This was an interesting episode and a nice showcase for Cheryl Ladd. The Angels are hired to find out who murdered a gangster's wife 40 years prior. The gangster, Jake Garfield, is well played by Ramon Bieri, who's making his second CA appearance, having played Yanos Barzak in Season 2 episode Circus of Terror.
Garfield's nephew, Tim Stone (played by Michael Shannon, no, not THAT Michael Shannon), recognizes that Kris has an uncanny resemblance to Garfield's long dead wife Rosemary, and when Kris starts living in Garfield's California mansion, the old gangster seems to lose his grip on reality, regressing back to the 1930's. He even insists Kris wear his long dead wife's dresses.
They recreate a party from decades earlier in order to try and dislodge long lost clues from Garfield's brain. Ramon Bieri uses aging makeup to play the same character 40 years apart. Ladd plays Rosemary, the long dead wife in flashbacks, employing a New York accent.
When she first arrives at the mansion, Kris has an unintentionally funny scene after hearing some swing music, she suddenly starts dancing a jig by herself in a big empty ballroom. I chuckled at how dorky it was. The other Angels and Bosley are more in the background in this one, though they are the ones investigating the past, interviewing still surviving witnesses, trying to uncover what happened.
Making his second CA appearance, Gilbert Green plays Lawrence Renaldi, a fellow 30's gangster to Garfield. He played Tony Phelan in season 3's Mother Goose is Running for Her LIfe.
This episode reveals more than any other why Kate Jackson might have left the show, as Cheryl Ladd was getting all the juicy parts. The show has a melancholy feel and it's a strong dramatic showing from Cheryl Ladd. Well worth it.
