User Reviews

This episode features an excellent performance by Nick Adams as a young man addicted to gambling. The 90-minute format means it plays more like a movie than a television show. Nick Adams is in almost every scene and deftly creates a character that reflects the desperate and chaotic world in which an addict lives--lying to everyone around him, but most of all lying to himself. The drama is filled with top-notch actors who give Adams strong support. Virginia Gregg, a highly skilled and long-time radio and television performer, is particularly effective in the role of Adams's character's mother. Adams's and Gregg's scenes together as a dysfunctional family are powerful and it is a joy to watch talented professionals demonstrate their craft. Having said all that, a fundamental weakness of the series is its basic construction: the police work to catch a crook in the first half and in the second half a defense attorney works to free him. This creates disjointed story telling & undermines the cohesiveness of the narrative. I can see why the series did not thrive and how Law and Order's reconceptualization strengthened the narrative possibilities. I still think that this series in general, and this episode in particular, is worth watching because of the high caliber of acting talent it attracted.