User Reviews

It's strange that a new show would go right to a two-parter for its 4th and 5th episodes. Normally you want self-contained episode until you've developed a loyal following that will have seen the first episode and will be sure to turn in for the second one. Here Kimble is in Santa Barbara, California, working for a sail maker. He also apparently has some knowledge of boats from his former life. He's fallen for his boss's daughter, Karen, (Susan Oliver), but earned the enmity of another worker, Eric, (Robert Duvall) who also has his eyes on Karen. Kimble is tired of running, (with 115 episodes to go) and would like to settle down. But then he hears that a one-armed man has been arrested in Los Angeles. So has Gerard, who is waiting for him to show up there.

Kimble's fatigue and love for Karen makes the ending, where he can't bring himself to abandon the injured Gerard and thus gives up his potential life with her, particularly poignant. This is not the first appearance of Bill Raisch as the one-armed man as the prisoner in LA is another one-armed man played by Harry Bartell. Ed Robertson's book on the series says that producer Quin Martin preferred the one-armed man to be a more elusive concept, one who may or may not exist.

This is by far my favorite episode of The Fugitive series. This review is for both parts as together I feel that it plays like a stand alone movie, and it has everything that a great movie needs.

There's drama, action, suspense and of course a great romance. Susan Oliver gives a perfect performance as Karen Christian who I believe loved Kimble more than any other woman he encountered throughout his 4 year run. At least she did more for him than any other woman did.

There will be a minor spoiler here that alludes to the series finale, so if you don't want to know anything about that, stop reading now. I'm not revealing anything big about the ending. Rather it's about the woman Kimble ended up with at series end. So click off now if you don't want to know more.....

Now....onto that.... I firmly believe that Karen Christian should have been the one Kimble was with when he finally stopped running. It's clear he was very much in love with her and even told her Uncle Lars that he never wanted to leave there.

He wanted to settle down with her so badly that he was even going to fake his death in order to do it and forget about the search for his wife's killer. No other woman after her got him to go that far!

And she showed that she was willing to do anything to help him in return. She drove from Santa Barbara to L. A. on just a feeling that he would need her, which he did and she helped him escape from the courthouse and drove him back to Santa Barbara.

She risked her life in that dingy little raft in shark ridden waters to help him fake his death. This woman was definitely a keeper and was truly in love with him. And she was incredibly beautiful to boot. Whenever she was on screen I couldn't take my eyes off her. Susan Oliver had loads of screen presence and charisma and also great chemistry with David Janssen.

Now put her next to that goofy bubble head Jean Carlisle from the series finale and there's just no comparison. Can anyone see bubble head Jean doing the things for Kimble that Karen did? I can't. She'd probably balk at getting her perfect hair all wet.

I think it was such an injustice to the series to just toss Kimble with some random woman from out of nowhere over someone from his past that has already proved her love to him. Besides, we seen how much Kimble was in love with Karen in return, so why not bring her back for the finale?

She even listened to Kimble and helped Gerard as he lay on that beach rather than push his half conscious body back into the water after Kimble left. This was a wonderful woman.

This is the only episode of the series that I cry like a baby at the end. When she looks up at Kimble on that beach and waves goodbye to him, she looks so broken. It's a heartbreaking scene that conveys so much without a word of dialog.

Kimble is heartbroken too and we see him actually get openly angry too when he wonders aloud upon seeing Gerard coming in the raft saying "Won't he ever quit?! Will he ever stop?" When he says this you can feel his anger and pain because he knows this is the end of a life he really wanted with Karen.

I feel this is the absolute best episode (I count both parts as one) of the series and it's quite amazing that it was only the 4th episode made. This is one I can watch over and over again.

I especially love all the location shots over being filmed inside a studio. And what I find particularly interesting is that according to IMDB's trivia page of this episode, it was filmed on August 2, 1963. That was more than a month before the show even began to air on television, yet main actors David Janssen and Barry Morse already had their characters so firmly down pat that one could easily be fooled into thinking it was a second or third season episode if they didn't know it was only the 4th one filmed.

This is an episode not to be missed and a perfect example of what made this show so great. I give it 10 stars all the way.

We resume our tale with Gerard using the matchstick to track down Kimble's whereabouts. Karen is tipped off to Gerard's impending arrival and tells Dick they need to scram. But Dick gets the idea to fake his death at sea and trick Gerard into giving up his search. This is highly similar to what Dexter did over 40 years later. Coincidence? Before they can put their plan into action, Gerard meets Tom Hagen, Kimble's hostile co-worker at Luscious Lars Sails R Us, and wants to get some info. Hagen says he doesn't have time, but Gerard tells him to make time, consigliere, and shows Tom Kimble's wanted poster. Tom says there is a guy who works with him who looks like that, but the guy has black hair. That doesn't fool Gerard. Kimble should grow a beard or use some hillbilly teeth or something. Gerard almost runs into Kimble at the sail shop, but Dick is too slick. Karen easily convinces Kimble to take her along, and they sail into a convenient fog. Dexter really did rip this off. They attract some fake looking sharks and make a strong case that they met a gruesome end. They convince the coast guard and almost get Gerard to buy into it as well, but Hagen blurts out that there may be a raft on Kimble's boat. The captain decides that anyone on that boat is shark bait and wants to go back, but the pesky Gerard gets his own raft and goes into the ocean like a mad fool. Kimble and Karen reach safety and are this close to getting away when they take a last look at the ocean and see Gerard, who is about to crash his raft on some rocks. Karen wants to leave and Kimble does too, but he took that darn doctor's oath to help people. Maybe he should have become a dentist. He goes back to save Gerard's life for the first of FIVE times! Karen stays with Gerard until help gets there, as Gerard promises he won't charge her with anything, and Kimble sadly runs away.

Lieutenant Gerard is right on the tail of Kimble and a discarded match was an important clue.

In the second part, Gerard visits LA to visit sail makers. When he meets Lars, Gerard finds a willing ally to help him find Kimble until Lars realises that Karen could go to jail for aiding an fugitive.

The episode is all about Karen knowing the truth about Kimble and they both planning to get away from Gerard. Pretending their boat has capsized in rough seas.

The episode also shows Gerard's determination, risking all to get his quarry. While Kimble also demonstrates he is a good man at heart willing to risk his liberty to save a stricken man.

It's only the fifth episode. Gerard might be the villain, but as he repeatedly states. He is doing his job, the court found Kimble guilty. While Kimble repeatedly finds that fate and his own goodness is his own undoing.