Private investigators the Simon Brothers - Rick (Gerald McCraney) and A.J. (Jameson Parker) work for San Diego Star advice columnist Kate Franklin (Cathryn Damon).
She is worried that a woman's wealthy husband might kill her young boyfriend. The evidence she presents are the young man's letters which captivate her and the readers of her column. The letters are signed "Lovesick in La Jolla".
Instead the cheating wife is killed and Gavin Shelley (Med Flory) the husband is busted for it. Rick and A.J. had a run-in with beligerent jack-ass Shelley. Whilst stipulating the affluent man is a miserable excuse for a human being, the Simon brothers know he couldn't have done it.
But their eccentric paranoiac client is convinced Shelley did his wife Laurel in. The wife's tennis pro lover Steve Lacey (Christopher Mayer) shares the same belief about Shelley and says that is why he wrote to Kate's advice column. Shelley in turn accuses Lacey but that doesn't make sense either, at least on the surface. When Lacey dies things are that much more complicated, or perhaps less.
A bomb takes out A.J.'s ugly kitchen and tacky living room. The message it sends tinges everything they do thereafter with a kind of urgency they hadn't expected. We have seen a lot happen to the Simon brothers by this point in the series. But a jolt where the viewers live should have been a spark for the audience. Watching the show from a living room and seeing A.J.'s git blowed up real good should have registered with anyone sitting on a couch.
Whilst one of seemingly the more light-hearted in tone of series episodes the steady stream of death and threats to life in this teleplay give it an intriguing dark side. The mystery itself evolves in directions that indicate one thing but leads to something unexpected giving it a multiple layer.
The show had evolved beyond its adult Hardy Boys/Odd Couple premise after but a few episodes in it's debut season. Fans of this series didn't really need to see as much development and subtext in the title characters as the show went on. Because of that Simon & Simon could just make excellent mysteries. Their best ones were like this one which gave us a fun balance of action, mystery and character study. Simon & Simon was a show that did that as well any detective show in the history of television.
As for actual detective work it might seem amateurish. Rick and A.J. knew more than the audience did about private investigation but not everything a private investigator does is something audiences would notice or readily understand. It probably depends on the viewer whether they find the other elements appealing enough to overlook certain implausibilities (Like for instance the fact that the brothers are doing a lot things of which are illegal and still keep their state certification).
She is worried that a woman's wealthy husband might kill her young boyfriend. The evidence she presents are the young man's letters which captivate her and the readers of her column. The letters are signed "Lovesick in La Jolla".
Instead the cheating wife is killed and Gavin Shelley (Med Flory) the husband is busted for it. Rick and A.J. had a run-in with beligerent jack-ass Shelley. Whilst stipulating the affluent man is a miserable excuse for a human being, the Simon brothers know he couldn't have done it.
But their eccentric paranoiac client is convinced Shelley did his wife Laurel in. The wife's tennis pro lover Steve Lacey (Christopher Mayer) shares the same belief about Shelley and says that is why he wrote to Kate's advice column. Shelley in turn accuses Lacey but that doesn't make sense either, at least on the surface. When Lacey dies things are that much more complicated, or perhaps less.
A bomb takes out A.J.'s ugly kitchen and tacky living room. The message it sends tinges everything they do thereafter with a kind of urgency they hadn't expected. We have seen a lot happen to the Simon brothers by this point in the series. But a jolt where the viewers live should have been a spark for the audience. Watching the show from a living room and seeing A.J.'s git blowed up real good should have registered with anyone sitting on a couch.
Whilst one of seemingly the more light-hearted in tone of series episodes the steady stream of death and threats to life in this teleplay give it an intriguing dark side. The mystery itself evolves in directions that indicate one thing but leads to something unexpected giving it a multiple layer.
The show had evolved beyond its adult Hardy Boys/Odd Couple premise after but a few episodes in it's debut season. Fans of this series didn't really need to see as much development and subtext in the title characters as the show went on. Because of that Simon & Simon could just make excellent mysteries. Their best ones were like this one which gave us a fun balance of action, mystery and character study. Simon & Simon was a show that did that as well any detective show in the history of television.
As for actual detective work it might seem amateurish. Rick and A.J. knew more than the audience did about private investigation but not everything a private investigator does is something audiences would notice or readily understand. It probably depends on the viewer whether they find the other elements appealing enough to overlook certain implausibilities (Like for instance the fact that the brothers are doing a lot things of which are illegal and still keep their state certification).