User Reviews

So this one was pretty clearly an attempt to incorporate the story of Les Miserables into the Wagon Train universe, and I found that an interesting idea.

Unfortunately, the execution fell short in several places. For example, I think the viewer has to suspend disbelief to accept the story as to how the "Inspector Javert" character (a Boston police detective, named Jesper Cato) tracked the "Jean Valjean" character (a local printer and friend of Major Adams, named Jim Collins) across the country to the Wagon Train. Also, Collins had already been tried and acquitted of the crime in Boston, but for some reason the detective Cato believes that he can get him to confess and then retry him. No reason is offered for this implausible belief.

Still, the acting was strong and there were some nice story elements, like the way they used a ship's captain to play the role of the priest character in Les Mis.

So, given the other interesting features, I do not think that the logical implausibilities ruined the episode.

However, the resolution to the story did not make sense and was very unsatisfying and did ruin the episode. For some reason, after two years chasing down Collins, when the Boston detective finally has him in custody and ready to take him back to Boston . . . he changes his mind. At least in Les Mis, Javert has good reason to question his entire world view, after Valjean saved his life. Here . . . no good reason for this conversion is given. It is artificial and rings false. And it would have been SOOOOOO easy for them to set up a good reason for the change of heart. Heck, they could have copied Les Mis and had Collins save the detective's life. If not for the ending, I would have rated this episode a 7 or 8.

So . . . the idea was excellent, the journey was "OK," but the conclusion left a bad taste in the mouth and soured the whole affair.