Red Dust

Hello, all. Today's episode is Red Dust, one of two Russian-theme episodes. As always, many story spoilers and remarks on The Guide's and The Sentinel's appealing physical attributes. Red Dust is an okay episode. The best thing is that Jim and Blair are together through the whole episode. The worst thing is that two of the actors have their noses pierced. It is very distracting.

The set up is that Micki, the older sister, and Katria, the younger one, are at a restaurant celebrating Katria's birthday. In comes Guy No. 1 with a metal briefcase. He approaches the local head gangster of Little Moscow and before he can pass over the briefcase, Guy No. 2 comes in, shoots up the place and steals the briefcase.

Enter Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg. Also Simon Banks, looking very handsome in a tuxedo. Jim has on his dark grey wool coat, a dark brown plaid shirt over a grey t-shirt and brown pants. Blair has on his brown plaid coat, a brown shirt and jeans. Blair's hair is really long in this episode, which I like a lot. It's all over the place.

Jim is trying to figure out what has happened, of course, and no one is talking. This is Little Moscow and the residents are fearful of the police, having immigrated from a no-so-nice police state. Jim talks to Micki and she finally offers her business card to Jim, telling him she'd see if she could find out any information. After Micki leaves, Blair smarts off at Jim's success with the woman. It is very cute when he says, "From Russia With Love, I'd say." I love the look he gives Jim.

Jim is scanning the restaurant when he finds a motorcycle-chain bracelet. He picks it up and says it's warm. I like that Blair says it is kind of warm in the room. Jim looks very exasperated when he has to explain the metal is warm, not the room. Silly Blair.

The next scene finds our boys at the bullpen where tests have reveal that the metal is radioactive. Jim is wearing his burgundy flannel long-sleeved shirt over a dark grey t-shirt and grey pants. Blair has on a very nice long-sleeved blue henley and jeans. He puts on a red and blue plaid shirt a bit later.

The guys go down to Little Moscow to try and get info now that they know something radioactive is loose in Cascade. When they get to Micki's newspaper office (she runs the local paper), Blair reveals to us that he reads Russian. Smart Blair. Micki finally gives info about her sister and boyfriend.

Jim and Blair go to the apartment building to find the couple. No one will talk to them so Blair has Jim uses his sense of touch on the metal mailboxes in the hallway to test which is "hot" from the radioactivity. Jim smirks until the experiment works. They go to the boyfriend's door and when Jim touches the doorknob, he tells Blair it's hot like a toaster. Oh, Blair is in lecture mode, something that I love. He's rambling about different cultures and how they react under different circumstances. Very cute.

They enter without a search warrant and loud music is blaring. Jim clamps his hands over his ears but Blair is groovin' to the tunes. They discover the happy couple in the throes of passion. Good God, they have matching nose thingies. Ugh. Jim tells them to get dressed, they have to be treated for radiation poisoning. The girl cooperates but the guy escapes. Surprise.

Once back at the bullpen, Blair is once again lecturing about the escaped boyfriend's last name and where he's from. They realize that the boyfriend, Sergei, must have smuggled something radioactive out of Russia and they set off to try and find him.

In the truck Blair has an idea and asks Jim to drop him off at home so he can follow up on it. Jim goes off to visit the local gangster, Mayakofsky. I like the scene because after Jim tells Mayakofsky that he's dead meat, even though Mayakofsky has a knife in his hand (he's been practicing knife fighting with his buddies), Jim just calmly turns his back on the guy and walks away. Man, has he got big ones or what? Jim is so Mr. Cool.

Jim goes and picked up his little guppy and learns that the music in Sergei's apartment is what tipped off Blair. The same group is in Cascade playing that night. Blair feels that Sergei follows the group around because they speak to his repressed life. I like when they go to the club and the music is loud. Everyone is jumping around, Blair included. Jim looks so out of his element. Poor guy. He belongs at a Santana concert, not a Dread one.

Of course, Sergei is there but he runs. There is a good scene in the alleyway. Sergei runs out. A guy on a motorcycle is waiting. Sergei jumps on. Jim and Blair run out followed by another guy, one of Mayakofsky's henchmen. The motorcycle driver and the henchman raise their guns and Jim and Blair are in the middle. Of course, Jim dives on Blair to get him out of the line of fire. Good Jim!

The next scene shows Jim and Blair back at Micki's newspaper office. Mayakofsky is there and threatens Micki. Jim is wearing a black and tan patterned sweater over a black t-shirt and brown pants, and his black leather coat. Blair as on a royal blue zippered shirt over a t-shirt with a whale on it and a black nylon coat.

We finally find out that what is being hunted down is a high-grade plutonium powder called PU239 that is extremely dangerous. When the NRC agent asks to speak to the detective in charge, I like when Simon tells him that Jim Ellison has gone for a newspaper. Funny Simon. Jim is back talking to Micki and he figures out something else is up. Micki finally reveals that Katria, her sister, has leukemia. Sergei was going to sell the plutonium for the bone marrow operation. He set up the hit at the restaurant to take Mayakofsky out as middleman and Sergei was going to sell to a North Korean himself.

Things falls apart and Blair is waiting in Jim's truck when Sergei appears with the briefcase. Mayakofsky shows up and kills Sergei right in front of Blair, grabs the briefcase and takes off. Sergei is dying but he tells them that he still has the plutonium; it's in his backpack.

They set up a sting. Micki calls Mayakofsky and tells him she has the plutonium and if he'll broker the deal with the North Korean and give her $250,000 for the sister's operation, he can have the rest. They set up a buy at the docks and when everybody show up, the cops descend but not before Mayakofsky grabs Micki and takes off in an incredibly boring hovercraft episode. I hate chase scenes.

There is a very good scene when Katria is standing in the line of fire and our hero Blair runs from behind the cops and saves her while Simon is yelling at him. The good thing is that Jim is wearing Kevlar. The bad thing is that the big fight is not that interesting. Jim finally knocks out the bad guy and stops the hovercraft. I still can't figure out why after Jim pulls himself up onto the hovercraft, he just falls through the window without even pulling his gun or assessing his enemy's position. Man, that was too silly for words.

The tag is cute. We are treated to Blair in his glasses with his hair pulled back. The guy is just too gorgeous for words. Blair is wearing a red shirt over a white v-neck t-shirt. Jim has on his teal shirt over a grey t-shirt and his shoulder holster. After Micki expresses her gratitude for the government giving Katria her operation and giving Jim a peck on the cheek. Blair comes over and does his Russian accent. This is where Jim forgets all about Micki and takes Blair out to dinner. LOL! Well, anyway. Blair says "Mr. Ellison" in this cute accent and remarks about how Jim opened doors (into Little Moscow) and the girl waves good bye (and good riddance).

There you go, Red Dust. Micki reappears later on in another episode called Red Ice. Next up is Smart Alec. Not an episode for bug haters or spider-fearing individuals.

The End

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