_______
Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
_______
The Mod Squad
"Kill Gently, Sweet Jessie"
Originally aired January 18, 1972
Jessie Cook (Al Freeman Jr.) acts contrite before a parole board, but afterward brags to his cellmate, Leonard Gault (Don Dubbins), about his performance, and volunteers that he expects to be back after he's killed someone--pulling out a slip of paper with Pete's name on it. At Pete's place, Julie's nursing him through an illness. They never specify what it is one way or the other, so it's possible that in production order this may actually have been an attempt at continuity with his surgery a couple of episodes ago. Greer calls Julie and Linc in to listen to a recording from a series of anonymous calls warning that Jessie Cook plans to kill somebody. Greer explains that Cook is a part-time singer from Georgia who served four years after beating a hood named Beldon to death, and is now out. Greer arranges for Linc to go undercover as Gault's new cellmate. Jessie returns to his old digs at a junkyard, where his good friend Lonnie (Glynn Turman) is overjoyed to see him. Jessie then pays a call on his old flame Dina Lane (Leslie Uggams) at the piano bar where they used to work together, which she now owns; and she defends her choice to move on while he was in the slammer. Jessie then makes a call to get Pete's address and to pay a couple of hoods to meet him there and beat on him. A pajama-and-robe-clad Pete is listening to classical when he hears the commotion and runs out to intervene, sending the hoods driving off and taking Jessie inside.
Pete patches Jessie up and offers his couch, not being deterred when Cook reveals that he's fresh out of the hoosegow. Back at said hoosegow, Linc's doing a street character while acquainting himself with his new bunkmate, and drops that he's an old friend of Jessie's, pretending to be surprised that he's in Cook's cell and asking about his old buddy. At the junkyard, Jessie and Lonnie (who keeps his hardhat on even while having dinner) are listening to an old recording of themselves playing the blues; and we learn that Jessie associates the hood he killed with the loss of his singing voice. Julie's at Pete's when Jessie returns and introduces himself. Cut to Pete being played the call tape in Greer's office, the Captain having deduced that Pete is Cook's target. Back at home, Pete watches as Jessie has a nightmare on the couch...a nightmare of being severely beaten and suffering a throat injury. After waking up, Jessie hits the street and the bottle, and Pete follows him, eventually hearing from a drunken Jessie about how he was beaten, and expects Pete to remember it.
Pete shares this with Greer, and while he can't remember such an incident, he admits that there is something familiar about Jessie. Greer gets a call that Linc's out and got the name of somebody who plans to kill Jessie if he gets out of line. Instead of reporting to Greer with details, Linc heads to the apartment of a Frank Weaver (Mort Mills), whom he finds roughing up Lonnie (who at least changed his hat for the occasion). After Lonnie exits, Linc propositions Weaver about wanting to team up, claiming that he has his own score to settle with Cook. Finally reporting to Greer, Linc learns that Weaver's a very nasty character who does jobs for a man named Whittaker. Weaver then hits Dina's lounge to report to a man named Keller (Leo Gordon) that Jessie Cook's after him, and Keller tells Weaver that he should've finished Cook off that night in the alley with Beldon. In his junkyard digs, Jessie has the nightmare again, which includes a blurry figure who looks like Weaver stepping on his neck. At Pete's, when he mentions that Jessie got into trouble in December of '68, Julie remembers something about Pete having missed a party for Linc to identify a prisoner at a hospital, which triggers Pete's memory of having seen Jessie in the next bed. Pete figures that Jessie saw him in his injured and drugged-up state and misremembers him as his assailant; and after Julie leaves gets a call from Jessie, who indicates that he now has doubts and arranges a rendezvous.
Linc pays a call on Dina, to whom Lonnie's truck is registered, and asks her questions. She reveals that Lonnie's her brother and the two of them came from Georgia with Jessie; that a man named Whittaker took an interest in her and had Jessie beaten as a warning; that she stayed silent and pushed Jessie away for his own protection; and that Whittaker's now out of her life, but bought the club for her before he dumped her. Finally, she shares an address where she thinks Jessie may have gone. Pete shows up at the junkyard to meet Jessie, who goes after him with a forklift. While Pete's being lifted on top of a car and trying to set Jessie straight, Keller and Weaver arrive, the latter of whom announces his presence by winging Jessie. Seeing Weaver's face triggers Jessie's memory of him as the other man who beat him...then Stunt Linc drops in to drop kick Weaver, enabling Stunt Pete to tackle Keller. Pete then sees to an apologetic Jessie.
In the coda, we get a hint that Dina and Jessie may be patching things up; Jessie breaks his old record; and Pete and Linc drive off the junkyard lot.
