Thoughts From the Gilligan's Island Episode The Invasion (1966)

Synopsis: When a briefcase containing government documents washes up on the island, the castaways think it might lead to their rescue. However, when they sneak a peek inside, they become concerned about their lives being in danger.

My Thoughts: 

The Professor (Russell Johnson) sure was optimistic about being rescued. A little too optimistic, in my opinion. I mean, the United States government didn't exactly bend over backwards trying to retrieve a missing robot, missing space capsule, or top-secret missile and they even knew when the last of those was.

What happened to the secret agent that was carrying the briefcase? We know two things about the case. It had top secret documents and those handcuffs were impossible to open without the keys (which were still inside the case). Shouldn't have been attached to a body or at least a severed arm?

This episode has one of my favorite dream sequences. It's one of the few dream sequences that doesn't have Gilligan (Bob Denver) dreaming of himself as a bumbling idiot. That being said, his secret agent alter ego did end up surviving as long as he did because of luck. Mary Ann's (Dawn Wells) character could have just shot him but gave him a chance to escape instead. Ginger's (Tina Louise) original plan to poison him with food probably would have worked if Mr. Howell's (Jim Backus) character hadn't convinced her otherwise.

They could have saved a lot of time by simply reading the documents. In for a penny, in for a pound. The briefcase was already open, would it have made that much of a difference had the Professor took a closer look? It feels like shutting the briefcase after a quick glance was a bit of an overreaction.

Speaking of which, that was one crappy lock on that case. It was opened twice with very little effort. So, either the government used a very flimsy case or that locking mechanism was rusted to the point it no longer worked. If it was the latter, you would think it would have been a pretty major clue about how old the case and documents were.

The ending is funny, but why run away? I get an exploding briefcase could be startling but, since it had already exploded, would running away really do anything for them? I know it's a comedy, but stuff like that does bother me a bit simply because it seems forced.

Final Opinion: The dream sequence is entertaining, but the rest of the episode honestly doesn't do that dream sequence justice. So, in other words, it has one of my favorite dream sequences but is not one of my favorite episodes.

My Grade: C