The Fugitive (TV Series) The Old Man Picked a Lemon (1965) User Reviews

The fruit fell VERY far from the tree in this case!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 17 April 2017]

Kimble is working as a supervisor at a citrus ranch. Early into the episode, the owner is killed in an accident and the workers are obviously worried. Why? Because the man's son would be coming to run the place and he truly is a sociopath. In the past, he apparently killed a Mexican-American girl due to his irresponsible behaviors and the family fortune, in essence, bailed him out and he SHOULD have gone to prison! When he arrives, it's obvious that the young man hasn't learned anything from his experiences and he's still a malevolent little jerk!

What makes this an outstanding episode is what they did with this basic plot. Extremely well written and filled with irony and has a VERY satisfying ending where the jerk ends up getting his comeuppance...and then some!

Plot summary

[ynot-16 · 9/10 · 1 January 2007]

Kimble has a position of responsibility at a lemon orchard which hires many Mexican workers. It is run by Leland Hagerman and his wife Flo (actress Celeste Holm). When Leland is killed in an accident, his dying words are a request for Kimble to look after his son Blaine (actor Ben Piazza), whom Kimble has not met. Flo is Blaine's stepmother.

When Blaine, a rich, unlikeable young man comes home, he begins to fight with Flo over the ownership and future of the orchard. While the Mexican community greatly respected Leland and Flo, they despise Blaine.

Kimble faces great danger from the plotting and underhanded tactics of Blaine, the anger of the Mexicans, his desire to help Flo, and his promise to his dying friend.

Dick deals with a rotten apple

[jsinger-58969 · 8/10 · 10 February 2023]

Dick is toiling as a fruit picker when a tractor falls on the farm's owner. The boss tells Dick with his last breath to help his son, and Dick agrees. The son comes to the farm with a jaunty cap, sporty convertible and a loosey goosey girlfriend. He's a bad apple, rotten to the core. The Mexicans hate him, as he got Rafael's daughter pregnant and then she died to a car accident they thought was suspicious. Rafael picks fruit with Kimble seemingly every time Kimble picks fruit, over many episodes. Rafael must also be a fugitive, as he always used a different name. Anyways, Dick came to the farm when he was running from the law, and was hiding in the barn with a bullet in his leg. Fortunately, Dick is an extremely fast healer. Somehow, the evil son, Blaine, finds out about this. He also finds out that his step mother used to be in a profession even older than farming. He wants to run her off and sell the farm. He calls the cops about this suspicious farm worker who was shot about 3 months ago, and tries to delay Kimble from leaving until the cops get there. But a kid tips Kimble off about the cops and a fight ensues. Dick, of course, wins the fight with his superior fighting skills, but Blaine recovers and starts shooting at Dick. Rafael then stabs the scoundrel as Dick runs away. The widow can now keep the farm and she invites all the Mexicans to come in the house for coffee.

4/13/64 "The Old Man Picked a Lemon"

[schappe1 · 29 June 2015]

The 'lemon' is Ben Piazza, the son of a California citrus farm owner and a total wastrel. He romanced the daughter of one of the Chicano farm workers and she got killed in an auto accident. She was found to be pregnant, leading some to believe that death wasn't full accidental. Ben was then sent to Europe for a year until things calmed down. Now the father has been killed in a farming accident and the son has inherited a chunk of the farm. The rest is held by his stepmother, (Celeste Holm), whom Ben finds from his detective used to be a prostitute, (although they don't call her that). He wants her out so he can sell the farm and live high off the hog.

Whereas Paul Richard's ruthless villain in the previous episode has a certain charm to him, Ben Piazza's despicable character in this one has no appealing qualities, except to the string of girlfriends who wander through the place.

Richard Kimble has only been there three months but in that time he's become a trusted assistant to the now deceased father and a confidant of the stepmother.

A Fair Hearing

[PlasticActor · 7/10 · 18 February 2022]

This episode: solid gold example of creeping Cultural Marxism in American TV. Not able to push too hard at this point, the elite have their cadre of writers breaking out the thumb screws for perceived injustices (which bank owns this lemon Grove? You guess)... The sadistic farm owners exploiting the poor workers and the inevitable retribution that follows, the typical all American mom typecast with the uber dark past. A meta verse of blame game by the fifth column has begun - - ripe as 2000 year old lemons.