This is a mediocre outing that seems to hit all the clichés and has a truly bad motive for murder. Joe's old friend Beverly Miller (Bethel Leslie) has just bought a carnival and now is enduring a series of "accidents" threatening her opening. Joe jumps in to help. As always, when the lead character in any series goes into a "closed society", those members close ranks and we aren't sure they are guilty of anything or just overly suspicious of outsiders. We've seen it in small towns, circuses, rodeos, and military bases among other settings. That happens here and we get a bevy of potential bad guys to choose from. There is handyman Charlie (Gordon Jump pre-WKRP), Armando the magician (Carlo Rivas), fortuneteller Donna (Barbara Rhoades), a knife thrower, and right-hand man Rick (Michael Conrad pre-Hillstreet Blues). Beverly also has to contend with daughter Susan (Pamela Bellwood) who feels unappreciated.
Joe gets in a fight with Charlie and friend. Joe faces threats from everyone else. Beverly almost gives up a couple of times. Armando is a red herring. Donna is pretty but unnecessary. The climax is Rick kidnaps Susan and confesses to her that he had done it all because he loves Beverly and wants her to depend on him so they can be a couple. What??!! This might be the lamest motive in the Mannix series. I figured out early it was Rick using the "biggest guest star rule". The biggest guest star always has more going on than is obvious and is usually the bad guy.
The acting is fine but nobody stands out. Being a carny is king of a badge of honor in this episode for no apparent reason.
Joe gets paid and saves the carnival. Not sure who Beverly will use as workers/acts as several have departed during the case. Not a horrible episode but very forgettable. You can skip it and not miss much.
Joe gets in a fight with Charlie and friend. Joe faces threats from everyone else. Beverly almost gives up a couple of times. Armando is a red herring. Donna is pretty but unnecessary. The climax is Rick kidnaps Susan and confesses to her that he had done it all because he loves Beverly and wants her to depend on him so they can be a couple. What??!! This might be the lamest motive in the Mannix series. I figured out early it was Rick using the "biggest guest star rule". The biggest guest star always has more going on than is obvious and is usually the bad guy.
The acting is fine but nobody stands out. Being a carny is king of a badge of honor in this episode for no apparent reason.
Joe gets paid and saves the carnival. Not sure who Beverly will use as workers/acts as several have departed during the case. Not a horrible episode but very forgettable. You can skip it and not miss much.