This is kind of a hard episode to evaluate. It begins as a investigation of a man's disappearance, except for the fact that no one will admit he has in fact disappeared. Chris Brock is the man in question and Cannon has been hired by the man's fiancé Joan Stevens. Chris' father and business partners claim he has simply decided to go away on a vacation. His girlfriend, Joan, played by Leslie Charleson*, doesn't believe it because he didn't take his favorite stuffed animal (and no, I am not making that up). Cannon initially refuses to take the case (he thinks it's a simple family dispute) but changes his mind when the family chauffeur assaults her and steals her purse (to get the stuffed animal back, of course).
All of this requires some background exposition. The fiancé is a genius who became a chess grandmaster as a child, graduated from college as a teenager, and started a multimillion dollar business after that. Joan tells Cannon that Chris was abducted but the proof (she had found his room to be a total wreck) was in spotless condition when the police arrived. Joan is now treated by everyone as the jilted girlfriend who can't accept the fact that her boyfriend has dumped her.
Cannon does eventually get to the bottom of this case. Chris has suffered some kind of breakdown (a not uncommon trait of uber-geniuses) and regresses mentally to the state of a child. His father and business partners are hiding him away, keeping him out of the spot light since such a revelation like this would cause a stockholder panic and destroy the company. Dear ole dad tries to act like he is only concerned about his son's well being but we know better. (Whenever someone says it isn't about the money we all know it's really ONLY about the money). In any case, Cannon rescues the man-boy, who at this point has regressed to the age of an eight year old.
In the epilogue, Cannon and Joan visit Chris in the hospital (a public one at that - couldn't they have afforded a private clinic?) and he has improved to the level of a 14 year old. The doctors are confident he will make a complete recovery.
This episode does have a few oddities. How exactly does the title fit in? I really don't think it references the Simon and Garfunkel song of the same title made famous by "The Graduate". They may have simply tried to come up with one of Cannon's typically ominously sounding titles, like "A Touch of Venom", "Murder by Moonlight", and "He Who Digs a Grave", etc. Chris and Joan's relationship is somewhat odd, especially in the end at the hospital. He and Joan appear to still be boyfriend/girlfriend which raises some ethical questions which didn't appear to be of concern to the show's producers (unless everyone still assumed then unmarried people didn't have sex). Given Chris' mental state, should Joan be allowed around him? This show also assumes the same errant notion people have that chess prodigies are automatically brilliant people who are successful in everything they do. Just look at Bobby Fisher if you have any questions about that.
There are better Cannon episodes than this one unless you are an unrepentant Leslie Charleson fan. In which case, watch it again.
* Leslie Charleson is one of those actresses from the 70s that I can't understand why she didn't have a more substantial career. She worked fairly steadily, to be sure, but I'll never understand why she never landed a more substantial role (soap operas don't count), like a series regular (she would have been a great Pamela Ewing). Alas, too many people have eyes but cannot see ...
All of this requires some background exposition. The fiancé is a genius who became a chess grandmaster as a child, graduated from college as a teenager, and started a multimillion dollar business after that. Joan tells Cannon that Chris was abducted but the proof (she had found his room to be a total wreck) was in spotless condition when the police arrived. Joan is now treated by everyone as the jilted girlfriend who can't accept the fact that her boyfriend has dumped her.
Cannon does eventually get to the bottom of this case. Chris has suffered some kind of breakdown (a not uncommon trait of uber-geniuses) and regresses mentally to the state of a child. His father and business partners are hiding him away, keeping him out of the spot light since such a revelation like this would cause a stockholder panic and destroy the company. Dear ole dad tries to act like he is only concerned about his son's well being but we know better. (Whenever someone says it isn't about the money we all know it's really ONLY about the money). In any case, Cannon rescues the man-boy, who at this point has regressed to the age of an eight year old.
In the epilogue, Cannon and Joan visit Chris in the hospital (a public one at that - couldn't they have afforded a private clinic?) and he has improved to the level of a 14 year old. The doctors are confident he will make a complete recovery.
This episode does have a few oddities. How exactly does the title fit in? I really don't think it references the Simon and Garfunkel song of the same title made famous by "The Graduate". They may have simply tried to come up with one of Cannon's typically ominously sounding titles, like "A Touch of Venom", "Murder by Moonlight", and "He Who Digs a Grave", etc. Chris and Joan's relationship is somewhat odd, especially in the end at the hospital. He and Joan appear to still be boyfriend/girlfriend which raises some ethical questions which didn't appear to be of concern to the show's producers (unless everyone still assumed then unmarried people didn't have sex). Given Chris' mental state, should Joan be allowed around him? This show also assumes the same errant notion people have that chess prodigies are automatically brilliant people who are successful in everything they do. Just look at Bobby Fisher if you have any questions about that.
There are better Cannon episodes than this one unless you are an unrepentant Leslie Charleson fan. In which case, watch it again.
* Leslie Charleson is one of those actresses from the 70s that I can't understand why she didn't have a more substantial career. She worked fairly steadily, to be sure, but I'll never understand why she never landed a more substantial role (soap operas don't count), like a series regular (she would have been a great Pamela Ewing). Alas, too many people have eyes but cannot see ...
