Larry-view: One of the better episodes. With this episode I begin to see "The Magician" formula. Start off with a little bit of magic, then give Tony the world's worst luck to have him at the right time and place to get caught up in someone's problem. feature some good action, stunts, a car chase, hopefully a few laugh lines, and great outdoor location footage. Have an implausible, poorly motivated, poorly explained, convoluted plot that moves along with the aid of some talking heads. Finally wrap it up in a climax at some interesting location like a barn, workshop, factory, or Gothic cathedral where Tony outwits the bad guys in a showdown by confusing them with some of his magic equipment. In this episode we get all of that, with the totally unexpected bonus of some SCUBA footage!!! Also we get more laugh lines this time, which are a highlight of the show. The girl this time is an airhead character, which is always fun. Unfortunately we again get the convoluted plot, but less so than in previous episodes. A further problem with these plots is that often key elements of the plot are explained in a line or two by a talking head, and it's easy to miss that and then you don't understand everything. We went back and replayed crucial lines, but were still left with questions about who killed whom, and why.
Again we get almost no magic. Bixby does one flawless, slick and excellent trick where he produces a book from a folded sheet of newspaper, and I think that's about all we get. Other tricks are rising cards from wallet and then just stage style fireworks later, which doesn't count as magic.
As for implausible, Tony not only happens to be SCUBA diving at the exact place and time needed to run into a former acquaintance from that very day, but he's even so close to the mark that he can coincidentally see her underwater. Now that's luck. Later he gets searched and he has nothing at all in any pockets, except for some balloons (!, sic) that happen to save his hide. And this is from a guy that always seems to have his pockets full of tricks so that he can ply his trade to any audience upon which he happens.
But anyway the dialog in this one is more sparkling, we get more laugh lines, Bill exudes sincerity and decency (as always), the action and locations are kicked up a notch over the usual good quality, and the plot is a little clearer. This one even throws in a red herring, a whodunit staple that I haven't seen in this series up until now. Plus this one's just more fun.
Only Bill Bixby could exude the decency required for him to be taking women home all the time, spending long weekends with them, and appearing in a scene with an almost nude girl this time and still seem like he's 100% altruistic.
Again we get almost no magic. Bixby does one flawless, slick and excellent trick where he produces a book from a folded sheet of newspaper, and I think that's about all we get. Other tricks are rising cards from wallet and then just stage style fireworks later, which doesn't count as magic.
As for implausible, Tony not only happens to be SCUBA diving at the exact place and time needed to run into a former acquaintance from that very day, but he's even so close to the mark that he can coincidentally see her underwater. Now that's luck. Later he gets searched and he has nothing at all in any pockets, except for some balloons (!, sic) that happen to save his hide. And this is from a guy that always seems to have his pockets full of tricks so that he can ply his trade to any audience upon which he happens.
But anyway the dialog in this one is more sparkling, we get more laugh lines, Bill exudes sincerity and decency (as always), the action and locations are kicked up a notch over the usual good quality, and the plot is a little clearer. This one even throws in a red herring, a whodunit staple that I haven't seen in this series up until now. Plus this one's just more fun.
Only Bill Bixby could exude the decency required for him to be taking women home all the time, spending long weekends with them, and appearing in a scene with an almost nude girl this time and still seem like he's 100% altruistic.
