This was a compelling episode involving pregnant teens selling their babies to a sleazy California/Mexico "adoption agency" who then sells those babies on to desperate couples. Of course, the problem of these couples and the selling (or stealing) of babies still exists today, worse now that abortion is easily available. The 2 main bad guys at the agency are Robert Horton as Armitage and Jeane Byron as Rita. Also involved is a disgraced ex-Doctor Wyness (Paul Lambert) who lost his license and had been put in prison by Pepper (Angie Dickinson). All effectively portray convincing characters.
Their scam comes onto the police radar (and ours) when Valerie, the wife of a policeman, Sam Dorin (Dale Robinette), is in a fatal small plane accident. Valerie was flying back from Mexico after checking out the clinic where the babies are born. Also in the crash were 2 young girls who had just given birth, and the pilot (who was supposed to be flying back alone) who'd been slipped a Mickey Finn because he was getting too greedy. The wife had learned of the "agency" from her friend Cindy (Kim O'Brien), pregnant by a married man. And Cindy actually answers a question all the viewers would have been yelling at the screen by then: Why didn't Sam and his wife just adopt *her* baby?! She actually has a pretty good answer.
And, surprise!, as in every show ever made, grieving cop Sam is told to stand down from the investigation, but instead goes out investigating his wife's murder by himself and almost gets killed. But then, contrarily to every other show *I've* ever seen, the Mexican police officer, Lt. Garcia (Armando Silvestre), is actually polite and helpful to Lt. Crowley (Earl Holliman)! That certainly made for a nice change.
Their scam comes onto the police radar (and ours) when Valerie, the wife of a policeman, Sam Dorin (Dale Robinette), is in a fatal small plane accident. Valerie was flying back from Mexico after checking out the clinic where the babies are born. Also in the crash were 2 young girls who had just given birth, and the pilot (who was supposed to be flying back alone) who'd been slipped a Mickey Finn because he was getting too greedy. The wife had learned of the "agency" from her friend Cindy (Kim O'Brien), pregnant by a married man. And Cindy actually answers a question all the viewers would have been yelling at the screen by then: Why didn't Sam and his wife just adopt *her* baby?! She actually has a pretty good answer.
And, surprise!, as in every show ever made, grieving cop Sam is told to stand down from the investigation, but instead goes out investigating his wife's murder by himself and almost gets killed. But then, contrarily to every other show *I've* ever seen, the Mexican police officer, Lt. Garcia (Armando Silvestre), is actually polite and helpful to Lt. Crowley (Earl Holliman)! That certainly made for a nice change.
