EPISODE GUIDES: Get Smart Season Five (Part 1)

On Thursdays, I take a detailed and critical look at a TV show. This year, I will be splitting full seasons into two posts so today I am looking at the first half of Season 5 (the final season) of Get Smart!

GET SMART: SEASON FIVE
1969-1970
26 episodes

The final season of Get Smart saw a network move from NBC to CBS and a jazzed up theme song. In its final year, the series also seems broader and there's a definite decline from the previous two strong seasons. This season also has the birth of Max and 99's twins and some real silly episodes. It definitely seemed less satirical and sharp and more playing as a straight farce. Its reprieve on CBS was short-lived as the network was heading into more sophisticated and less campy programming in the 1970s and Get Smart didn't really fit with that philosophy.

Starring
Don Adams as Maxwell Smart (26 episodes)
Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 (26 episodes)
Edward Platt as The Chief (24 episodes)

Robert Karvelas as Larabee (23 episodes)
Bernie Kopell as Siegfried (1 episode)
King Moody as Shtarker (1 episode)

113. Pheasant Under Glass (9/26/69)
Max finds out 99 is pregnant and is so excited that he accidentally tells a reporter that he is a secret agent so he has to change his identity.

Season five begins with a very timely cold open with Max and 99 meeting with the Chief on the moon and the reference to the astronauts landing there, which had just happened in July 1969. This also marks the beginning of the arc involving 99's pregnancy and it's incorporated well into the plot. The only problem, which was an issue often in the final season, is it's just so silly. From a bizarre Phyllis Diller cameo to a pretty ridiculous plot about face changing, everything is as silly as that moon opening.
RATING: 5.5/10

114. Ironhand (10/3/69)

KAOS is taken over by a man named Ironhand who rules with an actual iron fist and tries to infiltrate CONTROL so Max and 99 and the rest of the CONTROL agents try to stop him.

This episode is notable for the famous "baby carriage" bit that is highly choreographed and even has a Broadway musical-style version of the Get Smart theme song playing as it happens. That's a really strong moment and the whole episode, while silly like the premiere, still has some good moments. Ironhand is not as much of a cartoon villain as he could be and that's a good thing. There's also a funny bit when Larabee yells to the President outside the window. Between that scene and the credits, this season seems to be being more mindful about placing the show in DC.

RATING: 7/10

115. Valerie of the Dolls (10/10/69)

KAOS has a plan to smuggle explosives through dolls so Max and the Chief enroll in a school for expectant fathers to stop them.

Just like Get Smart did a nice job of doing a few "marriage" episode after Max and 99's wedding, they do a nice job of incorporating the pregnancy and baby storylines into a general spy story in these early episodes of Season 5. This episode has a jam-packed plot, usually a good thing for Get Smart episodes. Although the plot is maybe a little too full to provide a really satisfying resolution, I would still prefer an episode with too much plot to one with not enough plot.

RATING: 6.5/10

116. Widow Often Annie (10/17/69)

Max is assigned to romance a woman who is suspected of murdering CONTROL agents for their life insurance.

This is a fun episode with a great undercover assignment for Max. The undercover mission is fun in and of itself because there's the suspense of the planned murder of Max. At the same time, it's a funny situation with the very pregnant 99 first wildly jealous and then getting in on the mission. However, the ending is a little bit less satisfying with the stakes not played quite as high as they seemed for a lot of the lead-up. When 99, the Chief and Larabee all come to the Honeymoon Suite, I want it to play a little more like a madcap comedy than it does.

RATING: 8/10

117. The Treasure of C. Errol Madre (10/24/69)

Max is in Mexico to search for a prospector named C. Errol Madre and his hidden treasure while CONTROL deals with setbacks.

Was there some quota that Get Smart had to do at least one episode in Mexico a season? This is the third straight season with an episode set there. This episode is a little less stereotypical though and includes a good guest performance from Broderick Crawford. Crawford and Don Adams have a good comedic rapport but I can't stand when Adams uses his Humphrey Bogart voice. It just sounds so put-upon and unnecessary. This episode also features Don Diamond, "Crazy Cat" on F Troop, playing another stereotype. But, it was the 60s.

RATING: 3.5/10

118. Smart Fell on Alabama (10/31/69)

Max and his team try to switch code books to keep secrets out of the hands of a southern KAOS agent while 99 waits for the baby to be born.

Poor Barbara Feldon. She had so little to do in this episode besides call Max and tell him how far apart her contractions were. I get that it didn't make sense for 99 to be on missions with her condition but Feldon herself wasn't even pregnant so it seems like they could have found a better way to her to be involved in the episode. There are some funny moments here with Max training his team and a pretty on the nose Colonel Sanders impersonation. I wish more of the episode had taken place at the Southern mansion though.

