Strictly opinion here, of course, but I thought "The Pardon" to be extremely weak on all levels. In classic RMT-at-less-than-its-best style, the episode is impossibly padded; Act 1 could easily be completely dropped--the story should really start with the wife's fear of her husband returning home, with a quick flashback explaining why he was in prison in the first place. As for her fear, it's never sufficiently motivated; the fact that he popped off in anger at the trial just isn't enough to carry the story for two more acts. The writer, Gerald Keane, seems to realize this, and so we get what at first appears to be the best scene in the play--the husband's apparent frightening return, his obviously homicidal behavior--only to find that it's all just a dream (possibly the hoariest bad-writing cliche of them all). Moreover, Act 3 includes as time filler a pointless diversion in which the characters at first believe the husband has been released, only to find out it was someone else.

I never believed for a second that Larry Haines's voice was that of a seriously injured coal miner, and no one else was very convincing, either. So, big trouble here on all fronts!

I think Mr. Keane never really figured out what he wanted to do with this story. It's one of those RMTs that has the inescapable feeling of a writer determinedly filling pages any way he can until he reaches the magic 45-minute mark--then handing it off to Himan Brown with nary a second glance.

At least it was nice to hear Mr. Brown's voice as the bus station clerk. Other than that, I can't think of anything to recommend "The Pardon."