episode #45 - The Blue Flash

episode #10 of 3rd season / Air Date: 11/16/75    written by Sheridan Gibney, Sidney Field    Directed by Cliff Bole

Steve Austin wears a fake mustache and puts on an earring to play the part of a longshoreman in this one, getting a job on the docks. He's after a smuggling ring (led by Jason Wingreen, with Michael Conrad as the tall muscle) which moves new high tech chips in banana oil cans. Austin gets a new ability in this one also - his bionic hand & eye can detect the hidden chips   - the first scene in the episode shows the new hardware installed into Austin's arm. He stays at the home of a single mom (Janet MacLachlan) and her young son. She had seen a now-deceased undercover agent taken away by the bad guys but is afraid to say anything.

This one was ho-hum overall, except for the climactic fight, in which Austin makes short work of 5 henchmen. Austin's bionic strength is put to unusual use also - fixing the kid's bike; it turns out to be a laborous process. The episode is vaguely like a remake of On the Waterfront, except with a bionic superman who is unafraid of the local thugs. It does have some interesting on-location filming, but marks a period in which Austin was thrown into mundane, stereotypical situations suited for normal cops or detectives, like the previous Target in the Sky and the next The White Lightning War. BoG's Score: 5.5 out of 10
Star Trek TOS actor alert: actress MacLachlan had appeared in the episode The Alternative Factor