Show228
Sometimes the thoroughness of the police investigation is downright comical. Somehow they were able to recover a broken glass from Mrs Forrester's home that Burger thinks is a smoking gun. Because if she DID poison Ralph I'm sure she would leave it in her own garbage. Apparently, the police managed to pick it out of her garbage and subject it to chemical analysis in time for a pre-trial hearing? Not likely. That level of investigation can take months for a county the size of Los Angeles. The idea that they were even able to find the glass at all is pretty unrealistic. Somehow police in the 1960s are way more thorough and seem to have better technology than police of today!
Wow! I think this might become my new favorite episode! The acting, the plotting, the incidental music—it just all came together so well. Submitted by gracenote, 4/21/2011.
Agree. As with the previous episode, Thermal Thief, there is a tight, logical plot with none of those “What the...?” moments so common. I do think, as with many episodes, it would have been improved with more straightforward dialog. DOD 03/30/21
TIME TUNNEL Perspective: Ironically & Coincidentally, Original Viewers of "The Golden VENOM" may have listened to the #3 Song on January 21, 1965: "Love POTION Number Nine" by The Searchers [takemeback.to site]. Mike Bedard 4.28.15
The long arm of the law It seems surprising that the writers decided to place the trial in Los Angeles: although the location of Forrest Junction is never made explicit - and admittedly LA County is large - most of the details imply a remote location...maybe Paul Fix wasn't available that day?? Submitted by Notcom, 051316.
+ See above under Trivia for my comment on the venue, however ... based on the mileages given for the distance from the Forrest Junction train station to San Francisco and New Orleans, the station is located where the actual California town of Banning is located, well into San Bernardino County. (Curious that they used San Francisco instead of Los Angeles, which the train on the show was scheduled to pass through.)
The town itself is at least six miles from the station, up a curvy road at about 1500 feet, and there is no good candidate for the 'real' location of Forrest Junction itself, though it, too, is unlikely to be in Los Angeles County given the distances involved: Banning is nearly 50 miles from the border with Los Angeles County. Oh, well, people weren't nearly as nitpicky as we here at the Wiki are today. OLEF641 8/12/21
> Banning is actually in Riverside County...which of course isn't LA County either! As for the signage, I believe the protocol for the Southern Pacific was to list the terminal points of the system on its signboards...technically Los Angeles was just a way station (altho I can't say this was followed on every board, or what the practice was on branch lines, where such would have made little sense) Notcom 082622.
A memorable episode if only for the line, "He's always pooping somebody's party".
The reunion of 'Walter Coffee' and 'Lucille Forrest' is another one of those charming 'You two love each other, everyone knows it' moments I like in PM stories. It's so obvious when they meet at the beginning of the story, especially on 'Walter's' part .. Submitted by MikeReese, 5/29/2107.
As Walter drives Lucille in to town, the stop sign and warning barriers have magically reappeared. DOD 04/26/23
Cold case / old case: Perry also solved the murder of Richard Forrest - killed two years earlier. Submitted by H. Mason 9/27/14
Blackmail 101: Another story where a blackmailer was killed by the payer. Don't they know there should be a letter or documents with important information in the hands of another person ready to mail to authorities in case of death and the person paying should know it exists. Submitted by H. Mason 4/20/15