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Mannix's now-drunkard old school friend is years younger than he is. Joe either went to school late, or she graduated at age 12. Proper continuity was never a rigid rule in this series, as obvious age gaps apparently weren't a bother with Desilu at all. How the bad guy set up someone else was easy to understand, but the backstory for the event is what kept Joe in the dark for awhile. Peggy inadvertently helps Joe solve it, though. She's such a a good secretary! A visual clue as to the killers' need for the crime is subtle, but obvious. See if you can recognize it! It occurs just before Joe allows himself to once again run for his life and escape just in the nick of time.

We're familiar with the basic premise: the bad guys making their crime appear to have been done by someone else. In this episode, they really go all the way, and then some. Talk about cutting it close! Their charade was designed to reinforce what the police suspected, and to use Joe Mannix as the cherry on top. As usual, the baddies miscalculated, and tripped themselves up. All they needed to do was nothing, and no one would've been the wiser. But, that's made-for-TV villains, for you: always working overtime to get caught. Where Joe miscalculated is how we get the fight scene at the end. It's a doozy, let me tell you! What happens to the baddies? Well, you won't see it coming.