RATING: 6/10

119. And Baby Makes Four Part 1 (11/7/69)

Max prepares for fatherhood by creating a map with the quickest route to the hospital but it gets switched with a KAOS map.

The big two part baby episode kicks off with a funny and pretty wild car ride through DC. The entire episode has a lot of plot to it and it tosses a lot of different balls in the air to set itself up well for the second part. It seems like Get Smart finally started to figure out how to do two part episodes well by the end of its run. One of the funniest elements is the introduction of Simon the Likable (Jack Gilford). The whole concept of this character is funny and works really well because Gilford truly does seem like the most unassuming personality. 

RATING: 8.5/10

120. And Baby Makes Four Part 2 (11/14/69)

99 gives birth to twins by surprise after Max and 99 have to escape the fake hospital run by KAOS.

There's a very long recap of the previous episode to start this one, probably because Part 1 was so plot-filled but my goodness, it goes on for an insane amount of time. There are some fun things in this episode too but it's not as strong as the first part. Also, I have a gripe with how often TV characters are surprised by twins being born. The "surprise" of twins (and twins in general) must have a much higher probability on TV shows than real life. That being said, the moment where Max finds out about the births while fighting KAOS agents in the lobby is a pretty funny moment.

RATING: 6.5/10

121. Physician Impossible (11/21/69)

When Max and 99 wear hospital scrubs to visit their babies, they are mistaken for a doctor and nurse by KAOS and taken to a mountain hideout to treat a gunshot wound.

I think this episode has a very clever plot because we have seen the whole "doctor taken hostage to perform medical attention on a criminal" plot in so many shows and this turns it on its head. Unfortunately though, I don't think the execution is as strong as the premise. The cartoonish villains aren't as funny as you would think and the whole episode just doesn't play with the excitement or intensity you would think the premise would allow it to.

RATING: 3.5/10

122. The Apes of Rath (11/28/69)

CONTROL agents are being murdered after receiving a banana in the mail and the evidence points to an ape being the culprit.

I must confess, I don't really like ape themed episodes even when it's humans playing the apes. I know Get Smart has been too silly for my liking before but boy, this episode is just so ridiculously silly. It doesn't help that guest star Charles Bateman is not particularly capable of playing a man possessed and acting like an ape. Cinematically, I do like the connections to King Kong and there is some cleverness to it though I actually think it would have been more enjoyable if it was a straight-up King Kong parody. But even with some cleverness, I really can't get past the bizarre plot and weak performance by Bateman.

RATING: 2.5/10

123. Age Before Duty (12/5/69)

A photographer invents a paint that quickly ages a person and KAOS offers him money to use it on all CONTROL agents.

This is another pretty ridiculous plot but it's serviced better thanks to some pretty elaborate make-up work and a strong guest performance by John Fiedler. Fiedler always does a great job in any show he's on and plays the jilted photographer well. Don Adams, Barbara Feldon and Edward Platt all do a good job as old people and the makeup done on all three is pretty impressive. I also think it's a fairly clever case that needs to be solved even though, as I said, it's ridiculous.

RATING: 7.5/10

124. Is This Trip Necessary? (12/12/69)

A KAOS pharmacist has created a drug that induces psychedelic dreams and threatens to put it in the water supply of Washington DC.

Oh boy, this is a very bizarre episode that rivals "The Groovy Guru" as the most 60s-themed episode. The scene before the credits is quite a trip, which I know was the point. The reason why it doesn't top "The Groovy Guru" as the most 60s-themed episode is the show gets considerably less trippy after that first scene. There's a good guest appearance by Vincent Price who adds to the ridiculous nature of this episode but I don't think it quite lives up to its ambitious first scene.

RATING: 5/10

125. Ice Station Siegfried (12/19/69)

99 travels to the North Pole with a CIA Agent to turn off a giant fan that could freeze the world.

Don Adams only appears at the very beginning of this episode. Adams refused to appear in the bulk of it because he thought it was a poor imitation of the season four episode "Schwartz's Island." As a result, we get Bill Dana playing a CIA agent with lines that were certainly written for Max. This is a catch-22 because Adams probably was smart to not appear in a poor episode but at the same time, his absence makes the episode even worse than it would have been. Bill Dana just doesn't have the comedic chops and Barbara Feldon's occasional bad acting seems more apparent without Adams. Thankfully, this is the final Siegfried episode.

RATING: 1/10

Tomorrow: The Friday Five - Top 5 TV news stories of the week!

Next Thursday: A look at Season 5 (Part 2) of Get Smart!