What did you like / dislike about The Saint episode "The Death Penalty"? Share most memorable moments from the episode, its characters and actors.  :smt001

I read the original Leslie Charteris story and was dying to watch the episode. It's been a while since I read it and don't remember all the details, except that in the book The Saint meets the girl differently. He is sunbathing and sees her in a dingy. She is accidentally hit by a mast or an oar, gets knocked out and almost drowns, Simon saves her, and they become friends. In the episode, he picks her up on the side of the road after she has had a fight with her boyfriend and gives her a lift to her father's house.  :smt001

I have to confess, I liked the book better than the screen adaptation. The part that irritated me in the episode was...yep...something we discussed on the thread about TMWTGG (James Bond)  :smt003 and "The Golden Journey", i.e. when Simon tells Toby to give his girlfriend a "good spanking". Okay, I get it that Laura was ditzy and spoilt, but when we were watching the part at the beginning when Toby was racing that car, almost killing several innocent bystanders, Laura and himself, I thought that Toby was the one in need of a punishment. I was hoping that Laura would get out of that car and dump him right then and there, which she did, and in her place, I wouldn't have agreed to marry someone this juvenile either, no matter how many times he apologised.  :smt016

But I thought the scene with the car race was done extremely well. It made the audience feel the fear Laura was feeling when that car nearly went off the cliff or hit others on the road. I know it made my knees weak and I was just sitting on the couch watching it happening on screen.  :smt004

In my opinion this episode is weak (sorry...). I can't find anything interesting in it...

I didn't care for this episode either. I thought it was full of stupid people. The boy wasnt smart and the car race proved his immaturity. the girl was not smart at all. Stride, her father, should have come up with some legitimate story why he didn't want her to see Osmond again. but instead he acted like a heavy handed father with a teenage girl.

I also thought it was a unfair not to tell Laura the truth about her father being a criminal. She was lead to believe that her father went to the boat to rescue her and was killed. Anyone in her place would have a hard time moving on with her life because of guilt. The saint should have thought of this. Do you agree?