We are back to familiar territory with ’The Night of the Circus of Death” after the sojourn into camp Indiana Jones territory. Very familiar territory, in fact. Plates from the Denver mint are stolen to produce nearly perfect counterfeit money which is beings spread around by a traveling circus. You may recall that is vaguely similar to the first season’s "The Night of the Sudden Death” in which plates are stolen from the Denver mint to create nearly perfect counterfeit money which is being spread around by a traveling circus. The plots are not as identical as I make them sound, but you get the idea. Time made the two episodes blend together in my mind until I watched them both to catch the differences.
For one, there is a more elaborate mystery involved which takes up much of the episode. Jim and Artie have to investigate the death of a circus performer who left behind a suitcase full of money. Two, there is a lot more action. Jim nearly gets roasted by a flamethrower in the teaser. Later, he is locked in the lion’s cage. Finally, there is a conspiracy rather than a straightforward counterfeit operation. the wife of the mint’s director is in on it. She is using her senile old counterfeiting father, whom authorities believe is dead, to make the money without him knowing what she is doing with it.
“The Night of the Circus of Death” is an underrated episode in general. Perhaps that I because the general plot has been done before. There are enough new elements for the installment to stand on its own. I would not call it anything special, but considering how often the writers experimented during the third season, a classic, back to basics adventure I welcome at this point.
You may recognize Arlene Martel pictured above. She was Spock’s arranged ride-to-be in Star Trek “Amok Time,” which aired almost two months prior to this episode.
Rating; *** (out of 5)
