Murder, She Wrote Season 1, Episode 7
"Hit, Run and Homicide"
Original airdate: November 25, 1984
Writer: Gerald K. Siegel
Director: Alan Cooke
Cast: Angela Lansbury, Tom Bosley, Claude Akins, Van Johnson, Edward Albert, June Allyson, Patti D'Arbanville, Stuart Whitman, Bruce Gray, Lois Foraker, Paddi Edwards, Dee Croxton
In a sendup of Stephen King's Christine, both the novel and John Carpenter's film adaptation released just the year before, Jessica confronts a murderous, driverless automobile. What better foundation for a reunion of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract stars? Dame Angela coaxed dozens of Hollywood and Broadway icons out of retirement as guest stars over the years, and we've got two golden oldies in Van Johnson (Brigadoon, The Caine Mutiny) and June Allyson (Words and Music, The Stratton Story). The pair starred together in 1944's Two Girls and a Sailor and five more, so they enjoy a lovely chemistry.
This one's a Cabot Cove episode, always a treat. Much as I enjoy Jessica's jetset adventures around the globe or her eventual Manhattan capers, these cozy hometown murders are really where it's at. In these early days, our regulars include Claude Akins — hot off The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, a short-lived spin-off of BJ and the Bear — as fisherman/handyman Ethan Cragg, and David the Gnome himself, Tom Bosley, as bumbling Sheriff Amos Tupper.
Out for a scenic coastal pedal on her bike, Jessica worries over her speech for the upcoming Founders Day Picnic. She's in a bit of a moral quandary, burdened with the knowledge that Cabot Cove's founders were pirates and turncoats. That comes up a lot over the years, and the locals always get heated. As she glides into town, another cyclist, Daniel O'Brien (Johnson) nearly collides with her head-on. Daniel is one of those lovable, absent-minded eccentrics, an inventor who moved to Cabot Cove six years ago after falling out with a larger tech company. He creates things like ultrasonic emitters to keep aphids from ruining his roses; they ultimately entice all the neighborhood dogs to come running. Right now he's testing a contraption that monitors his speed and heart rate. We get the first in the episode's delightful series of insert shots as a hand — probably not Johnson's — fusses over the device like we're watching a late-night infomercial. Jessica invites him to the picnic, but he says he has house guests to entertain.
While Jessica and her PTA friends set up food at the picnic tables, locals enjoy a game of baseball. A man's scream draws everyone's attention across the field. The stranger is hoofing it as a Chevy Caprice station wagon plows through the fence behind him. It follows him, though not at top speed, to the baseball diamond and onlookers scatter. Weirdly, the man attempts to climb the chain link behind home plate to make his escape. The car rams the fence and he falls onto the hood before rolling onto the ground. Ethan, who'd been lobbing some real meatballs from the pitcher's mound, gets a good look through the window but can't make out a driver. The car hauls off around a corner.
The stranger, who identifies himself as Charles Woodley of Wompco Electronics, and a friend of Daniels, lands in the hospital with his leg in traction like a character from a New Yorker cartoon. Like Ethan, he claims to a befuddled Sheriff Tupper that he could swear the car had no driver. It had simply appeared out of nowhere.
Jessica delivers a homemade pie to Daniel's house. We meet his houseguest, a former colleague Katie Simmons (Allyson), his banker nephew Tony, and Tony's fiance, a traveling saleswoman named Leslie Andler (D'Arbanville). Tony is played by Edward Albert. His father, Green Acres' Eddie Albert, turns up in a season four episode. Leslie says she's read and loved Jessica's books (plural!). Leslie rushes off with their rental car for a quick work trip to Portland.
Now Jessica and Katie enter Daniel's workshop, a magnificent liminal space chock-a-block with vintage Sharper Image. The production design is beyond splendid. Katie is quick to locate the screwdriver Daniel's misplaced, shorthand for "these two are made for each other". If Daniel would simply take a moment to look up from his tinkering, he'd see the love of his life has been patiently waiting for him to take notice. Jessica brings Daniel up to speed on the events of the picnic, and he's alarmed to learn his former employer is in town, having exited Wompco on bad terms. It's clear that Woodley and his partner Dean Merrill forced Daniel out with the intent to profit from his designs.
Speaking of Merrill (Gray), the man and his Panama hat arrive by chartered boat the next day only to be run down by the station wagon on a lonely stretch of road on his way to meet Woodley. Some excellent light suspense as the camera settles in behind the wheel of the vehicle and it begins its slow pursuit.
At Ethan's urging, Jessica insinuates herself into Sheriff Tupper's investigation. She does so as tactfully as possible, considerate of his easily-bruised ego. She tags along as he gathers additional interviews. Valuable experience for future books, Amos suggests. At the hospital, Woodley seeds the idea that Daniel is losing his mind and that he may have been involved with creating a remote control for a driverless car.
