co-starring: Richard Romanus as Jackie Martell, Terry McGovern as Professor Bruce Warfel, Luke Andreas as Jilly, Kitty Moffat as Darlene, Floyd Levine as Carmine, Charles Cioffi as Gianni Christian, Tracey Scoggins as Elly Payne
Written by Frank Lupo
Directed by Bruce Kesster
The team are hired to find a professor who has been kidnapped having found a system to win at casinos.
A very ordinary episode, distinguished only by a final chase sequence in which Murdock flies a helicopter along a busy highway in pursuit of the villains. This welcome action set-piece includes a shot that would later become part of the opening credits in which a car crashes into a ditch and splashes water into the camera. Beyond that (and a final gag which has Murdock hitch-hiking along a runway), there really is very little to say about this episode. It is hampered by dull villains and is too set-bound to be particulary interesting. Mainly composed of a lot of not very interesting talk, this is certainly the weakest entry in the first season and a disappointment from the usually reliable pen of co-creator Frank Lupo (“A Nice Place to Visit”, “Steel”, “Battle of Bel Air”). 5/10
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ReplyDeleteWow, this is the highest-rated Season One episode over at imdb! This is a difficult one for me to comment on, as I didn't catch this episode until syndication reruns years later, so it always felt like a strange Season One entry to me. If you like the A-Team's role-playing cons, you might enjoy this one. Here the Team plays a government hit squad, who are in turn playing Atlantic City mobsters. But it is a very dialogue-heavy episode, as the Team has to rely on cons and deceptions to outwit the Vegas mob.
ReplyDeleteAs a Hannibal fan, I loved his first showdown with Gianni Christian in the hotel suite. In that same scene, Face once again shows off his expert marksmanship (we had previously seen him as a sniper in "A Small and Deadly War").
A weaker entry, but with several qualities I feel work in its favor.
ReplyDeleteThe show hadn't quite perfected its formula at this point, but that also means there's a little more variety to be found in season one's episodes. It's kind've refreshing to go back and watch the team accepting offbeat jobs without being rigidly locked into the formulaic structure that would soon follow. (If I'm not mistaken, neither "Rabbit" nor "Till Death Do Us Part" include a construction montage.)
It also feels like the early episodes provide a much bigger showcase for the Hannibal character. "Rabbit" is no exception, as he pretty much gets to bluff his way through the entire scheme. You can definitely see why George Peppard not only signed up for the role, but assumed his character would be viewed as the obvious star.
Speaking of bluffing the Vegas mob, it's worth noting that the team does so by using nothing more elaborate than a simple toaster! I find that a big part of the charm- especially when viewed today- is seeing just how inventive and low-tech the team could get on a job.
As a bonus, you get some nice stock footage of the old (presumably 70s?) Vegas. So while not one of the better season one episodes, I'd still probably give it at least a 7/10.