A fantastic Season 5 episode and a series best. It boasts a terrific guest cast and deals with child abuse. Linc and Pete have little to do here; Julie is the sympathetic ear as usual, so the guest stars get all the juicy stuff.
If you are looking for high-speed chases and lots of action, this probably isn't the episode for you. It plays like a psychological drama '70s TV movie. There is one chase scene where Pete takes down a suspect - who lets out a hilarious yelp and sounds like a wounded puppy.
Marlyn Mason was one of the most underrated actresses of this era. She steals the whole episode as the tormented mother whose nerves have made her a human landmine, beating her son at the slightest provocation.
Nina Foch receives Special Guest Star credit as Mason's cold, unfeeling mother. There is something sinister bubbling under the surface in regard to the resentment she harbors for Mason, but the script doesn't pursue this.
Lillian Lehman as the Support Group Leader who calls Mason out on her BS is great in her small role (I had to look it up, had her confused with a young Janet McLachlan). Veteran character actress Joan Tompkins shows up as the foster mother. It's the ladies who shine in this one.
If you are looking for high-speed chases and lots of action, this probably isn't the episode for you. It plays like a psychological drama '70s TV movie. There is one chase scene where Pete takes down a suspect - who lets out a hilarious yelp and sounds like a wounded puppy.
Marlyn Mason was one of the most underrated actresses of this era. She steals the whole episode as the tormented mother whose nerves have made her a human landmine, beating her son at the slightest provocation.
Nina Foch receives Special Guest Star credit as Mason's cold, unfeeling mother. There is something sinister bubbling under the surface in regard to the resentment she harbors for Mason, but the script doesn't pursue this.
Lillian Lehman as the Support Group Leader who calls Mason out on her BS is great in her small role (I had to look it up, had her confused with a young Janet McLachlan). Veteran character actress Joan Tompkins shows up as the foster mother. It's the ladies who shine in this one.
