50th Anniversary Viewing
Adam-12
"Something Worth Dying For: Part 2"
Originally aired May 20, 1975
Series finale
MeTV said:
Malloy recovers from his gunshot wound and returns to patrol with Reed, where they investigate a suspicious burglary call at a school for women, and confront a pair of armed intruders in a warehouse full of mannequins. Meanwhile, Reed contemplates taking the investigator's exam as he prepares to give a speech in acceptance of the medal of valor for saving Malloy's life.
This week, Kristin Nelson and Gary Crosby get in the opening credits, along with a "Special Appearance by" credit for Chief of Police Edward M. Davis. In the post-opening credits, the Medal of Valor presentation speech gets a separate writing credit from the rest of the story.
Malloy and Reed are back on duty together in the squad car.
Pete: [Judy] wouldn't mind seeing me behind a desk permanently.
Jim: Why not?
Pete: The desk she has in mind is a hardware store in Fresno.
Jim: I've been getting the same static from Jean. You getting that purple heart didn't help any.
Pete: It didn't do me a whole lotta good, either.
While Hardwick isn't in this episode, his cynical influence lingers as Reed expresses his doubt about how much good they're doing when the citizens they're sworn to serve and protect are enabling street crime by, e.g., purchasing stolen property. The officers respond to a 211 at a school that teaches job skills to young women. As director Helen Newton (Virginia Field) describes the robber, she establishes that the school's on too tight a budget to afford losing $300, all while acting suspiciously uptight and unfriendly. Mac gives the guys a hard time when they return to the station for some investigation, their suspicions having been stoked by signs of a typewriter burglary that Newton didn't report. It comes up that Reed's thinking about taking the investigator's exam.
Back on patrol, the unit is assigned to a 459 at a mannequin warehouse. A security guard nursing a head injury (Don Brodie) describes the suspects as a young couple. Searching inside, the male, Angie Wilkins (Christopher Stafford Nelson), fires warning shots from behind concealment. Reed keeps him occupied while Malloy gets into a good position on a catwalk, following which the suspects are arrested. In the aftermath, the owner, Harold Thompson (Chuck Bowman), is informed that the young woman is his daughter, Jo Anne (Kimberly Beck); and it comes out that they were stealing from him for a wedding that he wouldn't support.
At the station, Mac turns up a lead about a load of electric typewriters that were stolen out of town; and the subject of the award presentation comes up, a topic that continues in the squad car.
Pete: Judy's coming....She's curious to see what you get because I got shot.
Jim: Well, [Jean] does have a point. A medal of valor's not gonna keep her warm on a cold night.
The officers return to the school, where Newton's assistant, Kate Gordon (Janear Hines), is obviously nervous while they have a look at the typewriters. When Newton returns, the officers confront her about the machines matching ones that were reported stolen elsewhere. Gordon, who wasn't in on this, confirms that Newton lied about the other units having been stolen in the burglary. Underscoring Reed's earlier argument perhaps a bit too patly, Newton defends her choice to cut some corners in running the fund-challenged school.
At home, Jean gives Jim the cold shoulder while little Jimmy isn't home. (I don't think we've seen him on camera since his birth the same week as mine.)
Jean (sniffling): One of these days, there's gonna be a knock at the door. And it'll be Pete, or Mac, or some other cop standing there with his hat in his hand, and he's gonna tell me that you're not coming home anymore....It was Pete this time! Aw, Jim, I can't think of anything that's worth you dying for.
After she expresses her belief that the public doesn't care about what he does, the escalated argument ends without resolution.
Jim: Honey, I want you to come to the presentation tomorrow!
Jean: What for, to meet the widows?
I can appreciate here that they recast Jean after her years of absence. I don't think Jean I had the acting chops to pull off this sort of scene.
Cut to the next day at the Hollywood Palladium as it hosts the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Medal of Valor Awards Luncheon. LAPD officers attend in uniform, including Pete, who's accompanied by Judy. She expresses her concerns less tearfully.
Judy: You're gonna get buried in that uniform.
Pete: Maybe, but I think it fits me better than a business suit....Somebody has to protect you and David and Jean and little Jimmy, and it just so happens that somebody is me. But I wouldn't do it if I didn't like it, and I wasn't good at it.
They take their seats at a table along with Mac, Ed Wells, Jerry Woods, and their plus ones--I'm not sure offhand if Jerry is supposed to be married, but I think this is the only time that we see Mrs. Mac or Mrs. Wells, though they're just extras. Jean's absence is noticed.
Emcee Art Balinger opens with a story about the founding of the L.A. police department that segues into appreciation for the service of the line officer...during which the camera at one point focuses on Jean's empty chair. (As Balinger is one of Mark VII's frequent flyers, it's unclear if the emcee is supposed to be a previously established recurring character such as Captain Hugh Brown from
Dragnet or Captain Grant, who appeared a few times in Seasons 4 and 5 of A12.)
Following a cut that skips past five other officers also being awarded, the emcee gives an account of Reed's act of heroism, during which Jean arrives.
Emcee: Faced with the alternative of seeking cover or attempting to rescue the fallen officer, Officer Reed unhesitatingly chose the latter course. He placed his life on the line to save an unconscious fellow officer who was in peril of an immediate and violent death. Officer Reed's skill, courage, and determination reflect the highest tradition of the Los Angeles Police Department and are hereby acknowledged with gratitude and with pride.
Jean sheds tears again as she sees her husband presented with the award by, I presume, real-life Los Angeles Chief of Police Davis. The series ends with a standing ovation for the six officers, during which Pete looks especially appreciative, and Jim silently acknowledges that his wife showed up after all.
And that formally wraps up our in-sync 50th Anniversary Viewing season. The departure of
Adam-12 leaves
Hawaii Five-O as the last series standing in our lineup that started in the '60s...but fear not, it won't be going anywhere particularly soon.
They were probably trying to have it both ways, like the original movie did-- the novel dates back to the early 1800s, but the Universal adaptation has some anachronisms.
I was never under the impression that the movie was supposed to take place in the same period as the novel. The electrical equipment alone seems substantially later, if not the film's present.
t's pretty impossible to reconcile Frederick's status as Frankenstein's grandson either way, but it doesn't really matter since the thing is set in some kind of bubble universe-- like the 1950s of
Happy Days.
There was one particular student who stood out at me as looking very 1970s--an Asian guy with a mullet and mustache.
I think he's a nightmare from the collective subconscious.
I was surprised that the character turned out to be so benign. You expect your Igors to be a little more treacherous.
I enjoyed it at the time; and the '60s show being promoted in association with the film was my first direct exposure to it.
