Ice hockey star William Free disappears after an alcohol-filled and rowdy night on the town. William Gargan is called him to find him, as his team needs him for an important final game of the season. He finds him in time, but Free suffers a nasty fall during the game, and dies. At first ruled accidental, the scent of almonds from the last bottle of brandy Free drank in the locker room, makes Gargan suspicious. When the scent turns out harmless, all seems well, except for Gargan's gut feeling.
William Gargan ('Night Editor') was TV's first Martin Kane, and he also played the character on the radio. He gives Kane a calm, contemplative edge, offset by regular Walter Kinsella as the often dumbfounded police detective who's always outsmarted by Kane. Add the 'creative' use of a tobacco store where they often hang out for some really in-your-face product placement, and you have the basic premise of the show. The stories are really basic, necessitated by the half hour time slot, but fun to watch.
What sets this episode apart is a sequence in the middle where a number of suspects are interrogated, who were all in the locker room when Free drank the bottle of brandy. It's shot in a totally noir way, stark single-source lighting on the suspect's face in an otherwise completely dark space, camera looking up at the suspects faces. Nice work, adding some grittiness to this episode.
A nice episode in a nice series, of which way too few episodes have survived. 7/10
As a nice piece of trivia, this episode has a cameo by TV and radio sports announcer Win Elliot, who also happens to be the brother of Biff Elliot, who played Mike Hammer in 1953's 'I, The Jury'.
William Gargan ('Night Editor') was TV's first Martin Kane, and he also played the character on the radio. He gives Kane a calm, contemplative edge, offset by regular Walter Kinsella as the often dumbfounded police detective who's always outsmarted by Kane. Add the 'creative' use of a tobacco store where they often hang out for some really in-your-face product placement, and you have the basic premise of the show. The stories are really basic, necessitated by the half hour time slot, but fun to watch.
What sets this episode apart is a sequence in the middle where a number of suspects are interrogated, who were all in the locker room when Free drank the bottle of brandy. It's shot in a totally noir way, stark single-source lighting on the suspect's face in an otherwise completely dark space, camera looking up at the suspects faces. Nice work, adding some grittiness to this episode.
A nice episode in a nice series, of which way too few episodes have survived. 7/10
As a nice piece of trivia, this episode has a cameo by TV and radio sports announcer Win Elliot, who also happens to be the brother of Biff Elliot, who played Mike Hammer in 1953's 'I, The Jury'.