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 investigates an elderly crime lord.

Episode 1.25 “High Swing”

(Dir by David Alexander, originally aired on March 31st, 1958)

Casey rides to the hospital with a young woman named Anne (Zohra Lampert).  Anne has overdosed on heroin.  Before she dies, Anne tells that Casey that she was poisoned by an old man named Otto Flagler (Albert Dekker).  After learning that Anne was a pickpocket, Casey goes undercover as a thief until Otto Flagler approaches her and invites her to come live and work with him and his wife, Lily (Edith Atwater).

Casey is shocked to discover that Lily is in a wheelchair, the result of an accident that occurred when Lily was a trapeze artist.  Otto is a mugger because he needs the money to take care of his wife.  Casey even starts to feel sorry for Oto and Lily.  That said, Casey is still a cop and she has a job to do.  When Otto realizes that he and his wife are about to be arrested, he slips heroin into their coffee.  By the time the police arrive, both Otto and Lily are dead.

Casey is upset.  One of the other cops offers to buy her a cup of coffee.  Casey says that she won’t be drinking coffee for a while.

This was a sad episode.  Casey didn’t really have to do much to solve the mystery.  The whole point of the episode was that Otto and Lily were not master criminals.  They were two people who loved each other and found themselves in a desperate situation.  That said, Otto did murder Anne so let’s not feel too sorry for him.

Albert Dekker and Edith Atwater both gave good performances and, as always, Beverly Garland was excellent in the role of Casey.  This was a good episode.