_______
Ironside
"And Then There Was One"
Originally aired January 20, 1972
Driving back from the Chief giving a speech, Mark stops by a service station run by a friend, Sid Potter (Harrison Page), and his partner, Joe Grainger (Scott Hylands)--both recently returned from Vietnam. Right after the Ironsidemobile leaves, a mysterious figure rolls a grenade into the office while the proprietors are in it. Conventional detectives determine that it wasn't a robbery; and Mark has to inform the victims' wives, Marge Grainger (Christine Dixon) and Helen Potter (Pamela Jones), that Joe is hospitalized and Sid is dead. The Chief questions Joe at his hospital bed, and Joe indicates that they received a threat from an Afro-American separatist movement, who don't approve of mixed-race ventures. The Chief finds that this attitude goes both ways when he questions Henry Garrison (Vic Tayback), a lumber mill proprietor who's resentful that he lost out on the station franchise because the oil company preferred being represented by a "salt and pepper" combination. The Chief gets a proactive visit in the cave from the separatist movement leader, Mohammed (Percy Rodrigues), and one of his men, Mustafa (Felton Perry). When pressed by Mohammed, the headstrong Mustafa admits that he violated the group's commitment to non-violence when delivering a message to the station; and that he was drunk the night of the bombing, and can't remember what he was doing at the time. (There's nothing Percy Rodrigues hates more than an evident perjurer.)
The wives tell Fran that their husbands didn't like to discuss 'Nam or congregate with their surviving squadmates. Ed then uncovers that their squad was investigated when somebody tried to frag their C.O., Lt. Link...who later got himself killed in combat anyway, when the squad refused to walk into a trap with him. When pressed by the Chief, Joe confesses that he's sure that Gregg Hewitt (Bo Hopkins) was the attempted fragger. The Chief takes interest when he confirms with Nurse Wilson (Virginia Gregg) that among the calls Joe's been getting, some have repeatedly been from a party who wouldn't identify themself. Back at the Cave, the Chief makes a late-night call to Mohammed to inform him that Mustafa has been cleared, while trying to sew a seed of mutual respect.
Ed investigates the drydocked-for-repair boat of another squad member, Steve Winters (Richard Young), who doesn't want to talk about 'Nam, but indicates that his boat was damaged by a mysterious explosion, after which Ed reveals that he found a piece of frag grenade inside. The Chief and Mark talk to Sgt. Hewitt, now transferred to the regular Army from the squad's National Guard unit. He expresses his skepticism about Sid and Joe's "oil and water" partnership, but contrasts that with the following...
Fran talks to now-businessman Vince Atkins (Phillip Clark), who tries to play it down when his wife, Gracie (Karen Carlson), indicates that he's been getting anonymous calls. Vince follows Fran out into the hall to retract his alibi, confessing that he was seeing another woman on the night of the bombing. A Major Haggerty (Frank Maxwell) calls the Chief to tell him that Link's brother, Eldon--the first mate on a freighter--had the investigation unsuccessfully reopened by making a lot of noise about it while in Saigon. On the street, Ed's trying to pick up Hewitt for his own protection when a now fully revealed figure (Rick Arnold) drives by and tosses a grenade at them, both surviving.
All of the suspects from the squad are promptly eliminated by the timing of this attack. The Chief arranges for the nurse to give the anonymous caller a phony discharge time for Joe so that a trap can be sprung. Ed and uniformed backup converge on Link's place, finding the vehicle, but he slips out. Link subsequently makes the anonymous call, and the trap is set, with Marge accompanying Ed as he's wheeled out to the parking garage in Joe's place. Link is waiting in an adjacent car, which the Chief spots with binoculars from his stakeout point as the most likely hiding place. Ed drops his cover and calls for Link's surrender. When Link tries to run, he finds himself spotlit and surrounded by uniformed officers.
In the coda, the wives are working at the station with Joe.
_______
Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
_______
The Mod Squad
"Kill Gently, Sweet Jessie"
Originally aired January 18, 1972
Wiki said:
Jessie Cook (Al Freeman Jr.) acts contrite before a parole board, but afterward brags to his cellmate, Leonard Gault (Don Dubbins), about his performance, and volunteers that he expects to be back after he's killed someone--pulling out a slip of paper with Pete's name on it. At Pete's place, Julie's nursing him through an illness. They never specify what it is one way or the other, so it's possible that in production order this may actually have been an attempt at continuity with his surgery a couple of episodes ago. Greer calls Julie and Linc in to listen to a recording from a series of anonymous calls warning that Jessie Cook plans to kill somebody. Greer explains that Cook is a part-time singer from Georgia who served four years after beating a hood named Beldon to death, and is now out. Greer arranges for Linc to go undercover as Gault's new cellmate. Jessie returns to his old digs at a junkyard, where his good friend Lonnie (Glynn Turman) is overjoyed to see him. Jessie then pays a call on his old flame Dina Lane (Leslie Uggams) at the piano bar where they used to work together, which she now owns; and she defends her choice to move on while he was in the slammer. Jessie then makes a call to get Pete's address and to pay a couple of hoods to meet him there and beat on him. A pajama-and-robe-clad Pete is listening to classical when he hears the commotion and runs out to intervene, sending the hoods driving off and taking Jessie inside.
