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Post by HoudiniDerek on May 19, 2020 18:58:03 GMT -5
The Amy character was, I think, well-used in this episode. Nice how they had her be the one to follow BA and Jace out of the prison to where the fight was going to take place so that she could let the rest of the team know where to go. It did show she had good instinct....I wouldn't even be able to give directions probably if I was following someone at nighttime in an unfamiliar location to a place I'd never been before.... I wish they had done more of this. I think if they had written scripts that easily used her like this one, she might have been more content and even the actors might have had less animosity towards her. As for where Face is sitting, some vans and the like have wheel wells, but I don't think that's the case here. Just in the wrong spot. Maybe they have a box or small stool. Maybe he just sat on the floor.
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Post by cartoonlover on Jun 18, 2020 11:27:19 GMT -5
I was harsh on grading this one. From watch other episodes in comparison..Pros and Cons is a pretty decent episode of The A-Team and one of the best ones from Season One. The Strykersville Prison is great location to set the mood and tone of the storyline. Clifton James puts a solid performance as the warden. This is a different sort of A-Team episode because its dialogue seemed really detailed and the direction. Ill say that it does have an abrupt climax but decent overall.
Rating: 7.5-8/10
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Post by Eclipse139 on Jun 29, 2020 13:21:37 GMT -5
Rewatched today and, like JAMESTOWN, I remember it very well.
I love that this is a personal case for BA. I don't really like to see the bareknuckle fighting scenes, especially when they put BA in there. It was quite violent for the show - different to the usual cartoonish fist fights they have with baddies in other eps. In terms of how attitudes have changed, I'm not sure they would have had Hannibal play the hairdresser character quite so camp nowadays - although to be fair it was quite subtly done, but it still might be deemed offensive. I loved Face and his Dr Pepper alter ego! He looks very good in glasses. He and Amy made a great team, especially when they had to think on their feet when their cover was almost blown. And, of course, I loved Murdock. "I want trash bags!" I still say this all the time (and we don't even call them 'trash' bags over here! ) My whole life has been heavily influenced by this show, it's crazy! (Or I'm crazy? )
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Jun 30, 2020 18:53:33 GMT -5
Yeah, that trash bag scene just stays stuck in your head sometimes...it's kind of a sing-song and maybe that's why, in addition of course to Dwight Schultz' great performance there.
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Post by Eclipse139 on Nov 18, 2020 16:16:06 GMT -5
In a spectacular display of procrastination on my part ( ), instead of continuing my complete rewatch with Season 5 (because I've already seen those eps recently and I'm in no particular hurry to watch very many of them again) I decided to rewatch this episode instead, but this time with Dwight and Dirk's commentary. I haven't actually listened to any of their commentaries since I bought the boxset so I'm doing them in chronological order. Most of it isn't so much a commentary on the ep, more like them telling a lot of the stories I've heard them tell many times before in various appearances I've watched on YouTube (Dwight's story about his 'dials' always makes me laugh, just because of the enthusiastic way he tells it. ) However there were a few snippets about the ep that were interesting, such as that it was actually the first episode they filmed (after the pilot) and that Melinda hated her outfit - those very short pink shorts and the fluffy jumper (sweater)... I don't blame her! Also I loved that GP acknowledged (with a hug, no less!) that Dirk was perfect for the role of Face after seeing him doing the Dwight Pepper scene. I really love that people still approach Dwight and shout "trash bags". Even though it was a very early episode, it's so memorable and he did it so brilliantly. It's definitely stuck in my mind even after all these years.
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Nov 18, 2020 20:30:39 GMT -5
In a spectacular display of procrastination on my part ( ), instead of continuing my complete rewatch with Season 5 (because I've already seen those eps recently and I'm in no particular hurry to watch very many of them again) I decided to rewatch this episode instead, but this time with Dwight and Dirk's commentary. I haven't actually listened to any of their commentaries since I bought the boxset so I'm doing them in chronological order. Most of it isn't so much a commentary on the ep, more like them telling a lot of the stories I've heard them tell many times before in various appearances I've watched on YouTube (Dwight's story about his 'dials' always makes me laugh, just because of the enthusiastic way he tells it. ) However there were a few snippets about the ep that were interesting, such as that it was actually the first episode they filmed (after the pilot) and that Melinda hated her outfit - those very short pink shorts and the fluffy jumper (sweater)... I don't blame her! Also I loved that GP acknowledged (with a hug, no less!) that Dirk was perfect for the role of Face after seeing him doing the Dwight Pepper scene. I really love that people still approach Dwight and shout "trash bags". Even though it was a very early episode, it's so memorable and he did it so brilliantly. It's definitely stuck in my mind even after all these years. I did know that this was the first episode filmed. Apparently they moved CHILDREN OF JAMESTOWN up because the episode played right after the Super Bowl and they wanted to get the audience right into the action without a meet the client scene. And if you can watch this episode and not find Face PERFECT with the Dr. Pepper scene and the book jacket...you are clearly not a fan of the show.
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Nov 18, 2020 20:36:40 GMT -5
I wonder what would have happened if they had shown this one after the Super Bowl instead of CHILDREN OF JAMESTOWN.....this one jumped right into the action with the fight scene. Plus you get BA teaching the kids how to make ashtrays!!!
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Post by Eclipse139 on Nov 19, 2020 9:33:01 GMT -5
You can also see they filmed it first because Amy's hair is longer, like it was in the pilot. It's shorter in CHILDREN OF JAMESTOWN and all the other eps in season 1. Somehow JAMESTOWN still feels like it was always meant to be the first one though. I suppose because it opens with a voiceover which they never did again and also the way they changed the script - Murdock is largely absent and we see Amy freaking out - makes it seem different to other eps.
