Episode
The Fugitive: Stroke of Genius
Overview
Gary Keller, a promising art student, tests his new rifle by firing a random shot which instantly kills his mentor, the town minister, who happens to be driving on a road right in the line of fire. Kimble happens to be in the car after the minister gives a ride to the hitchhiking fugitive. The car crashes and Kimble hobbles away to attend to his injuries. A guilt ridden Gary wants to confess, but his father, Steve, refuses to let him do so and destroy his promising career. The police arrive on the scene and after spotting Kimble, they think he is the killer and notify Gerard who arrives in town to track him down. Meanwhile, Steve decides to take matters into his own hands by finding Kimble and hiding him so he does not implicate his son.
Details
- Series
- The Fugitive
- Season
- Season 3
- Episode
- Episode 20
- Air date
- 1966-02-01
- Runtime
- 51 min
Episode context
Stroke of Genius is Episode 20 in Season 3 of The Fugitive. It aired on 1966-02-01. The runtime is 51 min.
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Episode 19: Echo of a Nightmare
Jane Washburn, an undercover policewoman, witnesses three youths beat up and rob Kimble. She attends to him, but becomes suspicious after he declines to report his mugging to the police. So, she handcuffs herself to Kimble to arrest him, but he manages to flee the area with her. After Jane sprains her ankle after hopping off a freight train, they break into an abandoned farm house so Kimble can attend to her, as well as saw off the handcuffs. But the family who lives there soon returns and Kimble is held at gunpoint by the domineering and rabid patriarch of the family.
Episode 21: Shadow of the Swan
At a carnival, Kimble meets Tina Anderson, an attractive young woman who helps him get a job and introduces him to her uncle Harry, who is a retired police detective. But Harry soon recognizes Kimble and tries to arrest him. Tina helps Kimble get away and wants to run off with him, but he refuses. Tina, who is revealed to be an obsessed sociopath, plots to betray Kimble for him refusing her advances.
More episodes from this season
Episode 18: This'll Kill You
Kimble finds work at a Laundromat owned by Charlie Paris, a former stand-up comic and mob bookie who hopes to go straight. But Kimble doesn't know that that the underworld has put a hit contract on Charlie for testifying against some of their business "associates". Charlie hopes to make amends to his longtime girlfriend Paula, but she's more interested in Kimble. When a mob flunky offers Paula $8,000 for turning Charlie over to them, she does not pass up the chance and takes the money, while Charlie refuses to believe Kimble's suspicions that Paula plans to betray him.
Episode 22: Running Scared
After learning of the death of his father, Kimble contacts Donna and her husband Len Taft and wants to meet with them. Donna and Len drive to Fort Wayne, Indiana and check into a hotel under assumed names. But their rendezvous is threatened by Mike Ballinger, the former prosecuting attorney at Kimble's trial, who recognizes them and calls on Gerard to set up a trap.
Episode 17: Wife Killer
Reporter Barbara Webb spots Fred Johnson, the one-armed man, in a police roundup of suspicious character during a murder investigation. Calling to mind the Kimble case with her publisher boss Herb Malone, Barbara takes a photo of Johnson and publishes it in the local newspaper. The image of the one-armed man draws both Kimble and Gerard to the town. While Gerard waits for Kimble to show up at the police station, the fugitive is outside and sees Johnson in the jail courtyard. But the one-armed man spots Kimble and escapes from the jail and steals a getaway car. Barbara spots Kimble and tells him to get in her car as they chase after the one-armed man. During the chase down a winding mountain road, the one-armed man's car crashes, and Kimble has to tend to Johnson's injuries knowing that he's the only one to clear Kimble of his wife's murder. Unable to speak because of a head injury, Johnson nodds when Kimble asks if he murdered Helen. While Kimble rests, Barbara types a confession paper
Episode 23: The Chinese Sunset
Kimble is working as the "general factotum" in a swanky Beverly Hills hotel on Sunset Blvd. An undercover policeman, named Fred Bragin, checks into the hotel to surveille Eddie Slade, a notorious mob bookie. When Slade leaves town for a few days to sort out some business of his, his girlfriend, Penelope, stays behind while Bragin focuses his surveillance on her. Penelope meets and turns to Kimble for help in mingling with the wealthy in-crowd of the hotel residents in which Kimble agrees to tutor her on the fine art of socializing, manners and better increasing her vocabulary.
