Project Rewatch: Season 2 Disc 2 Episodes 39-41
Some dudebros on Facebook got miffed about women running fanpages and called them "c*nts" last night - in the Monkees fandom. WTF, guys? This is, like, the original boy band here. Of course there are going to be female-run fanspaces! What is this, classic rock dudebroism?
Season 2 Disc 2 Episode 39: Hillbilly Honeymoon (a.k.a. Double Barrel Shotgun Wedding)
Synopsis: The boys are lost, and the Monkeemobile ends up in the middle of Swineville, which appears to be the town the Clampetts moved away from. The entire down has been divided by a white line into Weskitt territory and Chubber territory; only the line itself is safe territory for strangers. Davy happens to be in front, so the others send him to go get help, walking down the line. Ella Mae Chubber decides she likes what she sees and yanks him over to her side, into a haystack, where she smooches him; her father finds them and insists that Davy has to marry her now. Davy runs back to the line where Ella Mae's boyfriend, Judd, threatens him for kissing his girl, and a fight breaks out, ending with Maw Weskitt kidnapping Davy under the guise of getting him to help her across the street. Ella Mae tries to take Micky as her next best option, and Paw Chubber herds the remaining boys back to his place. Mike and Micky decide to rescue Davy; Peter is left with Paw as insurance, and Ella Mae tries to put the make on him, too. The Weskitts threaten to put Davy in their still; Mike and Micky disguise themselves as missing Weskitt cousins, and convince Judd and Maw that they're kin via a romp set to "Papa Gene's Blues." Micky lets a pig loose, and in the ensuing chaos, accidentally rescue a bag of oats; convinced it's Davy, Mike and Micky start bawling, accompanied by Davy, who was just in another sack. Unsure of what to do next, they consult the script and then head for Ella Mae's house to rescue Peter; they succeed, but Davy gets stuck on a nail and gets caught again. Paw marches Davy and Ella Mae to the altar while Mike, Micky, and Peter go to teach Judd how to treat a lady. They arrive at the barn wedding just in time to stop the proceedings, and yet another fight breaks out. Davy fetches the preacher back to marry Ella Mae and Judd; with the two families now kin, Maw Weskitt and Paw Chubber stop the fight, and the Monkees bow out of the ensuing hoedown.
This episode has two reasonably decent female characters. Ella Mae isn't about to let any man decide her future for her, even if she's depicted as a bit flighty (also jailbait - she's one day short of 16, just like Vanessa in the pilot episode), and when Davy finally asks her who she really wants, she chooses Judd rather than having him foisted off on her. Maw Weskitt is portrayed as fairly canny (and a sprightly 155 years old); she's pretty sure that Mike and Micky aren't really cousins, but she decides to listen to them anyway. Of course, they never actually talk to each other; if they ever did, the entire plot could probably have been avoided, and then what would the Monkees have done for that half hour?
There are a lot of jokes about Davy being British in this episode, including Maw declaring that she was born at the beginning of the War of 1812 and thus remembers being at war with England. When Judd tells him he's going to put him in the still and asks him what he thinks of that, Davy's response is "I think I'd make a good English gin - a little dry." There's a followup gag to that in the consulting-the-script business, but I couldn't hear it over the sound of the fourth wall collapsing. And later on Judd asks to borrow two bucks; Davy asks him how much that is in British currency, and the previously nearly-illiterate Judd does the calculation in his head.
This is the right way to do a Davy episode; the stakes are high throughout, none of the other Monkees is shorted dialogue, and the girl isn't a passive starry-eyed pawn. (Davy's not in full dazed-out crush mode, either; he seems to like her all right, but never really fall for Ella Mae.) I could do without the hillbilly stereotypes, but this is so clearly a spoof on the Beverly Hillbillies - instead of hillbillies in L.A., the Malibu beach bums have come to Hicksville - that I think it gets a pass on parody grounds.
