OK, I’ll bite… more Three Amigo references!  Amazing that this didn’t become more of an American Classic…  Chevy Chase looks like he’s pissed that he has to be in this movie at all…

And how do we “take care of” kids?  Put them in a time out?  Take them out?  we’ll see…

I am barely following this either…

Joe goes to Santa Poco, seemingly dragged by the nose by “those meddling kids,” and now he’s talking about how the kids are actually leading him to things?

And how exactly does a guy sitting on a bike in the middle of a Mexican Desert talking on a cell phone (improbable- where are the towers?) get patched through on what appears to be a CB radio (limited range and completely different technologies?)  Oh, the questions that arise!

FBI?  Customs? These guys are deep undercover, but certainly revealing themselves now…

And so now what are Rusty and the Nancy Drew inspired Mara going to do to “help?”  They were right not to trust anyone but themselves, but what do grown ups always say?  “Tell someone in authority about what you are seeing…”  “Don’t go in there alone…” Or something like that…  But boy, you could tell that Becky was a no-good-nik from the day (months ago) we laid eyes on her…

I hate to admit it, but I just wasted 15 minutes reliving this “storyline” to try to figure out who the hell “Pablo” is…

Pablo must be the guy who was watching Rusty and Mara in the temple as they were witnessing the “drop.”  I suppose now he’s of no use as the kids could ID him?  Seriously.  I need a Playbill.  And a life.

Pretty bike, but that’s a pretty bad hombre sitting on it…

Difficult not to notice the stereotypes being portrayed here…  Are all bikers bad?  I don’t think so.  But here we are.  In Mexico.  So the bad guys are Mexican.  Call me crazy, but where the heck is this going?  I doubt that James Allen even knows…

As Rusty gets caught in another male-dominated, misogynistic snare, Mara, offers up another withering look…

…and of course Joe can see everything unfolding!

Pablo doesn’t work here anymore, Joe, and neither will you if you don’t do something about those pesky kids!!

…or perhaps she watches too much television.

Let’s see whether any of Mara’s assumptions are correct, though.  Will “Backpack Guy” (love that name) succumb to cultural norms and let his guard down, simply because a female happens to be prostrate at his feet?   And what is the plan other than knowing where he is?  And I love how “wildlife” is represented in panel three- a lovely Mexican Rat!  Let’s hope they don’t mistake that for a dog and want to bring it home!

The lesson continues…

Friends?  What are those?  Rusty hasn’t had a friend for as long as he’s been alive, from what we know…  poor little guy.  His head is about to explode.  This much (teen) cultural assimilation is probably more than he can take…

What’re we doin’ again?

Oh, yea… following the guy with the backpack containing the contraband antiquity…

Rusty was given this phone when they arrived in Mexico… he literally doesn’t know what it’s used for…  But just imagine for a moment a time without smartphones.  It wasn’t that long ago.  People would literally walk around with their heads up and eyes forward, seeing what was in front of them.  Imagine you time-traveled from, say, the year 2000 to the present, and you saw all these people staring at these devices… literally everywhere… what a strange sight that would be.  Dana Carvey does a bit about John Lennon checking in with Paul McCartney about this phenomenon…

Game on, boys and girls!

This looks like a well paved, urban setting…  Might as well be in Rapid City, SD…