Double Play      Directed by  Burt Kennedy Written by Michael Piller Synopsis:  Rick is having a recurring nightmare where he kills A.J., and it’s bothering him  deeply.  Meanwhile, the Simons are hired by a famous actress, Allison Long, to take securities down to Mexico.  In the process of doing so, they are caught in an international sting for transporting stolen securities.  They try to explain about being hired, but Allison Long  has been out of the country and can not have contacted them.  The  office where they had been hired is now completely empty.  Things are  looking bleak enough that even Town can’t figure out how to clear  them.  Cecilia mortgages her house to get them out on bail, but she  and Town insist that the Simons not get involved in the  investigation.  Might as well have told the tide to stop coming  in.  Their search leads them to a celebrity look-alike house of  ill-repute, since the Allison Long they met must have been an imposter.  The trail continues until they discover one of their previous arrests is settling an old grudge and currently hiding in Mexico. Despite Town’s best efforts to keep them from violating the  bail agreement, the boys head south. Once they enter the bad guy’s mansion, Rick is horrified to realize it’s the setting for his nightmare, but it’s too late to turn back now.  The bad guy has found two exact doubles of the brothers, and they start a gunfight in the labyrinthine halls.    Rick and A.J. get separated and Rick’s nightmare begins coming to life.  He reaches the point in the dream where he shoots  his brother, and sure enough, he’s faced by A.J. pointing a gun at him,  with no time to decide if it’s the real one or the double.  He  refuses to fire – and takes a bullet in the chest.  Just as the fake A.J. is about to finish Rick off, the real A.J. takes him down.  They  capture the bad guys and Rick fully recovers. Review: Really liked this one.  Rick’s terror at the thought of shooting A.J. is very touching.  His attempts to assuage his guilt by re-staining the deck is heartwarming, even if it is a tad overdue. And I loved how AJ had to stop himself from nagging several times in the conversation. Yes, this  episode has a healthy dose of cheesiness with the celebrity doubles, but at least they’re good ones, especially Bette.   I have a tougher time with the feasibility of such exact replicas of the  brothers.  How on earth could they find doubles good enough to merit  camera tricks?  I know, it was necessary to the plot, but it just  strikes me as too big a suspension of disbelief.  However, it made possible a great episode, so I won’t complain too much. Interesting  that Rick wouldn’t tell A.J. about the dream, even when he realized he was  about to live it out.  Is he protecting A.J. or himself?  Possibly a lot of both.  Instead, he snarls every time A.J. mentions Rick’s tiredness and ends up taking a bullet.  Anyone else have a  theory of why he keeps quiet?  I can think of several, but nothing  for sure. The scene  between A.J. and Rick after Rick’s shot is wonderful.  Kudos to both  actors for a great job in a very touching scene.  These few minutes  alone make this episode worth watching.  A wonderful episode with many talented  performances! The rest of the pictures are here.     5 out of 5 Camaros         ©"Simon & Simon" and all of its characters'  copyrights are held by Universal City Studios, as are all pictures and  quotes on this site unless otherwise noted. This site is completely nonprofit - I don't get a dime. On the contrary, it is my hope that  the copyright holders will make more items available for sale so others and I can spend more  money!