When I started reviewing Mysterious Dr Satan, it was the start of the pandemic. I thought I had lucked onto an interesting project that would sustain me through the lockdown.
Cut to four years later and I am up to Episode Six.
When we last left off, the Copperhead was about to tussle with Dr Satan’s ‘metal man’. The fight is anticlimactic, mostly because the Copperhead’s ally Professor Scott (C. Montague Shaw) finds the robot’s Off switch.
I appreciate how human the Copperhead is - I even liked how he fooled the evil doctor by switching his mask with a goon to avoid being ambushed.
Mostly he seems a little headstrong in this episode. In contrast to his previous encounter, the Copperhead enters Dr Satan’s new hideout in his civilian guise as a way of throwing the villains off.
Luckily for our hero, Dr Satan explains the intricate trap he has set for the Copperhead.
Less luckily for our hero and the viewer, he is then escorted out of the room with the death trap.
Escaping his guards, he ends the episode trying to fight his way back into the room to save Lois.
Episode Six exemplifies the reason why I slowed down reviewing this serial.
Prolonging the story over 15 installments, you start to feel the repetition - not just in terms of the setpieces but the storyline.
In this episode alone we have characters repeatedly visiting the same locations (Dr Satan’s waterside hideout and Professor Scott’s residence), and getting into and out of peril.
This episode feels like the filmmakers are struggling for ideas.
We get some fun action - the Copperhead’s running leaps remain a delight - but this episode boils down to a lot of plot moves to justify getting the characters into position for the next cliffhanger.
In its favor we get our first skirmish between our hero and Dr Satan’s robot. Hopefully we get bigger and better fights between them in future episodes.
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