The Comic Strip, Part 10 - And if our bones bleach on the desert, we'll consider we are blessed

"A Fistfull of Traveler's Cheques" - January 21, 1984

I've never understood why, but I've always thought of this as somehow the quintessential episode. It's no surprise to find that the package design of the box set is almost entirely based on the "bomb drop" opening, except for the back which is based on imagery from this episode. (Now watch as it turns out that there are variant boxes with backs based on other episodes - collect them all!)

First of all there is the look of the episode. This season looks like it has a larger budget, and this one is particularly fine -- shot entirely on film, on location in Spain. If I were a much bigger Spaghetti Western buff, I'm sure I would be spending hours digging to see if the locations and camera angles match up to the films that inspired this.

Next there are the characters, at once incomprehensible, but also completely recognizable. These are the sorts of people that you actually run into from time to time. You can sort of understand what they're on about, but at the same time you can't quite figure out how serious they are about who they are presenting themselves to be and what they're trying to do with their lives. Nigel Planer's hitchhiker is the sort of looney that you actually run into from time to time, one of those guys that makes you think, "well, I can just sort of flow with this for a while - he can't possibly be this bizarre once I get to know him." And then it takes about four minutes to realize that he is, for whatever reason, so blindingly annoying that you don't want to find out anymore. Ade Edmonson's crazed matador guy is also, while a broad caricature, somehow very much like real people whom I've tried very hard to stay clear of in various drinking establishments and mass transit systems.

And into this melange strides "Carlos" and "Miguel," a pair of Englishmen on a semi-crazed search for some sort of wild west experience. They seem to be two decent guys daring each other to be obnoxious. I think the best part of the episode is watching them react to each other, somehow egging themselves on and getting frustrated that they have already pushed their game too far.