Ryan and Jack recover a cursed lantern that reveals the location of buried treasure provided that the diver is incinerated by the lantern afterward. However, one fateful night when Micki is left alone in the store, the original owners decide they want the lantern back...
"Bedazzled" is a very original and inventive. Instead of the usual find-and-retrieve-the-antique plot, they begin the episode with the lantern locked away in the vault and Micki is left alone to defend the lantern, along with her own life, from its original owners when they break into Curious Goods to steal it back. It's always nice to see that some of these antique owners are not willing to simply let their most valuable possession get taken from them and Micki play the hero for once. This episode is very entertaining and suspenseful considering that it uses limited sets.
The supporting cast is pretty good here. The main villain was definitely the most successful as he was a pretty rotten guy and his dimwitted sidekick put in a good turn. The kid that she was babysitting was pretty annoying though, I kept hoping that he'd get killed.
The episode is pretty well-written. The struggle between Micki and her captors is pretty well done. She manages to outwit them in pretty creative ways, most notably they way she defeats the main villain. I did have trouble believing that she wouldn't know how to open the vault at this stage of the game. The policeman manages to actually kill one of the men rather than being instantly subdued like in so many other episodes. While plausible, it does make me laugh a little that they cut the phone lines as this was before the age of cell phones, but that's not the writers' fault. A mirror is even featured here that would come into play in a later episode.
My one major problem is actually one that's a recurring theme in almost every episode, but here it really stands out. Why don't the Curious Goods gang carry a gun, or at least some type of weapon? Given the fact that they regularly deal with desperate and dangerous individuals why would they choose to remain unarmed? Every time they have a showdown with an antique owner, this is always in the back of my mind, but what makes this instance so special is that they're fighting on their home turf. In such a dangerous line of work, it would seem a wise investment for them to keep a gun somewhere, be it under the counter, or in their nightstand. I would expect Micki, especially, to have learned her lesson after an antique owner broke into her bedroom in "Shadow Boxer." After all, the cop and the lantern owners had guns.
Glaring flaw aside, "Bedazzled" is a great episode because it really experiments with the show's tried-and-true formula and clears up any remaining doubt as to Micki's qualifications as an antique hunter. I really feel this episode was a major turning point for her character.
"Bedazzled" is a very original and inventive. Instead of the usual find-and-retrieve-the-antique plot, they begin the episode with the lantern locked away in the vault and Micki is left alone to defend the lantern, along with her own life, from its original owners when they break into Curious Goods to steal it back. It's always nice to see that some of these antique owners are not willing to simply let their most valuable possession get taken from them and Micki play the hero for once. This episode is very entertaining and suspenseful considering that it uses limited sets.
The supporting cast is pretty good here. The main villain was definitely the most successful as he was a pretty rotten guy and his dimwitted sidekick put in a good turn. The kid that she was babysitting was pretty annoying though, I kept hoping that he'd get killed.
The episode is pretty well-written. The struggle between Micki and her captors is pretty well done. She manages to outwit them in pretty creative ways, most notably they way she defeats the main villain. I did have trouble believing that she wouldn't know how to open the vault at this stage of the game. The policeman manages to actually kill one of the men rather than being instantly subdued like in so many other episodes. While plausible, it does make me laugh a little that they cut the phone lines as this was before the age of cell phones, but that's not the writers' fault. A mirror is even featured here that would come into play in a later episode.
My one major problem is actually one that's a recurring theme in almost every episode, but here it really stands out. Why don't the Curious Goods gang carry a gun, or at least some type of weapon? Given the fact that they regularly deal with desperate and dangerous individuals why would they choose to remain unarmed? Every time they have a showdown with an antique owner, this is always in the back of my mind, but what makes this instance so special is that they're fighting on their home turf. In such a dangerous line of work, it would seem a wise investment for them to keep a gun somewhere, be it under the counter, or in their nightstand. I would expect Micki, especially, to have learned her lesson after an antique owner broke into her bedroom in "Shadow Boxer." After all, the cop and the lantern owners had guns.
Glaring flaw aside, "Bedazzled" is a great episode because it really experiments with the show's tried-and-true formula and clears up any remaining doubt as to Micki's qualifications as an antique hunter. I really feel this episode was a major turning point for her character.