In
“The Delinquent,” Billy Batson (Michael Gray) volunteers to be a new junior
counselor at a summer camp because one boy, Norm (Jackie Earle Haley) is a
loner and not well-liked by the other campers.
For instance, he steals a canoe and flees the camp, until found and
brought back.
The
Elders tell Billy that “in order to like others, we must first like ourselves,”
and so Billy begins a regime of esteem-building with Norm. Unfortunately, Norm
finds out what Billy is doing, and this knowledge just makes him more of a
loner.
Billy
proposes a wilderness survival walk, but on the hike, Billy falls and is
injured. Now Norm must save Billy, and
rescue him from a bear, too!
Being a
hero makes Norm feel better about himself and all’s well that ends well.
Filmation’s
Shazam presents another morality lesson this week, and the half-hour belongs to
young Jackie Earle Haley, who has a long and distinguished career in genre
films, from Damnation Alley (1977) to A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010). He plays Norm, the episode's bad kid.
It's odd that the episode is called "The Delinquent," actually, because Norm is a loner, and a little bit recalcitrant, but not a bad kid.
A delinquent is, after all, defined as a criminal. Norm doesn't get along with other kids, and feels bad about himself. I guess stealing a canoe is, technically, a criminal act...but when considering something like that, there's always context, right? He takes a canoe to go out at a lake during a summer camp.
That's not a big thing, given where he was, and what he took.
And I also don't blame Norm a bit for feeling resentful when he learns that Billy has made him his "project." That's patronizing, and a little insulting.
Again, I'll just point out how weird it is to have a superhero show in which the hero spends all of his time counseling and lecturing kids, aged 6-16 about tolerance, acceptance, self-esteem and so forth.
Aren't there some natural disasters that people need to be rescued from? Or an occasional real crime, like bank robbery, to stop? Or even a super criminal now and then?
Next week: "The Braggart."
John nice review of this episode with Jackie Earle Haley. He did an episode of the Planet Of The Apes 1974-75 series too. Interesting career after a long hiatus he is back as an adult actor. Shazam only dealt with age 6-16 "Brady Bunch" problems because that was their viewing audience. More importantly, they did not have the budget to save the world :) .
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