The question is, how much of a suspension of disbelief are you willing to concede. I’m pretty lenient — I’ll normally check my brain at the door. And I mean my door, before I even leave for the theater. Sometimes, even the previous day. There is one huge glaring flaw here, but it doesn’t prevent me from enjoying the episode.
We start off in a town that reminds me of the facades of Rock Ridge (when they come in to destroy the real Rock Ridge, they’ll actually be destroying the fake Rock Ridge, but they’ll think it is the real Rock Ridge, but we’ll know . . .).
Hoping to steal a few G’s, including a 2nd one for last name, Earl Digs (Kyle MacLachlan) has just robbed the local bank. This, after escaping from Yuma Prison where he was to be executed for the murder of 3 student nurses (during a slumber party — just speculation on my part). The radio says he escaped in “a late model” Cadillac, although the one on screen looks pretty beat-up.
Driving through the desert, Digs notices a cop trailing him. The cop pulls up beside Digs and immediately takes a shot at him. Digs edges him off the road and he and the bike go down. But he bounces back, rights the bike and continues his pursuit. I’m starting to like this guy.
When Digs hears the siren again, he spins the car around and begin charging the cop. The cop rolls off his bike and down a rocky hill, but the bike continues riderless and rams Digs car creating a huge fireball like the car was made of C-4 and the bike was made of anti-matter C-4.
Digs decides to make it on foot, using the little-known route to Mexico. This cop is like a Terminator — he regains consciousness, climbs back up the hill and pursue Digs on foot through the desert.
They finally have a showdown in an abandoned store. The cop is able to handcuff his wrist to Digs, but Digs is able to grab a gun and shoot him. The cop’s last act is to swallow the key. So now Digs is free to head south of the border down Mexico way, only 6 miles away, but he has a dead man attached to his wrist. He resumes his trek with the cop slung over his shoulder.
Bloody hell — It’s always just after you washed the car!
Here is the problem: There is a simple, obvious solution to his problem — just hack the cop’s hand off at the wrist. Find a sharp rock, bite it, or just break his wrist and start a-twisting. Digs can’t be squeamish, after all he was in the can for murdering 3 student nurses (in their lingerie — again, just speculation on my part). He even admits to killing another 5 in Chicago. So a little cop’s blood isn’t going to phase him.
The rest of the episode is a Weekend at Bernie’s scenario with him dragging or carrying the cop to Mexico. It finally does occur to him to hack the cop off at the wrist. But it doesn’t work out as he planned. And the buzzard makes another appearance.
Despite that one oversight, it is a fun episode. Although, would have killed them to have a flashback to the — just speculating here — nude pool party where the nurses were killed?
I always appreciate the use of the official “$” logo’d bank robbery bag.
Post-Post:
- I could also take issue with the title. Like Lower Berth, someone here doesn’t seem to know how puns work. Carrion Death makes no sense because Carry-On Death or Carrying Death is not a well-known phrase. A better title would have been Carrion Baggage.
- Surely that title was not dreamed up by Steven E. de Souza. He has writing credits on Commando, Die Hard, Die Hard 2 and 48 Hours. I think he knows what he’s doing.
- Digs, not Diggs?
Bellefontaine enters the train station as a siren whoops in the background. In the office, another man is warming himself next to a pot-belly stove. Bellefontaine tries to start a conversation, but the other man — Jones — doesn’t seemed interested.
