A Kind of a Stopwatch

Generally light-hearted entry, but with a jarring upshot. Erdman carries the half-hour as the irrepressible braggart, McNulty, who's always dispensing advice, want it or not. He always knows best, whatever the occasion, and it's a tribute to the actor's talent that he makes the character both humorous and not dislikable. McNulty's got nowhere to go after being fired from his job, and except for the gift of the stopwatch would end up an outcast, which ironically happens anyway.

The watch has a magical power to stop time and freeze everything in motion. Press the button again, and everything continues as though nothing happened. I'd never thought of that phenomenon, so right away I'm thinking what I'd do with that power. Anyway, it takes McNulty some time to figure out what he will do, but then there's that ironical upshot. I really liked the episode, though the latent humor is not typical of the series' appeal. But most of all, I'm wondering how they got all those people to freeze in motion while McNulty moves among them. Of course, digital wasn't available, so I'm still wondering. Anyway, kudos to that fine unsung actor Richard Erdman.