First Aired - December 28th, 1967
Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon are working in the Narcotics division. After failing to catch an infamous drug kingpin, Sal Romero, Friday and Gannon are summoned to Van Nuys. A small plane has crashed and the police have found 150 pounds of marijuana and an envelope with heroin onboard. News reporters are also at the site and the pilot was reported limping as he left the plane. Instructions for what to do at the drop off point are on the envelope.
Sergeant Friday is able to convince the press to hold off on running the story for a while as they look for the pilot; hoping to catch him and make the drop themselves, as they suspect the pilot is a mule. They are hoping to arrest the masterminds behind the operation.
Just the Tropes, ma'am:
- Career-Ending Injury: Jerry Frank lost his leg in Vietnam. He was a pilot for the military and was no longer allowed to fly due to his injury.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Wallace Shanklin is said to be deaf, mute and dumb as he has no police record. It doesn't work as Friday finds receipts from a music store where Wallace bought some records.Sergeant Joe Friday: Now what do you do, Shanklin - sit there and watch the labels go around?
- Race Against the Clock: Friday and Gannon are hoping to find the pilot within five hours as not only is that the time in the drop off instructions, but also the press would run the story about the plane crash. Gannon points out that it is a tall order as it is 1:45am in the morning.
- Suddenly Always Knew That: Gannon is able to read the Spanish on the instructions of the envelope perfectly with no indication he knew how. The previous episode indicated he didn't know any Spanish.
- You Answered Your Own Question: When Wallace starts talking that Sal Romero is their boss, Peter Witmer says that Wallace should have said the records were bought for a friend. Only realizing the stupidity of remark as Wallace was suppose to be a mute.Peter Witmer: Why didn't you tell him you bought the records for a friend?
