Ironside (TV Series) Another Shell Game (1973) User Reviews

A deadly plan B

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 26 December 2013]

Dan O'Herlihy guest stars in this Ironside episode. He's a master crook who has just spent five years in jail courtesy of Chief Ironside and he wants revenge on him and the staff. So he's planned the massive theft of a private art collection of Skye Aubrey's and failing that he has a deadly plan B.

You see it's not just the theft, he wants to humiliate Raymond Burr and the team.

O'Herlihy is a classy guy, but he's extremely deadly and for one member of the Ironside squad this could be fatal. Scott Glenn has an early role as one of O'Herlihy's accomplices. This is a good one.

Classic episode with a smiling but deadly villian, and Ed gets the girl!

[TopekaBob · 9/10 · 10 March 2022]

Ironside likes to start episodes showing someone getting out of prison, getting picked up by someone, and then off we go with a plot that could lead anywhere. It works, and of course was done effectively in the first George Clooney "Oceans Eleven" movie.

Here the villian gets out and he's out to make some money and get Ironside, and he's jovial and funny, but ultimately ruthless. The story moves along in different directions and while we know the series is not going to kill off a main character, it's still pretty harrowing when the kidnappers pull out their guns and get ready to execute Fran and her friend!

To be fair to Fran, who I've criticized as being inept in the past, Ed is the dunderhead this time, allowing himself to let a millionaire heiress get kidnapped literally right under his nose! To be fair, he calls himself an idiot, while Fran usually doesn't seem to know how dumb she is, police-wise.

Scott Glenn - one of the more accomplished actors in American history - appears in this as a bad guy, and makes no real impression. You certainly don't say, hey, that guy's gonna be a superstar! Who made an impression on me was Mel Scott as one of the assassins! He reminded me of some of the killers you see on "Breaking Bad." Brooding and scary. And a nice touch at the very end, when he's arrested after almost executing Fran, he turns to her and basically says, nothing personal, just doing my job!

I agree with the other reviewer, a good episode. I don't agree with the 6 the other reviewer gave it though. A 6 is a "D," which is about as close to failure as you can get. Finally, Don Mitchell as Mark is now a full-fledged policeman, and a good one.