Mannix and Tobias enjoy a boxing match. A man with a rifle walks the catwalk of the auditorium and shoots one of the boxers, Al Ramon, Peggy's friend. Mannix and Tobias have front row seats. After the shooting we are in the locker room where the boxing manager Sloan nervously paces and he is approached for questioning by Mannix. Where is Tobias? Why is Mannix allowed to walk around freely and question the boxing manager? The whole place is a crime scene. Police should be swarming the building, conducting an investigation and closing off the area to the public, including Mannix.
Mannix interviews a boxing promotor who Sloan suspects was involved but the promotor put $100k down on Ramon and cannot collect because the fight was stopped before a winner could be declared.
Tobias lets Mannix review the fight footage. By slowing down the film they realize that Ramon lost his balance and got in the way of the intended target, Mannix. This is not difficult because Mannix soon receives a call from someone who threatens him.
I was hoping for an episode about fixing boxing matches. Once again Mannix must work for free this time to figure out who wants him dead. Peggy thinks it could be Emmett Trask who Mannix helped put behind bars. Mannix goes to find Trask. This turns out to be another dead end.
Mannix returns home at night to find Detective Gifford watching his place. Mannix invites Gifford in for a drink but he notices his door is opened. He hears someone taunt him and sees a dummy sitting in his chair that looks like him. A gunshot is fired through the window hitting the dummy and when it falls over you can see the tape recorder behind it. The voice starts laughing hysterically. Tobias comes to investigate and determines the killer is a professional.
Detective Gifford was of no use in preventing the bad guy from getting in the office and placing the dummy and recorder there.
Mannix refuses Gifford's help and no sooner have Tobias and Gifford left, Mannix receives a call from the man who wants to kill him. The crazed man agrees to meet Joe at lookout mountain in fifteen minutes. As Mannix starts his car a bomb goes off. The deranged killer calls him on the car phone and taunts him some more. It is at this point, the killer reveals his face to the audience.
Next scene, Mannix is looking at pictures of his old Korean war buddies. He knows the killer's voice because one of the guys he fought with sounded the same. But that man, Lyle Foster, played by Clu Gulager died in Korea so it is not possible he would be the guy. We get the burial flashback scene. As Mannix speaks, a Korean soldier hits him over the head.
Mannix tells Tobias it was Foster because of the way he tied his rope, and says "kay" all the time. Mannix thinks the funeral was now a phony. Mannix asks Tobias to help him get a positive identification on Foster. Peggy calls Mannix and tells him two of the men he served with died within the past few weeks and month. That's when Foster stupidly walks in and confronts Peggy with a gun. He takes the gun from Peggy and orders Mannix to return to the office alone or he will kill Peggy. "Kay?"
Mannix stupidly tells nothing to Tobias and returns to the office. His car is just fine now though it was damaged in the bombing the day before. Foster is watching as Mannix drives up. He's got Peggy gagged and tied up. Mannix enters from the upper apartment but when he walks down to the office and reception room, no one is there. If he had Tobias's help, the police would have probably seen Foster leave with Peggy and apprehended him.
Next scene, Tobias is with Mannix in the office. He gets another call from Foster who has Peggy tied up on the floor. Foster says he knows Mannix went to the police. I am not sure how Foster knows this. Mannix reveals he knows he is speaking with Foster who is shocked Mannix figured it out. Foster tells Mannix to meet him at yet another location. If he brings police, Foster says he will kill Peggy. Mannix tells Tobias he cannot help him because Foster said so. Tobias listens instead of acting and helping to resolve a hostage situation. Isn't that dereliction of duty by Tobias?
Mannix goes to meet Foster at a hotel which then leads him to a funeral home where Foster has another one of his goofy audio tapes mocking Mannix. Once the tape ends, Foster immediately calls Mannix from a pay phone. How did he know when the tape ended? Foster tells Mannix to meet him at the boxing arena.
When Mannix walks into the boxing arena he is a dead man. There is no way he comes out alive because Foster has the advantage because he is positioned in a box above. He is using a shot gun though. He wastes time blathering on and on to Mannix. Yet, this is the moment that boxer Ramon decides to walk in and startles Foster. Mannix takes a shot and makes a perfect shot which hits Foster and knocks him down. He lands in the boxing ring dead.
In the final scene, as Tobias leaves with Foster's corpse, Peggy, with no sign of trauma from being kidnapped and held hostage, indignantly, asks Ramon what he doing out of the hospital.
This episode insults the audience. It should have never made it to broadcast. It represents the worst, over the top cliches about the Mannix series:
- What is Foster's motive to kill Mannix? This is not clear.
- Why go after Mannix 20 years later?
- Why risk going to the office, setting up bombs, taunting Mannix and so on? Why not follow Mannix and kill him in a dark street with a silencer and then leave? Everyone thought he was dead anyway.
- Anyone who served with Mannix in Korea is trouble.
- This story line has been done and was done much better in season two episode 19, "End Game" which starred the late, great Steve Ihnat.
- Why would Tobias allow Mannix free run to question people at the boxing stadium after the shooting? This is a police scene. Why is Mannix getting involved at this point? He is a private investigator and not a police department employee. He has nothing to gain by investigating the case. Tobias should be there asking the questions and he should have politely asked Mannix to leave.
- Why did Tobias let Mannix go along to confront Foster? Tobias knew Foster had Peggy as a hostage. Why didn't the police department take over? Tobias is guilty of dereliction of duty. I wonder if Robert Reed who was known for throwing tantrums about the script had a tantrum during filming?
- There is violence in the office again, a gun shot through the window, a break in and kidnapping, a bomb exploding in a car. There is no way Mannix remains at Paseo Verde. The residents would scream for his eviction.
- Peggy is kidnapped and held hostage. There is no way Peggy would continue to work for Mannix because she is the sole support of her young son. She would not be calm right after she was freed. She calmly asks Ramon a question. This is not true to her character. The audience is not stupid enough to believe this.
- Clu Gulager was a terrible choice to play Foster. He was annoying. A more skilled actor would be frightening and menacing.
Truly, this episode deserves a ¼ star out of ten. This was a terrible and disgraceful episode which only served to insult the audience.
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