Mike gets two particularly memorable bits; in the first, he explains to Peter that in towns like this, the inhabitants are kind, helpful, courteous people who change on a dime to a vengeful, hateful mob; when Peter asks how he knows that, Mike replies "Because these are my people." (I would quibble about East Texas versus Houston and Dallas, and hillbillies versus rednecks, but it was the '60s.) In the second, Paw Chubber is asking Ella Mae which of the three remaining Monkees she'd like to marry now that Davy has been kidnapped, and she says she likes Mike; his fourth-wall-bending response is "So do my wife and kids." (I believe Nesmith only had one kid at the time, although by the time this aired, he would have two more on the way - by two different women.)
The background music on this episode is by Flatt & Scruggs. Huh. Davy sings a few bars of his signature song from last season, "I Wanna Be Free," at two different points in the episode.
Don't let Micky navigate; this is the second time he's missed a turn (the first was Episode 7). I believe this is also the second time we've seen Micky cry rather than freak out; the last time was in Episode 6, and also over losing Davy, although at least that time he was merely being taken back to England, not made into sour mash. (Micky/Davy fodder?)
The Preacher in this episode was the Farmer in Episode 8.
This is the first time we've seen Peter in full hippie mode and Micky in the Itali-fro outside of the musical sequences. I'm not sure if the next few episodes swap back and forth or if they're in new mod mode from here on out; let's find out.
Season 2 Disc 2 Episode 40: Monkees Marooned
The answer was that they swap back and forth; this has shaggy!Micky instead of 'fro!Micky.
Synopsis: A shyster tries to sell Peter some photos of his stepson, then the city of San Diego, then finally a treasure map; Peter doesn't have any money, but he swaps his acoustic guitar for the map. The shyster then tries to sell Mike the guitar. The other Monkees scold Peter for being so gullible, but, since they have the treasure map and the island is only a few miles off the California coast, they rent a boat and go anyway. After a brief setback when Davy, in a commodore's tricorn, sinks the boat by overloading it and goes down with the ship (fortunately only a few feet from shore), they arrive on the island only to trip over an alarm wire and be captured by Major Pshaw and his man Thursday. Pshaw offers them tea and crumpets before he shoots them; Davy begs for a sporting chance, and Thursday agrees, so Pshaw begins counting off by fives. The other Monkees all hide behind Mike, then realize that they need to hide Mike; after encountering an old German doctor in a pith helmet, Mike suggests they split up - then has to clarify that he didn't mean breaking up the band. Just before they scatter, an ancient Tarzan clone named Kimba of the Jungle arrives; after Peter take a stab at translating his primitive speech, Kimba remembers how to speak English and explains that he was abandoned on the island by his production company back in 1916. Hearing Pshaw's dogs hot on their trail (they're really just a recording being carried on a portable reel-to-reel by Thursday), Kimba attempts to summon the creatures of the jungle, but gets only a chicken, a rabbit, a cat, and a puppy. Thursday appears and leads them back to Pshaw's cabin, figuring that Pshaw won't look there and he can give the boys their boat back as soon as night falls, but Pshaw catches up to them. Pshaw threatens the Monkees with torture, but Peter distracts him with the treasure map, which reveals that the treasure is under Pshaw's hut. Pshaw waves his guns around and insists that everyone dig, which they do, tearing up his floor; Davy finds a large chest, but it turns out to contain Kimba's leading lady rather than a treasure. She conks Pshaw on the head and everyone escapes in a romp set to "Daydream Believer." Back on the mainland, the shyster tries to sell Peter Liverpool; Peter summons a cop, who, rather than going after the con artist, asks Peter if he'd be interested in Cleveland instead. Peter pouts and storms off. [Unrelated video for "What Am I Doing Hanging 'Round?" follows.]
This episode does not have a strong plot, and hangs largely on the idea that following our four boys around on a semi-deserted island is funny in and of itself. They make it work, but it's still kind of a mess; the Monkees are simultaneously stumbling through a bad robinson Crusoe rip-off and a geriatric Tarzan film, and the episode might be better off having picked one of those and stuck with it. There's a couple of character bits - the other Monkees all hiding behind Mike, Peter getting swindled in the first place, Peter apologizing for getting them stuck on the island and ending up crying, Peter being able to understand Kimba for no reason, Davy fancying himself a commodore - but nothing really new.
