From the second show's Cold War spy story set in bleak Berlin the series takes us south to a warmer place: the sunny seaside of Costa Brava. The series also introduces a recurring character in Ramon de Vega, the fun-loving, free-spirited international gigolo played with bombastic aplomb by Fernando Lamas. And completing the triangle is Tippi Hedren, gracing the small screen between big screen starring roles for Alfred Hitchcock ("The Birds: and "Marnie") and Charlie Chaplin ("A Countess in Hong Kong")
Hedren plays Jessica Braden, a recent divorcee. Her husband, a government official, requested the divorce, and embarrassing details of Jessica's life from her nervous breakdown to her suicide attempt have been splashed over the pages of the international press. "Eight or nine million United States dollars," says Ramon, cryptically, intriguing his fishing boat client and our protagonist Paul Bryan. That is what this attractive lady is worth, claims Ramon, who also claims not to be interested in the "little pigeon," and who discourages Paul from pursuing her as well: "You want to fish or chase a poupee?" Paul wants to fish, and drink wine, and enjoy some male-bonding and man-against-nature camaraderie with Ramon.
Ah, but the best laid plans often go astray, and the Woman Haters Club is destined to be short-lived after Ramon's cabin cruiser explodes. Ramon saves the injured Paul's life, setting him in the lifeboat and dragging it to shore, where they are rescued by angel of mercy Jessica. But Paul and Ramon have likewise unwittingly rescued Jessica from slipping deeper into despair. Nursing Paul back to fighting trim has given Jessica a purpose, getting her outside of herself. Meanwhile, the uninjured Ramon has renounced his renunciation of women, shaved off his beard, and comes a'courtin', coercing Jessca into a night of flamenco dancing and a romantic walk along the moonlit beach.
"I'm a professional," Ramon later boasts to Paul, but being a professional wooer and seducer backfires on Ramon. He moves too fast, is too cocksure of his irresistibility to women. Paul warns her Jessica is fragile and climbing up from the bottom of the well. As a man who knows literally the feeling of having his life pulled out from under him, Paul can bring an empathy to the relationship that playboy Ramon cannot. But, tragically, Paul cannot bring a promise of a future to Jessica either. He tells her it has been two months since he abandoned his law practice to be a globetrotter on holiday, and each day the inevitable end draws inexorably closer.
This was an ambitious episode and succeeded in large part due its impressive and high-caliber cast. Fernando Lamas brings the fun, Tippi Hedren the glamor, and Ben Gazzara the pathos.
That said, I did not enjoy this outing as much as the preceding ones. It was too heavy on the romance, which we knew was ill-fated from the start. It was also too heavy on the sport fishing, with protracted scenes of Paul and Ramon wrangling with stock footage swordfish. I loved the buddy friendship and plot, into which a beautiful girl must invariably come as a sword of division, but which refreshingly did not bring anything more than friendly competition and a slightly bruised male ego.
In a symbolic scene foreshadowing Ramon's fate, the gigolo has hooked a big fish and... it slips off the line. Jessica is of course the one that got away. But, Ramon being a fun-loving and larger-than-life lothario, shrugs off this defeat as a mere bagatelle, confident that there are many more fish in the sea--and mucho madchen on the ski slopes of Bavaria, his next hill to climb and world to conquer.
Paul too has loved and lost, and isn't that better than never having loved at all? But he and Jessica's brief encounter restored her self-worth and respect. Not to read more into it than the writers intended, but Paul, a dead man walking, is redeeming lost people much like Christ did during his brief three-year ministry.
Ramon fans rejoice because Fernando Lamas will bring that Latin lover back four more times! But brace yourself, because the love, laughter and fun in the sun stops here. A peek at the next episode's plot promises Paul a harrowing stopover in a dangerous town that don't cotton to strangers (Mayberry this ain't!).
Hedren plays Jessica Braden, a recent divorcee. Her husband, a government official, requested the divorce, and embarrassing details of Jessica's life from her nervous breakdown to her suicide attempt have been splashed over the pages of the international press. "Eight or nine million United States dollars," says Ramon, cryptically, intriguing his fishing boat client and our protagonist Paul Bryan. That is what this attractive lady is worth, claims Ramon, who also claims not to be interested in the "little pigeon," and who discourages Paul from pursuing her as well: "You want to fish or chase a poupee?" Paul wants to fish, and drink wine, and enjoy some male-bonding and man-against-nature camaraderie with Ramon.
Ah, but the best laid plans often go astray, and the Woman Haters Club is destined to be short-lived after Ramon's cabin cruiser explodes. Ramon saves the injured Paul's life, setting him in the lifeboat and dragging it to shore, where they are rescued by angel of mercy Jessica. But Paul and Ramon have likewise unwittingly rescued Jessica from slipping deeper into despair. Nursing Paul back to fighting trim has given Jessica a purpose, getting her outside of herself. Meanwhile, the uninjured Ramon has renounced his renunciation of women, shaved off his beard, and comes a'courtin', coercing Jessca into a night of flamenco dancing and a romantic walk along the moonlit beach.
"I'm a professional," Ramon later boasts to Paul, but being a professional wooer and seducer backfires on Ramon. He moves too fast, is too cocksure of his irresistibility to women. Paul warns her Jessica is fragile and climbing up from the bottom of the well. As a man who knows literally the feeling of having his life pulled out from under him, Paul can bring an empathy to the relationship that playboy Ramon cannot. But, tragically, Paul cannot bring a promise of a future to Jessica either. He tells her it has been two months since he abandoned his law practice to be a globetrotter on holiday, and each day the inevitable end draws inexorably closer.
This was an ambitious episode and succeeded in large part due its impressive and high-caliber cast. Fernando Lamas brings the fun, Tippi Hedren the glamor, and Ben Gazzara the pathos.
That said, I did not enjoy this outing as much as the preceding ones. It was too heavy on the romance, which we knew was ill-fated from the start. It was also too heavy on the sport fishing, with protracted scenes of Paul and Ramon wrangling with stock footage swordfish. I loved the buddy friendship and plot, into which a beautiful girl must invariably come as a sword of division, but which refreshingly did not bring anything more than friendly competition and a slightly bruised male ego.
In a symbolic scene foreshadowing Ramon's fate, the gigolo has hooked a big fish and... it slips off the line. Jessica is of course the one that got away. But, Ramon being a fun-loving and larger-than-life lothario, shrugs off this defeat as a mere bagatelle, confident that there are many more fish in the sea--and mucho madchen on the ski slopes of Bavaria, his next hill to climb and world to conquer.
Paul too has loved and lost, and isn't that better than never having loved at all? But he and Jessica's brief encounter restored her self-worth and respect. Not to read more into it than the writers intended, but Paul, a dead man walking, is redeeming lost people much like Christ did during his brief three-year ministry.
Ramon fans rejoice because Fernando Lamas will bring that Latin lover back four more times! But brace yourself, because the love, laughter and fun in the sun stops here. A peek at the next episode's plot promises Paul a harrowing stopover in a dangerous town that don't cotton to strangers (Mayberry this ain't!).