Say what you want about the first half of the season, it at least had Tony doing magic besides the opening and closing. Sometimes. Maybe. But in this episode Tony not only doesn't use magic to foil the bad guys, but he doesn't use magic in instances when we've seen him in the past use magic. A good example is when he's fighting Hubbard. Wouldn't an appearing cane to the face, or some flash paper and a match, come in handy? Instead Tony pulls the guy's jacket over his head, chokes him with his own tie, and knocks him out. Cripes, I could do that.
The only thing out of all of this is that Tony is _hurt_. He's sweating like a pig, gets a few ribs broken from Hubbard's bear hug, and is in an arm sling at the end. It gives Tony some vulnerability which he's lacked so far.
The rest of the episode. I like the hints of Tony's backstory, that Irene gave him his "big break" back in '61. Although that seems to suggest Tony was a magician in '61. I always thought he became a magician during/after he escaped from that South American prison, which was later than '61. Wasn't it? No reason to think he wasn't a magician before he escaped: the writers just always made it sound like he learned how to be a magician/escape artist to get out of the prison.
Foch and Wolfe are okay, and I'll always remember Wolfe as Hirsch on 'WKRP'. He doesn't get much to do here, and his character is unceremoniously whisked off to Hawaii for a vacation. Mark Lenard is oddly miscast as a thuggish henchperson with a penchant for rattlesnakes. Lenard isn't bad: it's just surprising to see the guy who played Sarek and Aaron Stempel playing an "average" henchperson.
And you've got Anthony Zerbe as the bad guy. I'm sure that Zerbe has played a good guy somewhere, sometimes. But if you saw a person who looked like Zerbe, wouldn't you run screaming in the other direction? Zerbe is even more trope cast as a bad guy than John Colicos from the previous episode: at least Colicos occasionally played a good (or better) guy. When Zerbe's character discusses his lovemaking with Irene, it makes me want to cringe.
Jerry appears in this episode but doesn't have anything to do but answer the phone, do some research, and call in the police. For this they brought Julian Christopher back? Dominick could have done this: didn't the new production team trust Sirola to handle it? Or was Christopher still under contract?
As for the love interest, Lois Lane..., umm, I mean Victoria. She's the first believable romantic female lead that Tony has had. Even though like most females on the show that don't have asthma or Vaseline on the camera (Lynley and Bonet), Victoria is a conniving schemer. Why Tony would want to hang with her afterward after she stabbed him in the back, who knows? Bixby isn't any more convincing when kissing Victoria than he is in any of his other romances, but at least writers Hesse and Playdon play the whole thing as Tony conning a conner. Although what undercover reporter keeps her press pass on her when she's undercover? And they keep playing Irene up as some famous actress, but it's an informed talent.
That's the funniest part of the episode. Bad guy Brad apparently spends millions of dollars to bilk Irene out of her money (hiring two thugs, purchasing a "stainless steel lady", setting up a master control room for said lady, and building a secret passageway with an automatic pneumatic door), Not to mention making love to Irene: the thought of Zerbe and Foch doing the nasty as they state is more frightening than anything else on this or any horror show.
So it's basically Legion of Doom stupid. The bad guy spends a million dollars to bleed Irene out of money. I hope she had a lot of money, but we never see any indication of that except she lives in a fancy house.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
The only thing out of all of this is that Tony is _hurt_. He's sweating like a pig, gets a few ribs broken from Hubbard's bear hug, and is in an arm sling at the end. It gives Tony some vulnerability which he's lacked so far.
The rest of the episode. I like the hints of Tony's backstory, that Irene gave him his "big break" back in '61. Although that seems to suggest Tony was a magician in '61. I always thought he became a magician during/after he escaped from that South American prison, which was later than '61. Wasn't it? No reason to think he wasn't a magician before he escaped: the writers just always made it sound like he learned how to be a magician/escape artist to get out of the prison.
Foch and Wolfe are okay, and I'll always remember Wolfe as Hirsch on 'WKRP'. He doesn't get much to do here, and his character is unceremoniously whisked off to Hawaii for a vacation. Mark Lenard is oddly miscast as a thuggish henchperson with a penchant for rattlesnakes. Lenard isn't bad: it's just surprising to see the guy who played Sarek and Aaron Stempel playing an "average" henchperson.
And you've got Anthony Zerbe as the bad guy. I'm sure that Zerbe has played a good guy somewhere, sometimes. But if you saw a person who looked like Zerbe, wouldn't you run screaming in the other direction? Zerbe is even more trope cast as a bad guy than John Colicos from the previous episode: at least Colicos occasionally played a good (or better) guy. When Zerbe's character discusses his lovemaking with Irene, it makes me want to cringe.
Jerry appears in this episode but doesn't have anything to do but answer the phone, do some research, and call in the police. For this they brought Julian Christopher back? Dominick could have done this: didn't the new production team trust Sirola to handle it? Or was Christopher still under contract?
As for the love interest, Lois Lane..., umm, I mean Victoria. She's the first believable romantic female lead that Tony has had. Even though like most females on the show that don't have asthma or Vaseline on the camera (Lynley and Bonet), Victoria is a conniving schemer. Why Tony would want to hang with her afterward after she stabbed him in the back, who knows? Bixby isn't any more convincing when kissing Victoria than he is in any of his other romances, but at least writers Hesse and Playdon play the whole thing as Tony conning a conner. Although what undercover reporter keeps her press pass on her when she's undercover? And they keep playing Irene up as some famous actress, but it's an informed talent.
That's the funniest part of the episode. Bad guy Brad apparently spends millions of dollars to bilk Irene out of her money (hiring two thugs, purchasing a "stainless steel lady", setting up a master control room for said lady, and building a secret passageway with an automatic pneumatic door), Not to mention making love to Irene: the thought of Zerbe and Foch doing the nasty as they state is more frightening than anything else on this or any horror show.
So it's basically Legion of Doom stupid. The bad guy spends a million dollars to bleed Irene out of money. I hope she had a lot of money, but we never see any indication of that except she lives in a fancy house.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?