Kung Fu (TV Series) The Salamander (1973) User Reviews

Mental health.

[elayne-575-731236 · 10/10 · 12 January 2019]

An excellent episode on mental health and its impact on family. Quite remarkable for 1973.

Ramon Bieri and Ed Flanders

[kevinolzak · 6/10 · 25 July 2010]

Caine spies a young man, Andy Dorfminder (James Lee Reeves), contemplating suicide on a footbridge. Andy notices the stranger watching and runs off, abandoning his rope. Caine continues on to a nearly deserted ghost town, once a thriving community until the mines gave up their promise of gold. John Bates (Ramon Bieri) refuses to leave, letting others do the work while he patiently waits to jump their claim. Caine ends up working on behalf of miner Alonzo Davis (Ed Flanders), believing that the mother lode will soon be forthcoming. Andy is revealed to be Alonzo's son, whose mother suffered a breakdown and is now confined in an institution. Alonzo confides that he left because he recognized his wife's illness and could not cope with it. Andy fears that he too may be losing his mind, staring into the fire as his mother did, wondering what it was that she saw. Caine mentions the salamander, a creature thrown into a fire because he was regarded as ugly, confessing that he did not know how the salamander saw himself. Stalking silently is the ruthless Bates, whom Andy regards as a vision that is not real. The flashback involves how a Master committed suicide because his perception of his beloved valley became one of ugliness. David Huddleston puts in a brief appearance as a lonely bartender, later playing a villain in the third season episode "One Step to Darkness." Another third season entry, "This Valley of Terror," also touches upon mental illness, with a different outcome that bodes well for Caine's search for his brother.