Nov. 4-10, 2012 TV Club-The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries- Season 1-Ep. 10

[MacGyver]

Leave your thoughts, comments and reviews of "Mystery of the Fallen Angels" (featuring Nancy Drew) episode of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries here.

[MacGyver]

This episode starts off at the very start with motorcyclists riding up to a carnival- where Nancy Drew, Ned and George are all hanging out. It?s a benefit carnival for charity, given by a wealthy couple. Carson Drew is hanging out talking with them in their house.
We have a funny scene with Ned seeing a fortune teller at the carnival who tells him that he struggles with a problem- his manliness is so forceful that the girls can?t handle it. Lol :-)
  Then we shift back to the wealthy couple?s house where a dude named Henry is sneaking into the house and talking to the maid, Tina. The motorcyclists from the start of the episode show up then and report to their boss, played by Beverly Garland! (This is one of the many episodes of this show that featured a lot of famous stars before they became really famous later on- Jamie Lee Curtis and Robert Englund are two main ones in this episode.)
   The motorcyclists go back to the carnival and we see the wealthy couple running into Henry in their house. He quickly exits, claiming he was just lost. We find out he was earlier accused of stealing from a drug store he worked at, though it was never proven. Henry tells Tina not to tell anyone that he was there and then leaves. As he exits, we see the motorcycle gang, who are also working at the carnival, breaking into the couple?s house and stealing from them. Nancy, Ned and George almost come across them as they hear the lookout blowing a whistle- but they shrug it off and move on.
     I love how Ned is being his typical self- worried about Nancy but also trying to be all manly for her and George. He adds a lot of humor to the show in just the right places and amounts. There is a bit of a joke through the episode about Ned?s forceful manliness.
      Ned, Nancy and George and Carson find out that the couple?s jewels have been stolen. The sheriff who shows up seems to know Nancy Drew and her father, though it?s definitely not Chief McGinnis, as far as I can tell. (Though this episode is definitely set in River Heights, at least at this point.) The circumstantial evidence seems to point to Henry, as he was seen at the house. So the police pick him up and Nancy goes to see him. He won?t tell her anything more than his story of being lost- and he tells her that he didn?t steal the jewels. Nancy seems to know he is involved with Tina somehow but Henry won?t confirm that- he denies knowing her actually.
       So then Nancy goes to talk to Tina but can?t get anything out of her either. The sheriff comes back to tell the couple (Robert and Claire) that he thinks Tina worked with Henry to pull off the robbery. Nancy doesn?t believe that this is the case, so she goes to the only other lead she?s got- the carnival. It?s gone off to the next town, so Nancy decides to go undercover as a runaway. Her father warns her to be careful, but lets her go and reminds her to let him know what she finds out. Ned and George drop Nancy off, and to quell Ned?s misgivings, Nancy tells him that if she gets in trouble, she?ll just do what he would do.
         From there, Nancy tries to get in with the carnival crew, but finds the motorcycle gang to be pretty suspicious of her. She winds up humiliating the leader in a motorcycle chase (one of the guys in the gang lets her ride the leader?s bike) and the leader winds up taking a dunk in the lake by riding his bike off the pavement, while Nancy drops her bike to the ground. (This is one of a few great motorcycle scenes we get in this episode!)
    Nancy finally convinces the boss lady to give her a job running the shooting gallery. The two guys in the motorcycle gang are still suspicious and decide to give Nancy a wild ride on one of the carnival rides that spins people around in circles in a container while the container itself spins in a loop around a wheel.
      A newer member of the gang, Ann, sticks up for Nancy and explains that her sister sent Nancy to find her (since Ann is a runaway). Later, in Ann?s trailer, Ann warns Nancy to get away from there before she gets back from riding motorbikes with her gang.
     George and Ned come up to Nancy?s shooting gallery booth to give her some news. Tina has been brought in for questioning and Henry has been let out but jumped his bail. Nancy, Ned and George break into Vince?s van (the leader of the gang) and find stolen television sets. They get the serial numbers and George and Ned go back to check them out. Nancy runs into Henry there at the carnival and tells him to go back to her father and talk with him, as she has to get back to her undercover role at the carnival.
    The gang takes Nancy out to a clearing in the woods where they have surrounded Henry with their motorcycles and accused him of breaking into Vince?s van. Nancy finally comes to Henry?s rescue by knocking over all the other bikes and riding off with Henry on one of motorcycles. They ride into the carnival and have yet another motorcycle chase, which is finally stopped by Ned and George, who have brought the police over to the carnival. The serial numbers match the ones of the TV sets stolen from the wealthy couple?s house and the gang is captured. However, they deny stealing the jewels, just as Nancy thought. Nancy assures Ann that her father will help her with her case. Ann admits that running away from home was the dumbest thing she ever did.
       Nancy tells Ned he?s the most smartest, neatest, (?Most forceful?? Ned adds)- ?forceful?, Nancy repeats- ?man I know.? That was a funny little scene. There are some hints like this throughout the show that Ned and Nancy have a little thing going, but it?s generally always presented as Ned pining after Nancy, with Nancy only sometimes showing some hints that she really does admire Ned- and we know she definitely leans on him for help with her investigations and for protection to some degree. And she certainly values his friendship if nothing else.
      Nancy then confronts the wealthy couple (the Jordans) and asks Mrs. Jordan to open the safe- it turns out she can?t though because she doesn?t know the combination. Therefore, Tina couldn?t have seen Mrs. Jordan open the safe and that helped clear Henry and Tina. Thus, there is only one likely possibility left- and the Jordans confess their insurance fraud. Nancy offhandedly mentions that Ned and George did some checking into their finances for her and found out that his investments had gone bad and they needed money. Carson agrees to help them in their case and then we have a wrap-up scene at Carson?s office with Carson, Nancy, Ned, George, Henry and Tina.
       Henry finally reveals that Tina was in the country illegally- and Henry was her brother and wanted to help her become an American citizen like he was. Tina is skilled as a nurse in Mexico and Nancy and the gang feel confident that will be a good skill she can use to get a work permit in America. Carson quips that he now has 4 new cases thanks to Nancy- and of course, as Henry points out- he can?t pay Mr. Drew- but then, none of the others can either! :-)
         All in all, this was a great episode that really packed a lot of things in there. We had some great guest stars that became even more famous later on in life. And we had the allure of a carnival setting- which the late ?70s carnival scene didn?t look much different from carnivals of today. Some things don?t really change, I guess. And that?s a good thing sometimes. :-) We had a number of crimes going on- petty theft and burglary, insurance fraud and illegal immigration. It was also neat because it turned out that there were three different parties involved in all of this. This made the mystery confusing because they were not all necessarily involved with each other. We also had Nancy going undercover and that was neat to see. And on top of everything, we even had some social messages regarding the problems of runaways and illegal immigration issues. It was a fairly complex episode that tied everything in pretty well and was able to give every aspect of the episode just the right balance. I think this was a really well put together episode.

[MacGyver]

One other quick note- this episode is called ?Mystery of the Fallen Angels? in the title screen- but the announcer definitely adds a ?The? in front of the title- oh well, no big deal really- just thought I?d point it out. Also, the credits (including writer, director and producer information) all go at the end of the episode (though the major guest stars list goes at the start of the episode as with most any other TV show of course.)