Original Airdate: September 30, 1972
Beverly Landau, a prostitute, was attacked by a serial killer who has killed three women already, but is able to get away when the killer is hit by a truck. Still, even though the killer has a limp, he is able to slink back into the darkness. Lieutenant Stone is adamant that this man be caught, but is also concerned about the safely of Landau, who received a threatening call after having been released from the hospital. Though Inspector Keller doesn't much respect prostitutes, he is given the task to take Landau to a cheap motel and hide out. Unbeknownst to Keller, he and Landau were being followed.
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| Killer limping away after being hit by car |
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| Stone (right) trying to convince Landau to get police protection |
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| Stone and Landau listening into a threatening call |
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| Keller and Landau talking |
While Keller is keeping watch over Landau, Stone is tracking down suspects. The first has an alibi - he was aboard a plane at the time of the attack. Loren Graham, a religious, humble, soft-spoken man, got quite emotional upon hearing about the attack on Beverly, and more so over the death of another prostitute he knew. He swears that he would never have killed or attacked these girls. Graham even offers to help in any way, but is politely turned down. As soon as Stone leaves his office, he starts limping, and stares at four names etched onto the bottom of a wooden cross, the last name being the prostitute Keller is protecting.
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| Stone introducing himself to Loren Graham |
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| Names of previous victims and attempted kills |
Beverly tries to bond with Keller, but still has a difficult time breaking through. Stone appears at the hotel to relieve Keller and take over guard duty, but returns hours later, with a prowler, Sonny Lane. It turns out that he's her pimp, angering Keller, and he violently throws him out of the room, and accuses Beverly of not being entirely honest with them about the names of people she knows. Tensions are high, and Stone orders Keller to take Beverly out for fresh air - they do so by going to the wharf. She does apologize for being snippy the previous night, and not giving them all the names of men she knew, and Keller apologizes also, showing her a much softer side. Again, they do not noticed being followed.
Meanwhile, Stone gets a warrant to search Mr. Graham's office, and finds both the engraved names of victims on the bottom of the cross along with newspaper clippings of articles about the murders, each one with the word "Saved" written across it, definitely incriminating Graham in the killings. Keller tries to talk Landau out of her profession after she compares the two careers - with each one, they meet the same type of people, get the same stares from others, and see much the same things. By the end of the day, the two of them feel as though they better understand the other, and Beverly goes as far as to call the two of them "friends."
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| Newspaper articles in Graham's desk |
That night, Graham attacks Beverly when Keller's attention was elsewhere, but he's able to drive Keller away onto a nearby rooftop. Before Graham can jump to his death, Stone appears and talks Graham down - it's as though Graham has two personalities, because one minute he's raving about the dirtiness of harlots and sinners, and the next, he's shaking Keller's hand, and calmly asking the both of them what he can do for them. He's escorted from the rooftop without further incident.
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| Graham spying on Keller and Landau |
At the end, we find out that because of Keller's insistence, Beverly left the prostitution career and became a waitress, appearing infinitely happier and brighter than she did before.
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| Keller trying to convince Landau to change profession |
This was a pretty solid episode, though almost completely different in tone from the previous one.
While "The Thirty Year Pin" was an emotionally-driven episode, "The First Day of Forever" was a far more suspenseful one, I feel. In fact, some of the early stalking done by Graham, with his knife out, had a thriller/horror movie feel to it. When Graham was outside of the hotel room, and Keller noticed the doorknob being toggled, it was much like what you'd see in some horror films at the time. It was certainly helped along by the fact that the hotel they were in was a cheap, run-down dump of a place - really, the aesthetics of the placed helped that feeling along pretty well.
This episode also further showed the differences between Stone and Keller; Stone's more prone to be the gentler, compassionate cop, able to relate emotionally to a hooker on a human level, whereas Keller wanted Landau thrown into jail, and had to be reminded that he doesn't work Vice anymore. Of course, Keller came through, in a way, and as Landau did switch from her prostitution profession to a more conventional one, he came out a winner.
Graham was a fantastic antagonist. The show didn't really try to keep it a mystery - as soon as Stone left the office and Graham started limping back to his desk, we knew he was the killer. Gazing at the list of victims carved into the base of the cross didn't help matters much for him either. And the ending? He sounds like an absolute madman, but seconds later, introduces himself politely to Keller (who had chased him up to the roof and threatened to shoot him) and even shakes his hand, befuddled as to what the officers could possibly want from him. In short, he was insane, and it was shown really well.
That performance, Graham's, was wonderful. Played by James Olson, Graham really did have that aura of insanity, and not all actors can pull that off. He's not the only one who stood out, though. Janice Rule is a name I don't recognize, and I suspect she was moderately well-known long before my time. She did a fantastic job playing the dual role of a jaded, yet sensitive, hooker. Hats off to both of them, as it's great to have two strong supporting characters in a single episode.
Of course, like I said, I rather enjoyed this episode. The atmosphere was far removed from the previous episode, but it fit this story overly well. Certainly a surprise, really. Glad I saw this.
Rating: Above Average
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