- Title: Spenser: For Hire – Children of a Tempest Storm
- IMDb: link
Our Throwback Tuesday takes us back to 80s Boston for another episode of Spenser: For Hire. “Children of a Tempest Storm” is an early stand-out episode featuring a pair of stories without easy answers or simple solutions. The episode opens with Spenser (Robert Urich) killing a small-time hitman only to discover the man had left a pair of young children (Noah Moazezi and Judith Tannen) behind who Spenser decides to temporarily take-in until a long-term solution. Over the course of the episode several other attempts on Spenser’s life will be made which our intrepid gumshoe eventually tracks back to the incarcerated King Powers (Chuck Connors) who, even from behind bars, is looking to take his revenge. The storyline ends in true Spenser style with the P.I. blackmailing the criminal to get money for the orphans and stop having to dodge bullets from every hitman attempting to make good on the contract on Spenser’s head.
While searching into the attempts on his life, and dealing with the two children of the man he recently killed, Spenser also feels Susan (Barbara Stock) pulling back from him. Eventually deducing that she is pregnant, the show has the characters talk open and honestly about options and Spenser’s heartfelt objections against Susan’s plans for an abortion. There’s some great scenes between the pair as the show’s writers present choices honestly, without allowing Susan’s character to be judged. This is rare in today’s prime-time network television for a character to go through with an abortion, let alone more than three decades ago. Even though Spenser is hurt by her decision, ultimately the love of the two characters will carry them through this bump in the road.
