planktonrules

The episode begins with a mobster's wife killing him and then making it look as if the murder was committed by a burglar. What makes this case complicated is that Kojak has a history with the woman...they dated some time ago. So, wisely, Kojak passes the case on...but unfortunately he gave it to Crocker. I say this because Crocker seems like a rookie cop or a teenager in love...and he's totally taken in by the widow with her pretty eyes and well rehearsed lines. Can Crocker get his head out of the clouds and get to the bottom of this case?

I was not thrilled with this story simply because after more than four seasons of the show, Crocker seems ill-suited to be a detective in this and other episodes involving women. It really doesn't make a lot of sense...especially since Kojak himself thinks the lady might be the murderer. It just seemed sloppy.

Now, as for the widow, Jennifer Warren is excellent as the femme fatale. She is able to manipulate folks and she did a good job of acting. I liked her in the story...but Crocker just seemed like a dope...and that was a MAJOR problem with the story. Watchable but not particularly good simply because of the Crocker angle...and it SHOULD have been a lot better.

By the way, this episode is just one example of a poor episode from the final seasons of "Kojak". While there were some very good episodes, too many in seasons four and five had logical errors or were very farfetched and seemed like second-rate scripts. It seems obvious this is the final season and the previous episode, "Letters of Death" was simply dreadful.

A hot fashion model, Janelle, is receiving some weird letters. In each, the person who left them gloats about killing various men in their lives....and in the case of the first, the man was killed just aftershe received it. Soon the police analyze the handwriting and determine it was written by a woman....but which woman?

So is this any good? No. In fact, it's terrible. Janelle's acting is quite bad...overwrought and silly. This is because the plot twist at the end is just plain stupid...full of silly psychobabble and a plot akin to "Psycho" at times...but far, far less subtle. All in all, a real misfire...and an incredibly silly episode.

As I noted on the title of my review, the summary of the episode on IMDB tells way too much...with several spoilers! Hopefully you haven't read this before watching!

A year ago, some thugs robbed a bank and stole $6,000,000...and killed three people in the process. Because things are so hot, the gang decides to hide the money and retrieve it a year later. However, the gang wasn't very smart and left hiding it up to one man...and that man just had a heart attack and died. They know it's in a highrise apartment but WHERE...that's difficult to determine. So, they manage to sneak in (the doorman isn't too bright) and they take several apartment residents hostage while they look for the loot. To make it worse, at the same time, they take Kojak and Crocker prisoner!

This is a very good episode, as well as a chance to see a young Armand Assante as one of the thugs. Worth seeing and quite tense.

By the way, the amount of money which make up $6,000,000 and how much it weighs is WAY underestimated in the show...a COMMON problem in TV shows. The money would presumably be in $100 bills (larger denominations are RARELY used and would be almost impossible to spend). So, assuming this is the case, the briefcase would have to hold about 132 pounds!! Yet, the money in the epiosde appears to be significantly less...perhaps $60,000.