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A man who is possibly an East German is spotted by some Gypsies* in New York City. Apparently, the guy took money from folks who were desperate to escape communism and betrayed them. Why he's in New York is a puzzler. At the same time, a serial killer who delights in strangling women is running amok in New York. How are these two cases related...or are they? See the show and see for yourself.

This is an interesting episode, though the way the Gypsies are portrayed is rather one dimensional. For example, when they show them various times during the show, you hear traditional Gypsy music. Plus, in general, these are NOT law-abiding citizens! But the plot is interesting and complex...and make for good viewing.

*Gypsy is not exactly a politically correct term, plus it's not particularly accurate. The modern terms are either Roma or Romani...what these people call themselves. I know this but say Gypsy because that is the word used in the episode.

When a pilot and stewardess are caught smuggling drugs, they agree to testify against their boss, Harry Harmon (Murray Hamilton). However, Harmon is not exactly a saint and arranges for them and their police bodyguard to be killed before they can testify against him. Soon the dead woman's sister, a nun, arrives in New York and she is determined to do everything she can to harass Harmon. Harmon is so rattled, he hires the same hitman to kill the nun...but the nun manages to kill him! Clearly this is NOT the stereotypical 'nice' nun like Sally Field. No, she's a pistol packin' nun!

Despite having a pretty good overall score and a lot of ratings of 7 and above, the other two reviews for this one are pretty bad. As for me, I thought it was likely to be an episode that would offend many Catholics, as the Sister is one of the most worldly an un-Christian sort of nun I've seen. She vows to drag the baddie to Hell with her...which sure seems odd for a nun! The same could be said about her behaviors late in the episode. Sure, there's a twist and all this makes some sense...but still it's pretty strange.

I did not love this episode...and the portion where the Sister sang and played the guitar was annoying and probably played into the notion that all nuns are singing nuns*. A silly plot didn't help any. Overall, I'd give this one a 5 (originally it was going to be 4, but the ending redeemed it...a bit). It's not among the better episodes of "Kojak", that's for sure.

*The movie "The Singing Nun" is a very sad story. Read up on the life of this singing sensation of the 60s...you'll see what I mean. I think this is what led to this Kojak character and the nun on "Airplane" to be guitar playing ladies.

"Lady in the Squadron" is an episode that is supposed to be about gender equality, though I felt its message was muddled and confusing.

Joan Van Ark plays Detective Long, a woman who specializes in working sex crimes. However, the Captain wants her to work with the homicide squad...but she doesn't want this because she evidently dislikes Kojak...and the feeling is mutual.

The case they're working on is about a guy who takes pleasure beating folks to death. There are some commonalities, as the women he's killed all work at a local hospital. Oddly, the guy running the hospital isn't all that helpful in the investigation and he's VERY neglectful with his job.

What can I say? Kojak is a sexist jerk in this one but Detective Long is VERY defensive and not particularly professional. Plus, in the end, she plays a damsel...not a cop! As a result, its message about sexism and women in the workplace is a bit muddled. Not a terrible episode but one that is a bit annoying when Kojak and Long argue...which is too often.