Pete patches Jessie up and offers his couch, not being deterred when Cook reveals that he's fresh out of the hoosegow. Back at said hoosegow, Linc's doing a street character while acquainting himself with his new bunkmate, and drops that he's an old friend of Jessie's, pretending to be surprised that he's in Cook's cell and asking about his old buddy. At the junkyard, Jessie and Lonnie (who keeps his hardhat on even while having dinner) are listening to an old recording of themselves playing the blues; and we learn that Jessie associates the hood he killed with the loss of his singing voice. Julie's at Pete's when Jessie returns and introduces himself. Cut to Pete being played the call tape in Greer's office, the Captain having deduced that Pete is Cook's target. Back at home, Pete watches as Jessie has a nightmare on the couch...a nightmare of being severely beaten and suffering a throat injury. After waking up, Jessie hits the street and the bottle, and Pete follows him, eventually hearing from a drunken Jessie about how he was beaten, and expects Pete to remember it.
Pete shares this with Greer, and while he can't remember such an incident, he admits that there is something familiar about Jessie. Greer gets a call that Linc's out and got the name of somebody who plans to kill Jessie if he gets out of line. Instead of reporting to Greer with details, Linc heads to the apartment of a Frank Weaver (Mort Mills), whom he finds roughing up Lonnie (who at least changed his hat for the occasion). After Lonnie exits, Linc propositions Weaver about wanting to team up, claiming that he has his own score to settle with Cook. Finally reporting to Greer, Linc learns that Weaver's a very nasty character who does jobs for a man named Whittaker. Weaver then hits Dina's lounge to report to a man named Keller (Leo Gordon) that Jessie Cook's after him, and Keller tells Weaver that he should've finished Cook off that night in the alley with Beldon. In his junkyard digs, Jessie has the nightmare again, which includes a blurry figure who looks like Weaver stepping on his neck. At Pete's, when he mentions that Jessie got into trouble in December of '68, Julie remembers something about Pete having missed a party for Linc to identify a prisoner at a hospital, which triggers Pete's memory of having seen Jessie in the next bed. Pete figures that Jessie saw him in his injured and drugged-up state and misremembers him as his assailant; and after Julie leaves gets a call from Jessie, who indicates that he now has doubts and arranges a rendezvous.
Linc pays a call on Dina, to whom Lonnie's truck is registered, and asks her questions. She reveals that Lonnie's her brother and the two of them came from Georgia with Jessie; that a man named Whittaker took an interest in her and had Jessie beaten as a warning; that she stayed silent and pushed Jessie away for his own protection; and that Whittaker's now out of her life, but bought the club for her before he dumped her. Finally, she shares an address where she thinks Jessie may have gone. Pete shows up at the junkyard to meet Jessie, who goes after him with a forklift. While Pete's being lifted on top of a car and trying to set Jessie straight, Keller and Weaver arrive, the latter of whom announces his presence by winging Jessie. Seeing Weaver's face triggers Jessie's memory of him as the other man who beat him...then Stunt Linc drops in to drop kick Weaver, enabling Stunt Pete to tackle Keller. Pete then sees to an apologetic Jessie.
In the coda, we get a hint that Dina and Jessie may be patching things up; Jessie breaks his old record; and Pete and Linc drive off the junkyard lot.
_______
Ironside
"And Then There Was One"
Originally aired January 20, 1972
Frndly said:
Driving back from the Chief giving a speech, Mark stops by a service station run by a friend, Sid Potter (Harrison Page), and his partner, Joe Grainger (Scott Hylands)--both recently returned from Vietnam. Right after the Ironsidemobile leaves, a mysterious figure rolls a grenade into the office while the proprietors are in it. Conventional detectives determine that it wasn't a robbery; and Mark has to inform the victims' wives, Marge Grainger (Christine Dixon) and Helen Potter (Pamela Jones), that Joe is hospitalized and Sid is dead. The Chief questions Joe at his hospital bed, and Joe indicates that they received a threat from an Afro-American separatist movement, who don't approve of mixed-race ventures. The Chief finds that this attitude goes both ways when he questions Henry Garrison (Vic Tayback), a lumber mill proprietor who's resentful that he lost out on the station franchise because the oil company preferred being represented by a "salt and pepper" combination. The Chief gets a proactive visit in the cave from the separatist movement leader, Mohammed (Percy Rodrigues), and one of his men, Mustafa (Felton Perry). When pressed by Mohammed, the headstrong Mustafa admits that he violated the group's commitment to non-violence when delivering a message to the station; and that he was drunk the night of the bombing, and can't remember what he was doing at the time. (There's nothing Percy Rodrigues hates more than an evident perjurer.)
