"The Challenge" starts of VERY badly with a way overused and illogical cliche. A man has been blackmailed and now he's had enough and will not pay any more. So, instead of going to the police, he meets with the crook and informs him he's not paying more AND he's planning on going to the police...which is completely illogical. To make it worse, he tells the crook this when they are alone AND on top of a huge building. So, it doesn't take Einstein to figure out what's going to happen next!! It's a shame, as what follows is pretty clever....this opening scene...NOT!
Soon after the man's apparent suicide, Barnaby Jones is called onto the case by his widow. She informs Barnaby that she loved her husband, but he was far from perfect and had been cheating on her. She knew it, yet, oddly, the other private dick she hired (Patrick O'Neal) said the husband was not cheating. Now we KNOW that this is the same man who killed the guy in the opening scene, so he obviously discovered the husband was cheating and blackmailed the man to keep silent. Can Barnaby figure out that his new associate is a scheming murderer? And, more importantly, can he catch the guy before he kills again?
Apart from the VERY stupid beginning, this was a very good episode. But I just couldn't get past that bad writing....as no one informs an evil criminal that they're calling the police on them...particularly in a case like this! Still, the acting was very good and the episode still worth seeing.