The show begins with Wallace Hunter (Jon Cypher) and wife Gina (Anjanette Comer) sailing off the coast of Mexico. He goes below to make drinks and, upon his return, his wife has vanished. If only the scene had switched to George Peppard rowing on the Charles River. This might have been a good Banacek episode. (He found mostly objects but he did find a person in the last episode of the series.) Unfortunately for all concerned, we won't be seeing Thomas Banacek. There is an old Polish saying....
Wallace Hunter goes to Joe. While they and lawyer Richard Averill (John Lasell) are going over the case, word comes in that Gina has been found in a Mexican town. The two men go there and learn she was kidnapped by two divers and taken to a boat and ended up in a cove. She escaped. Joe goes to the cove in a small boat and ends up in the water fighting two divers. Since I doubt the two men just happened to be swimming by, I assume Joe was set up but that aspect is never pursued. Joe next quizzes the wife Gina and she comes off as sweet and lovable and the husband comes to her defense. Joe follows up another lead and gets shot at again and then returns to the office, fairly non-plussed over the incident. I'm not even sure why this part is in the show. Maybe to pad the time. At the office, he gets a call from Averill who wants to come clean but won't talk over the phone. Joe runs out to see him and, sure enough, the lawyer is shot by a sniper who gets away.
Then Joe finds out through fingerprints that the wife was really named Margo Moore. She had a police record for blackmail but the charge was dropped. Joe sees Gina/Margo and she spins a story of woe that causes Joe to hold off on telling the husband. Joe goes back to the office and finds out Margo was involved in another crime in Vegas. Joe meets her partner who is in a wheelchair. Margo put him there when she ran him over while escaping from the police. He tells Joe of Margo's friend, Billie Caprice (Ahna Capri). He arrives in time to save Billie's life in her apartment. She tells him of the orphanage where Margo grew up. There Joe learns there is a set of twins and figures out Margo was substituted for Gina after Gina was taken off the boat. Joe confronts Margo who comes clean. Joe and Margo go to Mexico to rescue Gina. They pull off the rescue but Margo gets shot and dies after a few words with her sister. She ends up being a tragic figure who did have a little good in her.
A couple of observations. The boat in the beginning is making pretty good speed. Hard to believe two divers could get onboard and then take away Gina. As another reviewer has already stated, the trope of an informer calling Joe with vital information but won't pass it over the phone and, sure enough, he gets killed just as he is about to talk when they meet in person. Is there a bigger cliché in PI/police stories? Joe figured someone who knew Gina spotted Margo in Vegas and set up the switch scheme. What are those odds? It is a small world, indeed. Good to know the Mexican police have the same sense of timing as the LA police. Always 30 seconds late. It is weird the husband vanishes about a third of the way through the story.
The writer of this was Robert Pirosh. He was the driving force behind one of my favorite shows, Combat. Check his writing credits. He had game in both movies and TV but I guess anyone can have an off-day. The cast is alright. Cypher is not as involved as he should have been. I guess the lawyer was there so he could be shot. I can't see another reason for him to be in the script. Comer is pretty. Ahni Capri is decent enough but none of them can rise above the material. Art Malcolm has only one scene and it is cleaning up after the dead lawyer. Peggy works her phone magic.
Joe gets shot at. Gets to employ his patented snap shot with a snub nose revolver and hitting his moving target. He should be on the Olympic shooting team. He also should have collected a good fee for this one. This is a busy episode but the evil twin angle is just not right. You can skip this one with no regrets.
Wallace Hunter goes to Joe. While they and lawyer Richard Averill (John Lasell) are going over the case, word comes in that Gina has been found in a Mexican town. The two men go there and learn she was kidnapped by two divers and taken to a boat and ended up in a cove. She escaped. Joe goes to the cove in a small boat and ends up in the water fighting two divers. Since I doubt the two men just happened to be swimming by, I assume Joe was set up but that aspect is never pursued. Joe next quizzes the wife Gina and she comes off as sweet and lovable and the husband comes to her defense. Joe follows up another lead and gets shot at again and then returns to the office, fairly non-plussed over the incident. I'm not even sure why this part is in the show. Maybe to pad the time. At the office, he gets a call from Averill who wants to come clean but won't talk over the phone. Joe runs out to see him and, sure enough, the lawyer is shot by a sniper who gets away.
Then Joe finds out through fingerprints that the wife was really named Margo Moore. She had a police record for blackmail but the charge was dropped. Joe sees Gina/Margo and she spins a story of woe that causes Joe to hold off on telling the husband. Joe goes back to the office and finds out Margo was involved in another crime in Vegas. Joe meets her partner who is in a wheelchair. Margo put him there when she ran him over while escaping from the police. He tells Joe of Margo's friend, Billie Caprice (Ahna Capri). He arrives in time to save Billie's life in her apartment. She tells him of the orphanage where Margo grew up. There Joe learns there is a set of twins and figures out Margo was substituted for Gina after Gina was taken off the boat. Joe confronts Margo who comes clean. Joe and Margo go to Mexico to rescue Gina. They pull off the rescue but Margo gets shot and dies after a few words with her sister. She ends up being a tragic figure who did have a little good in her.
A couple of observations. The boat in the beginning is making pretty good speed. Hard to believe two divers could get onboard and then take away Gina. As another reviewer has already stated, the trope of an informer calling Joe with vital information but won't pass it over the phone and, sure enough, he gets killed just as he is about to talk when they meet in person. Is there a bigger cliché in PI/police stories? Joe figured someone who knew Gina spotted Margo in Vegas and set up the switch scheme. What are those odds? It is a small world, indeed. Good to know the Mexican police have the same sense of timing as the LA police. Always 30 seconds late. It is weird the husband vanishes about a third of the way through the story.
The writer of this was Robert Pirosh. He was the driving force behind one of my favorite shows, Combat. Check his writing credits. He had game in both movies and TV but I guess anyone can have an off-day. The cast is alright. Cypher is not as involved as he should have been. I guess the lawyer was there so he could be shot. I can't see another reason for him to be in the script. Comer is pretty. Ahni Capri is decent enough but none of them can rise above the material. Art Malcolm has only one scene and it is cleaning up after the dead lawyer. Peggy works her phone magic.
Joe gets shot at. Gets to employ his patented snap shot with a snub nose revolver and hitting his moving target. He should be on the Olympic shooting team. He also should have collected a good fee for this one. This is a busy episode but the evil twin angle is just not right. You can skip this one with no regrets.