Thursday could have been wildly problematic, except that it's obvious he's from California and Pshaw has just decided to dress him up as a savage. His costume isn't even consistent; it's made up of bits of African, Central American, and Celtic 'native' costumes, including a kilt in Royal Stewart.
There are several vine-swinging gags in the episode itself and the romp. Kimba fails at brachiation, and complains that his swingin' days are over. Peter actually manages a swing upside down, which is pretty impressive.
At one point the Monkees are reduced to hacking through the island's heavy brush with machetes. Who's holding them? Micky and Peter. Does that seem smart to anyone else? Micky also notices that they've found their own footprints, and starts to have a freakout, claiming they're lost and going in circles, when Davy points out that it's a small set, and they've probably just had to recycle this section.
Micky conjures a can of bug spray at one point, which flies into his hand from offscreen (like Mike's hat has done twice now). Unfortunately, it's insect attractant rather than insect repellent.
Pshaw is Monty Landis again. It's a bit harder to see how just killing the boys would play into Zero's plot, but if we go with the tool theory, the con man divests Peter of a guitar in exchange for a shot at a buried fortune, which Pshaw then attempts to claim for his own - that sounds a bit like Zero's eventual attempt to get Peter's soul by offering him fame, fortune, and the ability to play another instrument.
In the musical interlude at the end, Peter is playing banjo instead of bass, with Davy on maracas; it would have made more sense for the instrumentation for Davy to have been miming the bass, as we've seen him do that once or twice already. Micky is gamely lip-synching the harmony vocals, but he's only vaguely pretending to mime the drum line; mostly he's mugging for the camera. Peter has an odd dark spot on his left cheek.
This is a disposable little episode, but there's nothing particularly bad about it; it's just weak.
Season 2 Disc 2 Episode 41: The Card-Carrying Red Shoes
Synopsis: The Druvanian National Ballet is touring, and the Monkees (minus Mike, who is absent for the entire episode) are auditioning for their rehearsal band. They brought a trunk with their own instruments, but instead have been given a four-string Eastern lute, a lyre, and a very large valveless brass horn. The prima ballerina, Natasha Pavlova, is getting frustrated with their rehearsal schedule, and her lead partner, Ivan, seems more interested in her shoes than her. Ivan, the company director Nicolai, and the Druvanian ambassador are engaged in a spy plot to smuggle out microfilm hidden in the toes of her shoes. At the end of the rehearsal, Natasha, who has taken a shine to Peter's face, storms out and then doubles back to hide in the Monkees' trunk. Back at the Pad, Natasha jumps out and threatens Micky and Davy at gunpoint, excepting Peter because of her infatuation. Micky quietly and calmly talks her into giving up the gun - and then immediately switches into his gangster impersonation. She starts crying, begging them to help her defect to America. Micky and Davy go to the Druvanian embassy, where Ambassador Nyetovich claims not to know of Natasha; meanwhile, Natasha is attempting to seduce Peter (it isn't going well) and Ivan and Nicolai arrive to reclaim Natasha. She successfully hides in the trunk again, but they take Peter hostage. David and Micky arrive back at the Pad and sneak back into the theater to find Peter, but are nearly caught by Ivan and have to impersonate dancers to sneak back out again. Ivan sends an ultimatum to the Pad, and Natasha decides to return to dance the main role in Chicken Lake to spare Peter. At the theater, Natasha and the boys eavesdrop on Nicolai and Nyetovich; they plan to kill Peter during the cymbal crash when Ivan lands from his big leap. Natasha sprains her ankle, but sends Micky onstage in the chicken costume instead; David sneaks into the orchestra pit to keep the percussionist from playing the cymbal crash. Peter slips away from his captors, prompting a romp (not to a Monkees tune, this time; to the Tchaikovsky symphony the orchestra is playing). At the end, Natasha has captured Nyetovich, Micky has danced Ivan to exhaustion and the conked him on the head with an egg, and Peter has trapped Nicolai's head in a drawer. Back at the Pad, Natasha thanks the Monkees, but breaks up with Peter, claiming that it was only an infatuation based on his looks; she wants someone with a more familiar background. Her new beau Alexi appears at the door, carrying flowers and in a dancer's outfit - and now we have Peter's doppelganger! [Unrelated music video for "She Hangs Out" follows.]
