User Reviews

As I've noticed about the episodes of "The FBI" from its first season, this one is less about the criminal and more about Inspector Erskine. It all begins on an Indian reservation. Joe Cloud (Alejandro Rey) returns home to find a man trying to molest his wife. Naturally, he beats up the attacker and in the process he kills him. No biggie....in fact he probably did mankind a good deed. Soon, hwoever, Joe is arrested and instead of demanding to speak with his lawyer, he asks the police to call Erskine. Why? Because they knew each other from the Korean War and Joe trusts his old commander to help. Well, this is NOT the case...at least initially. While he did promise to come, that date comes and goes because Erskine was sent on a mission. During this time, Joe becomes very impatient and ends up attacking some folks and seriously injuring a deputy. Now, even if Joe is found innocent of killing the attacker, he's got an assault charge. How can Joe make it worse? He soon assaults another guy...and Erskine finally is able to get to the reservation to assist in finding Joe.

This felt like a very weak episode with too much emphasis on Erskine and not enough on a serious crime. Perhaps I am overreacting...but this one just left me feeling dissatisfied at the finale. Erskine kinda blows it in this one.

As I've noticed about the episodes of "The FBI" from its first season, this one is less about the criminal and more about Inspector Erskine. It all begins on an Indian reservation. Joe Cloud (Alejandro Rey) returns home to find a man trying to rape his wife. Naturally, he attacks the pervert and in the process he kills him. No biggie....in fact he did mankind a good deed. Soon, Joe is arrested and instead of demanding to speak with his lawyer, he asks the police to call Erskine. Why? Because they knew each other from the Korean War and Joe trusts his old commander to help. Well, this is NOT the case...at least initially. While he did promise to come, that date comes and goes because Erskine was sent on a mission. During this time, Joe becomes very impatient and ends up attacking some folks and seriously injuring a deputy. Now, even if Joe is found innocent of killing the would-be rapist, he's got an assault charge. How can Joe make it worse? He soon assaults another guy...and Erskine finally is able to get to the reservation to assist in finding Joe.

This felt like a very weak episode with too much emphasis on Erskine and not enough on a serious crime. Perhaps I am overreacting...but this one just left me feeling dissatisfied at the finale.

This was the first episode of the series to be set in a reservation. The portrayal of the Apache people and culture was excellent, but there was a gross misjudgment in casting the Hispanic actor Alejandro Rey as Joe Cloud when there were Native American actors available. He is very manic in his personality and body language which is not necessary for a role of this type, and his accent is wholly wrong. Ironically, though, because Rey was cast in the role, it wasn't whitewashed in the usual sense of the word. Other that this fault, Ephraim Zimbalist turns in his usual excellent performance as the chief agent, believably struggling to get around in Joe's world and even pursuing him into the desert after he escapes from jail. All in all, a most enjoyable episode with a most satisfactory conclusion.

The miscasting in this episode is epic. An Argentinian and two Italian-Americans playing Native Americans. Ridiculous. Alejandro Rey is gorgeous. Robert Blake's accent is all wrong and comes and goes. The first half of the first season is very different from later episodes: more humor and personal stories of Erskine and his daughter. Poor Stephen Brooks would see his part continue to shrink over time. No wonder he left after two years. He was a talented guy who never could get the roles he deserved. Back to this episode: full of attractive men but not a great story. The failure to cast real Native Americans is evidence of the bias found in Hollywood that exists until today. Hope it continues to improve.