An extremely tense episode, not even some very cheaply tossed together sets can detract from these twenty-something minutes of exceptional police drama.
Malloy and Reed head off to Central Receiving, a Los Angeles Hospital, where a 15 year old boy has been admitted due to an overdose of drugs. The partners learn from the boy's father of a 17 year old "friend" who has apparently supplied the illegal drugs.
Though the Hospital is real, the indoor sets are not. An admissions desk, hallway and what probably is supposed to be an Emergency Room, are all slapped together on the cheap. Later, an exterior of a rather nice looking, artsy-yet-ritzy Apartment Tower Building is presented as the setting for the remainder of the episode. The interiors clash severly, with minimum furnishings, tight hallways and horrid paint jobs. So obviously, the cheap production is noticable, yes. However, the storyline and the acting from all involved rise high above the cost-cutting on the sets. This is a terrific episode of Adam-12.
The actors portraying the 17 year old drug dealer's parents are great. The Mother is wonderfully mousey and willfully lost in a denying trust that everything in her home is peaceful and perfect. The Father is an overpowering mass of self-absorbed, child-neglecting brute. The young actor playing the 17 year old, has to perform all his lines through a bedroom door - and does a great job of it.
Martin Milner and Kent McCord are their usual terrific selves. They're fantastic in their presentations, reacting to the lost soul of the Mother, the vicious sarcasm of the Father, and the desperation in the voice from the other side of the bedroom door. Then there's the reaction of surprise and shock when a bullet comes ripping through that bedroom door, thankfully at a raised height. The signal of the desperation from the other side of that door as well as a wish to not actually harm anyone.
The intensity of this frightening and disheartening ordeal never subsides for a moment. The writer has packed his script with non-stop fear and agonizing. The Director guides his cast through-out with ease, yet pulse-pumping motivation. The Officers, joined by Sergeant MacDonald (a great performance from William Boyett) have got to get through that bedroom door one way or another. Regardless of the fact that there's a gun beyond that door and it's in the hands of a suicidal boy who doesn't seem to mind the thought of taking the life of another alongside his own. Some really fantastic stuff.
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