Of the various spy episodes, this is probably the best one, despite Mike being absent from the episode - there's an actual plot, and the complications aren't merely circumstantial. Natasha is, again, an accomplished lady who knows what she wants and goes for it; the Monkees are largely wrapped up in her drama. She even gives them a motivational speech! And, of course, it's Peter who's romantically pursued this time (he even points out to Davy that it can't be him every episode).
This is the second Mikeless episode; he was having his tonsils out when this ep was filmed. So far, the formula for a 3kees episode seems to be "Have Micky mug shamelessly for the camera while Peter handles the emotional high end." I'm not sure this episode (as opposed to Episode 38) suffers much from his absence, as he'd be Micky and Davy's third in most of their sneaking-around scenes.
Did I mention Micky mugs for the camera a lot in this one? He also does a lot of bouncing and leaping around, including some wirework in the romp. He was pretending to be a dancer back in Episode 29, and did some wirework there, too. In the romp, he's playing the part of the Hen Princess, so not only is he in a chicken suit, he's technically in drag, too. And he gets to do his gangster impersonation again.
But right before that, he gives a quiet, understated but moving speech about violence not solving anything. He gave bits of that same speech to the feuding neighbors in Episode 39 up there, but in his big lecturer voice. Here, he's using a vocal register that we've heard occasionally in the interview segments, but rarely on the show itself - the last time I remember it outside of an interview is all the way back in Episode 6, when Davy tells him he hates good-byes, and his response is a quiet, touching "Okay. Welcome to America, Davy." Characterization-wise, it's very easy to imagine that that soft, gentle voice represents the real character!Micky underneath the layers and layers of wacky defense mechanisms. (Edited to add: right after he screws up in "Zilch" for the second time, starts to laugh, and then catches himself, the next couple of repetitions are are in "quiet Micky" voice, if you have the albums but not the shows and want to know what I'm talking about.)
Peter, meanwhile, is also pulling the physical comedy stops out. especially when Natasha is chasing him around the Pad. It looks like character!Peter doesn't put out on the first date. Oh, and we get a nummy Peter-tied-up scene, but it's short. At one point, Nicolai and Ivan suggest brainwashing Peter, but that's just the set-up for a parody ad where Peter hawks brain detergent. (No brain bleach, oddly enough!) I distinctly remember feeling cheated by that back in the first watching.
That sounds like Davy is almost as absent as Mike, which isn't true. He definitely plays second fiddle to both Micky and Peter in this one, but he carries several gags and grounds Micky's manic flailing (which I guess is also usually a Mike role).
The actress who plays Natasha was also the unnamed dark-haired beauty who catches Davy's eye at the end of the pilot episode (and Episode 10, since that bit wasn't cut). The actor who plays Ivan was Sigmund back in Episode 1 and Rocco in Episode 16. Monty Landis isn't in this one, so no souls on the line here.
The end sequence is the Rainbow Room video for "She Hangs Out," which is a Davy-lead song with a Beach-Boys-esque chorus. (I think they've got two Davies and two Mickies layered in there.) Mike plays but does not sing, so his sole presence in the episode is through his instrument. However, at one point early in the song, he is clearly trying to crack Micky (and maybe Davy, too) up by making fish-faces. Probably payback for Micky clowning back there behind the drum kit.
One episode that isn't bad but doesn't have much going for it, and two solid eps, but no standouts in this batch. Looking at the next three titles, I remember one of them as pretty good, one of them as meh, and I can't place one of them.
