The Fugitive (TV Series) Death of a Very Small Killer (1967) User Reviews

Fighting Meningitis is Mexico

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 30 April 2018]

After jumping ship, Dr. Kimble arrives in a small town in Mexico. Despite the fact Kimble could have run out of the US long ago in the series, this is the first time he left the States...and I am pretty sure it's the last. Soon after arriving, he collapses and is taken to a nearby clinic run by Dr. Howell (Arthur Hill). Once Kimble is up and on his feet, he learns that Howell knows exactly who he is....and doesn't care. All Howell cares about is his research into a resistant form of Meningitis....and forcing Kimble to stay and run the clinic will allow Howell to devote all his time to his research. However, when Howell claims to have found a cure, Kimble soon comes to realize that Howell is using these Mexicans as guinea pigs....allowing some to die much like lab animals! What is Kimble to do?

All in all, a decent and unusual episode of the series. It's nice to see this, as I have long thought Arthur Hill was a very good actor...and its always good to see him in action.

3/21/67 "Death of a Very Small Killer"

[schappe1 · 11 March 2016]

This was one of the episodes I remembered years after first seeing it on A&E. Kimble escapes from the cops by hopping on board a boat bound for Mexico. He gets deathly ill and is delivered to a clinic run by Arthur Hill, a runaway doctor who cares for the local populace while he studies a strain of meningitis for which there has been no cure that seems peculiar to the area. Hill is obsessed with this goal, although it's not clear if it's a personal obsession or an attempt to gain medical glory and restart his career back in the states. He nurses Kimble back from pneumonia and then recruits him to work in his clinic. The additional doctor will give Hill more time to work on a cure for the meningitis. He does a pretty good job of it and seems to have created a break through. The conflict comes when Hill refuses to give the new medicine to half of his patients, whom he needs as a "test group" while Kimble feels they have an obligation to try to help them, as well.

Despite the latter, this situation brings up the possibility that must surely have occurred to Kimble at some point that he might have an alternative to finding the one-armed man: he could find a place where he could live in anonymity and start a new life - in this case as a doctor so he could use his medical knowledge and resume trying to help people. Unfortunately, an ambitious policeman wonders who this new doctor is, so maybe that isn't a possibility after all. But the concept adds some depth to the Kimble character.

Kimble, the doctor

[RDrrr · 9/10 · 31 December 2009]

Title: "Death OF a Very Small Killer" Escaping onto a fishing boat to Mexico... Kimble is soon already sick and lying down in the next scene, and the captain picks some pills up from the table beside Kimble without even opening a bottle. It's likely the doctor may have already asked, or might have some idea what they were. Self-diagnosis? We can assume he knew he was sick... a cough, a fever... probably he came to know it was pneumonia and that he was taking penicillin... what else could he do on a fishing boat? Later, what does Dr. Howell do, but prescribe some glucose.

Kimble -might- have been a 'world' INfamous doctor... not famous for his medical skills; he was just a pediatrician in small-town Stafford, Indiana... but blackmailed here, we see him as a professional, not just a wound binder.

The local village staff works for the 'brilliant' Dr. Howell... he's pretty much in total control ...and the staff does as they're told... including working with another 'American', Dr. 'Barret'.

Later, the answer to Kimble's question about 'reserve' medical supplies was... "-all- the supplies are kept in the medicine closet". In other words, Kimble was fishing for a secret stash of Howell's... and found that the staff person he asked didn't know of any... and there was none. A few days there, and Kimble never opened the refrigerator... but he intends to treat his patients with all available resources.

As for the romance... a great deal of The Fugitive's plots, and luck, come from the women he encounters. This episode is a professional working environment, under the nose of Dr. Howell, with limited 'free' time. There would be little partying or passion, only brief releases from the tension of the medical research and treatment... and a lot of time working closely together, caring for others.

This episode is light on the drama of persecution and flight... actually, light on Kimble's story, with more time spent on others... but it shows he is a patient's doctor It is also the 13th highest-rated episode in the IMDb ratings for the series. 12/30/09

Plot summary

[ynot-16 · 9/10 · 10 November 2006]

Kimble, desperate to escape as police close in, meets a friendly sailor who advises him he can get away on a particular fishing boat. Kimble pays some money and agrees to work, but becomes quite ill. The boat drops him at a small Mexican village.

Collapsing at his hotel, Kimble is brought to the clinic of Dr. Howell, played by actor Arthur Hill. In addition to curing Kimble, Dr. Howell is working on an experimental drug treatment for a virulent local strain of meningitis that has killed many people. Knowing Kimble's identity, Dr. Howell persuades Kimble to stay and help. However, Dr. Howell and Dr. Kimble disagree on the ethics of the experimentation. Complications arise from the illness of Dr. Howell, the snooping of a suspicious Mexican policeman, and Kimble's romantic interest in Dr. Morales, played by actress Carol Lawrence.

The ending, involving Kimble's escape, is unusually touching.

