Mod Squad (TV Series) The Girl in Chair Nine (1969) User Reviews

Average Episode to Open Season 2

[kgraovac · 7/10 · 4 January 2024]

An average opener for Season 2 with a then-taboo topic. MAUDE was still three years away and the word "abortion" is not even mentioned until the end of the episode -- by Captain Greer -- and even then it is prefaced by the word "legal".

Cesare Danova seems a little too sharp and continental as the psychic. However, the quick flashes we see through his eyes are a little unsettling and thus, effective.

Veronica Cartwright has a thankless role as the kidnap victim whom we only see at the climax. She does do "hysterical" pretty well though. Check her out in THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK. She just doesn't have enough to do in the episode.

Sylvia Hayes was memorable as Big Mama. Too bad she only had a handful of acting credits. Iris Rainer was amusing as the caustic, sex-starved Barbara. The weak spot was Robert Cannon as the twitchy kidnapper Jerry.

Linc is seen as a chauffeur and Pete and Julie pose as a couple with an unwanted pregnancy. 7/10.

The Wax Museum

[skinnybert · 5/10 · 10 July 2017]

This being the second season premier, you'd expect a better-than-average episode. And it does indeed feature a fairly hard-hitting subject -- abortion -- which is of course never explicitly named. Offsetting this realism is the fact that all the plot movement comes via psychic revelation, as if Spelling couldn't dare to be taken too seriously.

But what really stands out about this episode is how the three principal actors show not one emotion or expression in the entire episode -- as if the sole direction in each scene was "do not act". This is clearly not a limit in the actors' abilities; the next episode has all of them showing more feeling and range in any given scene than this entire episode. Maybe it's because the subject was so serious? Or maybe the actors were in the midst of a contract re-negotiation? Whatever the reason, I haven't seen acting so woodenly non-emotive this side of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (who, sadly, never got to have this on their show).

Anyway: serious subject, no acting.