A better ending for the series?

The Judgment Part I had some non-sensical script/plot and poor editing. For example, it isn't explained "how" the LAPD were called to the produce market when none of the market staff recognized his mug shot. They obviously got a tip, but it was never explained and makes the LAPD seem almost superhuman (given this was 1967 when technology wasn't what it is today). Then there's the murder scene at bail bondsman Michael Constantine's office. Clearly, Kimble and Ms. Baker arrived BEFORE the plainclothes police car arrived to stake it out. Kimble was on the outside of the "EXIT" door a few yards from Constantine's office. There had been a struggle and the One-Armed Man (Raisch) had bludgeoned Constantine to death. Unless that happened well before Baker and Kimble arrived, it is reasonable to expect that Kimble would have heard the comotion and that Raisch would have exited out the back, thus running directly into Kimble! No way would Raisch have exited out the front of the building as the police were sitting in their car across the street. There's some bad editing/gaffing at the end of this episode where Gerard confronts Kimble outside Diane Baker's apartment building in L.A. Kimble starts by saying, "Gerard,..." but we cannot clearly make that name out.

The Judgment Part II was poorly edited and should have been better given the national attention that last episode was given in the media. That being said, the full last episode in two parts had the best writer (George Eckstein along with Michael Zagor) and director (Don Medford). Both Eckstein and Medford had written/directed some of the best Fugitive episodes in years past.

In Part II, it wasn't the plot or script that was bad (with a few exceptions...such as the fact that with all the gunfire at the amusement park, no police arrived to check it out and script-wise, J.D. Cannon's repetitive wordage as he's walking away from Jacqueline Scott in her home and Jacqueline Scott's repetitve wordage as she's about to hold out the target bullet at the bottom of her home's stairs)--it was the editing by Producer Walter Schiller that fell short.

In the gun battle between Cannon and Raisch at the amusement park, Raisch is NEVER seen reloading his .38 and seems to have AN ENDLESS supply of bullets. Watching him run from Cannon, we don't see any sacks of bullets or loose bullets in his pockets, so where did they come from? A .38 carries just 6 bullets. His jacket pockets would have moved differently had they been weighted down with bullets. There are clearly no bullets in his trousers.

By far THE WORST decision in The Final Judgment Parts I and II was the casting of character actors who had played other characters in 1967 episodes and in the episodes of previous seasons. Richard Anderson, for one, had appeared in SIX episodes if you figure The Final Judgment as two. We Fugitive fans had already seen Anderson in one of the best episodes, Running Scared in Season 3. To NOW see him replacing Jacqueline Scott's husband AS HER THIRD HUSBAND WITH THE SAME NAME was more than ridiculous. Why didn't they simply use Lyn McCarthy who was Kimble's brother-in-law in "Running Scared" the previous season? Anderson had also played Col. Lawrence in my favorite episode, "The Iron Maiden". Moreover, Anderson looked like he had been a couch potato having put on a ton of weight by "The Final Judgment". The thinner Lyn McCarthy would have been awesome as, again, Kimble's brother-in-law.

Another casting decision that didn't make sense was casting some kid as Anderson's son other than Billy Mumy in "The Final Judgment". Mumy had been terrific in "Home Is The Hunted" with Skilling as Kimble's brother-in-law, my second most favorite episode. Perhaps Mumy had become a star by the time "The Final Judgment" rolled around, perhaps he was too expensive for them, who knows?

Some have criticized the casting of J.D. Cannon in The Final Judgment Part II who had been in one other episode as a Sheriff in "In The Middle Of A Heatwave". I personally think it was an excellent decision except for his having already played another role in a previous season's episode. Cannon was THE PERFECT coward although there were certainly other well-known character actors who played terrific cowards--Eddie Albert, Dennis Weaver, Keenan Wynn, Donald Pleasance among others--who would have been excellent in that role.

Others have criticized the casting of Cannon's character's mentally ill wife, Louise Latham. I thought she was perfect in the role!

The biggest criticism of Part II was the Epilogue. NONE of Kimble's previous women or male defenders were there at the hearing. Surely SOME of them would have traveled to Stafford, Indiana to attend it! Pat Hingle (a big-time gossip columnist in Chicago) would have been out of jail by then for warning him, the John McIntyre family down in Texas, Betty Garrett would have been there FOR SURE as she worked at Decatur General Hospital, not far from Stafford! Carol Rossen as Telly Savalas' widow (his character would have been dead by Kimble's release) would have certainly been there though played in what, SIX episodes as different characters. Perhaps even the doctor played by Ivan Dixon in "Escape Into Black" would have been there to tell him in person that he was sorry to have doubted him! The people seen outside the hearing were nobodies, not part of any previous episode. It was very disappointing. Not even J.D. Cannon and his wife were seen exiting the courthouse! Did he end up going to jail for witholding evidence? We are never told. John McGiver (John Fiedler's parnter) certainly would have been there given his trying to turn Kimble in.

Regarding Gerard not apologizing to Kimble, that was to be expected.

But clearly, that EPILOGUE should have had characters from previous episodes.

Anyway, I'm not "a homer"--I can criticize decisions made but still loved the series including the endinig.