Ross Martin was on that show as a regular, and Nehemiah Persoff and Simon Oakland (Tony Vincenzo's father was an airplane manufacturer in the 40s?) both played bad guys on WWW. So it's a reunion of sorts. Add in June Lockhart, and you've got a bigger cast than the one in the previous "Veronica's Veils".
It's a pity that they're wasted on a piffle of a case. As is the case with most EQ episodes, "Pharaoh's Curse" isn't a complete waste. Oakland seems to be having fun, but nobody else really does anything. Ross Martin reaches into his bag of accents but doesn't do anything else, and Persoff plays yet another stereotypical foreigner. Persoff was often a go-to for those kind of roles by casting directors, although more as Russians, Jews, and Germans than Egyptians. Lockhart is... well, Lockhart.
And yes, John Larroquette has a "blink and you'll miss it" role. Like most of his pre-'Night Court' roles.
The idea of a mummy, or someone walking around dressed as a mummy, is a red herring of sorts. In-episode, it even misleads Simon who, as usual, is wrong about who the killer is. John Hillerman doesn't have much to do other than perfect his "snob" routine that he would do well on 'Magnum PI'.
There are some cute comedy bits, like Ellery and Richard going through a coffee routine where Richard pours out the pot that Ellery has made, and Ellery pouring himself a cup without noticing there's no longer anything in the pot. But otherwise, Ellery doesn't have much to do. Maybe Nancy Belle Fuller was brought in to play Margie because Hutton actually did injure his finger. Nothing comes from Margie's presence in the episode. I like how she's Ellery's unofficial continuity editor, but we never see her again so who cares?
Then again, she corrects Ellery's writing, which strikes me as a mistake. Isn't he supposed to be good at solving crimes because he's a great writer? But if he needs a glorified secretary to correct his writing... well, I see where the writers were going. "Ha ha, Ellery is such an absent-minded dweeb!" But casually undermining your main character for a gag is verboten in my book.
David Wayne doesn't get much to do, except naysay Ellery's suspicions that Norris was murdered. And the aforementioned comedy scene. Jim Hutton is, like he has been so far on the show, affable, but Ellery isn't a meaty role. Mark Dawdiziak once said that each 'Columbo' episode was Peter Falk playing a different variation on the Columbo character. Hutton never gets the chance to show us different sides of Ellery, despite the fact that Levinson and Link did both shows. The writers seem intent on telling us that Ellery is a writer. Over and over and over again.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
1 out of 2 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink