First off, before I jump in, how gorgeous is that art above, created by Trevor Grove! Check out his work here.

This week Jake (Stephen Collins) gets embroiled in assassination plots and claim jumpers in two episodes that see us coming up incredibly quickly on the end of the series, which is so sad, and I think it came as a surprise to those involved, because starting with Naka Jima Kill there’s a new credit sequence, recut from aired episodes, and even Jack gets his own title card.

We also have Jake talking a lot about his favorite author Heywood Floyd, a nod to the character featured in Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001.

The first episode this week, Naka Jima Kill, aired 18 March, 1983, and was penned by Tom Greene, Andrew Schneider and Thom Thomas.

After the Japanese Defense Minister narrowly escapes an assassination attempt, he flees to the safety of Princess Koji’s (Marta DuBois) island. At about the same time, Sarah (Caitlin O’Heaney) learns that an old classmate, Whitney (Kim Cattrall), a successful star and interviewer is traveling to Bora Gora in the hopes of sneaking onto Koji’s island and scoring the interview of a lifetime.

Traveling in Whitney’s group is someone who catches Corky’s (Jeff MacKay) eye, and it seems all nice and fun, until revelations are made, and the Defense Minister’s life is in danger again.

Jake finds himself walking a fine line trying to keep himself and the gang alive, as Whitney makes a mess of things, and an assassin is on the loose!

It was fun, and you can’t help but feel bad for Corky, he finally gets a little bit of a love interest, and things go terribly wrong for him.  It was also enjoyable to see the relationship between Sarah and Whitney grow and change through the course of the episode… with Jake caught in the middle of course.

The second episode, Boragora or Bust, aired 25 March, 1983, and was written by George Geiger and Tom Greene.

When an old-timer prospector friend of Jake’s finally hits it big with the discovery of platinum in his mind, it turns the tiny island into a boom town, with tents springing up on the beach, fights breaking out, and sadly, Truman Hastings (John Reilly) claim jumps the prospector’s claim and there is nothing Louie (Roddy McDowall) as the magistrate, can do about it.

So instead, the old guy decides to blow up the mine, and himself with it! Thus denying anyone else from working the land he has spent the last 40 years of his life mining.

Jake and Corky have to pull out a motorcycle with a sidecar to catch up with him, after they land the Goose on mud bar, and where for other series the rear projection, and blue screen work (that’s what it was before green screen came into play) may have been iffy, it actually works for this show, as an homage to traveling shots in the films they are emulating from the 30s and 40s.

Come back next week, for the final installment of this classic series…