In the opening scene of this final episode of the Hitchcock shows, a bum smashes a liquor store window and steals a bottle of booze. Trigger-happy cop Johnny Kendall (John Gavin) responds to the alarm and shoots the bum with no serious provocation. Not surprisingly, Johnny is fired from the police force for his excessive use of force as this was witnessed by another policeman. He's lucky he wasn't prosecuted for this killing.
Johnny and his fiancee move to another town, far away. He is able to find a job with a small police force and unlike his old job, he isn't to carry a gun...just patrol some vacation cabins each night. But two problems arise. First, the old deputy appears and he acts pretty weird. Second, Johnny is a jerk...and his jealousy is a might scary! So what's next? See the show.
In light of all the negative attention the police have received in recent years, this is a pretty timely episode...one that plays as well now as 56 years ago. Sadly, however, it's not a brilliant episode...and considering it's the last, you would have hoped for more. Worth seeing....but not all that special.
By the way, the police psychologist suggested after the shooting at the beginning of the show that Johnny should have fired a warning shot and if that didn't work, shoot the man's extremities to disable. Police are NEVER taught to do either (especially shooting to disable)....and you'd think he would have known that.