The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries "The Mystery of the Flying Courier" #1.9 (1977)

Not a very good episode, 6 June 2017

While Joe is making his singing debut (more on that in a minute), Frank spots the missing girl from one of his father's old, unsolved cases. Frank approaches her and is basically told he's crazy – she's not the missing girl. Frank refuses to take no for an answer and doggedly pursues the girl. He and Joe get mixed up in her world of record piracy, car chases, guns, and bad guys. As a bonus, he almost gets himself killed. In the end, the girl is who Frank thought, the boys help her out of a Jam, and Joe gets to sing some more.

I'll start with the title – The Mystery of the Flying Courier. If I tilt my head sideways and squint my eyes real hard, I can kinda see how this title fits the episode – but it's a real stretch. I hate it when they did this. My guess is the makers of the show found this title among the many Hardy Boys book titles and stuck it here regardless of whether or not it fit.

Next, my chief complaint with The Mystery of the Flying Courier is the complete lack of a mystery. Frank and Joe follow this girl around until she confesses what's up and they try to help her with her problems. It's not the kind of plot I watch The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries for.

On to Joe's singing – the real reason for this episode. Shaun Cassidy had the looks, the hair, and a tolerable voice. That's apparently all you needed to be a teeny-bopper success in the 70s. Shaun sings at least four songs in The Mystery of the Flying Courier. One is a 50s retread and the others are just as "safe". I'm sure the girls were eating it up. What bothers me the most about Joe/Shaun singing is that it helped spell the end to Nancy Drew as part of the series. Pamela Sue Martin (or whoever they put in the role) couldn't compete with the feather-haired Joe/Shaun.

Finally, there's the acting. It's about as bad as I can remember in any of the episodes. The singing Shaun Cassidy is the chief culprit. Watch the scene where Joe thinks Frank has been killed by the car crusher. Just try to watch it without laughing at Cassidy's hysterically bad reaction. It's too funny.

And I haven't even mentioned Dick Gautier as the ridiculous Tail Gunner, the horrible final fight scene complete with stupid sound effects, the car chase through what is obviously a studio back-lot, or any number of other problems I have with this episode. Considering all my issues with the episode, I think my 4/10 is generous.

4/10