I bet fans of this great show won't like this review I'm about to write regarding this episode, which isn't my personal cup of tea, but I was very disappointed in the female lead, oddly named Houston, played by Lane Bradbury, in a rather mediocre performance. An old friend of Rocky's stops by and tells he and Jim that his daughter's been kidnapped, but naturally, he doesn't want the police involved. It turns out that this man, Peter Preli, gets killed, and soon after, Houston returns from a work-related meeting, as she was never kidnapped. I'm assuming she wasn't supposed to show much emotion, but I found her annoying and even rude at times to Rocky and Rockford, as she wasn't very likable, and there was no chemistry at all with her and James Garner. There were some positives, however, especially the performances of Tom Atkins(Diel), and a cameo by Robert Mandan, who didn't get enough scenes as a crooked real estate guy, who had Peter killed because he wouldn't sell his land in order to build other projects. There was a cool scene with Rocky and Jim(said this enough already)eating in a rundown part of town, where all the other stores on the block were for sale, and a very nice scene of them talking on the beach. Rockford acts as the girl/woman's(hard to tell her age)agent in a scheme to get real value for her grandfather's house from Charles Blackhorn(Mandan), who at first agrees to the asking price, but then does what crooks do, and Houston calls the cops from a nearby location to get Jim out of trouble and the hoods arrested. The last scene has the 3 of them(Jim, Rocky, and Houston)eating, and then Houston, abruptly and rudely, leaves the dinner table and goes to her room crying, while Jim quietly shuts the door. Maybe it's me, but I simply didn't care for her character, nor for Bradbury's acting, but there were some decent scenes to almost make up for it, but not nearly enough.
Review of Where's Houston?
