Stingray season 1 episode 9: That Terrible Swift Sword

episode number: season 1, episode 9 (1986)
viewing setting: home DVD, 3/5/13

episode synopsis: Ray joins Reverend Dixon's Crusade for Souls to figure out why gruesome murders are happening everywhere the Crusade goes.

impressions: Pretty good murder-mystery episode with some plot twists and red herrings. Ray avoids the religion debate multiple times, while revealing tidbits of his past and his life philosophy. There are some clever tricks and sub-plots. He also has to demonstrate his public-speaking skills as he pretends to be a preacher.

notable guest stars: Stuart Pankin plays a newspaper archivist who helps Ray out.

cool actions and tactics: Ray poses convincingly as a novice preacher with a Southern accent, tricks a cop into letting him escape, picks open handcuffs with a fork, infiltrates a trailer, and disguises himself as a bum.

quotable:
Alison: "You're not religious, are you?"
Ray: "I am...in my own way. I've seen a lot of evil...here, all over the world...the horror of war...injustice. If I have a religion, I guess my religion is...my belief in the inherent good in all people...and having faith in that belief. Sometimes it takes all the strength that I have."

back to the main review page