This is a companion piece to "Home is the Hunted", (1/7/64), where Kimble returns to his hometown because he there seems to be trouble with his family. Here there's financial trouble with his wife's family. He knows of a bank account Helen had that they may not have known about. But they've got to find the number. As in the other episodes, this is just the "MacGuffin" that brings the characters together. It's the relationships that matter.
Helen's mother, beautifully played by an actress named Ruth White, has used Helen's old room as shrine to her daughter, where she listens to messages recorded for her by Helen on vinyl records as they used to do, (Diane Brewster recorded the messages, her one contribution to the series except for the flashbacks in "The Girl From Little Egypt"). To Mamma Richard Kimble is the devil incarnate, who deprived her daughter of life and deprived her of her daughter. Lloyd Gough plays Helen's father who always kind of liked Dick and isn't sure if he killed his daughter. A very young-looking Louise Sorel plays Helen's kid sister, now grown up but still living at home. Like her sister, she's kind of high-strung and has always had a crush on Richard. She not only welcomes him into their house and convinces Daddy to let him stay, (as long as Mommy insists in staying in Helen's old room), but wants to run off with him. Meanwhile he's been spotted and the police are searching the neighborhood for him.
Spoiler: The one false note in this one is the scene where White, confronting Kimble, agrees to let him go and not summon the police because her daughter simply asks her not to. With her hatred of Kimble, this simply doesn't make any sense. What would have worked much better if somewhere in those recordings she listens to all the time or in the books of Helen's they search through to find the account number for the bank account they had come across something that planted doubts in her mind that Kimble was the murderer.
One ironic casting note: the policeman in charge of the Dragnet is played by Herb Ellis, who was the first actor to play Joe Friday's partner Officer Frank Smith on TV's Dragnet. He did so for 9 episodes in 1952-53 before Ben Alexander took over the role. As usual the police tactics in finding Kimble leave a lot to be desired. If Joe Friday was on the case, Kimble would have been toast.
Helen's mother, beautifully played by an actress named Ruth White, has used Helen's old room as shrine to her daughter, where she listens to messages recorded for her by Helen on vinyl records as they used to do, (Diane Brewster recorded the messages, her one contribution to the series except for the flashbacks in "The Girl From Little Egypt"). To Mamma Richard Kimble is the devil incarnate, who deprived her daughter of life and deprived her of her daughter. Lloyd Gough plays Helen's father who always kind of liked Dick and isn't sure if he killed his daughter. A very young-looking Louise Sorel plays Helen's kid sister, now grown up but still living at home. Like her sister, she's kind of high-strung and has always had a crush on Richard. She not only welcomes him into their house and convinces Daddy to let him stay, (as long as Mommy insists in staying in Helen's old room), but wants to run off with him. Meanwhile he's been spotted and the police are searching the neighborhood for him.
Spoiler: The one false note in this one is the scene where White, confronting Kimble, agrees to let him go and not summon the police because her daughter simply asks her not to. With her hatred of Kimble, this simply doesn't make any sense. What would have worked much better if somewhere in those recordings she listens to all the time or in the books of Helen's they search through to find the account number for the bank account they had come across something that planted doubts in her mind that Kimble was the murderer.
One ironic casting note: the policeman in charge of the Dragnet is played by Herb Ellis, who was the first actor to play Joe Friday's partner Officer Frank Smith on TV's Dragnet. He did so for 9 episodes in 1952-53 before Ben Alexander took over the role. As usual the police tactics in finding Kimble leave a lot to be desired. If Joe Friday was on the case, Kimble would have been toast.