In Part 2 of "Daniel Boone's" Season 2 finale, Dan struggles to deliver winter supplies to the nascent Boonesborough, while contending with rival Armando Silvestre for Rebecca's affections.
The conclusion gets right to business with a circle-the-wagons siege as dishonest trader Cash Doyle (Canadian TV and movie journeyman Roy Jensen) attempts to cheat Dan out of purchased supplies. Unfortunately Rebecca is not allowed to use the reboot for character development; she is just the damsel in distress to be moved from point A to point B. Silvestre's more malevolent Bret Maverick character might have been a worthwhile recurring character, but he is strictly a one-shot. And although not intended as such, some comic relief is provided by the teamsters who seem to consider switching sides every five minutes. Mingo again suffers a major leg injury, just as he did a few weeks previous. Rough frontier living.
What is likely the San Bernadino, Calif. Shooting location has plenty of open space for extensive wagon train photography, but bears little resemblance to thickly forested 1770's Kentucky. As mentioned before, the storyline attempts to show a rivalry between Patriot Boonesborough and Loyalist Fort 96, S. C., but in reality they were too far from each other to provide such.
In the finest tradition of the John Ford TV offshoot "Wagon Train," the action centers strictly on Dan attempting to ramrod his freight and Rebecca to Boonesborough while contending with personality conflict and betrayal. This two-parter should always be considered a class apart from the remainder of the series. Attempting in continuity to swap it out for Episode 1.1 during the black and white season or even 2.1 at the beginning of the color years causes instant problems with the seemingly overnight appearance of the Boone kids. Again, the arguments are strong as to whether the series should have featured historically correct Boone kids as young adults or started with a clean slate with Dan and Rebecca as young marrieds.
The denouement is more akin to what we would see in a regular weekly episode, but "The High Cumberland" was a novel if incongruous way to finish up Season 2.
The conclusion gets right to business with a circle-the-wagons siege as dishonest trader Cash Doyle (Canadian TV and movie journeyman Roy Jensen) attempts to cheat Dan out of purchased supplies. Unfortunately Rebecca is not allowed to use the reboot for character development; she is just the damsel in distress to be moved from point A to point B. Silvestre's more malevolent Bret Maverick character might have been a worthwhile recurring character, but he is strictly a one-shot. And although not intended as such, some comic relief is provided by the teamsters who seem to consider switching sides every five minutes. Mingo again suffers a major leg injury, just as he did a few weeks previous. Rough frontier living.
What is likely the San Bernadino, Calif. Shooting location has plenty of open space for extensive wagon train photography, but bears little resemblance to thickly forested 1770's Kentucky. As mentioned before, the storyline attempts to show a rivalry between Patriot Boonesborough and Loyalist Fort 96, S. C., but in reality they were too far from each other to provide such.
In the finest tradition of the John Ford TV offshoot "Wagon Train," the action centers strictly on Dan attempting to ramrod his freight and Rebecca to Boonesborough while contending with personality conflict and betrayal. This two-parter should always be considered a class apart from the remainder of the series. Attempting in continuity to swap it out for Episode 1.1 during the black and white season or even 2.1 at the beginning of the color years causes instant problems with the seemingly overnight appearance of the Boone kids. Again, the arguments are strong as to whether the series should have featured historically correct Boone kids as young adults or started with a clean slate with Dan and Rebecca as young marrieds.
The denouement is more akin to what we would see in a regular weekly episode, but "The High Cumberland" was a novel if incongruous way to finish up Season 2.
