User Reviews

A weak episode of "The Fugitive" is still highly entertaining....so this one is worth seeing. It begins with Richard Kimble posing as Carl Baker....a handyman that overseas several apartment buildings. One of his many friends there is Roger (Robert Drivas). I am not sure why he's befriended Roger, as Roger is a bit of a flake. Little did Kimble know that Roger also was capable of murder...and soon he'd attack a woman and killed her when she panicked. But a hysterical eye witness identifies Carl as the killer...and soon Lt. Girard is there to help in the search for him.

So why was I a bit cold about this one? Well, there was Roger's family and his father's fascination with their aristocratic blood...from long, long, long ago. Considering they live in a lower-class tenement, none of this really makes much sense and it's mentioned again and again. So what is my feeling about this. Otherwise a routine show despite the killing.

First off, The Fugitive and color just don't mix. Oil and water and all that.

Secondly, okay I understand that during a show's final season the powers that be can spend as little as humanly possible. Still, these episodes with studio backlots for cities....well, it cheapens the product to the point that I dread to see the next episode.

This entry was no exception. Studio backlot and Color together.....again, oil and water.

And the script didn't do too much for me either.

Poor Fugitive.....on its last legs and in tacky color.

Kimble, using the name Carl Baker, lives in an unidentified "big city," and works as the "super" (handyman, janitor, etc.) of a small complex of urban apartments. One of the apartments is occupied by the Roland family, consisting of an older man, Edward Roland (actor Eduard Franz), and his two young adult children, Liz Roland (actress Madlyn Rhue) and Roger Roland (actor Robert Drivas). Edward is obsessed with the ancient family history, and their descent from William the Conquerer and other royalty. Liz has a crush on Kimble. Roger is an emotionally troubled young man.

Millie (actress Judee Morton) is an attractive young resident who taunts Roger and spurns his interest in her. Roger is playing chess with Kimble in Kimble's apartment when Kimble is called away to fix a light for Mrs. Murdock (actress Ellen Corby, who later played Grandma Walton on The Waltons), a widow. Roger steals Kimble's key to Millie's apartment and goes there to make his move. He ends up killing her, under circumstances that lead police, including Lt. Sloan (actor Richard Anderson), to believe the killer might have been Kimble. Millie is killed by a blow to the head with a heavy object, just like Mrs. Kimble, and Roger hides the murder weapon in Kimble's apartment. Lt. Gerard reads of the killing and rushes to the scene, hoping to catch Kimble.

This is another off-beat episode. It takes place entirely in a block of apartments where Kimble is working as a superintendent. He's been there a while and knows everybody, including Robert Drivas, a mentally disturbed son of Eduard Franz, who is obsessed with the family's legacy- they are related to William the Conqueror. This obsession drives Drivas off the edge. He winds up taking it out on a neighborhood girl he's obsessed with, killing her. He then puts the murder weapon in Kimble's room.

Lt. Gerard shows up for the first time in this final season but seems superfluous. Kimble hides out with a friendly tenant, played by Ellen Corby, soon to become Grandma Walton. Madlyn Rhue is wasted as Drivas' sister. Drivas would later play David Janssen's son in the 1969 film "Where it's at".

The edge on this one is pretty dull. The William the Conqueror stuff seems a poor motivation for the plot.

This is the one with the disturbed kid. It has the ever reliable Richard Anderson again! Playing a cop, he goes on to appear in the finale as Kimble's brother in law, he must have been one of QMs favourite actors. Gerard is thrown into the action also, his character often felt as an add on, when a weaker episode like this needed a boost.

Dick is always super in anything he toils at, and this time he a super of some shabby apartment buildings in a shabby part of a shabby big city. He makes the acquaintance of the deConqueror family, descended from William himself. Dick befriends deeply troubled teen son Roger, played by Robert Drivas, who appears to have taken acting lessons from William Shatner. Roger and Dick are playing chess in Dick's shabby apartment when Roger notices a girl getting undressed behind a shade which leaves little to the imagination. Roger has a thing for this girl anyway and when Dick leaves for an emergency fuse replacement, he takes the girl's apartment key from Dick's collection and kills her when she screams. Dick sees a commotion after replacing the fuse and decides to split. Now, what's confusing is that Roger dyes his hair. The confusing part is that his hair is brown, but they say he dyes it black. So that is supposed to point to Kimble. This season is color, it's obvious his hair is not black. A witness to Roger's running away describes him as matching Kimble, who is not a brown haired teen. This rough description gets back to Gerard, who thinks this sounds like his guy. The local cop is Richard Anderson, the future last brother-in-law of Kimble. Everyone thinks Dick killed the girl, even Gerard, who should know better. He has previously come to realize that Kimble may have killed his wife, but he's no danger to anyone else. He has obviously forgotten about that. Anyways, Dick eludes the cops to make it back to the deConqueror apartment, where Roger is going full Shatner. The oldest daughter, who has her eye on Dick, tries to convince dad to turn in Roger and let go of the kid Charlemagne stuff. Dick seals the deal by convincing the old man that he's a decedent of Richard the Lionhearted. Kimble takes refuge in the apartment of Myrt Lesch, the old car thief played by Ellen Corby. She also has a thing for Kimble, and it's implied he has do a favor for her before he can leave. Gerard is frustrated again, but it's not the last time he will chase.....the fugitive.