The Gambling Game

This episode introduces Fran Belding, played by Elizabeth Baur. Her debut was inauspicious, hampered by having to play a very unlikable character: Driven, shrill, annoying, and understandably focused solely on her father's wrongfully disgraced death. But comprehending her motivation doesn't make her character much more likable. However, that's really the fault of the way her character is written, I don't think there was much she could do about it. And, as it turns out, once her debut is out of the way (and her father's name is cleared), Fran does greatly improve. I remember liking her character a lot, and ultimately was fonder of her than of Eve, the character she replaced. I'd say just write off her initial performance, it really has very little to do with her overall portrayal.

The secondary plotline, Ironside's C2 odontoid fracture, seems to be there only to add urgency to winding up Fran's father's case since they resolved his problem with a neck brace, and I don't think it was addressed further in later episodes.