Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Decoy, which aired in Syndication in 1957 and 1958.  The show can be viewed on Tubi!

This week, someone is stealing jewelry!

Episode 1.31 “Night Light”

(Dir by Stuart Rosenberg, originally aired on April 12th, 1958)

Casey goes undercover as a woman who is looking to purchase a stolen ruby necklace.  Her investigation leads to her to Nick Spandau (Martin Balsam), a career criminal who has recently been released from prison and who is currently working with the jeweler (Martin Wolfson) who cared for Nick’s young son (Pud Flanagan) while Nick was “away.”  To Casey’s horror, she discovers that Nick is using his innocent son as an unwitting courier, sending him to Mexico with the stolen necklace.

As you can probably guess, this episode is a showcase for the great character actor Martin Balsam, who almost makes Nick likable until it becomes apparent that he’s willing to put his own son in danger in order to protect himself.  When Nick’s son suddenly shows up at the jewelry store and announces that he couldn’t bring himself to board the plane without his father, Nick’s reaction is to wonder why his son couldn’t do the “one thing” that he was asked to do.  He’s not a great father but, when Casey tells him that his son idolizes him and will follow in his criminal footsteps, Nick makes a show of telling his son off.  It’s Nick’s way of making sure that the boy doesn’t grow up to be like him.  Casey tells us, “He sure did love his son.”  If you say so, Casey.

Overall, it’s not a bad episode.  It opens with some nice establishing shots of New York City and, unlike other episodes where Casey is mostly a bystander, it remains compelling even when Garland isn’t on screen.  Unfortunately, the acting is a bit weak from everyone not named Martin Balsam or Beverly Garland.  However, Balsam and Garland are more than capable of carrying the story on their own.