cervantes-4

I've just read all 46 reviews to to see if anyone mentions what I consider to be one of best features of the film - a percolating, romantic melody. No one does, so I will. At first I couldn't place it but as the theme was featured more prominently as the story progressed I finally recognized it: Auf Wiederseh'n, My Dear. This was a very popular song by Russ Columbo that came out in 1932 but he doesn't sing it in the movie soundtrack, we just hear the instrumental. (It may be that the song came out after the movie, I don't know the history.) Russ became the boyfriend of star Carole Lombard after she split from our boy William Powell. He was tragically killed by a friend in a freak shooting accident.

So far, this is my favorite episode (I am on a binge, checking out four per day). The writing here is outstanding. The performances, as always, great - yes, Captain Kirk once again can charm the pants off anyone (certainly, as an old girlfriend once told me, not just an aging pretty boy!); Judge Byron Fudd, played by Chuck McCann, is wonderful, not a cartoon caricature as judges have been sometimes played in this series; and Alan Shore is more than himself in summation while under very 'difficult' circumstances. So sorry this is the final season. I could watch this quality until the cows come home, just like I felt for Breaking Bad.

For those giving a rating of 1, or 2, or even 4 to this episode is totally unconscionable. Many people check out these critiques and skip those episodes with poor, or poorer, evaluations than for others. This episode maintains the wonderful quality of the series and is enjoyable at every level of writing and performance; ie., it is completely underserving of such low (bogus?) scores. Are these low raters just oddballs with the proverbial 'only taste is in their mouths'? Are they the nuts who routinely give scores at the bottom FOR EVERY EPISODE but reveal themselves when they believe they have found a weak sister fallen down and can now kick her in the head?