Hobie returns to his hometown in response to threats against his sister.
Although there were two episodes broadcast after "Return to Crawford" (in September, no less--definitely a different television era), this was clearly written as a series finale. First off, it references the first episode of Trackdown, "The Marple Brothers" (although, when I actually watched the pilot, my reaction was "That one settled her?"). Second, it gives us some of Hobie's background (the town where he grew up, his sister and nephew, his old girlfriend). Finally, there's the dialogue at the end about what it would take for Hobie to give up his badge and the final image of Hobie riding into the sunset. There is definitely a sense of finality to the episode.
As noted in the Trivia section, this was star Robert Culp's first TV script, and it flows as well as the best of the Trackdown episodes (i.e., more Christopher Knopf than John Robinson), foreshadowing how good a scriptwriter Culp would be on his later series, I-Spy. Some of the dialogue is downright crackling, such as the aforementioned speech about what it would take for Hobie to give up his badge and the dialogue between Hobie and his sister's antagonist ("Why didn't you just sign the note 'Anonymous'?"/"How's that for crawling?").
This episode has all the makings of a series finale, and in a different era of television, it would have been a fine closeout for the show.
Although there were two episodes broadcast after "Return to Crawford" (in September, no less--definitely a different television era), this was clearly written as a series finale. First off, it references the first episode of Trackdown, "The Marple Brothers" (although, when I actually watched the pilot, my reaction was "That one settled her?"). Second, it gives us some of Hobie's background (the town where he grew up, his sister and nephew, his old girlfriend). Finally, there's the dialogue at the end about what it would take for Hobie to give up his badge and the final image of Hobie riding into the sunset. There is definitely a sense of finality to the episode.
As noted in the Trivia section, this was star Robert Culp's first TV script, and it flows as well as the best of the Trackdown episodes (i.e., more Christopher Knopf than John Robinson), foreshadowing how good a scriptwriter Culp would be on his later series, I-Spy. Some of the dialogue is downright crackling, such as the aforementioned speech about what it would take for Hobie to give up his badge and the dialogue between Hobie and his sister's antagonist ("Why didn't you just sign the note 'Anonymous'?"/"How's that for crawling?").
This episode has all the makings of a series finale, and in a different era of television, it would have been a fine closeout for the show.
