Agree with planktonrules that this episode suffers from uncharacteristically poor plotting. In addition to Peggy just standing there like a wallflower at the Homecoming Dance as Mannix gets the hell kicked out of him, there's also an ending where the main villain has Mannix at gun point... the action then cuts to the cops closing in on them.... and when we cut back to Mannix and the villain seconds later it's suddenly Mannix who's pointing the gun!
(Of course the presumption here is that the villain decided to surrender rather than be caught holding an innocent man at gun point, but the moment still comes off as confusing)
And the "MacGuffin" in the episode -- an experimental device that allows scuba divers to draw oxygen from seawater -- smacks of pure science fiction and is out of keeping with the reality of the Mannix universe.
The episode is not unwatchable -- it's MANNIX, after all, so most of it is fast-paced and involving -- but Geller, Goff and Roberts had done much better before, and would do much better again in the future.
(Of course the presumption here is that the villain decided to surrender rather than be caught holding an innocent man at gun point, but the moment still comes off as confusing)
And the "MacGuffin" in the episode -- an experimental device that allows scuba divers to draw oxygen from seawater -- smacks of pure science fiction and is out of keeping with the reality of the Mannix universe.
The episode is not unwatchable -- it's MANNIX, after all, so most of it is fast-paced and involving -- but Geller, Goff and Roberts had done much better before, and would do much better again in the future.