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Recap / The Wild Wild West S 4 E 2 "The Night of the Doomsday Formula"

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West and Gordon are sent to protect Dr. Crane (E. J. André), inventor of a powerful new explosive, but he and his daughter Lorna (Melinda Plowman) are kidnapped despite the agents' best efforts. They determine that the culprit is former 7th Cavalry officer Walter Kroll (Kevin McCarthy), and converge on Kroll's farm outside Denver, where he is conducting tests with submachine guns and other advanced weaponry in an attempt to build an arms empire for himself.

Disguises used by Artie: Doctor Crane, Chemist(9:45); Hassan Amir Ortuglo, Arab dealer in exotic weaponry(17:35)


Tropes present in this episode:

  • Arms Dealer: General Kroll goes on a Motive Rant about how he left the army after tiring of its Obstructive Bureaucrats because he wanted to develop new and better weapons of death, then sell them for lots of money.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Dr. Crane announces that he's had two massive heart attacks already and is living on borrowed time. Guess what happens to him at the end of the episode. West reunites Crane with his daughter just in time for him to die in her arms.
  • Damsel in Distress: The episode starts with Lorna being kidnapped, and she spends most of it held hostage in a fire pit in Kroll's furnace until West finally rescues her.
  • Funny Foreigner: Artie's disguise as Arab arms broker Hassan Amir Ortooglo invokes this trope, effendi.
  • Hollywood Heart Attack: Dr. Crane ticks a few boxes when the attack hits after seeing his daughter in danger.
  • I Have Your Wife: General Kroll does this with Dr. Crane's daughter, since Crane is reluctant to work for him.
  • Karmic Death: At the climax, Kroll and his Mooks are blown up by the same explosive they've been trying to steal.
  • Kidnapped Scientist: Dr. Crane plays this trope very straight.
  • Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Crane isn't mad, but otherwise Lorna fits the trope to a T.
  • Man on Fire: Kroll threatens that Lorna will fall into the fire pit unless her father gives him the formula and a sample to test.
  • Race Against the Clock: Jim must save Lorna in one hour before Kroll makes a final demand for the explosive formula.
  • Repetitive Audio Glitch: As Ortooglo, Artie starts singing Arab folk music, then switches to a primitive mini-phonograph playing the same song while he sneaks out of his room and searches Kroll's compound. After a while, the recording skips; Artie gets back just in time to explain to Kroll that he was playing the same passage over and over.

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