As I’ve
talked about before I am a huge fan of the Monkees, both the show and the band.
Recently, I decided it might be a cool idea rewatch the series and write about
each episode. It’s not a “new” idea, of course, but I figure it could be fun,
why not? So, with that, each Monday I will watch another episode and have the
recap post up by the end of Tuesday. Hopefully. (This week is the obvious
exception.) I will be watching the fifty-eight episodes in broadcast order as
well as the specials 33 1/3 Revolutions Per
Monkee and Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees.
I think I’ll save any discussion of the film Head until after the specials (that could change), because I
suspect that it will be way more involved than these posts will likely be. As
for what these posts will be, well, that largely depends on the episode in
question. It could be a lot reminiscing, music, uncomfortable portrayals (to
say the least), magical realism, psychedelia, or silly fan theories and
headcanons. I want these posts to be quite off-the-cuff, so basically anything
that comes up is fair game.
I know
given all the various projects I have in the works this probably seems like I’m
simply adding to the list of things I’ll likely fall behind on, so I’d like to
explain why I’m doing it. For one thing, I’ve been trying to take to heart this
piece of creative advice from Alex Steacy of LoadingReadyRun frequently says: do a lot of work. That advice is part of
why I decided to take part in the #MusicWritersExercise, which then morphed my
daily albums tweets and the biweekly digests. Also, projects like the Franz Retrospective, Working Macca, and the RS500 require a big amount preparation
and I put a lot of pressure on myself to get them just right. I need to let go
of this paralyzing idea of perfection and I feel having these daily, weekly,
and biweekly deadlines for posts with a much looser tone can help facilitate
that. Another reason is that as ambitious as Working Macca and the RS500 are,
I’d like to do a project with a more definitive endpoint. And finally, well,
I’ve never watched The Monkees in
order before and there are portions of the second season I haven’t seen nearly
as many times as early episodes. I want to rectify that.
And so,
that brings us to season one, episode one “Royal Flush.”
The
premise behind “Royal Flush” is straightforward: while at the beach, Davy Jones
saves a girl who nearly drowns in a wave when her raft pops. Turns out, the
girl is Princess Bettina and the raft has been tampered with as part of an evil
plot by her uncle, the Archduke, to kill her. The boys have to keep her safe
until she “becomes queen upon my eighteenth birthday” the next day. After all,
as Mike says, “Well, if she’s got your jacket.” Admittedly, later episodes get rather
weird in both premise and execution, but still this does seem a rather strange
way to introduce a show that’s ostensibly about a teen band living at the
beach. Then again, I’ve never been very big on this episode, so perhaps that
plays into it. (Though probably not.) Despite my lukewarm feelings on it, it does
have some highlights. The first is Archduke Otto’s hapless flunky Sigmund, who
I find hilarious and endearing and another is the second “romp” of the episode during
which Davy and Otto fence off to “Take a Giant Step.” I don’t know I just
always liked the overlay joke during it: “It always worked for Errol Flynn.” And
even with all the scheming, half holes, and stealing of hotel towels, I don’t
think Davy got his jacket back. 
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