At this point, I do have finishing the set before the show as a goal, so I suspect it'll be a fairly quick march through the rest of season 2.
Season 2 Disc 2 Episode 39: Hillbilly Honeymoon (a.k.a. Double Barrel Shotgun Wedding)
Synopsis: The boys are lost, and the Monkeemobile ends up in the middle of Swineville, which appears to be the town the Clampetts moved away from. The entire down has been divided by a white line into Weskitt territory and Chubber territory; only the line itself is safe territory for strangers. Davy happens to be in front, so the others send him to go get help, walking down the line. Ella Mae Chubber decides she likes what she sees and yanks him over to her side, into a haystack, where she smooches him; her father finds them and insists that Davy has to marry her now. Davy runs back to the line where Ella Mae's boyfriend, Judd, threatens him for kissing his girl, and a fight breaks out, ending with Maw Weskitt kidnapping Davy under the guise of getting him to help her across the street. Ella Mae tries to take Micky as her next best option, and Paw Chubber herds the remaining boys back to his place. Mike and Micky decide to rescue Davy; Peter is left with Paw as insurance, and Ella Mae tries to put the make on him, too. The Weskitts threaten to put Davy in their still; Mike and Micky disguise themselves as missing Weskitt cousins, and convince Judd and Maw that they're kin via a romp set to "Papa Gene's Blues." Micky lets a pig loose, and in the ensuing chaos, accidentally rescue a bag of oats; convinced it's Davy, Mike and Micky start bawling, accompanied by Davy, who was just in another sack. Unsure of what to do next, they consult the script and then head for Ella Mae's house to rescue Peter; they succeed, but Davy gets stuck on a nail and gets caught again. Paw marches Davy and Ella Mae to the altar while Mike, Micky, and Peter go to teach Judd how to treat a lady. They arrive at the barn wedding just in time to stop the proceedings, and yet another fight breaks out. Davy fetches the preacher back to marry Ella Mae and Judd; with the two families now kin, Maw Weskitt and Paw Chubber stop the fight, and the Monkees bow out of the ensuing hoedown.
This episode has two reasonably decent female characters. Ella Mae isn't about to let any man decide her future for her, even if she's depicted as a bit flighty (also jailbait - she's one day short of 16, just like Vanessa in the pilot episode), and when Davy finally asks her who she really wants, she chooses Judd rather than having him foisted off on her. Maw Weskitt is portrayed as fairly canny (and a sprightly 155 years old); she's pretty sure that Mike and Micky aren't really cousins, but she decides to listen to them anyway. Of course, they never actually talk to each other; if they ever did, the entire plot could probably have been avoided, and then what would the Monkees have done for that half hour?
There are a lot of jokes about Davy being British in this episode, including Maw declaring that she was born at the beginning of the War of 1812 and thus remembers being at war with England. When Judd tells him he's going to put him in the still and asks him what he thinks of that, Davy's response is "I think I'd make a good English gin - a little dry." There's a followup gag to that in the consulting-the-script business, but I couldn't hear it over the sound of the fourth wall collapsing. And later on Judd asks to borrow two bucks; Davy asks him how much that is in British currency, and the previously nearly-illiterate Judd does the calculation in his head.
This is the right way to do a Davy episode; the stakes are high throughout, none of the other Monkees is shorted dialogue, and the girl isn't a passive starry-eyed pawn. (Davy's not in full dazed-out crush mode, either; he seems to like her all right, but never really fall for Ella Mae.) I could do without the hillbilly stereotypes, but this is so clearly a spoof on the Beverly Hillbillies - instead of hillbillies in L.A., the Malibu beach bums have come to Hicksville - that I think it gets a pass on parody grounds.
