This is a typical Mannix episode in many ways. It moves along smartly. There is plenty of action and a couple of nice touches in the story. It also suffers from plot gaps and logic lapses that are hard to overlook.
Aeronautical company owner Brad Everett (Paul Richards) crashes in his plane in the ocean off Mexico. He leaves behind hateful wife Diana Everett (Yvonne Craig), lovely mistress Christina Preston (Susan Howard), and two shady business partners Henry Marshak (Hal Baylor) and Lawrence King (Anthony Eisley). After the initial shock, we find out he is not dead but he believes his plane was sabotaged. He hires Joe to investigate while refusing to go to the police as there is no evidence. He will remain "dead" and stay at Joe's place while the investigation proceeds. Joe starts with the wife. She is quite open in her distain for her husband and knows about the mistress but doesn't care. She invites Joe to come see her sometime. She kisses him for no apparent reason except to get him on her side (I guess). He moves on to the mistress who says it was over between her and Everett but neither one had the guts to move on. She will kiss Joe later on and makes it clear she is ready to move on with him. The two business partners also have reason for wanting Everett dead as they get the company. Both have pasts that suggest they could have helped the plane crash but both swear the company is in bad shape and Everett's death doesn't help. The partner Marshak is killed and it is time to reveal to the two women that Everett is still alive. Neither seems that thrilled by it. Joe follows up on an angle regarding charts bought by Everett for his flight and it comes out one is a boat chart not used by pilots. Meanwhile, King supposedly takes Everett hostage at the company plant and the police are there as Joe and Christina arrive. Joe ends up shooting King and saving Everett. After the excitement, Joe turns down a paycheck and reveals Everett as the bad guy who was stealing from his company and wanted to make his partners out as the bad guys while killing them. A few fistfights later, the problem is solved.
The logic gaps begin early. Everett shows up at Joe's office with a bright white bandage covering half his face. He has no injuries but was using it to shield his identity. I realize this is in the script for dramatic effect, but wouldn't a man with such a bandage on his face stand out more than a guy just walking by? There is a plot point concerning charts. Everett left them in Christina's car as she took him to the plane. Joe and Chris go down to her car to get the charts and there is a bad guy there who shoots at them while stealing the charts. The bad guys had a couple of days to get the charts back and one of them is doing it now as Joe and Chris come for them? Talk about bad timing. It turns out one of the charts was a boat chart and not an airways chart. Joe wonders why Everett would need a boat chart. Of course, Everett gave it to the guy who picked him up from his ditched plane. But if he gave it to his pickup guy, why was it in Chris's car? The climatic ending is Mannix shooting King from the front as King is holding Everett hostage. The examination after that shows the shot came from the side so Joe didn't shoot him but Everett did. That fact would also come out in the autopsy as the bullet wouldn't match Joe's gun. Also, Everett had to fire his gun at the same time as Joe did to make it seem like a single shot. He did this without being able to see Joe and he had to assume Joe would miss his shot as the body would then have two bullets in it. Joe never misses a money shot but he seemed to have done it here. In fact, there doesn't need to be a hostage situation at all. Everett could have just killed King and taken his chances with police investigation. He could have used his partner Mitch as an alibi. Much easier.
The Mannix series has several trends that extend over the years. Joe will interact with an old Korean War buddy and it will go badly. Joe will be hired by a kid. Joe will go to a bad small town. The fourth trend has more episodes than the first three combined. Joe will be hired by a bad client who will want Joe to solve a case that he/she instigated and really doesn't want solved. Why do these criminals hire Joe with his great reputation when there are several really bad PIs available for such work? We have met many of them in Mannix episodes. The bad guys hire Joe. Joe sends them to jail. Joe doesn't get paid. There are no winners here but it keeps happening.
There are a few nice touches. Joe speaks Armenian when passes along a few native sayings. Reminds me of George Peppard as Banacek. Of course his old Polish sayings were for comic relief while Joe's sayings are the real deal. I don't recall it being done in any other episodes and it was a great addition to the script. The first twist that Everett is the real bad guy was easy to solve. The second twist with Mitch the security guard being involved, I did not see coming. Kudos to the writers. The scenes between Connors and Howard are excellent, much better than usual between Joe and the weekly pretty guest star.
The guest cast is alright but there have been better. Paul Richards died young in the mid-1970s but had a long, busy career. I think he has a limited range as an actor but is fine here with one exception. When he is putting his plane down in the ocean, he is remarkably calm about it, almost bored. It is all part of his plan but still a dicey maneuver and he needs to sell it over the radio. I have seen people who are forced to parallel park show more concern than displayed by Richards here. As mentioned by another reviewer, Yvonne Craig overplays it a bit. Why she kissed Joe I have no idea except to make me wish I was Joe. Hal Baylor, as one of the partners, doesn't have much to do except utter some threatening lines and then die a bit later but he chews up the scenery as best he can. The guy made a career out of being the tough guy. Anthony Eisley is fine as the other partner but a bit nondescript. The Susan Howard character has depth and she is a beauty in this episode. Both her and Yvonne Craig have dark hair and bright blue eyes that stand out. They are the highlights of the cast.
Joe gets no money but does drive off with Susan Howard at the end. That's good. Too bad she didn't last a few more outings as a girlfriend. I give this episode stars for action but subtract a few for logic. Overall, not bad, just don't think about it.
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