Daniel confirms that he explored such technology for multiple applications, from the military to motion pictures. It would even be helpful for those like Jessica who never learned to drive. Katie recalls that Daniel's concept included robust safety features to prevent collisions.
Amos seems to believe the phantom station wagon is hidden inside the back of a moving van seen exiting the Cove toward Augusta. His search teams have no luck tracking either vehicle down. He scoffs when Jessica suggests checking the overgrown woods outside the old Gentry farm, so she does so on her own.
Naturally, Jessica finds the station wagon unattended in a clearing. She checks the door. It's unlocked. She steps inside to check for further evidence. Unbeknownst to Jess, someone watches from a nearby van. Using a control panel consisting entirely of on/off toggles, the person in the van locks Jessica inside the station wagon and engages the ignition. It lurches forward onto a country road, the van in close pursuit. Jessica attempts to wrest control of the steering wheel, but quickly realizes it's no use. After a sick drift around a bend, she tries waving down a pair of fishermen on the shoulder of the road, but they don't register her peril. Both vehicles hurtle into town, tires screeching. Ethan spots Jessica at an intersection and takes chase in his pickup, overtaking the van. We get some truly impressive helicopter shots of the vehicles speeding along the coastal cliffs toward the Cabot Point lighthouse. It looks as if the station wagon is headed right into the drink, but the person in the van triggers the brakes just in time. It's a good thing this 1984 wireless signal has better range than my AirPods!
Ethan helps Jessica out of the car, flustered but unharmed. He clocks the van as it retreats from the scene.
Unfortunately, the schematics Amos finds in the back of the station wagon match Daniel's own files for the remote control device. There's little choice but to take the inventor into custody. Leslie returns from her work trip in time to comfort a distraught Tony, who changes into a new shirt, ignoring even more of the buttons. Jessica regroups with Katie, who fills her in on the dire financial straits at Wompco, a surprise given the big new contract they recently landed. Jessica visits Daniel in jail. Tony's lawyer wants Daniel to undergo a psychiatric examination. He confides that he spent time in a sanitarium some years ago. Jess doesn't stigmatize mental health crises. She has full faith that he would never harm someone. She says Katie shares that belief in him, which touches him deeply.
Tony drives Jessica home from the jail, stopping off at a gas station. They discuss Daniel's situation and Tony expresses they may have to concede to an insanity plea if it's the only way to protect the old man. He's coming at this from a place of love, but Jessica isn't ready to give up just yet. She notices something unusual about a receipt in the glove compartment and files it away for later.
Out on bail, Daniel bids a quiet farewell to his sick workshop. Jessica and a crestfallen Katie say their goodbyes as Tony drives Daniel to his examination.
Word of Daniel's alleged involvement in the recent mayhem reaches the grocer. Locals have disavowed him as an outsider despite his time in the Cove. Jessica overhears Ethan arguing with the new Spy Hunter arcade cabinet. More terrific insert shots! Jessica tries her hand at the controls of the top-down racer, but hurries off when his backseat pestering triggers an idea. Ethan eagerly resumes play.
In an absolutely wild scheme, Jessica arranges with Amos to stage a reenactment of the attack on Woodley back at the baseball field. Tony and Leslie arrive per the sheriff's request. He explains that Jessica felt they should be involved. Woodley's out of the hospital, walking with the aid of a cane. He and Amos head out on the field. Tony wonders how this will help the case. Funny he should ask. The station wagon suddenly appears, pursuing Woodley once more.
"Turn it off! Turn it off, Leslie!" Woodley screams as it barrels after him.
Leslie hurries to the parked van, flinging the door open. But it's actually Ethan in his pickup at the controls of the station wagon. He stops the killer car and gives Jessica a thumbs up. It was all a ruse to draw Leslie out!
Jessica joins Leslie at the van. The young woman offers a half-hearted excuse. She was going to drive the van onto the field to intercept the station wagon. A likely story! Leslie and Woodley had been in cahoots the whole time, all in an effort to take Merrill out of the picture and frame Daniel, freeing Woodley to sell his designs. Jessica put it together when she realized Tony and Leslie's car couldn't have made all of Leslie's supposed trips down to Portland on the little gas they'd used since renting it. Tony had no idea.
Jessica hosts Ethan, Daniel, and Katie for dinner at her house to explain the whole scheme. Playing Spy Hunter had jogged her memory of that first sighting of the killer car. It wasn't moving nearly as fast as it would when she was trapped inside it later. Daniel gets a little misty-eyed when he toasts Jessica and Katie, so Jessica and Ethan give them some time alone. Daniel tells Katie he won't join her in Memphis, but he'll move heaven and earth to get her to stay on here with him. Katie melts and Daniel gives her hand a smooch.
We never see them again.
As for Ethan and Jessica? They're headed to the grocery store to school the local kids in a Spy Hunter tourney!
Next week, Jessica meets Harry McGraw!
