Co-starring: Hulk Hogan as Himself, Paul Gleason as Harry Sullivan, Billy Jacoby as Jeffrey Sullivan, William Perry as Himself, John Hancock as Styles, Carl Strano as Richie
Written by Bill Nuss
Directed by David Hemmings
The team help a former boxer whose decision to take a dive many years before has come back to haunt him.
Although the presence of Hulk Hogan as guest star suggests this could be as bad as ‘Body Slam’, that thankfully isn’t the case. The Hulkster has much more of a background role this time rather than the episode being built around him. In fact, there really isn’t any reason for him to be around at all
The story divides the team into two groups with Hannibal, BA and the Hulkster doing most of the fighting against the villains threatening Harry (Gleason from ‘Fire’) and son Jeffrey (Jacoby from ‘The Out-of-Towners). As a grouping, they miss the humour provided by Face & Murdock, though BA does have a great line when he remarks, “we always go through the front door, I’m sick and tired of going through the front door”.
Elsewhere, Murdock and Face spend most of the episode captured and tied up. It works as a running gag and delivers some funny moments but is also rather restrictive given that they never escape for very long. Along the way, there’s a running gag about the two of them being late for the dinner with twins that they were about to attend when they were called upon by Hannibal to assist.
Despite some interesting story elements (including opening the episode with a black and white flashback), the story itself isn’t a grabber. There are a lot of confrontational scenes that never quite come to anything but the final battle is basically solid with Hulkster pitching grenades at the bad guys. Ultimately, it’s ok but also completely forgettable. 5/10
I remember this episode getting a lot of publicity at the time, thanks to the inclusion of both Hogan and Perry. It's funny to realize how common this type of gimmick used to be, when shows would just stick a celebrity in front of the camera for no apparent reason.
ReplyDeleteAnd there really is no reason for Hogan's appearance here. In fact, it makes even less sense if you watch the dvds out of order, since it's never explained how he and B.A. know each other. Hogan just pulls up in a limo and no purpose for his visit is ever given!
What saves the episode for me is the subplot with Face and Murdock. I like the way they were paired together more often during season four, and the two get some genuinely funny scenes in which to play off each other here.