In Part 2 of Season 1's mini-action epic, Daniel and a reduced Boonesborough garrison are besieged by the Comte de Michelet's tribal coalition, and a gunpowder shortage plus lack of reinforcements have left the issue in doubt.
Joining the fight is not Batman, but Alfred - in particular Alan Napier as British Colonel Hubert Crater, Napier being the Dark Knight's consigliere in the 1960's ABC series. He does a courtly turn as a tea-sipping but formidable Empire warrior. Assisting him is TV journeyman Booth Colman as Private Simpsey, who will go on to two more DB appearances. Unfortunate that Cesar Danova's Comte de Michelet could not be brought back as a returning character, but this and the previous are the only DB episodes in which the French Bourbons are portrayed as adversaries.
The playbook from John Wayne's "The Alamo" is liberally borrowed from here, incorporating palisade fighting (Rebecca gets a coonskin cap and musket!) , midnight raids, and a desperate wait for reinforcements. But the historical backdrop is the core of the story, dissected as follows:
* Boone is referenced as a captain of militia. The real Boone was a captain by 1774, and a lieutenant colonel by 1780.
* Colonel Crater arrives from British-held Fort Detroit, not a Crown bastion until after the French and Indian War.
* But Michelet refers to "allegiance to the French crown," implying some form of the Anglo-French contest is still underway. Michelet gives Boonesborough a Bourbon banner as a temporary flag of truce.
* Boone notes Michelet was at the siege of Fort William Henry, New York, in which a British surrender turned into a partial Indian massacre.
* Yadkin builds a one-shot cannon out of a hollowed oak log wrapped by iron wagon rims. No historical precedent I am aware of, but intriguing- it might work if you kept the powder charge minimal.
Redcoat report - Crater and Simpsey are said to be Royal Welch Fusiliers, but the regiment was on European service in the 1760's. Again impossible to tell uniform color in black and white, but a reasonable assumption can be made that they are wearing red with blue facings - RWF-correct, and these colors will show up frequently in later DB episodes.
The hour sports well-paced action throughout, and a rousing matinee denouement. The episode takes the crown as the best DB outing of Season 1.