The Dr Pepper scam in this episode has to be one of the best Face scenes of the entire series, even more incredible if it was the very first scene Dirk filmed. He was absolutely perfect in that role. And nothing beats BA teaching kids how to make ashtrays!
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Nov 19, 2020 19:02:06 GMT -5
At least they didn't use a script for QUARTERBACK SNEAK for the episode right after the Super Bowl!
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Post by Eclipse139 on Nov 22, 2020 8:31:10 GMT -5
At least they didn't use a script for QUARTERBACK SNEAK for the episode right after the Super Bowl! That would have been a terrible first episode!
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Nov 22, 2020 23:11:43 GMT -5
Yeah, the show probably would have been cancelled after one episode!
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Katia
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Post by Katia on Feb 6, 2023 18:50:55 GMT -5
If this episode had nothing else, the "trash bags" part would make it. (I currently have to take out the trash at my office. Every time I need new bags, I bite the hell out of my tongue to not go down to the management office and launch into this. I made a funny meme to send to a couple of my coworkers with pictures of me hefting a trash can and pretending to yell, with "TRAAAAAASH BAAAAAGS! I WANT TRAAAAAASH BAAAAAGS!" superimposed...) But seriously, Murdock... you're sneaking over the wall, and your idea of being surreptitious is to scream "YAHOO!" (and IIRC, this is not the only episode/situation where he's yelling when they're supposed to be sneaking...) He would never pass ninja school...
I don't quite understand the scene where the Strikersville cop or whatever he is wants to arrest BA, Hannibal, and Murdock, but his deputy (or whoever that guy is) restrains him from doing so. Does anyone else understand the reasoning there? Something about arresting Yankees and a Senate investigation? Are these cops in on the prison fighting-to-the-death scheme? Why does it matter whether they arrest "Yankees" or southerners? I assumed they'd had problems with maybe targeting out-of-towners, who then made complaints about it. Think of it as a "profiling" issue perhaps? (I would say that's not it and it's just that they've maybe had a complaint or two, but if it went so far as the government investigating, I'd say that sounds like something more untoward than "we arrested a couple Karens" went on.) The second thing I noticed is that Amy and Face were sitting REALLY close in the van. I know I posted about Murdock and Face sitting close in Bend In the River, but this is ridiculous! There's one episode where Tawnia and Murdock are on the same seat. I was like, "Wait, Amy had to sit on the floor but Tawnia gets {to share} a seat??" (And then in S5, we see that somehow Frankie has his own seat.) Although they do seem very comfortable together which is nice... it seems like a sibling vibe they have going - except Amy's comment to Tawnia about making Face run a mile by threatening him with a relationship makes me think...maybe she wanted a relationship with him but knew he wouldn't be able to commit? I think she likes him, but she's smart enough to know it wouldn't really work. Nah, I thought it was just her way of making fun of Face... So how come when the police ran their prints nothing came back to alert them they had Hannibal and BA? Why weren't the MP's alerted. Now taking into account that in the 1980's it probably wasn't as simple as today with running the prints through a database but still.... In other episodes, the team is definitely nervous about having their prints run for precisely this reason... so I'm guessing this was a case of "we'll forget about that because it doesn't suit what we want to do here." I also think (opinions welcome) that Face's Dr. Pepper scam here is among his best. I love getting the glimpse into how he sets it up, and the way he changes course on the fly when the nurse busts him really shows us how good he is at his "job". Flawless scam, and pretty flawless episode too, with all the guys together as they should be. Although this is one of those places I'm talking about where it feels like DB feels the need to let us "see" Face's inner workings. If Face was the smooth criminal he's implied to be, he wouldn't bat an eyelash in this part... he'd just switch gears. (I've already been told Face is a great con man. So all I need to see is him working, not to have it explicitly and painstakingly spelled out for the lowest-intelligence common denominator. It would be like if a virtuoso musician was to make faces and contortions to "prove" that what they're playing is difficult. It's always more impressive when they make it look easy even though you know how hard it is.) I also never really understand why the police didn't arrest Hannibal, Murdock, and BA the first time they were stopped for drunk driving. They also mentioned something about "Yankees," but why would they have thought those three were Yankees? Probably as soon as they opened their mouths... or possibly mannerisms or license plates. In this scene what is Face sat on? There are no seats alongside that part of the van especially so close to the floor? 🤔 Maybe a box or duffle bag, or he was squatting? Do we see what his legs are doing at all? The Amy character was, I think, well-used in this episode. Nice how they had her be the one to follow BA and Jace out of the prison to where the fight was going to take place so that she could let the rest of the team know where to go. It did show she had good instinct....I wouldn't even be able to give directions probably if I was following someone at nighttime in an unfamiliar location to a place I'd never been before.... I admit I probably wouldn't have followed them. I would've been waiting to help the rest of the guys. (Plus, my luck is, no matter what I did it'd be wrong-- if I followed them it would be "great, she was supposed to wait for us and now she's gone; what do we do now?") In terms of how attitudes have changed, I'm not sure they would have had Hannibal play the hairdresser character quite so camp nowadays - although to be fair it was quite subtly done, but it still might be deemed offensive. I was just impressed that a "macho" military guy even agreed to pretend he was gay; not sure I know of many who would, especially back in the 80s. (I mean, we know Hannibal likes playing roles, but I would think he would draw the line there. I'm not sure if that implies that Hannibal is not quite so dedicated to being macho as we think/more open-minded than we might guess, or just that he's so dedicated to playing roles that he'll play anything.) Yeah, that trash bag scene just stays stuck in your head sometimes...it's kind of a sing-song and maybe that's why, in addition of course to Dwight Schultz' great performance there. Dude definitely knows about good vocal support, lol.
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