"Diagnosis Murder" Wrong Number (TV Episode 1998) Poster

(TV Series)

(1998)

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7/10
Based on bad/crazy premise
slackersmom22 March 2017
THis episode would have been better if it weren't for one major glaring error toward the beginning. The premise of the episode: Mark gets a "wrong number" call about a payoff for a child's kidnapping. They don't know any details of the matter (who was kidnapped, when, etc.) but somehow Mark discovers the place where the ransom will be paid and he and Steve show up there. They see a man with a briefcase (obviously the father with the ransom) and for some unknown reason MARK GOES UP TO TALK TO HIM. Whiskey tango foxtrot!! They had the perfect opportunity to see the kidnapper pick up the money and discover who it is, but what does Mark do--he walks up to the poor father, who was supposed to be ALONE, which gets the father shot and killed. There are other twists involved in this, but why someone would approach a man paying off a ransom is beyond me.

Further, nobody thought to ask how the father knew to be in the park at that time, since the ransom demand was supposedly made to Mark by mistake. Yes, there are more twists involved regarding the phone call, but the point is, it didn't occur to anyone to wonder how the father knew where to be, and when.

Other than these glaring plot-holes, it was a decent episode. Although the aforementioned plot-holes were distracting enough to take me out of the story to some degree, not to mention that the guilty party was pretty obvious from the get-go.
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9/10
Reply to the the person who wrote a Book!
klassickollektor21 February 2021
This is a T.v. show not meant to be real it is Fiction🙃🙃🙃
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2/10
Truly ROTTEN performances are the 'highlight' of this very weak episode
bronty1 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Kidnapped children seemed to be all the rage in the late-90's, thanks to the wildly popular film, "Ransom", which means countless TV shows tried to cash in, including this series. Mark Sloan receives a wrong call from a kidnapper and tries to intervene, an action that has dire consequences for the family of the child in danger. What could have, and should have, been a compelling episode is, instead, a dull affair, with less-than-crackling results due to a poor script and what are truly, DEEPLY rotten performances from the guest stars (the folks portraying the family and friends of the missing child are especially laughable, with each line reading sounding as if this is a community-theatre production; the kidnapper should instill fear and dread to the audience but is as scary as a telemarketer; even Eva La Rue, so genuinely warm on CSI: Miami, is stiff and miscast - her attempts to sound tough are hollow, and the suggested cutting repartee with regular cast member Barry Van Dyke rings positively phony). Even with all the mess on screen, one should actually care what happens to this missing child but, quite frankly, I couldn't have given less of a damn than I thought possible.
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