The Fugitive (TV Series) Second Sight (1966) User Reviews

Plot summary

[ynot-16 · 8/10 · 2 December 2006]

Kimble is working at a photo developing company when he notices a photo with Fred Johnson (the one armed man) in the background. He searches out the photographer, Howie Keever, played by actor Tim Considine. Howie turns out to be a small time chiseler and blackmailer.

Howie advises Kimble that the man is called Walters, and is a night watchman. Kimble goes after him, but the fight leads to an accident and explosion that leaves Kimble blind.

Kimble faces danger from Johnson, the police, Howie's greedy drunken uncle Wingo, and at times from Howie himself, in addition to his blindness.

Actor Ted Knight (Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore show) plays a doctor.

Almost!!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 11 May 2017]

In this episode, Richard Kimble FINALLY catches up with the one-armed man. In a couple other episodes he saw him but in this one he confronts him in a warehouse. Unfortunately, the one-armed man WINS by shoving some crates onto Kimble and they explode! The flash blinds Kimble and he spends most of the rest of the show groping about until he eventually is caught by police. How does Kimble's helping a young blackmailer come back to help him in this ordeal? See the show.

Any episode with the one-armed man is worth seeing...and this one is no exception. Why Kimble liked and helped the young man is the only part I didn't understand and once again Kimble is able to see the good in someone who sure seems like a complete jerk!

A blind victim of innocent justice

[jsinger-58969 · 9/10 · 24 March 2023]

Dick is toiling in a dark room developing pictures when he is stunned to see old pal Johnson in the background of one of them. He gets the name of the photographer and goes to see him. He's not there, but he gives a guy $2 to tell him where he is. The photographer, Howie, is a punkish yoot who gets by by blackmailing people in his pics. Dick saves him from a beating and Howie tells him that Fred is a night watchman at a chemical warehouse. Dick breaks in and they chase each other around until Johnson pushes a bunch of boxes on Kimble, which explode and cause a big fire. Good luck to Johnson getting a reference after that. Kimble is burned and blinded. He was shot 8 times, stabbed numerous times, run over, had amnesia, pneumonia, survived a train crash and lost his sense of smell during the course of the show. He suffered everything but impotence. And now he's blind! Fortunately, Dick heals like Wolverine. He's taken to a hospital where he's treated by Ted Baxter, who tells him that sometimes people regain their sight after such events. We can only hope. Meanwhile, Fred calls the cops and reports Kimble is in the hospital. Dick overhears a cop getting the message and gropes his way out of the hospital, groping a nurse on the way out. At least his record is intact of never paying a hospital bill. Dick continues his journey into seedy town, knocking over numerous trash cans along the way. He nearly gets electrocuted at a power station, which would have saved the state the trouble. He finds his way back to Howie's place, and even though Howie knows about the 10k on Dick's head, he doesn't turn him in. Dick is picked up and tells the cops to give Howie the reward, but just then his sight starts coming back, just as Dr Baxter said it might. Just one cop takes Dick out of the station, where Howie distracts him, enabling Dick to knock him out. The other cops are apparently preoccupied with coffee and donuts and don't see any of this. Howie takes Dick to a bus terminal and gives him a 10 spot as they say their goodbyes.

10/25/66 "Second Sight"

[schappe1 · 28 January 2016]

Ed Robertson declares this to be the worst episode of the series in his book "The Fugitive Recaptured", blaming it on David Janssen's "wretched" performance as a man temporarily blinded and dependent on the kindness of strangers. I couldn't agree less.

Kimble is again after the one-armed man, "Fred Johnson" and corners him in warehouse. They fight in a chemical warehouse and Johnson causes a minor chemical explosion that blinds Kimble, who winds up in a hospital, then reports Kimble to the police. Kimble escapes but still can't see anything and is at the mercy of a couple of hobos he runs into and then of a free-lance photographer who took the picture who led Kimble to Johnson.

As Robertson says, "Kimble bumbles around with his arms flailing and crashes into every garbage can he finds." What do you expect? The guy can't see anything. Robertson sees it as "so broad his performance borders on camp". I saw fear, even panic, desperation, pleading for help- the exact sort of emotions you'd expect him to have in that situation. The worst episode of the series is surely "The Homecoming" from season one, not this one which is actually pretty good.

Outta Sight!

[kennyp-44177 · 10/10 · 10 November 2021]

This was one of the Fugitive episodes I always kept missing on terrestrial TV, finally watched today on YouTube and wasn't disappointed. Its amazing! Could be possibly my favourite of season four, great cast, but the direction is spot on. The tension in the warehouse where Dr Kimble is stalking the One Armed Man is palpable, and David Jannsen playing a blind man is very well done, not over the top like other commentators have mentioned. Would liked this to have been part one of the finale, because we also have a local detective here who actually seems sympathetic to Kimble's case, and could make arguments with Lt. Gerard when he arrived over the possibility of the Docs innocence. Watch and enjoy 👍

Second Sight , Last Place

[rmj142 · 26 April 2011]

I am currently watching The Fugitive for the first time and in order, and "Second Sight" ranks as the weakest episode to date.

That Kimble just happens to be working in a photo lab where film that that includes an accidental shot of Fred Johnson (The One Armed Man) is brought, sends the coincidence meter into the red-zone right at the start.

Then Kimball ineffectually blunders around in a warehouse pursuing Johnson and winds up blinded by a chemical explosion. While not in and of itself a bad idea (a blind Fugitive does hold some possibilities) it is totally bollixed by the writer(s) as we see Kimble stumbling around aimlessly in the midst of a city wide manhunt by the police.

After implausibly escaping capture (not to mention frying) while wandering blindly across town, Kimble arrives at the pad of a "friend" only to be quickly caught and imprisoned. He is then escorted by a single cop out a back door of the police station where he is able (his vision having returned) to clobber his escort and escape via a bus.

The script is awful. The "blind" scenes are painful. David Janssen was decidedly unconvincing with his portrayal of a blind man. He repeatedly reached for things that a blind man would not have known to reach for and in one scene he lowered his head before the officer escorting him told him to duck.

Tim Considine is somewhat edgy for mid-60s American TV and Stuart Lancaster is excellent as his malevolent and bleary eyed uncle. Ned Glass and Crahan Denton (who died six weeks after this episode originally aired) as a pair of drunks are also a highlight of this mainly forgettable episode.