episode #78 - To Catch the Eagle

episode #21 of 4th season / Air Date: 3/6/77 written by Judy Burns,Peter Brooke directed by Phil Bondelli

Two OSI scientists looking for Uranium on Indian land get trapped in a cave by a cave-in - only it was caused by dynamite; someone sabotaged them. Goldman sends in Austin to find them, but he's restricted from entering the forbidden areas by Indian - Apache - custom and rituals. He has one ally, an educated Indian (Peter Breck) who comes up with a way - Austin must pass a 3-tier test, like catching a stallion and sidestepping thrown spears. Thanks to Austin's bionics, he passes these easily. Things get a little complicated when the medicine man's daughter (Kathleen Beller) follows Austin on his search. It turns out that a couple of the Apaches have more mercenary reasons than Indian traditions motivating their harsh attitudes.



There's a lot of this American Indian lore in this one, though transposed to a sci-fi TV show it may come across as cheesy. The central idea is in the title: the ultimate test is to catch an eagle; the eagle is then set free again during a ceremony and this means harmony for the tribe. I wonder how anyone but Austin could catch an eagle - which he does indeed do in one eye-popping scene - I'm not sure how they did this, getting it filmed, I mean; it looks like one of those hard-to-believe scenes which you have to watch again to make sure of what you saw. Austin seems capable of accomplishing anything by the time this episode is over - and effortlessly. It was also nice to see Breck reunited with Lee Majors here; they played half-brothers on The Big Valley. BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10

Bionic Trivia: Austin finally shaved off his 4th season mustache with this episode.