Episode 9: The Flame and the Pussycat

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Honey and Sam are trying to drum up business by catching an arsonist. 

Portrait of the Arsonist as a, well, who can say whether he's young or not?

















Honey and Sam look down on the arsonist, not that they're snobs or anything, but they are high above him in the warehouse he is lighting up.





                   Immediately we see a flaw in their approach because they drop a net on the arsonist... 












...and then have to rush downstairs to grab him, by which time he has escaped from the net. 








              Couldn't one of the detectives have been on the floor where the arsonist was while the other one dropped the net?


The police lieutenant is on their case for interfering with police business and threatens to take their license if they so much as get a ticket for double-parking. 








We next see Honey's Cobra double-parked. 

Ocelot in a Cobra

What is more, she left her ocelot, Bruce, in the car. 

When Honey comes back, there is a policeman about to write her a ticket. She blames Bruce for double-parking and drives off, leaving behind one bewildered cop.

She tries to solicit business from an insurance executive and a warehouse owner. The latter has an obsession with fire himself. 

Sam gets slugged on the back of the head (again), and so does Honey (again). Honey is dumped into the trunk of her own Cobra, and a tube is connected from the exhaust pipe to the trunk. Fortunately, the killer forgot to remove the jack from the trunk, allowing Honey to use it to escape. (But she is looking at some serious autobody repair.)

Honey with Sam and Lt. Barney.
At the climax, Honey wonders aloud whether they have trapped the arsonist or the arsonist has trapped them.

Notes: 

The featured guest star is veteran actor Sean McClory ("The Quiet Man" 1952) who plays Booth, the insurance investigator. 

This episode was written by George Clayton Johnson who was the fourth most prolific writer on the "Twilight Zone" TV series.

This is not the best "Honey West" episode, but it has some pretty snappy dialogue:

Honey: Mr. Canby, I'm...

Canby: My dear Miss West, I am well aware of who you are.

Honey: How flattering.

Canby: What is it that you want?

Honey: A job.

Canby: Indeed. Doing what?

Honey: Catching a firebug. Saving you a fat payoff.

Canby: Thank you, Miss West, but no.

Booth: We do have our own investigations, you know.

Honey: So far, your men have struck out.

Canby: And how would you catch our little firebug? By dropping a net on him like you did last night?

Honey: Good old Lieutenant Barney.

Booth: Perhaps little girls should stay around the house.

Honey: Wouldn't that be rather dull for little boys?

Canby: Miss West, the answer is an absolute no.

Honey: Not even a positive maybe?

Canby: Good day, Miss West.

Honey: It was when I came in.  

In the only episode of "Honey West" that George Clayton Johnson penned, Honey and Sam are more harassed than ever by the police. (Johnson was a hippy who prized his independence and loathed authority figures of any kind.)







Lt. Barney is the lawman harassing H. West and Co. in this and two other episodes, but the actor, Ken Lynch, also plays Lt. Keller and Lt. Wyman in still other installments of this series. Though Barney and Keller may actually be the same guy. (The Albany, N.Y. native also played several policemen on the main rival of "Honey West" in the Friday 9 p.m. slot—CBS's "Gomer Pyle: USMC.")










Honey wears her iconic cat suit, a lot.


Irene Hervey gets to vamp.








  Headline: Man bites cat.


Honey ends the episode by closing an "imaginary" curtain, covering the image of her from top to bottom, as she is about to go to sleep on the couch. (I believe this way of ending a scene is called a vertical wipe.)

Overall rating: 4/5

Martial Arts rating: 1/5 












Episode Nine: The Flame and the Pussycat (You are here already)







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