An Ugly Way to Die

This one is about a demented psycho who intentionally starts fires so he can kill the firemen that respond to them.

This is Bruce Fairbairn's debut as officer Chris Owens and he plays a central role and is really good and is a big improvement over that jerk Michael Ontkean, who was the weak link in the show for its first two seasons as his acting was horrendous and his hair was never combed. It's great to see that moron gone.

This is a great episode and one of the best of the entire series so far. Lou Antonio is great as the deranged lunatic. His role would make James Olson jealous since he's both an arsonist and a killer, something Olson never did. In fact, I'm surprised James Olson isn't playing this role because throughout the '70s he was always the go-to guy when an unhinged wacko was needed. Nonetheless, Antonio is really great here and the character he plays is truly disturbed.

One thing I didn't like is that the final scene is in slow motion, which reduced its effectiveness. This has never been done on the show before, so I don't know why it was done here, but I definitely have to take a couple of points off for it since this was the climactic scene and it was ruined by the slow motion.

Season three is off to a great start and so is Bruce Fairbairn.