Mike gets two particularly memorable bits; in the first, he explains to Peter that in towns like this, the inhabitants are kind, helpful, courteous people who change on a dime to a vengeful, hateful mob; when Peter asks how he knows that, Mike replies "Because these are my people." (I would quibble about East Texas versus Houston and Dallas, and hillbillies versus rednecks, but it was the '60s.) In the second, Paw Chubber is asking Ella Mae which of the three remaining Monkees she'd like to marry now that Davy has been kidnapped, and she says she likes Mike; his fourth-wall-bending response is "So do my wife and kids." (I believe Nesmith only had one kid at the time, although by the time this aired, he would have two more on the way - by two different women.)
The background music on this episode is by Flatt & Scruggs. Huh. Davy sings a few bars of his signature song from last season, "I Wanna Be Free," at two different points in the episode.
Don't let Micky navigate; this is the second time he's missed a turn (the first was Episode 7). I believe this is also the second time we've seen Micky cry rather than freak out; the last time was in Episode 6, and also over losing Davy, although at least that time he was merely being taken back to England, not made into sour mash. (Micky/Davy fodder?)
The Preacher in this episode was the Farmer in Episode 8.
This is the first time we've seen Peter in full hippie mode and Micky in the Itali-fro outside of the musical sequences. I'm not sure if the next few episodes swap back and forth or if they're in new mod mode from here on out; let's find out.
Season 2 Disc 2 Episode 40: Monkees Marooned
The answer was that they swap back and forth; this has shaggy!Micky instead of 'fro!Micky.
Synopsis: A shyster tries to sell Peter some photos of his stepson, then the city of San Diego, then finally a treasure map; Peter doesn't have any money, but he swaps his acoustic guitar for the map. The shyster then tries to sell Mike the guitar. The other Monkees scold Peter for being so gullible, but, since they have the treasure map and the island is only a few miles off the California coast, they rent a boat and go anyway. After a brief setback when Davy, in a commodore's tricorn, sinks the boat by overloading it and goes down with the ship (fortunately only a few feet from shore), they arrive on the island only to trip over an alarm wire and be captured by Major Pshaw and his man Thursday. Pshaw offers them tea and crumpets before he shoots them; Davy begs for a sporting chance, and Thursday agrees, so Pshaw begins counting off by fives. The other Monkees all hide behind Mike, then realize that they need to hide Mike; after encountering an old German doctor in a pith helmet, Mike suggests they split up - then has to clarify that he didn't mean breaking up the band. Just before they scatter, an ancient Tarzan clone named Kimba of the Jungle arrives; after Peter take a stab at translating his primitive speech, Kimba remembers how to speak English and explains that he was abandoned on the island by his production company back in 1916. Hearing Pshaw's dogs hot on their trail (they're really just a recording being carried on a portable reel-to-reel by Thursday), Kimba attempts to summon the creatures of the jungle, but gets only a chicken, a rabbit, a cat, and a puppy. Thursday appears and leads them back to Pshaw's cabin, figuring that Pshaw won't look there and he can give the boys their boat back as soon as night falls, but Pshaw catches up to them. Pshaw threatens the Monkees with torture, but Peter distracts him with the treasure map, which reveals that the treasure is under Pshaw's hut. Pshaw waves his guns around and insists that everyone dig, which they do, tearing up his floor; Davy finds a large chest, but it turns out to contain Kimba's leading lady rather than a treasure. She conks Pshaw on the head and everyone escapes in a romp set to "Daydream Believer." Back on the mainland, the shyster tries to sell Peter Liverpool; Peter summons a cop, who, rather than going after the con artist, asks Peter if he'd be interested in Cleveland instead. Peter pouts and storms off. [Unrelated video for "What Am I Doing Hanging 'Round?" follows.]
This episode does not have a strong plot, and hangs largely on the idea that following our four boys around on a semi-deserted island is funny in and of itself. They make it work, but it's still kind of a mess; the Monkees are simultaneously stumbling through a bad robinson Crusoe rip-off and a geriatric Tarzan film, and the episode might be better off having picked one of those and stuck with it. There's a couple of character bits - the other Monkees all hiding behind Mike, Peter getting swindled in the first place, Peter apologizing for getting them stuck on the island and ending up crying, Peter being able to understand Kimba for no reason, Davy fancying himself a commodore - but nothing really new.
