Very different to the first episode. Story-driven and very enjoyable.
While the first episode was Hackett-centric and action-packed, this one features him much less and only has a short foot chase at the end.
It’s very a story-driven episode, and there are two barely-connected stories running in parallel. Both are good, and play out in interesting and unexpected ways.
The main character in story A is Angie, who is working with a gang of jewel thieves. Following an accident her boyfriend dies during a heist, partly because the others neglected to take him to a hospital in time, and this puts her on the path to revenge.
The main character in story B is Tom Farlow, whom Hackett springs from prison hoping that the jewel thieves will enlist his services to replace the dead man. In a nice bit of storytelling, this never happens. The thieves are aware of Farlow but opt not to use him.
So, instead, we watch as this guy tries to find his wife after seven years of being in prison. Hackett helps him, but this backfires in the end when Farlow turns out not to be as nice a guy as we and Hackett assumed. he, too, is on the path to revenge and there’s pretty gruesome end to this little tale.
The scenes with Hackett and his team are light and enjoyable. He seems less edgy than in the first episode, and prone to making mistakes. As well as trusting Farlow - a huge mistake - he isn’t able to catch Angie. She gets away scot free at the end, with the jewels, having double-crossed her former partners.
With two storylines in play, and plenty of changes, this pace is fast.
Most of the scenes are short, too. This doesn’t really feel like a show from the 70s.
It’s intelligently scripted, too. Full of neat little moments that are surprising. The show avoids cliche very effectively.
