If you accept the premise of Joe and Tobias doing undercover work in New Orleans, this is a good outing for the series. Nice change of pace with Joe undercover in a different location than the norm. Joe has infiltrated a criminal organization in the Big Easy. He has a cover story including prison time and cements his reputation by "killing" a cop (Hal Needlam) at the beginning of the story. Joe is after the head bad guy Lytell (John Colicos) for killing a friend of his in LA (yet another police lieutenant). There is an informer in Lytell's organization that wants out and Joe is there to get him out. Seems too complicated but we can go with it. Tobias and NOPD Captain Caffey give us the backstory while talking in his office. There we also learn the "dead cop" is not dead at all but had a nice funeral. Next we party with the bad guys. There, Lytell gets a phone call that tells him there is an informer in his midst. Lytell talks to Joe about it and points out three guys. Why he chooses those three rather than others we don't know. As pointed out by another reviewer, one of the three, Hayes, disappears after the party and we never see him again. That leaves Page (Lloyd Battista) and Coden (Robert Mandan - pre-Soap). During this assignment Joe becomes acquainted with Angela (Nancy Kovack), one of the gang members. Joe and Angela go to Florida for a weekend so Joe can try to get info from her and so he can meet Tobias. Joe tells Tobias there is an informer in the NOPD so now both sides have an informer. Back in New Orleans, Lytell sends Page, Coden, Joe and Angela to do a bag job in Miami. He has told each about the informer and how they need to help catch him to keep suspicion off of each of them. Coden is the informer but, through a phone mix up, Joe thinks it is Page. Lytell thinks it is Page too and has him taken to "the Villa" outside the city and killed. Joe sees it from a helicopter. How did he get a helo and maintain his cover? Now Lytell decides to kill Coden and Joe so he sends them to the villa to get Page's body and bury it. It's a trap and Joe and Coden have to get away. The escape route down a series of man-made waterfalls in a garden is well done. Joe ends up killing several criminals and gets away with Coden. He shoots one guy and blows up others with dynamite that was wired to his car. Lytell looks to be in that car, but nobody mentions him later. In the epilog, Tobais says they picked up everyone including the girl so maybe Lytell wasn't killed.
The cast is good. Colicos is always a good bad guy. Notice his fascination with flowers throughout the episode. Kovack and Connors have excellent chemistry together. This is one of the few times where you believe Joe has fallen for the weekly beauty. Look at Needham's credits. The guy has done a lot. Stunt man, actor, director, Oscar winner.
There are a couple of Mannix clichés here. One bad guy has a rifle and all the time he needs to line up his shot at close range at an unsuspecting target and misses. Joe gets off one shot at a man and hits dead center and he also shoots dynamite to get it to blow up. Considering the tight situation and the need for perfect timing, that shot has to be one of his best.
There are also some logic lapses. We never learn who the informer in the NOPD is. Since the bad guys wired dynamite to the car when Coden and Joe go to get Page's body, why not let them pick up the body and blow themselves up? Might be hard to explain but that was clearly the back-up plan if the sniper didn't get them. Let it be the main plan. The ending where one guy jumps in the car and it races at Joe and Coden, what is their plan there? Ram the car that Joe and Coden are behind? I don't see the logic.
At least Joe should have been paid. Since he invested three months that should be a hefty check. See this episode. Well worth the time.
The cast is good. Colicos is always a good bad guy. Notice his fascination with flowers throughout the episode. Kovack and Connors have excellent chemistry together. This is one of the few times where you believe Joe has fallen for the weekly beauty. Look at Needham's credits. The guy has done a lot. Stunt man, actor, director, Oscar winner.
There are a couple of Mannix clichés here. One bad guy has a rifle and all the time he needs to line up his shot at close range at an unsuspecting target and misses. Joe gets off one shot at a man and hits dead center and he also shoots dynamite to get it to blow up. Considering the tight situation and the need for perfect timing, that shot has to be one of his best.
There are also some logic lapses. We never learn who the informer in the NOPD is. Since the bad guys wired dynamite to the car when Coden and Joe go to get Page's body, why not let them pick up the body and blow themselves up? Might be hard to explain but that was clearly the back-up plan if the sniper didn't get them. Let it be the main plan. The ending where one guy jumps in the car and it races at Joe and Coden, what is their plan there? Ram the car that Joe and Coden are behind? I don't see the logic.
At least Joe should have been paid. Since he invested three months that should be a hefty check. See this episode. Well worth the time.