The opening has Max guarding a scientist in an airport terminal. He tells him to wait right beside him while he checks with the Chief. In a manner done in other series, while Max is phoning while guarding someone, he turns away from him, and, as expected, the man is killed-strangled in this case by hands coming out of a locker-while Max is on the phone telling the Chief everything is going fine.
The Chief takes Max off the case and sends 99 to Casablanca to find a criminal called The Choker, who stangles his victims. She is to pose a singer in a nightclub, wearing a blonde wig and she is strictly told not to tell Max anything about her assignment. Max is ordered to take a vacation, and when he keeps pleading with the Chief to stay on the case, the Chief personally escorts Max to the airport to fly to northern Canada.
Max, dressed like the airplane will be as cold as the frozen tundra, decides on leaving the Chief's side, to slip onto a flight to Casablanca to try to complete the mission. When he arrives at the airport and is questioned about his wardrobe, he tells the man he feels rather chilly. The man gets to play Smart's usual "would you believe" game, giving a nice twist to the routine. Earlier, they executed a similar twist when Max told the Chief how he'll have to make his decisions and solve the case without the benefit of Max's knowledge and experience. The Chief stared as Max and solemnly said, "And loving it."
In general, what was so great about all the catch phrases used on this series is that they didn't do each of them in every, or nearly every, episode, and they twisted them by having other people say the lines, not just Max all the time. I think other series erred in not following this pattern. "Heeeeyyyy" and "Dy-no-MITE" might have been somewhat funnier if they were sometimes said by others AND if you didn't hear them in every episode.
Max goes to the nightclub where 99 is performing, and they both phone the Chief believing they are either seeing their friend OR the person who looks like the one they know could be the criminal they are after. The Chief seeks to keep them from knowing the truth, with almost fatal consequences, buy our heroes figure things out in time.
Max gets a good chance to lapse into his Bogart impression, even gets to deal with Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre lookalikes.
In this episode, all of the side matters-Max ordered on vacation, letting his man be killed, discovering it really was 99 playing the singer, etc. were the best parts of the show. The mission of stopping The Choker was really a side matter, accomplished rather quickly. Even though he had a line, the man who played The Choker was uncredited because his role was so small.
Because the side matters were quite funny, I happily give this one a 9.
The Chief takes Max off the case and sends 99 to Casablanca to find a criminal called The Choker, who stangles his victims. She is to pose a singer in a nightclub, wearing a blonde wig and she is strictly told not to tell Max anything about her assignment. Max is ordered to take a vacation, and when he keeps pleading with the Chief to stay on the case, the Chief personally escorts Max to the airport to fly to northern Canada.
Max, dressed like the airplane will be as cold as the frozen tundra, decides on leaving the Chief's side, to slip onto a flight to Casablanca to try to complete the mission. When he arrives at the airport and is questioned about his wardrobe, he tells the man he feels rather chilly. The man gets to play Smart's usual "would you believe" game, giving a nice twist to the routine. Earlier, they executed a similar twist when Max told the Chief how he'll have to make his decisions and solve the case without the benefit of Max's knowledge and experience. The Chief stared as Max and solemnly said, "And loving it."
In general, what was so great about all the catch phrases used on this series is that they didn't do each of them in every, or nearly every, episode, and they twisted them by having other people say the lines, not just Max all the time. I think other series erred in not following this pattern. "Heeeeyyyy" and "Dy-no-MITE" might have been somewhat funnier if they were sometimes said by others AND if you didn't hear them in every episode.
Max goes to the nightclub where 99 is performing, and they both phone the Chief believing they are either seeing their friend OR the person who looks like the one they know could be the criminal they are after. The Chief seeks to keep them from knowing the truth, with almost fatal consequences, buy our heroes figure things out in time.
Max gets a good chance to lapse into his Bogart impression, even gets to deal with Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre lookalikes.
In this episode, all of the side matters-Max ordered on vacation, letting his man be killed, discovering it really was 99 playing the singer, etc. were the best parts of the show. The mission of stopping The Choker was really a side matter, accomplished rather quickly. Even though he had a line, the man who played The Choker was uncredited because his role was so small.
Because the side matters were quite funny, I happily give this one a 9.
