Date of airing: February 22, 1997 (CBS)
Nielsen ratings information: 12.8 million viewers, 8.3/15 in Households
Ah, those 1980s and 90s shows that have a two or three-headed cast, and focus a lot on the guest stars of the week in a story that might be interesting for a hot second or two, but becomes one of the forgotten after a week when the main character gets into a new adventure. There is probably some high rewatch value in shows like these (if the stories are intriguing), and it turns out the EARLY EDITION writers were planning to carry that kind of show into the twenty-first century. I wouldn’t mind it being done today (maybe that would make shows these days cheaper, considering their budget of $10 million-plus per episode), but maybe the stories should be a little more interesting and the guest character of the week be a little more intriguing. This episode wasn’t and Bat Masterson failed to be interesting, simply because his backstory wasn’t dramatic enough to cause any excitement or drama or some form of character development even. Or the fact that the story was pretty much a predictable doozer halfway through when I came to realize that Ike was the guy who shot Mike’s partner, and that all of this is just a way for Mike to work through the shooting ten years ago, the loss of his partner, and to heal from the wound that was band-aided by the character of Bat Masterson which Mike created for himself.
By the way, is there a medical term for Mike’s condition? Dr. Feinstein wasn’t going into the psychological aspects of what was happening to Mike or how much control he still had over his own identity or how much he got lost in the identity of Bat Masterson, which is probably because the writers decided not to put too many research hours into the story. If this hour had been any more scientific and medical, maybe it would not have been family entertainment any longer, even if it would have most likely been a better episode of television in general.
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| The Sheriff is looking for someone to ride with today. |
But oh well, Gary made himself known as the guy who wants to help other people, and he continued to be that person in this episode. Before this hour, the paper directed him to help the people in need, and sometimes he stuck around because he knew there was still trouble to come, and his help was still needed (the best example would be in “Gun,” least alone helping the young mother in “After Midnight”). But in this episode he genuinely wanted to hang out with Bat Masterson/Mike and kind of watch over him, just to make sure the old Sheriff doesn’t get into any more trouble (although an argument can be made that it was Gary who continuously got into trouble, needing to be bailed out by Bat/Mike). For the first time, Gary became the protector and helper for someone without looking into the paper first, to see if there is new trouble brewing. Maybe it’s an intended change after the ending of the second part of “The Wall,” which said that Gary is now a changed man, because of the events depicted in that episode. But maybe it’s also just a coincidence because EARLY EDITION is after all a 1970s/80s proceduralized drama series produced during the mid-1990s with a focus on guest stars.
Meanwhile, the actual story of the episode was... Yeah, it was a doozer. I could have taken a nap instead, but here was a guy who thought of himself as a hero of the Wild West, as if Bat Masterson was never a more aggressive or angry person, as if everything was picture-perfect and happy-go-lucky in the late 1800s when you only needed to catch a few bandits and criminal gangs to get back to the silly happiness of American life. If the Bat Masterson of this episode really existed during the 1800s and early 1900s, then the guy would have been murdered by whichever gang came through town first, because there is no way that Bat Masterson could have ever survived in this job by being nice and correct and always choosing the right-sounding words. I’m impressed that no one in Chicago during the two weeks Bat/Mike was out on the streets found this crazy dude and decided to either beat him up or mug him. Wouldn’t he be a perfect target for a little night crime? Doesn’t this old man sound senile enough to attempt a robbery while the sun is going down in the west?
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| This dude, employed in a mental facility, got his revolver stolen by a patient. |
The story also made some absurd choices. It seemed like Bat/Mike was living in something of a mental institution, or at least in a group home of people who weren’t quite right in the head and who were considered patients, to be treated by doctors of the psychological kind. So why did one of the orderly guys of this institution have a gun on himself for Bat/Mike to steal and go out to catch criminals with, or potentially wave around inside, threatening staff and patients? When the guy said that Bat/Mike stole his gun, all I could do was roll my eyes into the Andromeda galaxy, being shocked about the fact that someone in this establishment was indeed armed, believing that one of the patients would go berserk that an orderly with a gun was needed to diffuse the situation. That was one hell of a plot convenience for Bat/Mike to get out with a gun and face his dangerous past, and one that doesn’t make the episode look better at all. Also, it doesn’t make gun-crazed America look better when the muscle men of mental institutions carry anything more than a nightstick. Imagine if the rapey asshole from TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY had a gun and was all alone with Sarah Connor, as he was licking her face...
