"The Thirty-Year Pin" testifies to the bumpy beginnings great series often experience as they establish themselves and smooth out the rough spots in characterization.
The story revolves around the shooting of beat cop Gus Charnovski and Mike Stone's determination to bring in the perpetrator. A sad facet of the story is that while long ago Mike and Gus patrolled the Tenderloin District together, now Stone is a big-shot detective and Charnovski is still a beat cop directing tourists and bungling the break up of an armed robbery. And while Stone is weeping and hugging his fallen comrade, Steve tells Lt. Devitt that Stone never spoke to him about Gus. Maybe Stone's tears and resolve to get the gunman reflect his guilt at having forgotten his friend at the bottom of the ladder while he climbed up it.
Edmond O'Brien, star of the classic film D.O.A. and a memorable Johnny Dollar on radio, is utterly wasted in this episode playing Gus, his too-short screen time squandered with scenes of mumbling and looking pained while laying in a hospital bed. O'Brien was still such a bombastic presence at this time (see THE LOVE GOD with Don Knotts), he shouldn't have been wasted in a part a lesser star could have played. Another welcome face that was woefully underutilized was veteran baddie Leo Gordon as an ex-con now sidewalk barker for blue movies whom Stone bullies in his mad quest for vengeance.
The episode is suspenseful and throws a couple curve balls. Stone's alternating between blowing and keeping his cool had me empathizing with Steve Keller, who is alarmed to see his partner acting so out of character, worrying about what the hot-headed Stone's going to do next. But it was hard to empathize with Stone and his vendetta--viewers of this first episode barely knew Stone, so accepting such a deep friendship with Gus was difficult to buy. Had the producers later in the season had Keller get shot and wounded, viewers would have more readily bought into Stone's seeking swift vengeance.
The climactic chase strained credulity with an aging Stone staying so close on the heels of the sprinting young killer, or to see Keller so quickly pick up the trail of the pursuit. What clue did Keller have that Stone went over the fence and down the stairs to the subway? (Watch for some directorial sleight of hand when a stuntman leaps the barbed-wire fence and lands behind an obstructing wall, and a second later Michael Douglas runs out from behind it!). The extended chase through the subway tunnel was well done, even if a bit long.
By no means a bad episode, but a weak one when compared to the pilot and to many of the episodes yet to come. The promise of guest star Edmond O'Brien was unfulfilled. Stone is especially unlikeable in this outing, with Steve acting almost as chaperon to his combustible colleague. Fortunately, this episode's epilogue begins to reestablish and later episodes cement the original characterizations and dynamic that made the pilot movie so appealing.
The story revolves around the shooting of beat cop Gus Charnovski and Mike Stone's determination to bring in the perpetrator. A sad facet of the story is that while long ago Mike and Gus patrolled the Tenderloin District together, now Stone is a big-shot detective and Charnovski is still a beat cop directing tourists and bungling the break up of an armed robbery. And while Stone is weeping and hugging his fallen comrade, Steve tells Lt. Devitt that Stone never spoke to him about Gus. Maybe Stone's tears and resolve to get the gunman reflect his guilt at having forgotten his friend at the bottom of the ladder while he climbed up it.
Edmond O'Brien, star of the classic film D.O.A. and a memorable Johnny Dollar on radio, is utterly wasted in this episode playing Gus, his too-short screen time squandered with scenes of mumbling and looking pained while laying in a hospital bed. O'Brien was still such a bombastic presence at this time (see THE LOVE GOD with Don Knotts), he shouldn't have been wasted in a part a lesser star could have played. Another welcome face that was woefully underutilized was veteran baddie Leo Gordon as an ex-con now sidewalk barker for blue movies whom Stone bullies in his mad quest for vengeance.
The episode is suspenseful and throws a couple curve balls. Stone's alternating between blowing and keeping his cool had me empathizing with Steve Keller, who is alarmed to see his partner acting so out of character, worrying about what the hot-headed Stone's going to do next. But it was hard to empathize with Stone and his vendetta--viewers of this first episode barely knew Stone, so accepting such a deep friendship with Gus was difficult to buy. Had the producers later in the season had Keller get shot and wounded, viewers would have more readily bought into Stone's seeking swift vengeance.
The climactic chase strained credulity with an aging Stone staying so close on the heels of the sprinting young killer, or to see Keller so quickly pick up the trail of the pursuit. What clue did Keller have that Stone went over the fence and down the stairs to the subway? (Watch for some directorial sleight of hand when a stuntman leaps the barbed-wire fence and lands behind an obstructing wall, and a second later Michael Douglas runs out from behind it!). The extended chase through the subway tunnel was well done, even if a bit long.
By no means a bad episode, but a weak one when compared to the pilot and to many of the episodes yet to come. The promise of guest star Edmond O'Brien was unfulfilled. Stone is especially unlikeable in this outing, with Steve acting almost as chaperon to his combustible colleague. Fortunately, this episode's epilogue begins to reestablish and later episodes cement the original characterizations and dynamic that made the pilot movie so appealing.