co-starring: John Quade as Garber, Tracy Scoggins as Shana Mayer, Robin Strand as Doug Mayer, Lance LeGault as Colonel Decker, Carl Franklin as Captain Crane, Len Wayland as Calvin Mayer, Rebecca Stanley as Betty
Written by Richard Christian Matheson, Thomas Szollosi
Directed by Ron Satlof
The team help a woman whose father was beaten up by rival fishermen who are depleting lobster stocks.
An entertaining season two episode that may have a standard protection racket storyline but the presence of Decker makes it a cut above the average. Things get off to a bright start as the team arrive at the local hospital to arrange treatment for BA who has stepped on a rusty nail. Decker is never more than a short step behind throughout the episode, adding a sense of urgency that makes the time fly by. His entertainingly gruff presence is a real asset and he delivers his lines with typical aplomb (“Son, when you can get a search warrant as quick as I can, you don’t need one”).
There isn’t a great deal of action here, a couple of fist fights is pretty much all you get. They are good ones though, with Murdock accidentally landing on BA’s foot and Face literally slamming into one of the heavies during the first dock fight. In a scene that demonstrates the power of his smooth-talking technique, Face is at his charming best when he poses as a magician to acquire some gear from Betty’s Scuba.
Murdock adds some good comedy with his lobster companion Thermidore. Initially mounted on a board, Therm ends up as just a claw after the first clash with the bad guys. All in all, good fun from the reliable pen of Matheson & Szollosi who were story editors for the season and would go on to write the excellent double of “Say it with Bullets” and “Deadly Manuevers” later in the season. 8/10
This is a terrific Decker episode, in which the A-Team spends as much time evading and escaping from him as they do fighting the villains. The scene with Garber and Decker getting into it really helps underscore the three-way conflict.
ReplyDeleteBack in '83 I remember this being one of the more quotable episodes at my junior high.
At this point in the show, Amy was relegated to the background. She gets to make one important contribution when she helps Murdock scam the military transport. She would only appear in two more episodes after this.