User Reviews

Probably the best episode (or episodes if you prefer) from Season 1, this one is the show's first 2-hour cruise. It was probably a 2-part episode back when it first aired with each part premiering one week apart, but it's the same 3 stories spanning 2 episodes. And on re-watch, it's easily one of the most entertaining early episodes. The main plot overlaps 2 stories of a quartet of bumbling jewel thieves (played by Harold Gould, Larry Storch, Karen Valentine, and John Schuck) trying to steal a million dollar diamond belonging to a famous and rich celebrity couple (played by Michele Lee and Fernando Lamas). Lee and Lamas have great wit and sophisticated chemistry. The comedy involving this subplot is hilarious. In particular, Schuck is a hoot as the cliche "lovable big dumb ox" character and Valentine (obviously wearing a wig) is just plain hot as the stereotypical dumb blonde. Also, Gould and Storch are sublime as the smarter duo of the quartet, throwing nonstop insults at the lesser pair. The 2nd subplot involves a very sweet and natural romance between 2 ex-students at a school for the blind (played by Desi Arnaz Jr and Stephanie Zimbalist) with Arnaz's character having been cured of his blindness while Zimbalist's character is still blind. Arnaz and especially Zimbalist (convincing as a blind person) display strong acting in this subplot. The 3rd and final subplot (weakest of the 3, imo) involves a triangle of a cheating husband, his wife, and girlfriend (played by Dan Rowan, Juliet Mills, and Adrienne Barbeau, respectively). Even though this subplot was boring, thankfully it was mixed in with the 2 much stronger subplots and played a minimal role in the 2 hours. In fact, I would literally forget this 3rd subplot existed at times. Re-watching these episodes is fascinating connecting all the guest stars to popular shows they were on: Lee (Knots Landing), Rowan (Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in), Barbeau (Maude), Zimbalist (Remington Steele), Storch (F Troop). Also on re-watch, I notice that this episode flowed perfectly as well as having a really funny and charming script. Finally, this was the first episode that actually showed the faces of the guest stars in the opening credits, but this was the only Season 1 episode that did it. It became the standard starting in Season 2. The show really started to find it's footing with episodes like this and it was smooth sailing (pardon the pun) going forward.

'I am the white rabbit,' Isaac says. Julie is delightful as Cleopatra. It was nice of the crooks to find costumes for the party, even in the midst of their caper. This episode is interesting because, with all the location footage, the ship mostly doesn't even look the same. The bar is different. The club is different. Michelle Lee takes a bath, and America perks up. 'The Vault! Someone is trying to steal the Star of Kashmir!' There's another nice shot of Arnaz and Zimbalist with the ship behind them. The camera actually brings something of a romantic feeling to the show, which I'm not used to. Unfortunately, Arnaz is a block of wood. Zimbalist's character is a real pity party. Rowan and Lamas have a heart to heart. It's like a leather convention. Karen Valentine was in The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. The overlap between Argento fans and Love Boat fans may be small. (One. Me.) Harold Gould was in Love and Death. I'm a fan of John Schuck. He has credibility to spare from his films with Robert Altman. Barbeau is a legend in my book. She was married to John Carpenter and appeared in The Fog and Escape from New York. Dan Rowan was half of 'Laugh-In.' I like him as the man caught in the middle. You know when Larry Storch is the brains of your operation, I think you have a problem. This is okay. It's kind of unique because the later two parters would be travel episodes. It's still too long. On Kafka's Love Boat Scale, this double episode gets 3 * out of a possible 4 *.