real sign language no closed captions! BAD car explosion!
"The Silent Cry" is the first episode of the second season of "Mannix". One thing you'll probably notice if you've seen season one is that Mannix is no longer working as an agent for Intertech but is in business for himself. Another is that despite this, it's a dandy episode--a nice start to the next season.
A deaf woman notices a man talking nearby at a payphone. She reads his lips and sees that he's talking about a kidnapping--and she immediately goes to the police. But, her description of the man is a bit vague and she only saw part of the conversation, so there really isn't much for the cops to do. Mannix meets her and agrees to help her. Using the few clues she is able to remember, he is able to locate the man whose wife has been kidnapped and Mannix offers to help. However, Mannix really has no idea what's going on nor how dangerous an assassin is. This killer hates loose ends and Mannix and the deaf woman are definitely loose ends!
Apart from one brief crappy scene (the car explosion CLEARLY is not the same car that is supposed to be exploding!), this is a very high quality episode. In particular, the people using sign language in the show actually were using sign language. Too often, they just fake it and do gibberish--but in this case they used actual deaf actors from a repertory group. This little touch and a very good plot really impressed me and made my entire family happy to see real deaf folks. However, very oddly, the episode was NOT closed captioned, so my deaf daughter was not able to watch the show with us! For shame, CBS video!
"The Silent Cry" is the first episode of the second season of "Mannix". One thing you'll probably notice if you've seen season one is that Mannix is no longer working as an agent for Intertech but is in business for himself. Another is that despite this, it's a dandy episode--a nice start to the next season.
A deaf woman notices a man talking nearby at a payphone. She reads his lips and sees that he's talking about a kidnapping--and she immediately goes to the police. But, her description of the man is a bit vague and she only saw part of the conversation, so there really isn't much for the cops to do. Mannix meets her and agrees to help her. Using the few clues she is able to remember, he is able to locate the man whose wife has been kidnapped and Mannix offers to help. However, Mannix really has no idea what's going on nor how dangerous an assassin is. This killer hates loose ends and Mannix and the deaf woman are definitely loose ends!
Apart from one brief crappy scene (the car explosion CLEARLY is not the same car that is supposed to be exploding!), this is a very high quality episode. In particular, the people using sign language in the show actually were using sign language. Too often, they just fake it and do gibberish--but in this case they used actual deaf actors from a repertory group. This little touch and a very good plot really impressed me and made my entire family happy to see real deaf folks. However, very oddly, the episode was NOT closed captioned, so my deaf daughter was not able to watch the show with us! For shame, CBS video!