co-starring: Markie Post as Leslie Becktall/Sister Teresa, Ismael Carlo as Salvador, Beau Starr as Henchman, Deborah Shelton as Gayle, Don Knight as Gibbons, Elizabeth Hoffman as Mother Superior
Written by Babs Greyhosky
Directed by Christian I. Nyby II
Face “hires” the team to help his high school sweetheart who is now a nun in an orphanage in Ecuador that has been over-run by bandits.
Another solid episode from writer Greyhosky, unremarkable in terms of its action but excellent in the way it deals with the relationship between Face and Leslie. This is one of Benedict's strongest episodes in any season. The scene on the plane in which Face speaks to Amy about his high school romance with Leslie is one of his best and the subsequent scenes with Markie Post are both touching and believable. Greyhosky always wrote good dialogue, in evidence here when Murdock refers to Leslie leaving Face to become a nun, (“Boy, when they said she'd run off with another guy they weren't kidding!”). There's also a great moment when the team respond to BA's moans about being drugged and flown to Ecuador with a collective “Be Quiet!”.
The later stages of the episode are more standard and less interesting as the team head off the bandits only for them to return in greater numbers. The action isn’t badly staged but there are so many good moments in the first half (including a scene in Face’s apartment that highlights the camaraderie among the team) that the second half suffers in comparison. It’s not an episode that will appeal to every fan but being very relationship-driven makes it different from the norm and that is what makes it memorable. Besides, any episode that has Murdock dressed as a nun can't be all bad. 8/10.
I agree that this episode doesn't work so well in terms of action, but is great as a relationship-driven episode. This is Face's episode of course, and should appeal to any fans of the Facial One.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first episode to introduce a chase theme that plays when they're outrunning the MPs near the beginning...a theme that would also be heard in Season Two's "Labor Pains."
No official Murdock fixation in this episode (except for dressing as a nun, which is much more effective than the ridiculous Murdock-as-a-pregnant woman in Season 4's "Cowboy George").
There is a continuity error when Hannibal cannot speak Spanish, after it was established in the pilot episode that he was fluent (both in his dossier and in the bar scene in the pilot episode).
I love the moment when Leslie calls him "Face Man" at the very end of the episode.