User Reviews

The episode begins at the airport as two flight attendants have just gotten in from a flight from the Philippines. Shortly after, one of the flight attendants is at home and discovers something shocking when her makeup bag falls to the floor. The mirror inside shattered and now she sees that drugs were hidden inside! She had inadvertently smuggled heroin into the country....and when her boyfriend shows up , she realizes he or his sleazy friend planted it in her luggage. To keep this a secret, they kill her...by giving her an overdose of the drug.

Soon after this, you learn that the dead lady's father is the janitor in Barnaby's building...and Barnaby knows this lady was NOT a drug user and so he agrees to look into the case. When he starts to dig, the drug smugglers try to kill him (in a rather ridiculous way, actually) and so to investigate further, the other flight attendant (Shelly Fabares) insists on going undercover. But, of course, she walks right into harm's way and it's up to Barnaby to save the day.

This one has a lot of good action (aside from the attempted murder scene with Barnaby) and is exciting and original. Worth seeing even with a few let downs here and there.

The series was very lucky to have Shelley Fabares guest star in this episode, playing Susan. Shelley literally grew up on tv and was very much in demand, also holding the distinction of appearing with Elvis in three of his films. We all wondered for years if they would ever get maried.

Joel Murcott wrote this adventure, possibly based on real life incidents. It's all about a friend of Susan's, also a fellow airline stewardess, who is the unknowing pawn in smuggling heroin in her makeup bag. It's a tried and true story in the history of most every airline. She's toast and the creeps make it look like she was an addict and died of an overdose.

This is also a rare episode where Barnaby actually KNOWS the victim. In this case, she is the daughter of the building janitor, who subsequently hires Barnaby. That bit was always a gamble for writers, as how many detectives actually knew victims, even in real life situations. It does, however, play out well here.

Out for revenge, Susan tries to fake out the druggies and nearly gets herself killed in the process. This part of the story has shades of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, and where we see Shelley Fabares at her best.

Murcott did some fine writing here, credited for having written many classic tv episodes for ALFRED HITCHCOCK.

Excellent supporting cast with Tracy Reed as Rachel. Tracy at the time made several appearances on MCCLOUD. Popular actor Carl Franklin plays Mark.

10 STARS.

From SEASON 4 EPISODE 7 remastered CBS dvd box set.