User Reviews

Richard Kimble is surprised to learn that a guy he knew some time ago has been convicted of murdering him!! Justin Briggs (John Anderson) was a very angry and violent man he knew while he was assuming one of his many aliases. It seems that after Kimble left town, something he ALWAYS ends up doing sooner or later, the town assumed Briggs had murdered him! And, even though they had no body, Briggs was convicted of murder. Kimble knows what it's like to be falsely accused and although Briggs is an awful person, he returns to the old town to exonerate him. Unfortunately, it turns out Briggs was killed trying to escape...and one of his sons, who is equally unstable, is determined to kill Kimble when he learns the man is alive!

While this episode is told through several flashbacks, the previous episode they refer to was not actually made. The flashbacks were made specifically for this episode. So why didn't I score this one a bit higher? Well the Briggs family is a bit hard to understand...they are THAT angry and unpredictable...to the point of being almost cartoonish. In other words, this all could have been handled a bit better...with more subtlety. Still, like all episodes it is worth seeing.

Richard Kimble, after using an identity, usually drops it and does not use it again. However, while working under the name Bill Hayes, he is recognized by someone at his job site as being Eddie Fry, formerly of Black River, South Dakota. Though he at first denies being Eddie Fry, he admits it when he learns that after he disappeared from Black River, everyone thought he was dead, and Justin Briggs (actor John Anderson) was convicted of murdering him.

In flashbacks, we learn that Briggs was a cantankerous old man many years behind the times. Kimble worked for him. Briggs was angry at Eddie Fry for many reasons, some as trivial as bringing the book "Modern Business Practices" to Briggs' young adult son. Briggs took this as Eddie Fry trying to slander him before his son as not knowing how to run his business. In addition to being outraged about Fry interfering with his family, he is also angry that Janice Cummings (actress Diane Foster) was going to marry him, but now has changed her mind, which Briggs blamed on Eddie Fry.

At the trial there was truthful testimony that Briggs threatened in front of witnesses to kill Fry (Kimble), and truthful eyewitness testimony from Janice that she saw Briggs attacking Fry and trying to kill him. It was believed that Briggs hid the body in the swamp, and a deputy saw swamp mud on Briggs' boots. While it is true that Briggs violently attacked Kimble, Kimble was only injured and was able to get away.

Kimble, of course, cannot allow an innocent man to be executed. Everyone is shocked when Eddie Fry comes back to town to clear Justin Briggs, since all believed he was dead. Unfortunately, Justin Briggs was just killed trying to escape. Janice Cummings, and Kimble himself, face danger from an angry, disgusted town. Briggs' son Vin (actor Don Quine) declares he will kill Janice Cummings for lying against his father and causing his death.

Actor Harry Townes does a good job as Ballinger, who defended Briggs at his trial.

The writers decided to come up with an unusual twist here. Kimble's working at a factory as "Bill Hayes" when a co-worker recognizes him- not as Richard Kimble but as Eddie Frey, (pronounced "Fry", a good pun). Much of the episode becomes a flashback to one of Kimble's previous experiences. He was working as a handyman for a bible-thumping, hard drinking employer, (John Anderson), who doesn't get along with his neighbors, abuses his kids and has his eye on their housekeeper, (Diane Foster). Everyone hates him and he hates Kimble, who befriends both the housekeeper and the boys. The result is a fight which Kimble seems to be losing. The housekeeper screams and runs off to call the police, (the boys are not present). Kimble escapes but is presumed to have been murdered and dumped in a quicksand bog near the property, due to mud found on Anderson's shoes.

The guy who recognizes "Frey" tells him that Anderson is being held for his murder, a revelation that cuts Kimble to the quick. He, like everybody else, doesn't like the guy and he'd be taking a risk returning to the town but feels he has to because Anderson situation- being falsely accused of a murder- parallels his own. When he gets there he finds that Anderson has escaped and been hunted down and shot by the very neighbors he antagonized for years. Now his angry boys want some kind of justice and one of them decides to blame everything on the housekeeper who was the main witness. Everyone in town feels guilty that they left the boys fatherless in their hunt for the falsely accused Anderson, (who, after all, did try to kill Kimble). They do little to help and Kimble winds up in an otherwise deserted court room with the housekeeper and the two boys.

The episode is full of the kind of top-flight character actors who made the world of 60's television come alive. Harry Townes as the wisened defense attorney takes the cake. Anderson is, as usual, excellent in a typical role. Whit Bissell is the morally cowardly town marshal. Foster is good and the landlady who will have nothing to do with her is played by producer Quinn Martin's casting secretary, Doreen McLean, who apparently decided to cast herself in that role.

Richard Kimble has used 118 aliases that we know of. But, it turns out there's another one, Eddie 'Glenn' Fry, which he used in an unseen episode which we see in flashbacks. Fry is recognized while Dick is using another alias, Bill 'purple' Hayes. Well, it seems Fry was murdered by the always drunk and abusive John Anderson. Only, Fry wasn't really murdered, he just disappeared. So Dick goes back to Black River to clear Anderson of the charge, since he knows what it's like being convicted of a murder he didn't do. He goes back and everyone looks like they've seen a ghost. Too late to save Anderson, as a posse shot him dead when he escaped. His girlfriend/housekeeper testified she saw him kill Fry, cause that's what she thought she saw. It's not really clear exactly what happened, but Dick must have somehow left without her seeing. Really, the whole show is kind of unclear about a lot of things. Anderson had two sons, and one wants to kill Kimble, or Fry, or Hayes, whoever. The other is more reasonable and tries to talk him out of it. Anyways, the good son winds up shooting the bad son as the bad son is about to shoot Kimble. Everyone comes in after that and Dick says he did the shooting, to protect the good son. The law kind of turns their back and allows Dick to leave and remain.....a fugitive.

Not one of the top episodes but comes with with the unusual twist of someone identifying Kimble but not as Kimble but as a previous alias...Kimble not in any danger with police in this episode with the only "suspense" being the lawyer (Harry Townes) questioning Kimble on a few occassions. The main story line of the family being upset at Kimble and the woman who testified at the trial was a bit overdone and not too believable.

This is, in my opinion, the one truly awful episode of this stellar series. What in the world were the creative folks attached to this show thinking?

The flashbacks set in some fake-looking studio back lot.......the wringing of hands and mortified glances galore.....The Fugitive meets a silent film melodrama!

I watched this again last night (for the 2nd time since buying the DVDs), and remembered why I'd given up on it halfway through during my last viewing.

Put bluntly, I cared nothing for this episode: the plot, the characters.......everything was a divine wreck.

Never again!