Episode 16: Not With a Whimper
Kimble arrives in the factory town of Hempstead Mills, West Virginia to assist Andrew McCallister, his longtime mentor who is dying from lung cancer which confines him to a wheelchair. McCallister's vigorous anti-smog campaign has earned him a reputation as a local crackpot. But the old man plans to go out with a bang; by having a bomb hidden in a package which he has Kimble deliver to the local factory. But when McCallister discovers that a group of school children will be inside the factory during a school tour at the time of the explosion, he dispatches Kimble to evacuate the building and deactivate the bomb before time runs out.
Episode 24: Ill Wind
Gerard tracks Kimble to a migrant community in South Texas where he finally captures the fugitive who attempts to flee by train. But a violent hurricane strikes the area and forces them to seek shelter in a fragile barn where most of the farm workers are gathered. But when Gerard is badly injured when the roof collapses on him, Kimble, to the astonishment of the workers, actually helps try to save the lieutenant by helping transport him to another building where the fugitive pleads for a blood donor to save Gerard's life who has been weakened by the loss of blood.
Episode 15: When the Wind Blows
In rural Wyoming, Kimble seeks refuge from the local constable at a small hotel run by Lois Carter, a young widow who hires him as a handyman. Kimble soon befriends Lois' son Kenny, a particularly sensitive young boy who protects Kimble from the police when they arrive looking for him.
Episode 25: With Strings Attached
Kimble is hired as a chauffeur by Geoffrey Martin, a 17-year-old violinist who has grown weary of his career and would like to stop playing professionally for a few years when he decides to go away to college. But Geoffrey's demanding guardian/instructor, Max Pfeiffer, refuses to let Geoffrey go because under a contract, Geoffrey is obligated to continue performing until he is 21. In order to free himself from Mr. Pfeiffer, Geoffrey manipulates his assistant, Ellen, and Kimble into believing that Mr. Pfeiffer is emotionally destroying him.
Episode 14: End of the Line
After losing his wallet, Kimble steals another wallet to pay for his train fare. The wallet belongs to R.T. Unger, who owns a local dairy. Kimble finds work as dishwasher at a local diner in order to repay the debit. But when Unger finds his wallet missing, he calls the police. Kimble goes to Unger's house and gives back the wallet and money to Unger's daughter, Betty Jo, who is pregnant by Neil, a disreputable youth who works at Unger's dairy. Unger offers Neil $1,000 to leave town. But when Neil refuses, their argument turns into a fistfight where Kimble walks in and sees Neil kill Unger. Kimble flees and tries to find a way to get out of town before Neil decides to pass the blame for the killing on the fugitive.
Episode 26: The White Knight
After witnessing a small plane crash, Kimble rescues the pilot and two passengers, senatorial candidate Glenn Madison, and his assistant/secret lover, Pat Haynes. Glenn's PR man, Russ Haynes (Pat's husband) arranges for a sketch artist to draw a portrait of Glenn's rescuer whom had left the scene. Russ locates the fugitive and brings him to the Madison estate for Glenn to congratulate him for saving his life. But the sketch artist recognizes Kimble and calls the police whom arrives at the mansion. But Russ and Glenn hold them off. Meanwhile, Glenn's wife, Claire, recognizes Kimble, and threatens to turn him in unless he tells her of the person that Glenn has seeing, aware of her husband's long history of infidelity. But Kimble claims not to know anything. When Kimble confronts Pat, she admits to her affair with Glenn. Claire overhears the conversation and decides to destroy her husband's image. But Glenn murders her and then calls the police again to put the blame of the fugitive.