Thursday could have been wildly problematic, except that it's obvious he's from California and Pshaw has just decided to dress him up as a savage. His costume isn't even consistent; it's made up of bits of African, Central American, and Celtic 'native' costumes, including a kilt in Royal Stewart.
There are several vine-swinging gags in the episode itself and the romp. Kimba fails at brachiation, and complains that his swingin' days are over. Peter actually manages a swing upside down, which is pretty impressive.
At one point the Monkees are reduced to hacking through the island's heavy brush with machetes. Who's holding them? Micky and Peter. Does that seem smart to anyone else? Micky also notices that they've found their own footprints, and starts to have a freakout, claiming they're lost and going in circles, when Davy points out that it's a small set, and they've probably just had to recycle this section.
Micky conjures a can of bug spray at one point, which flies into his hand from offscreen (like Mike's hat has done twice now). Unfortunately, it's insect attractant rather than insect repellent.
Pshaw is Monty Landis again. It's a bit harder to see how just killing the boys would play into Zero's plot, but if we go with the tool theory, the con man divests Peter of a guitar in exchange for a shot at a buried fortune, which Pshaw then attempts to claim for his own - that sounds a bit like Zero's eventual attempt to get Peter's soul by offering him fame, fortune, and the ability to play another instrument.
In the musical interlude at the end, Peter is playing banjo instead of bass, with Davy on maracas; it would have made more sense for the instrumentation for Davy to have been miming the bass, as we've seen him do that once or twice already. Micky is gamely lip-synching the harmony vocals, but he's only vaguely pretending to mime the drum line; mostly he's mugging for the camera. Peter has an odd dark spot on his left cheek.
This is a disposable little episode, but there's nothing particularly bad about it; it's just weak.
Season 2 Disc 2 Episode 41: The Card-Carrying Red Shoes
Synopsis: The Druvanian National Ballet is touring, and the Monkees (minus Mike, who is absent for the entire episode) are auditioning for their rehearsal band. They brought a trunk with their own instruments, but instead have been given a four-string Eastern lute, a lyre, and a very large valveless brass horn. The prima ballerina, Natasha Pavlova, is getting frustrated with their rehearsal schedule, and her lead partner, Ivan, seems more interested in her shoes than her. Ivan, the company director Nicolai, and the Druvanian ambassador are engaged in a spy plot to smuggle out microfilm hidden in the toes of her shoes. At the end of the rehearsal, Natasha, who has taken a shine to Peter's face, storms out and then doubles back to hide in the Monkees' trunk. Back at the Pad, Natasha jumps out and threatens Micky and Davy at gunpoint, excepting Peter because of her infatuation. Micky quietly and calmly talks her into giving up the gun - and then immediately switches into his gangster impersonation. She starts crying, begging them to help her defect to America. Micky and Davy go to the Druvanian embassy, where Ambassador Nyetovich claims not to know of Natasha; meanwhile, Natasha is attempting to seduce Peter (it isn't going well) and Ivan and Nicolai arrive to reclaim Natasha. She successfully hides in the trunk again, but they take Peter hostage. David and Micky arrive back at the Pad and sneak back into the theater to find Peter, but are nearly caught by Ivan and have to impersonate dancers to sneak back out again. Ivan sends an ultimatum to the Pad, and Natasha decides to return to dance the main role in Chicken Lake to spare Peter. At the theater, Natasha and the boys eavesdrop on Nicolai and Nyetovich; they plan to kill Peter during the cymbal crash when Ivan lands from his big leap. Natasha sprains her ankle, but sends Micky onstage in the chicken costume instead; David sneaks into the orchestra pit to keep the percussionist from playing the cymbal crash. Peter slips away from his captors, prompting a romp (not to a Monkees tune, this time; to the Tchaikovsky symphony the orchestra is playing). At the end, Natasha has captured Nyetovich, Micky has danced Ivan to exhaustion and the conked him on the head with an egg, and Peter has trapped Nicolai's head in a drawer. Back at the Pad, Natasha thanks the Monkees, but breaks up with Peter, claiming that it was only an infatuation based on his looks; she wants someone with a more familiar background. Her new beau Alexi appears at the door, carrying flowers and in a dancer's outfit - and now we have Peter's doppelganger! [Unrelated music video for "She Hangs Out" follows.]
