Stirling Silliphant dares to turn a police procedural show's format on its head in "Beyond Truth", its title forecasting that this episode will delve into philosophical issues that extend way beyond enforcing the law and meting out justice. As Franciscus sums up in an intentionally unsatisfying, open ending: "I'm not sure about what's truth, what's justice", as he drops working on a cold case.
Martin Balsam gives a strong performance (demonstrating how having top actors as guest stars is so important on a show like this, even though often not adhered to in casting) as an ex-con who is leading a productive life for his family, providing therapy to crippled children, but his wife (nicely played by Phyllis Hill, ex-wife of Jose Ferrer) is dead-set on clearing his name for a crime she's sure he did not commit.
McMahon is tough on Hill and reluctantly assigns the cold case of clearing her husband to Franciscus, who gradually becomes a crusader, out to find and prove the truth of what really happened in Balsam's manslaughter conviction and bringing the guilty party to justice. But Balsam won't cooperate, and eventually (using powerful Silliphant dialogue) convinces Jimmy that it's best to let well enough alone, rather than rock the boat in some crusade for "the truth".
It's a message that goes against the whole point of TV crime shows, where getting all the facts and punishing the guilty is the whole point and the source of audience satisfaction and closure, week after week. And with Gerald Price as a disgusting, instant heavy cast as the true culprit, Silliphant and veteran director John Brahm almost seem to be thumbing their nose at the viewer, expecting one to accept a finish to the show that's letting him go free when to quote would-be dictator Trump so many decades later, he should rot in hell.
Martin Balsam gives a strong performance (demonstrating how having top actors as guest stars is so important on a show like this, even though often not adhered to in casting) as an ex-con who is leading a productive life for his family, providing therapy to crippled children, but his wife (nicely played by Phyllis Hill, ex-wife of Jose Ferrer) is dead-set on clearing his name for a crime she's sure he did not commit.
McMahon is tough on Hill and reluctantly assigns the cold case of clearing her husband to Franciscus, who gradually becomes a crusader, out to find and prove the truth of what really happened in Balsam's manslaughter conviction and bringing the guilty party to justice. But Balsam won't cooperate, and eventually (using powerful Silliphant dialogue) convinces Jimmy that it's best to let well enough alone, rather than rock the boat in some crusade for "the truth".
It's a message that goes against the whole point of TV crime shows, where getting all the facts and punishing the guilty is the whole point and the source of audience satisfaction and closure, week after week. And with Gerald Price as a disgusting, instant heavy cast as the true culprit, Silliphant and veteran director John Brahm almost seem to be thumbing their nose at the viewer, expecting one to accept a finish to the show that's letting him go free when to quote would-be dictator Trump so many decades later, he should rot in hell.