Boomerang Originally aired on July 4, 1977.

This American playlet is the only one in the series that I\'ve heard which actually approaches witchcraft and Satanism with intelligence rather than resorting to anything blatantly supernatural.

16 year-old Carol (played by Anne Shepard) has a common cold. She also has what seems to be a hidden agenda. An English gentleman friend of hers in his 30s named Robin is briefly in two scenes...but only the first one with Carol, in which we learn that he may be a mentor to her. At first from their phone conversation I thought that maybe they were lovers, but the story doesn\'t go that route at all.

Carol tends to spend her time chanting prayers akin to black magic. On a few occasions it seems that she\'s trying to kill herself (including a car accident), yet she not only fails each time but because of her youth, the girl heals rather quickly.

Norman Rose (who plays her doctor) offers the twist at the end of the story, which completely legitimizes the going-ons throughout. For once....something of a rational explanation! There doesn\'t seem to be any actual magic in this story. Of course that is open to interpretation. For example, early on when Carol speaks one incantation, the thunderstorm taking place may have been a total coincidence. In any other story I\'d come to the conclusion that the spell caused the storm, but in the full context of this episode it doesn\'t seem that way.

I won\'t give away the ending, except that the doc comments that his patient is a terrible witch -- which at least explains why none of her attempts at spell casting work.

This is probably the first episode written by Elspeth Eric that I actually liked, and the payoff makes it worthwhile. 