I hate to be so picky.
Overall, this episode was really quite good. Lois Nettleton was obviously a favorite of producer Leonard, and whereas she was a good actress, she always comes across as slightly too affected for my taste. Still, she's convincing enough here.
The almost-murder scene in the restaurant kitchen is really well directed; very realistic and unexpected. It took FOREVER to get the victim some medical attention when the cabbie got him to the hospital; Detectives Flint and Arcaro arrived and entered the hospital while the poor guy was still outside the entranceway with a knife stuck in his chest.
The show started to get a little slack in the middle; the dialogue between Flint and Libbie (a struggling actress living in a near-luxury apartment) was slow and almost pointless. But the pace picked up once again for the final scene. I liked the imaginative staging with Flint and Arcaro walking towards the camera talking, while the crowd of gawkers started to gather IN BACK of them.
The final scene, however, was too predictable, exactly what you'd expect from this series. Lois got really poetic; something about the sky, wind, flowers...something like that.
But what REALLY blew it was the stunt double for Lois in the "shocking, nail-biter" action shot when Adam made his daring move to save her. Even watching it the first time I noticed the TERRIBLE match-up of Lois and the stand-in; upon reviewing it in SLO-MO, I guffawed at the (obviously) MALE stand-in, wearing a big, old wig (much bigger than Lois' hair), her trench-coat, but with his pant legs rolled up to reveal his skinny, hairy legs, and wearing flat men's shoes (wing-tips?), instead of Lois' stylish pumps. And even though the shot only lasts a second onscreen, its is painfully obvious, and really takes the punch out of the climatic scene.
It killed it for me, and I'm still chuckling when I think about it. LR