"Friends Till Death" is an episode that starts poorly but ends up being a dynamite show after all. It begins with Betty going to lunch with an old college friend...and the friend indicates she's in trouble and needs Barnaby's services. However, when Betty goes to the bathroom, the friend freaks out when she sees some scumbag and she runs. Moments later, she's tossed off the roof to her death!
When another college friend (Susan Oliver) arrives, Betty thinks it's a good thing. What she doesn't know is that this friend and the dead one had some business together...and that business involves heroin!
This is a pretty good episode, save the first few minutes. The woman running made little sense and the suicide was pretty clearly some old dummy tossed off a building. It really could have been done better. However, the rest of it's very good...and Ross Martin plays a most enjoyable villain.
By the way, this is the fourth time in the series, so far, where Betty's been kidnapped. I think like on "Mannix" the writers went to that well a few times too often, as Mannix's secretary, Peggy, seemed to get kidnapped at least a couple times each season!