"Mother Goose is Running for his Life" is a fun story. The setting at a toy company Is a break from the usual. The episode contains several scenes that stick out for its strangeness or biting cynicism.
The plot is simple, the owner of a toy company is facing threats (a toy train explodes near him) and a mysterious caller wants to buy the company. The owner is concerned that someone wants to scare him into selling his family business.
Sabrina goes undercover as a lawyer who comes from a family who owns a toy company in Hong Kong, hence her Asian style of dress. She meets Gordon Roclair, the brilliant and slightly creepy toy designer who wants to change the toy company's product line to include violent items like head-chopping guillotines.
A professional wireman named Wilkes is killed when he tries to bug the company offices, blasted by a toy cannon. Kelly and Kris go to the funeral to see if they can find any connections. They meet the man's lady friend Donna, played wickedly by Bobbi Jordan, who for the sum of $500 dollars gives them the name of Tony Phelan. This scene is one of my favorites in any episode. It's rare that such a small role can be played so excellently, but Jordan's Donna is dripping with derision and desperation. What's great is how she's treated by Kelly and Kris, who admonish her for being so cynical. It's a fantastic scene, the topper being how Kelly pulls $500 from her purse like she walks around with that kind of money on a daily basis. That would equal slightly over two grand in 2021 money.
They trace Phelan to an estate in a hilly area and Kris has the brilliant idea to hand glide into the backyard as a way of introducing herself. Yes, she literally flies in on a handglider to ingratiate herself with the man who's trying to buy out the toy company. This leads to getting the name of a new 'wireman', Jack Orwell, who Kelly meets in a bar under the guise of helping him to plant the eavesdropping devices. The whole plot is a way for the Angels to set up the kooky toy designer Roclair, who they suspect of trying to undermine their client.
It's a fairly good plot as Charlie's Angels goes. There are some pretty good scenes going forward, including Kris in the tightest pair of booty shorts she's ever worn on the show, and a tense scene with Kelly and Orwell when he discovers that she's duped him. Orwell was played by English actor Don Knight, and he'd be right at home with early 70's Michael Caine. Kris has another great scene where she pretends to be a life-sized a Raggedy Ann-type doll. It's a great example of Cheryl Ladd's physical comedic chops.
Definitely a good one.