I'd rate this episode lower, but veteran Lloyd Bochner has one good scene near the end where he waggles his eyebrows and gives Tony a "Sure, I'll take that $5,000 you were going to pay off my accomplice with" bit with a roguish "Money? Why, I've never been known to refuse" line. Credit to Bochner, he sells the line in this otherwise weak-sauce episode.
A big part of the problem is that Brad David as Danny is way too old for the part. He plays this nerdy nebbish "kid" (David was 26 at the time), which might have worked if played by a child actor. Or even a teenager. But the script can't make up its mind, so David doesn't know what he's doing and it shows. David plays Danny as a geeky teenager who lives at home and is worried about disappointing his father. But Danny is... 26?
This whole mess reduces Tony to mostly a bystander in a show about him. He doesn't do magic, and instead of using some magic to distract Bochner's character and his thugs, Tony rigs some photo lights into strobe lights and then dodges the bad guys by climbing up a fire escape. Maybe if they called him "The MacGyver" instead of "The Magician"?
Even Keene Curtis doesn't get much to do, which is not a good sign. And the plot doesn't make much sense. Why does Carol burst into laughter when Paul Ryerson proposes to her? To provoke him into shoving her down the stairs? How does she know he'll shove her? People laugh at me, I don't shove them. Or come anywhere close to shoving her so she can fake a fall down the stairs, if that's what she did? How does Carol guarantee she doesn't break her neck for real? What if Paul knows enough first aid that he can tell she's faking her injury and, later, death? There's a couple of tossaway lines about industrial espionage, but we never see it so it has no impact whatsoever.
Although they do mention that Paul's company is developing a battery that can drive a car. Ah, the fuel-less 70s, which is an ironic precursor to the show's redrafting later due in part because of the '73 energy crisis.
I don't find the scenes of the Mission Inn as overused as the other reviewer here does. They go on just long enough for me, and make for some decent scenery. Yeah, they go on longer than necessary. But the whole episode is rather padded and it all goes on longer than necessary. I like the scene of them dredging up the trunk which goes on forever. Tony says "Nah, they won't find a body in the trunk", then does a complete 180 when they do! I'd rather see shots of the Inn than more of the plodding dialogue and so-so escape and fight scenes.
So overall, a mediocre episode in a run of mediocre or worst episodes. I don't remember this one from the original run, but maybe it's my brain fighting back to keep me from suffering trauma.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
A big part of the problem is that Brad David as Danny is way too old for the part. He plays this nerdy nebbish "kid" (David was 26 at the time), which might have worked if played by a child actor. Or even a teenager. But the script can't make up its mind, so David doesn't know what he's doing and it shows. David plays Danny as a geeky teenager who lives at home and is worried about disappointing his father. But Danny is... 26?
This whole mess reduces Tony to mostly a bystander in a show about him. He doesn't do magic, and instead of using some magic to distract Bochner's character and his thugs, Tony rigs some photo lights into strobe lights and then dodges the bad guys by climbing up a fire escape. Maybe if they called him "The MacGyver" instead of "The Magician"?
Even Keene Curtis doesn't get much to do, which is not a good sign. And the plot doesn't make much sense. Why does Carol burst into laughter when Paul Ryerson proposes to her? To provoke him into shoving her down the stairs? How does she know he'll shove her? People laugh at me, I don't shove them. Or come anywhere close to shoving her so she can fake a fall down the stairs, if that's what she did? How does Carol guarantee she doesn't break her neck for real? What if Paul knows enough first aid that he can tell she's faking her injury and, later, death? There's a couple of tossaway lines about industrial espionage, but we never see it so it has no impact whatsoever.
Although they do mention that Paul's company is developing a battery that can drive a car. Ah, the fuel-less 70s, which is an ironic precursor to the show's redrafting later due in part because of the '73 energy crisis.
I don't find the scenes of the Mission Inn as overused as the other reviewer here does. They go on just long enough for me, and make for some decent scenery. Yeah, they go on longer than necessary. But the whole episode is rather padded and it all goes on longer than necessary. I like the scene of them dredging up the trunk which goes on forever. Tony says "Nah, they won't find a body in the trunk", then does a complete 180 when they do! I'd rather see shots of the Inn than more of the plodding dialogue and so-so escape and fight scenes.
So overall, a mediocre episode in a run of mediocre or worst episodes. I don't remember this one from the original run, but maybe it's my brain fighting back to keep me from suffering trauma.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
