A plot you could actually follow and a good performance by Pam Ferdin, who plays as a mentally disturbed child named Dana with a Peter Pan complex who floats in and out of reality and threatens to fly off balconies. She is being treated at a special school and is very close to her psychiatrist, who is about to donate a small fortune in bonds to the school. Dana overhears something she shouldn't about the bonds being stolen on the same day her doctor was murdered. Joe, working on behalf of the insurance company on this one, is assigned to investigate the whereabouts of the bonds. Proving he is catnip to kids as well as women, Joe instantly bonds with Dana, and he is convinced that her delusions about Captain Cook and the pirates contain strands of truth about what she saw and heard prior to the murder.
Ferdin had quite a few scenes and being an accomplished child actress was as self-possessed as any adult. The other costars seemed wooden in comparison and there is no mystery to solve in this one really. For those who like the action, there was a car chase along a windy road and the obligatory fight scene at the end. While it is watchable, as almost every episode is, it is nothing special. Other reviewers have commented on the real danger Ferdin was in during the balcony scene, and watching the episode makes you wonder who thought that was a good idea. In an ironic note - Connors' own daughter was named Dana and his son, now deceased, would be diagnosed with a mental illness a few years after this episode was filmed.