After burning the films they had collected, Dubrek was shot while climbing a ladder to escape. He fell to a table below and there he died while trying to rip up the information he was carrying.
At least.... We were meant to think that he died, just like the Soviet soldiers were supposed to believe. We saw Dubrek writhing on the table and then he made one last collapse into stillness.
But Melchick, the Czech security officer working with the KGB was the first to reach Dubrek. And he probably convinced the soldiers that the radical film-maker was dead. However, Melchick was really working for the Czech underground and he may have been able to spirit Dubrek away to get medical help.
Just another bit of life during prime-time that we never got to see.
Having survived (in my brave new Toobworld), Dubrek was now a liability to the cause: his continued existence if discovered was a threat to Melchick's cover. And so he had to be smuggled out of the country.
Jump ahead six years to the Fall of 1974. Dubrek was now living in America - in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as ski instructor Paul Van Dillen.
For a few weeks he was dating the associate news director at WJM, Mary Richards. But Mary eventually realized that they had nothing in common and that the only reason she was dating him was because he was so damned good-looking. When she confessed this to Paul, it turned out that he was only dating her for the exact same reason!
The relationship didn't go much farther after that (even if the sex was probably fantastisch!) Not that Mary could have changed her mind and looked for Paul so that they could pick up where they left off.....
One night, while walking alone down a secluded street in the Twin Cities, Dubrek/Van Dillen was "attacked" by a Weeping Angel. With just one touch, this Angel sent him back in time to the days of the wild West.
Once he got his bearings and adjusted to the straits he was in, Dubrek realized he'd have to create a new life for himself in the Old West. And so with what he knew of the Future and believing he could still make a difference in the world as he once tried to do in Czechoslovakia, Dubrek recreated himself once again.
Now going by the name of Erik Hunter, he approached Company A of the Texas Rangers with forged credentials of his law enforcement skills in Europe. From there he was assigned to Company B in Laredo where he joined Captain Parmalee's team.
One thing he couldn't change about himself was his attraction to the lovely ladies of the range. And he changed sweethearts just as often as he changed his never-ending wardrobe.
It's anybody's guess as to what happened to Erik Hunter in the Old West, but one thing is for sure: his unrealized potential back in the "Present" (the 1970s) further invigorated that Weeping Angel.
It would not be the last time that "lonely assassin" would send some TV character back into the wild, wild West.....
SHOWS CITED:
- 'The Name Of The Game' - "White Birch"
- 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' - "Not Just Another Pretty Face"
- 'Doctor Who' - "Blink"
- 'Laredo' - introduced as a regular in the second season
BCnU!
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