At least I like the title, but this episode would definitely fall in the bottom 3 of my least favorite episodes of the series. I hated it that much because it was so badly written, badly paced and the story was all too familiar and nothing we haven't seen done before, only better.
Within the first 5 minutes, the woman of the week who meets Kimble in a convenience store, pretty much throws herself at his feet and makes no secret that she wants to get him to her house at all costs under the guise of needing a handy man, but it's pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that she just wants a man. She all but ropes and ties him into her trunk to get him there and it's laughably bad how hastily the scene plays out. This woman was definitely on a mission for a man and wasn't going home that day without one!
Kimble of course accepts without hesitation since lately he's been getting romantically involved with a woman in each town he visits, and since this one looks so much like his old fishing port girlfriend Coralee from last season, he just can't resist going home with her.
At the house, a man visits and as soon as he entered the scene I said to myself "He's going to be a cop"...and sure enough within a couple of minutes it's revealed that's exactly what he is. So sadly predictable and I don't enjoy making fun of this excellent series, but this is how far the quality of the show has fallen by this point. You can pretty much guess the character before they're even introduced to the audience.
And by evening Coralee, I mean Andrea, wastes no time and makes her move, seductively walking into the living room with unkempt, tousled hair and wearing a robe while Kimble is watching the rain fall. She plants herself in a chair and purrs to him, "Isn't the rain pretty?"...."It is" Kimble replies....."Do you want me to leave?" she asks with a hungry look on her face...."No, I don't" Kimble replies.....Such badly written melodrama! Is this "The Fugitive"?! Blech!
At least we were spared the swooping kiss and slow walk into Coralee's, I mean Andrea's bedroom. I have to admit I FF through much of the episode after this dreadful scene which I have only done once before in this series during that atrocious motorcycle gang episode earlier in the season.
I can't fault David Janssen for any of this because none of it is his fault. He does appear to be exhausted and tired by this point and while that should be helpful to a character who's been on the run for so long, it's not.
Janssen just doesn't appear to be into it anymore and seems to be just going through the motions without much feeling and that can carry over to the audience and make the viewer feel the same and not be into it either. At least that's my personal observation of things.
I really wish this series had ended at the end of the third season and it would be a solid 10 star series for me. This fourth season is like watching a totally different show, and the garish color is such a huge turn off too.
Before I got up to the fourth season I was really looking forward to seeing it in color, but in comparison, I now believe that the black and white only underscored the drama, emotion and charm of the series and I think black and white is the only way to watch it.
As for "The Shattered Silence", such a great title like that deserved a better story than it got. I'd rate this one negative stars if I could. Just bad all around and it was definitely past time to close up shop on the series.
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