A bad episode from a great series

[lodger3 · 3/10 · 6 January 2007]

I've been a fan of the Fugitive for many years, first watching this incredible series when my local channel 56 KDOC used to play them weeknights. I was in my teens at the time and it was the first straight dramatic series that I got hooked on, having primarily watched sci-fi and action series up to that point. Since then I've seen most episodes from the series' four season run and have been moved by the best episodes of the series, and left cold by the worst. This one falls into the latter category.

The synopsis for this episode was recounted by another reviewer so I'll limit my comments to specific items: Throughout this episode Kimble behaves like someone who had never heard of medicine before, let alone possess the skills of a world-famous doctor. Kimble is suffering from some ailment at the beginning of the episode, and takes some random pills the ship's captain gives him. Not once does Kimble try some self-diagnosis, and he never questions just what pills he's taking. After being taken to the hospital and recovering, Dr. Howell recognizes him and blackmails him into joining the staff. The staff just accepts this change without the bat of an eye and immediately takes orders from the stranger. Kimble acts like even more of an idiot when he asks an orderly where the reserve medical supplies are kept. Since Kimble has been working at the clinic for three weeks (and he IS a doctor), it's ridiculous to have us believe he doesn't know where these things are kept. Then there's the completely random romantic subplot between Kimble and the female doctor, the only purpose of which is so there's someone alive for Kimble to say goodbye to at the end of the episode. There's absolutely no chemistry between Kimble and the woman, so that their supposed passion just falls flat.

This episode was made near the end of the fourth season, very shortly before the last episode. It's obvious that the writers were running out of plots and situations for Kimble to get into, which may have been part of the reason David Janssen wanted the series ended. Janssen really sleepwalks through this episode, which doesn't create much drama or suspense to keep the viewer involved. I watched it because I'm a completist, but I wouldn't recommend this one to anyone.

Back in Mexico again

[Christopher370 · 1/10 · 28 April 2023]

For the second time this season Kimble finds himself out of the country and back in Mexico. It must have been incredibly easy to just hop back and forth across the border in the 1960's the way he does.

The story here wasn't all that bad, especially compared to many of these fourth season episodes but it still garners a 1 rating from me because this show is capable of so much better.

There were things that occurred in this episode that took me right out of the story. The first was the sudden romance between Kimble and the doctor. It just appeared out of the blue when he walked up to kiss her that you're thinking "Where the hell did that come from?!" It was just so out of left field and random and I couldn't help but laugh out loud at it. The whole scene was awkwardly done too. And by the end of this forced melodrama, when they have their big goodbye kiss at the ocean, Kimble acts like she's this great love of his life and he doesn't want to leave. What? They never even went out to dinner or had a date. Please!

Past romances between Kimble and his woman of the week were done much more believable than this was and just yanked me right out of the story.

The other thing that made me scratch my head in disbelief was in the end when the Captain of police refuses to go after Kimble simply because the dying Doctor doesn't want him to!

His officer lifted Kimble's prints and sent out for his ID earlier in the episode and received that outdated WANTED picture of him afterwards. So it was proved without any doubt that it was Kimble, but the Captain is like "No it is not Kimble because the good Doctor here says so! Let him go!" WTF?! Fingerprints don't lie you idiot!

And by the end, Kimble just hops on a boat heading back to the USA as if he's hitching to the next town. I really can't believe it was that easy to go back and forth between the two countries like they have Kimble doing. Had the show gone on another season, he'd probably have wound up in Japan!

Speaking of which, per another reviewer here, it was David Janssen who wanted the show to end and I really hope that's true because I couldn't agree more. He even looks like he's not into the character anymore at this point and is just going through the motions to earn his paycheck and fulfill his contract. I can't blame him and i'm glad to see that he knew it was time to stick a fork in the show and was ready to move on from it.

The acting all around was good in this episode (as it usually always is) so I don't fault any of the guest stars for my 1 rating. That falls solely on the absurd writing and production of this poor episode. It's really sad when producers don't realize when it's time to end a show.

There's a March 1965 TV Guide I bought off Ebay with Janssen on the cover and a Fugitive article in it where the interviewer tells Janssen that the producers think the show could go on for another 5 years. Here's the excerpt of that-- '....he enjoys working on The Fugitive more than he has ever enjoyed work before. But he also says it is harder this second year than it was the first. "It's difficult keeping the character fresh and reaching deeper into his character to find more things he can do."' 'He says he'd prefer putting in just one or two more years on the show, but executive producer Quinn Martin speaks grandly of five more years. "Five more years?" Janssen says dully. "Contractually, I suppose I would HAVE to put in five more years but--" And his voice trails off.' (end of excerpt) So Janssen smartly knew by the second season of The Fugitive that the show would quickly run it's course and I really think the show was done by the end of the third season and that should've been the end of it.

I'm glad there's only a few more episodes to go and then I can start over again. I just hope the series finale isn't going to be anti climactic, but if it is, this abysmal season has prepared me for the letdown.