episode #56 - The Bionic Badge

episode #21 of 3rd season / Air Date: 2/22/76 written by Wilton Denmark Directed by Cliff Bole

Austin puts on a policeman's uniform in this episode and we get to see what a bionic cop would be like. The short story on that - bad news for criminals. Why would Austin and OSI involve themselves with the police dept. and some robberies? Well, it turns out that the special parts getting stolen are sometimes used to build.. nuclear bombs. The main suspect so far is a police veteran, an older cop (Noah Beery) nearing retirement. He always seems out of it or something when the robberies take place and, indeed, when Steve temps as his new partner, there's evidence of negligence, vision impairment and even fainting spells. Austin begins to worry...

Austin has a slightly funny attitude in this episode - see his expression while putting on his uniform above left? He seems really annoyed that Goldman 'requested' him to go undercover like this. Is it that he considers the job beneath him or is the uniform simply uncomfortable? As for the job... the neighborhood seems really rough here; if Austin had not been bionic - just an average cop - he would've been pulped or dead twice over during his short stint as a cop. The crooks depicted here, though low level types, have no compunctions about brutally massacring cops here. There's a minor revelation about who is actually the dirty bird. BoG's Score: 6 out of 10