The wives tell Fran that their husbands didn't like to discuss 'Nam or congregate with their surviving squadmates. Ed then uncovers that their squad was investigated when somebody tried to frag their C.O., Lt. Link...who later got himself killed in combat anyway, when the squad refused to walk into a trap with him. When pressed by the Chief, Joe confesses that he's sure that Gregg Hewitt (Bo Hopkins) was the attempted fragger. The Chief takes interest when he confirms with Nurse Wilson (Virginia Gregg) that among the calls Joe's been getting, some have repeatedly been from a party who wouldn't identify themself. Back at the Cave, the Chief makes a late-night call to Mohammed to inform him that Mustafa has been cleared, while trying to sew a seed of mutual respect.
Ed investigates the drydocked-for-repair boat of another squad member, Steve Winters (Richard Young), who doesn't want to talk about 'Nam, but indicates that his boat was damaged by a mysterious explosion, after which Ed reveals that he found a piece of frag grenade inside. The Chief and Mark talk to Sgt. Hewitt, now transferred to the regular Army from the squad's National Guard unit. He expresses his skepticism about Sid and Joe's "oil and water" partnership, but contrasts that with the following...
Hewitt: It's diversity in its infinite variety that makes like interesting in this star system. I'm not sure what that means, but I heard it on a science fiction program.
Fran talks to now-businessman Vince Atkins (Phillip Clark), who tries to play it down when his wife, Gracie (Karen Carlson), indicates that he's been getting anonymous calls. Vince follows Fran out into the hall to retract his alibi, confessing that he was seeing another woman on the night of the bombing. A Major Haggerty (Frank Maxwell) calls the Chief to tell him that Link's brother, Eldon--the first mate on a freighter--had the investigation unsuccessfully reopened by making a lot of noise about it while in Saigon. On the street, Ed's trying to pick up Hewitt for his own protection when a now fully revealed figure (Rick Arnold) drives by and tosses a grenade at them, both surviving.
All of the suspects from the squad are promptly eliminated by the timing of this attack. The Chief arranges for the nurse to give the anonymous caller a phony discharge time for Joe so that a trap can be sprung. Ed and uniformed backup converge on Link's place, finding the vehicle, but he slips out. Link subsequently makes the anonymous call, and the trap is set, with Marge accompanying Ed as he's wheeled out to the parking garage in Joe's place. Link is waiting in an adjacent car, which the Chief spots with binoculars from his stakeout point as the most likely hiding place. Ed drops his cover and calls for Link's surrender. When Link tries to run, he finds himself spotlit and surrounded by uniformed officers.
In the coda, the wives are working at the station with Joe.
_______
Not quite that thick, but perhaps meant to be Irish American...there were a lot of "laddies".
Not if they were supposed to be minding him and they trying to keep him in line.
Now that you mention it, no. But her albums were among the contents of the duplicate suitcase.
Because Rusty asked Pete to retrieve the case for him.
At this point, it was supposed to be a personal affair and they didn't know the actual stakes.Did they think to ask their fellow cops to keep an eye peeled for the stolen Challenger?
(Where's the other guy? RJ asked.) Yep, Rusty sideswiped him with the car and he was sprawled presumably unconscious.Poor Linc.
But then we don't get that emotionally powerful climax with Pete.
It seemed like it was supposed to be a local affairs show. When the Chief walked in on Ed and Fran watching Charo, he made a crack about Sesame Street.
I looked back to make sure I didn't miss some case-relevant context. I didn't.What th--?
The latter.Wait, Blackjack as in the card game or the impact weapon?
I guess we were meant to see him as a sort of Robin Hood figure who just needed to be set back on the straight and narrow.
Ooh...I picked that up as used vinyl in the '90s. I probably still have it stashed away somewhere, but I couldn't say what its playing condition would be after all these years.
And yet there it is...
Last edited:
Elsewhere, the quartetmeister, Anton Beecham (Kevin Hagen), is complaining to an unseen party about it being the quartet's worst recording yet, and alluding to the titularly quoted nursery rhyme while mocking his musicians. The figure pulls a silenced gun and shoots him. With his last words, he indicates that he was prepared for this, while addressing the figure as "my dear". (I suspected a gender twist here, and I guess there still was one if they were trying to misdirect us into thinking that the killer was a woman. But it didn't play out as I expected, as no same-sex affair was established, and Beecham's sexuality was never an issue in the story one way or the other.)