Of the various spy episodes, this is probably the best one, despite Mike being absent from the episode - there's an actual plot, and the complications aren't merely circumstantial. Natasha is, again, an accomplished lady who knows what she wants and goes for it; the Monkees are largely wrapped up in her drama. She even gives them a motivational speech! And, of course, it's Peter who's romantically pursued this time (he even points out to Davy that it can't be him every episode).
This is the second Mikeless episode; he was having his tonsils out when this ep was filmed. So far, the formula for a 3kees episode seems to be "Have Micky mug shamelessly for the camera while Peter handles the emotional high end." I'm not sure this episode (as opposed to Episode 38) suffers much from his absence, as he'd be Micky and Davy's third in most of their sneaking-around scenes.
Did I mention Micky mugs for the camera a lot in this one? He also does a lot of bouncing and leaping around, including some wirework in the romp. He was pretending to be a dancer back in Episode 29, and did some wirework there, too. In the romp, he's playing the part of the Hen Princess, so not only is he in a chicken suit, he's technically in drag, too. And he gets to do his gangster impersonation again.
But right before that, he gives a quiet, understated but moving speech about violence not solving anything. He gave bits of that same speech to the feuding neighbors in Episode 39 up there, but in his big lecturer voice. Here, he's using a vocal register that we've heard occasionally in the interview segments, but rarely on the show itself - the last time I remember it outside of an interview is all the way back in Episode 6, when Davy tells him he hates good-byes, and his response is a quiet, touching "Okay. Welcome to America, Davy." Characterization-wise, it's very easy to imagine that that soft, gentle voice represents the real character!Micky underneath the layers and layers of wacky defense mechanisms. (Edited to add: right after he screws up in "Zilch" for the second time, starts to laugh, and then catches himself, the next couple of repetitions are are in "quiet Micky" voice, if you have the albums but not the shows and want to know what I'm talking about.)
Peter, meanwhile, is also pulling the physical comedy stops out. especially when Natasha is chasing him around the Pad. It looks like character!Peter doesn't put out on the first date. Oh, and we get a nummy Peter-tied-up scene, but it's short. At one point, Nicolai and Ivan suggest brainwashing Peter, but that's just the set-up for a parody ad where Peter hawks brain detergent. (No brain bleach, oddly enough!) I distinctly remember feeling cheated by that back in the first watching.
That sounds like Davy is almost as absent as Mike, which isn't true. He definitely plays second fiddle to both Micky and Peter in this one, but he carries several gags and grounds Micky's manic flailing (which I guess is also usually a Mike role).
The actress who plays Natasha was also the unnamed dark-haired beauty who catches Davy's eye at the end of the pilot episode (and Episode 10, since that bit wasn't cut). The actor who plays Ivan was Sigmund back in Episode 1 and Rocco in Episode 16. Monty Landis isn't in this one, so no souls on the line here.
The end sequence is the Rainbow Room video for "She Hangs Out," which is a Davy-lead song with a Beach-Boys-esque chorus. (I think they've got two Davies and two Mickies layered in there.) Mike plays but does not sing, so his sole presence in the episode is through his instrument. However, at one point early in the song, he is clearly trying to crack Micky (and maybe Davy, too) up by making fish-faces. Probably payback for Micky clowning back there behind the drum kit.
One episode that isn't bad but doesn't have much going for it, and two solid eps, but no standouts in this batch. Looking at the next three titles, I remember one of them as pretty good, one of them as meh, and I can't place one of them.
At this point, I do have finishing the set before the show as a goal, so I suspect it'll be a fairly quick march through the rest of season 2.