Episode
Ironside: Fragile Is the House of Cards
Overview
A lawyer turns up at Ironside's door late at night, badly bruised and unable to remember what has happened to him. All that he can recall is that a man who needs rescuing is trapped in a sinking boat; but he cannot remember where the boat is, or who the man might be. The Chief begins a race against time to find the victim before it is too late.
Details
- Series
- Ironside
- Season
- Season 7
- Episode
- Episode 4
- Air date
- 1973-10-04
- Runtime
- 60 min
Episode context
Fragile Is the House of Cards is Episode 4 in Season 7 of Ironside. It aired on 1973-10-04. The runtime is 60 min.
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Episode 3: In the Forests of the Night
The Chief meets Alexandra, an old girlfriend with whom he is still very much in love. When he finds that the feeling is mutual he hopes to be able to settle down with her, even though he knows that she is an incorrigible thief, and that she is after the ancient Chinese statue he has been detailed to protect.
Episode 5: The Armageddon Gang
A scientist disappears, sparking fears at the research centre where he works that he might have defected. Suspicious at the nature of the evidence and concerned for a wife clearly devoted to her missing husband, the Chief investigates further, and finds that another of the scientists at the centre is developing some very dangerous technology indeed.
More episodes from this season
Episode 2: Murder by One
The teenage son of a friend of Fran's appears to commit suicide, however the evidence seems to point in a number of different directions. Did he kill himself, or was it a murder made to look like suicide? Or, alternatively, was a suicide made to look like it could have been murder? The Chief has to unravel the story, but he has little real evidence to help him along.
Episode 6: House of Terror
The Commissioner's niece makes a bet that she can sleep for one night in the master bedroom of a haunted house, then disappears without trace. The team decide to stay the night as well, but the Chief also vanishes. He finds himself alone, surrounded by ghostly figures, sinister statues and whispered messages, whilst Ed, Mark and Fran try to find out where he has gone.
Episode 1: Confessions from a Lady of the Night
A sleazy magazine prints stories against the SFPD, and Ironside in particular, using the tale of a vanished actor as an example of the department's uselessness. When those involved with the story start receiving parcel bombs, it becomes clear that somebody does not want the disappearance investigated; and the Chief is all the more determined to uncover the truth.
Episode 7: The Helping Hand
Fran Belding's Mexican cleaning lady turns out to be an illegal immigrant, brought into the country against her will by an employment agency who are little more than slave traders. The team tries to help her, but she may be too scared to accept their help before it is too late.
Episode 8: Downhill All the Way
A small boy witnesses a crime, but proves to be an awkward witness due to a mental condition that doctors cannot explain. An attempt is made on his life whilst he is under the Chief's sole care, and in order to capture those responsible, the story is put out that the boy is dead, and that the Chief has retired through a sense of guilt. Putting it about that he has new evidence, he sits back to wait for somebody to make an attempt on his life, whilst spurning the efforts of his friends to help him. It looks as though his attempts to make it look as though he is turning to drunkenness and depression might just be costing him his life.
Episode 9: Mind for Murder
While Fran, Mark and Ed are at a night club, a psychic sees details of a recent fire. When the Chief becomes interested, he visits the psychic to try to see more, and discovers that he has been pursuing an arsonist for some time, unable to convince the police that his visions are for real.
Episode 10: The Hidden Man
A returning Vietnam vet sees his supposedly dead father at the airport, and initiates a search for him against the Commissioner's wishes. The father, a one time member of the SFPD, turns out to be in hiding from a crime family eager to kill him for his part in their downfall, and the last thing that he wants is to be found.
Episode 11: The Double-Edged Corner
A violent gang kills two men during a robbery, and the Chief enlists the help of a regular informant in order to capture those responsible. The informant, Baxter, is a happy-go-lucky gambler with a wife and child, who has been keeping his duel identity a secret for years. This time, however, it looks as though his secret is going to become known to everybody.
Episode 12: The Last Payment
A friend of Mark's is being unfairly shaken down by a crooked loan shark with crippling interest demands. Worried for his friend Mark goes undercover, despite objections from the Chief, and sets himself up as a potential customer in the hope of digging the head of the operation out of the woodwork.
Episode 13: Friend or Foe (aka For the Love of God)
A packet of heroin goes missing, implicating Carl Reece and his partner Don Boyden in a possible cover-up. When Boyden is killed in a freak car accident, the evidence begins to point firmly at Reece, and Ironside and the team must prove his innocence before the DA decides to press charges.