Now we have three Tennessee episodes in a row, obviously filmed after the two Missouri episodes. We also have the return of free- spirited Vickie Russell from season 2's "How Much a Pound is Albatross?", (Julie Newmar), the most charismatic of all the characters Todd, Buz and Linc encountered on their journeys and the only one they meet twice. One wishes there had been a third time. Maybe she could have been the gal Todd married at the end and they could have gone off on her motorcycle for a new series of adventures. The problem is that the character, as wonderful as she is, is rather slight, sort of a zephyr blowing by. She's interesting in a couple of episodes but likely couldn't hold down a series.
Vicki is in Memphis to check out Franck Ridenbaugh, a potential husband the bank who controls her fortune has lined up for her. She now has a semi-comical private detective trailing her in a van who "fixes" the messes she gets into. Franck, (the "c" is for cotton, which his fortune is based on) is well-played by Robert Webber, fully a match for Newmar as a serious-minded businessman who nonetheless is fascinated by his potential bride. They have some adventures together, including skydiving and a brawl at a nightclub that's more to her taste than his formal parties. Eventually he decides he's not ready to stop being who he is and she's not ready to stop being who she is. Franck also adds that he doesn't want "a woman who is a contender for the title", (after her horse jumped higher than his did). Again the recurring theme in this series of how women shouldn't undercut men.
Todd never makes contact with Vicki except through his rear view mirror, (didn't she recognize him?), and gets into a series of comic scrapes with a local cop that pad the episode to an hour but never really become part of the story. There's nothing in this script that suggests the original presence of Buz. One wonders what the original version, if there was one, looked like.
George Maharis is still listed in the credits and Todd chooses Buz for the one phone call when he gets arrested. His "echo virus" is now an inner ear infection, (not that that's what it really is, despite what it sounds like). Buz is still in Cleveland. You wonder why Todd didn't stay in Cleveland and find jobs there. But the show must move on and so must he.
