Where Is Chick Lorimer, Where Has She Gone?

A prodigal younger sister returns home to face her unforgiving older sister, an admiring niece, and an ambivalent ex-suitor. Tod, along with an angry bailbondsman, is on her trail after the ex-stripper broke Tod's finger at a gas station.

The opening scene at the rundown station is a grabber. It looks like the filming crew had just arrived and did nothing to clean up the leaves and junk cluttering up the grounds. It's a great slice of back-road authenticity. In my little book that sort of thing was a key part of series appeal-- no hint of Hollywood here. However, the episode itself is too talky and directionless for my liking. It's like the producers have an outstanding cast but are unsure what to do with them. Reviewer Schappe may be right that there was backing and filling going on without Maharis. There's really not much story. Vera Miles is a fine actress, as Hitchcock knew, and she gets the spotlight here with lots of lines. However, the poetic dialog with Tod, along with their tentative romance, comes across as more contrived than usual. At the same time, delicious yucko Robert Emhardt (Harris) gets to really ham it up as the scammed bondsman. That moon-faced mug of his is like no one else's. Overall, the entry's really a Vera Miles showcase, but without much else to recommend it.