Title:

"Magic Trick"

Airdate:

May 25, 1994

Synopsis:

Wealthy young girls who frequent an exclusive magic club turn up dead after falling under the spell of an evil magician named Diablo the Deceiver.

Paul's Scenes:

He's in a lot.  In fact, other than the three episodes that focus on his family, he's probably in this one more than any other. 

Comments:

My favorite scene, by far, is the one where Paul does the card magic at Chandler's.  RL was an accomplished magician in real life, and a member of the exclusive Magic Castle in Los Angeles.  It specifically says in the script that his magic was done without any camera tricks.  I still haven't figured out how he did that second trick, the one with the four aces.  (Btw, he did the first trick during an appearance on the Mike Douglas show in 1977, and I have a copy of it if anybody is interested.)  

This episode was written by Michael Sloan.

Stephen McHattie, who played Diablo, appeared in an episode of The Equalizer, but it wasn't one that RL was in.

I have an earlier script of this episode and it included more dialogue between Paul and Peter.  Nothing significant to the story, but some nice bantering that I wish they would have left in.     

Favorite Quotes:

Blake: "Hey, Captain, I didn't know you could do card magic."

Paul: "The things you do not know about me, Blake, would fill the Encyclopedia Britannica."

* * * * *

Broderick (after Paul returns his watch): "Now if you'd given me back a Rolex, that would have been a trick."

Paul: "On your salary, it would have been a miracle."

* * * * *

Blake: "Can you make Broderick disappear?"

Paul: "I've been trying to do that for fifteen years."

* * * * *

Harry McCormick (upon seeing Paul for the first time in years): "Paul Blaisdell.  You're still alive."

Paul: "Yeah, well, I check my pulse some mornings."

Pet Peeves:

The fact that Paul was so impressed by Caine's magic tricks.  It's bad enough to watch everybody else on the show fawn all over him.  To see Paul do it just makes me wanna puke. 

I didn't like Paul's glasses - they were too big.  I much preferred the ones he wore in "Straightjacket". 

RL Factor:

His appearance is still declining, but this is a great episode.  Being able to watch him do the card tricks is priceless.