the episode is dedicated to the political intrigue around montalbán's character and figuring out the motives of dane's character. i couldn't bring myself to care about anything involving the main characters tbh but montalbán and his wife, played by lois nettleton (who i know best from the "midnight sun" episode of the twilight zone) work well together. i think montalbán just works well with a lot of people haha he had a commanding screen presence! dane does a pretty good job holding his own in their shared scenes, though.

since he features relatively prominently, i haven't done a dane cut. at the moment the episode is available via amazon for free if you can tolerate the ads, or elsewhere if you know where to look (season 7 episode 5, tho it might be mislabeled in some s7 torrents).


highlight: i really enjoy seeing him with the facial hair! such a shame it's so obviously fake that it only looks good in low light :pensive:




( joke about jacques and cocks sounding similar that i'm too tired to string together )