The Visitation boasts a solid guest cast this week, Leonardo Cimino, James Tolkan as the baddie, Ruger, and the wonderful Jenny Agutter as Lauren Demeter.

Written by Robert Eisele this episode was first broadcast on 1 February, 1989. Ruger is an arms dealer, but his most recent deal goes wrong when a gun runner attempts to cross him, and Ruger has him killed. But not before the man, who is infected with a disease, is able to infect some members of the public, and one of his killers.

McCall’s (Edward Woodward) friend Dr. Demeter is in town, and with her help, he is able to find out what the virus is, and is able to track Ruger down before he infects anyone else.

Things get underway when Doctor Molinari (Cimono) calls Demeter for help in the middle of her evening with McCall. This puts him right beside her as she learns about the way the disease spreads and gives him the motivation to track down the other carriers before they can infect others.

Mickey (Keith Szarabajka) signs on to help as well, but there’s something going on with Lauren. While McCall still cares for her, she tells him she’s not the same person he knew all those years ago, but she is a doctor and determined to save as many lives as she can, even if she plans to meet Ruger on her own.

I love the fact that Agutter shows up in this episode, a wonderful actor, and I’ve always crushed on her. I always delight when she shows up in something.

Past Imperfect was written by Gail Morgan Hickman and it first aired on 15 February, 1989. Jimmy (Mark Margolis) comes to McCall for help when one of the boys he’s been mentoring is almost abducted.

The guest cast for this episode includes Hector Elizondo and Robert Lansing returning as Control.

As Mickey and McCall try to figure out what is going on, Jimmy is less than helpful this time out, considering his past, but it’s still a pretty solid episode. I love that Mickey and McCall are working together as well as they are and that the problems with season three seem to be behind the series.

The duo work hard to figure out who is after Jimmy and his young friend, and they find connections between Jimmy’s housekeeper, Cecelia (Katherine Cortez) and that her son, the target, is the son of Ray Quintero (Elizondo) who was once, not a nice man but he’s changed, and now someone is making moves against him, and plans on using his son to do it. She left him, changed her name, and has worked to stay hidden, but now it seems to be all out in the open, and McCall may be the only one who can save Cecelia and her son.

Much like the previous post, the first episode feels like the stronger, and the second, as enjoyable as it is, isn’t as solid. Still, it’s a very well-crafted fourth season, still not afraid to go dark, and not flinch from some of the darker material that some shows would gloss over.

Let’s see what McCall and Mickey get up to next week