How The Fugitive's finale became the ending that fans deserved - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 02-04-2025, 04:55 PM

https://www.metv.com/stories/how-the-fugitive-finale

"We hadn't planned on ending it."

ABlairican Pie · 01-31-2026, 02:11 PM

The two-part finale of 'The Fugitive' was certainly gripping and satisfying. However, if there was one problem with the final episodes, it was that it lacked the psychological drama between Kimble and Gerard that underpinned the opening season of the series. In the pilot episode, Gerard was typecast as a sort of "meanie" or bully who gloated over Kimble's "obsession" with him. He tells Monica Wells in 'Fear In a Desert Series', "He thinks about me as much as I think about him." Eventually, this plot line became more nuanced such as in episodes including 'Never Wave Goodbye I and II', and in "Nightmare At Northoak'. Kimble and others ponder Gerard's personal obsession with Kimble and whether the lieutenant actually believes in Kimble's innocence and in the existence of the one-armed man.

For the next few seasons, in the black and while "film noir" suspense style of the show, this was a captivating feature of the storyline which drew viewers in. However, in the fourth season, as the series switched to color and became more action-oriented, the psychological impasse between the two men was lost. We understood Gerard as a man devoted to the law and was not so "cruel" (in spite of how many viewers assessed Barry Morse). In the final episode he confronts Fred Johnson in a jail cell and demands to know the truth about his connection to the murder. This was a telling moment of Gerard's unravelling regarding the findings of the case, but he does not play this out in his interactions with Kimble at the end, which was the premise all along. Something was missing in this interplay and in some ways the final episodes feel incomplete.

02-04-2025, 04:55 PM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,453	How The Fugitive's finale became the ending that fans deserved https://www.metv.com/stories/how-the-fugitive-finale "We hadn't planned on ending it."

01-31-2026, 02:11 PM	#2
ABlairican Pie Member Forum Superstar Join Date: Dec 12, 2001 Location: Living where cats reign more Supreme than a pizza. Posts: 31,621	The two-part finale of 'The Fugitive' was certainly gripping and satisfying. However, if there was one problem with the final episodes, it was that it lacked the psychological drama between Kimble and Gerard that underpinned the opening season of the series. In the pilot episode, Gerard was typecast as a sort of "meanie" or bully who gloated over Kimble's "obsession" with him. He tells Monica Wells in 'Fear In a Desert Series', "He thinks about me as much as I think about him." Eventually, this plot line became more nuanced such as in episodes including 'Never Wave Goodbye I and II', and in "Nightmare At Northoak'. Kimble and others ponder Gerard's personal obsession with Kimble and whether the lieutenant actually believes in Kimble's innocence and in the existence of the one-armed man. For the next few seasons, in the black and while "film noir" suspense style of the show, this was a captivating feature of the storyline which drew viewers in. However, in the fourth season, as the series switched to color and became more action-oriented, the psychological impasse between the two men was lost. We understood Gerard as a man devoted to the law and was not so "cruel" (in spite of how many viewers assessed Barry Morse). In the final episode he confronts Fred Johnson in a jail cell and demands to know the truth about his connection to the murder. This was a telling moment of Gerard's unravelling regarding the findings of the case, but he does not play this out in his interactions with Kimble at the end, which was the premise all along. Something was missing in this interplay and in some ways the final episodes feel incomplete.
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