Escape into Black

Kimble arrives at a restaurant announcing he is looking for his one-armed friend who he heard works at a local restaurant. Kimble is injured in an explosion and loses his memory.

At the hospital, Dr. Towne (actor Ivan Dixon), a neuropsychiatrist, tries to treat Kimble's amnesia. Meanwhile, social worker Margaret Ruskin (actress Betty Garrett, in an outstanding performance) tries to figure out who Kimble is, his identification proving to be false. Dr. Towne is intelligent, clinical and uncaring, while Ruskin cares deeply about everyone.

Ruskin travels the town showing Kimble's photo to one-armed men, one of whom turns out to be Fred Johnson, the real murderer of Mrs. Kimble. Though she does not know which of the one-armed men is the killer, she knows it must be one of them, because the police get an anonymous call advising them Kimble is at the hospital.

When police inform Dr. Towne who Kimble is, and say they are on the way to make an arrest, Ruskin has to convince Kimble he is a convicted murderer who must escape to save his life. Kimble, fighting to regain his memory, goes to the public library to read old newspapers to learn about his wife's death and the trial, but this is inadequate to restore his memory. Kimble faces severe danger when, in his confused state, he phones Lieutenant Gerard and says he is taking a train to Stafford to turn himself in.

One of my favorite's, all the main characters are in it, and we have Kimble's flashbacks trying to restore his memory. What I find most interesting is his emotional turmoil at the end of the episode, where he doubts his innocence, and believes the right thing to do is turn himself in.

When the episode begins, Richard Kimble goes into a diner to get a bite to eat. The kitchen soon catches fire and he tries to help...and the oven explodes in his face in the process. When he awakens, he's in the hospital and he is a mess. His ear drums were ruptured, he has brain damage AND cannot remember who he is. His hands are also burned...so getting fingerprints is difficult. The social worker at the hospital (Betty Garrett) works hard to try to straighten all this out and one thing she and the other hospital staff notice is that this John Doe has medical skills. As for the social worker, once Kimble starts to recall who he is, she goes in search of the one-armed man.

This is an excellent episode for someone who isn't familiar with the series as it pretty much goes through the old case bit by bit. It's also entertaining and worth seeing.

This episode had a strong, interesting story line. There was tension throughout, especially when Kimble called Gerard to turn himself in. I enjoyed the flashbacks and they were effective in enhancing Kumble's plight. Both the doctor and social worker displayed empathy toward Kimble and gave the story a degree of warmth and compassion.

The doc is Decatur, where he got a tip that a guy with one arm is working at a restaurant. Dick is a bit overdressed when he asks about an old friend with one arm at a greasy spoon, and runs into the kitchen when it catches fire. He probably wants to get the last piece of pie before it gets ruined, but the stove blows up, leaving him with busted ear drums, head trauma and a nasty scar when he's taken to the hospital. With all that, his hair is perfect. He has amnesia, but his hearing is fine. He gives away that he's a doctor by diagnosing patients ailments, and a doctor gives him drugs to jar his memory. So he's a pediatrician, Dr Richard... something and his wife is dead. A social worker at the hospital finds out that he was looking for a one-arm man and goes off to one-arm town, the local community for amputees. She talks to a bunch of them, including Fred Johnson! Oh, you doesn't have to call me Johnson, he says. She shows him a picture of Kimble and he immediately calls the cops and turns him in. This convinces her that Kimble is innocent. In fact, she's more convinced of it that he is. Interesting that Kimble had earlier promised to pay the hospital bill, but we all knew that wasn't going to happen. After all, Dick is crime. And crime don't pay. The soach sneaks him out of the hospital and Dick goes to the library to look up the details of his trial. Interesting that Helen was strangled, which she wasn't, and that she had Dick's hair under her fingernails, which she didn't. But Dick doesn't know those details are false, and thinks he may be guilty. He sees the doctor who lies that his amnesia is enough to get him a new trial, gives him $20 and puts him on a train to Stafford. Dick calls a stunned Gerard to tell him he's headed his way to turn himself in. Meanwhile, the social worker gets on the train and tells Dick she's sure he's innocent, she saw one arm Fred. Kimble looks out the train window and gets a flashback to the opening credits from season 1, and also remembers seeing Johnson running from his house. He jumps off the speeding train just before Gerard can grab him, and after rolling down a hill, his hair is still perfect. He later calls the delighted social worker to tell her he's all right, and he's still....a fugitive. Fortunately, there is no trace of the scar by the next episode.