by John Chergi » Fri Dec 23, 2016 1:38 am
I've written about Assault On The Palace before a few times. It's one of my FAV episodes of the series. Maybe, it would have been better if Lambert had hired a few thugs to kidnap The Professor instead of Lambert killing him in an out of the way location. Lack of robbery or money, watch, wallet taken etc. was another Lambert mistake. I'm curious if there were any vacationers or extras who played 1 of the many soldiers used in the Wilcox Rebellion scene or any actors who worked in the episode who could tell the story of these scenes. The cannon fire and the rush of the soldiers very realistic. I would not put Assault In The Palace in Top 20 but somewhere in the 40-50 range. Classic HFO fans, where would you place Assault On The Palace in a ranking of Season 9 episodes or all time?
by H50 1.0 FOREVER* » Fri Dec 23, 2016 4:58 amI think basing an episode on the Wilcox Rebellion was outstanding, and that is what makes this episode such a miserable failure. It does not have the oomph! that it needs if it is going to re-enact a part of Hawaiian history. It is thin and watery, almost like a grade school production. Even the narration of the rebellion during the break-in at the bank is sad. Or maybe that was the whole idea: to show that Lambert's focus was on the bank robbery, not on the re-enactment. Still, I expected more from a Clu Gulager performance, something more like his appearance in "Fools Die Twice." Now, that was a villain you could emulate, especially when Gully (Gulager) tells the scientist, Clapton, how the Army only values you for a very short period of time. Today, Clapton would probably remind Gully that we're all lucky to receive even 15 minutes in the sun and that he should focus on what he achieved while he was in the Army, rather than on what he lost when he left the Army. After all, if being a civilian employee of the Army was too much of a demotion for Gully, he always could have opened a fried chicken franchise!
by ringfire211 » Fri Dec 23, 2016 10:00 amYes I'm a fan of the episode too. I love heist episodes in general. It's definitely one of the better season 9 episodes. It wouldn't make my top 5 for the season, but probably the top 10. It's roughly in the same ballpark as "Tour de Force -- Killer Aboard", another episode that I would squeeze into my top 10.
But I would agree with HFO 1.0 FOREVER that Gulager was more effective as Jack Gulley, he was certainly more ruthless and cunning than he is here. I also agree that the way Lambert narrates this big historical re-enactment and executes it it makes it look like an amateur high school production. If he really has all this clout at the museum and if this really is such a big occasion then I would have expected something more professional and impressive. Just think about the Thanksgiving Day parade or any other big celebration - it's always done more professionally. Here it looks like amateur hour. Still, the story itself and the way the plot unfolds is intriguing.