This is one of those rare CA episodes that is built around a theme rather than plot machinations. It's rather simple, an old woman is run down and killed, an older man in a wheelchair named Stambler hires the Angels to find out if he is the father of the deceased woman's son, a stunt pilot in a Reno air show named Bill Freeman.
Kelly gets close to Freeman in order to find out about his background, to see if their are any links to Stambler. This is the 2nd time in two seasons that Kelly has gone airborne in one of those crop duster type planes. The first time she did, Dennis Cole's character wanted to tip her out of the open cockpit, this time, it's under much friendlier circumstances, as Freeman takes a shine to Kelly.
A subplot involving the deceased woman's connections to a mob owned business are the typical distractions used to spice this episode up. A pair of toughs led by Don Reid, who played the philandering husband in season 2's "Angels on the Run", cause some trouble for the Angels, and Reid makes a play for Kris in order to find out how much the Angels know about the Stambler/Freeman connection, as Reid's client wants to make sure that Freeman never gets a dime of his inheritance. There's a breathtaking scene with Reid and Kris at a pool where Kris wears the raciest bikini she's ever worn. It's shockingly bare for 70's era TV but the eye-popping is worth it.
Sabrina goes to NYC to investigate the mob owned company Freeman is poised to inherit, and there's a horribly staged assassination attempt on Sabrina's life that would make any professional hitman cringe. You never shoot wildly with a pistol in a hotel hallway, that's not how a professional acts. Jaclyn Smith as Kelly Garret has some lovely scenes with Freeman, played by the ruggedly handsome Michael Goodwin. It's one of the few Angel couplings that I would actually root for, as Freeman seems like a genuine guy.
We never actually discover whether Stambler and Freeman are related, and that's part of the theme. Freeman doesn't want the responsibility of owning a company or of inheriting wealth, he just wants to be a pilot and enjoy his freedom.... hence his character name, Freeman. There's more to life than money or some random connection to a man you never met claiming to be your father. The episode ends with Freeman flying off into the sunset, with Stambler wondering if he'll ever know the truth. Probably the most melancholy episode since second season's country singer tragedy, "Angel Blues".
