First, did anyone else notice the dog? The dog makes his appearance infrequently, but at moments when things are amiss. Once when Mr. Bailey comes home after meeting Kessler and he tells the dog to \"shut up!\" Again when Bailey meets Mr. Bliss and Bailey says, \"I\'m trying to walk my dog who is being a non-performer.\" Again when Bailey\'s wife becomes tense, she tells him to \"shut up!\" and finally, toward the end after Kessler\'s death when the dog stared at the door barking. Coincidentally, the dog\'s name was Lockjaw.

I doubt any of that means anything, but funny enough to note.

Second, This was among the first three episodes I\'d heard when I re-discovered the RMT here. However, the outset of this program is so much like many, many other stories in which the character fails to see the obvious solution right in front of him: honesty.

I kept thinking to myself, \"Why wouldn\'t you just come clean with your wife?\" It would have rid him of the blackmailer, rid him of any guilt he had festering within, and would have put him in a more honest position in his marriage, giving his wife the respect she deserved in knowing the truth.

I remember watching Three\'s Company where Jack Tripper (John Ritter) would always find himself in the most ridiculous situations, which made watching the show dreadfully hard. If he\'d just come clean up front it woud be done with.

It boggles me. Especially when Mr. Bailey begins to reason and plea with Kessler, giving him explanation. It was painful to listen to, and I mean from a critical viewpoint. Of course, the show must go on.

The episode really begins with the entrance of Mr. Bliss (?), who eventually reveals himself as the true \"villain.\" This is also where the writing turns from painful to masterful. And this is not only what saves the show, but makes the show as well.

There were many character flaws in this story which made the suspension of disbelief a little harder to raise. The fact that Kessler collected money in person instead of using a PO Box or something. The writer should have considered that. The chance that he would encounter confrontation was too great. Bliss could have still followed him and such, but the idea that Kessler was visiting at least 12 people monthly was a bit of a stretch.

Other flaws, like Bailey cheating on his wife, was out of character itself. Suspending disbelief, it can be accepted, but this is a man who would not have been able to live with that guilt. A man who would not have been able to supress a mistake like that. Not a man who won a prize as a child for memorizing the Commandments and still adhered to them. Again, a bit of a stretch but within the realms of believable.

Bailey himself was an ironic character. He was an official in the transportation department and he used his car as the vehicle of death for Kessler. HA! Funny stuff!!

And finally, the wife. If my spouse were making monthly payments to someone in person for reasons that were as vague as a Pollock painting, you can bet bean sprouts to bacon that I\'d have been a bit more curious about it. Why she didn\'t inquire about the transaction a little further was a question in my mind. Again, Bailey said it was for a car... coincidental that it in the end it was a car that killed the blackmailer, driven by an official in the transportation department (Sorry for repeating).

Lastly, the words of EG Marshall were especially humorous:
\"Welcome to the fear you can hear;\" \"It\'s not your eyes we want, it\'s your ears!;\" and \"Join us again to be an EARwitness\"... yuk yuk...

Overall, this was an enjoyable - if not dark humored - episode, and by suspending disbelief a little further than normal, and not questioning certain character flaws, it was a high-octane thrill-ride that blindsided me, only to rear-end me at the finish-line.<br>