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, Casey solves her easiest case yet!

Episode 1.14 “Bullet of Hate”

(Dir by Teddy Sills, originally aired on January 13th, 1958)

This week, Casey doesn’t go undercover.  Instead, she’s just a uniformed police officer who responds to fight between teenage Stella (Sandra Whiteside) and her adoptive aunt, Mary (Joanna Roos).  Casey takes sympathy on Stella, who isn’t a bad kid but who is rebelling against her heartless Aunt Mary and Uncle Lester (Alfred Ryder).  When Mary ends up getting shot, Stella is the number one suspect and Stella herself even thinks that she’s responsible.  But, of course, it turns out that Stella has been framed by Lester.

The main problem with this episode is that we watch as Lester frames Stella by giving her a gun.  When Stella fires the gun during an argument, Mary isn’t injured but she does faint.  Stella flees.  Lester then uses the gun to actually shoot Mary.  Since we know that Lester committed the crime, there’s not really any suspense when Casey starts to suspect that Stella’s been set up.  We already know she’s been set up and we also know that, since Lester is an idiot, Casey is going to be able to easily solve the case.  And since we know that Casey is good with a gun, we’re not that surprised when Casey ends up taking Lester out (in self-defense, of course!).  This isn’t like Columbo or the first season of Poker Face where the killer is so diabolically clever that we can’t wait to see how the hero manages to trick them into confessing.  Lester’s just a dummy.

Joanna Loos and Alfred Ryder both went overboard as the villainous aunt and uncle but Sandra Whiteside was effective as the desperate Stella.  Apparently, this was one of only two roles that Whiteside played in her career.  She gives a strong performance.

This is my final Decoy review for 2025.  Retro Television Reviews is going on break for the holidays so that I can focus on Awards Season and Christmas movies!  Decoy will return on January 8th, 2026.