amyk
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Post by amyk on Apr 5, 2020 20:14:49 GMT -5
This episode is never one of my favorites, but the particular scenes you mentioned (scam, Face in the truck, and BA talking to the client) do help boost it up. I wish that scam was in an episode I liked more, since I don't necessarily want to show this episode to a newbie, and yet I think that a newbie may really love that scam....
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Apr 6, 2020 8:03:20 GMT -5
This episode is never one of my favorites, but the particular scenes you mentioned (scam, Face in the truck, and BA talking to the client) do help boost it up. I wish that scam was in an episode I liked more, since I don't necessarily want to show this episode to a newbie, and yet I think that a newbie may really love that scam.... Agreed. Some of the scenes would probably make a top 10 list for me, but NOT the episode overall.
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Post by Eclipse139 on Jul 7, 2020 14:44:00 GMT -5
Rewatched this one yesterday. It's not a strong episode for the season opener which is surprising. I know there are much better eps in Season 2 coming up, but I'd have been disappointed if I didn't know.
I do love Amy's new hair - one memory I have from watching originally was thinking how much I loved her new style! In season one they couldn't seem to decide on her hairstyle and it was different in every episode.
There are some fantastic scene in this ep, as you've all mentioned already in this thread - the scam being the highlight, Murdock's accent is a joy! I think the biggest issue for me is the client is not very likeable. I have sympathy for the loss of her father (and BA talking to her about it is another highlight of the ep), but other than that she just seems to have hired the team to help her make her fortune from the mine.
I love BA and Face climbing up the cliff with the dynamite on their backs, although they could have tied it to BAs back a little more securely instead of just having him sling it over his shoulder like a bag of shopping!
I was pleased to see Amy involved in the action, I'm puzzled about what exactly Melinda Culea's issue was with her character from that perspective.
It was a shame Murdock's bear was destroyed so early in the episode though!
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amyk
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A-Team Fan Extraordinaire
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Post by amyk on Jul 8, 2020 23:17:00 GMT -5
I agree with you about the client....actually, it's not even so much the client, but the client's motivation. Supposedly this diamond mine was her father's dream which she wanted to see fulfilled. However, I can't help but think about the fact that it is a white person taking Africa's resources once again. And who knows how the regular mine workers (who most likely are Africans) were treated by the mine owner. Maybe I'm just cynical, but anyway it just sort of rubs me the wrong way.....kind of like the client in ROAD GAMES gambling away the house that the orphans lived in. I also find it hard to sympathize with that client, but at least in that episode the team is helping the kids.
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Post by Eclipse139 on Jul 9, 2020 14:56:55 GMT -5
I guess I can feel sympathy for the client in ROAD GAMES because if he's a gambling addict he wasn't thinking straight when he gambled the house away. The client in DIAMONDS (is her name Toby?) may be trying to fulfill her father's last wish, but his last wish was morally dubious!
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Jul 9, 2020 15:09:52 GMT -5
I guess I can feel sympathy for the client in ROAD GAMES because if he's a gambling addict he wasn't thinking straight when he gambled the house away. The client in DIAMONDS (is her name Toby?) may be trying to fulfill her father's last wish, but his last wish was morally dubious! I think bringing the murderers to justice would have made her more appealing.
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Post by Eclipse139 on Jul 9, 2020 15:23:11 GMT -5
I guess I can feel sympathy for the client in ROAD GAMES because if he's a gambling addict he wasn't thinking straight when he gambled the house away. The client in DIAMONDS (is her name Toby?) may be trying to fulfill her father's last wish, but his last wish was morally dubious! I think bringing the murderers to justice would have made her more appealing. Definitely. She was grieving for her father, but didn't seem to be bothered about making his murderers pay for what they'd done to him. She just wanted those diamonds!
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amyk
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A-Team Fan Extraordinaire
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Post by amyk on Apr 18, 2021 21:56:10 GMT -5
Just finished this one but I admit that even I, the purist, fast-forwarded through some of it (because I was kind of in a hurry but also because some of it just sort of bores me). The ending credits seem to go on forever! Best part is still definitely the dynamite scam. The scam to get BA on the plane is kind of fun, too. I also noticed that the man on the airplane who has to sign something is, I think, the same man who is at the clothing store in BEVERLY HILLS ASSAULT. I still feel like Murdock's "can we go home now?" seems rather atypical of him. I do like the relationship between Toby and BA. But I am a bit confused about Toby and her father.....she's been to the mine hundreds of times, but I thought he just recently found the mine??? Or has she just been to that site hundreds of times with her dad and he just recently found that there were actually diamonds there?
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amyk
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Posts: 19,463
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Post by amyk on Apr 18, 2021 21:57:59 GMT -5
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Post by Eclipse139 on Apr 21, 2021 11:18:59 GMT -5
Just finished this one but I admit that even I, the purist, fast-forwarded through some of it (because I was kind of in a hurry but also because some of it just sort of bores me). The ending credits seem to go on forever! Best part is still definitely the dynamite scam. The scam to get BA on the plane is kind of fun, too. I also noticed that the man on the airplane who has to sign something is, I think, the same man who is at the clothing store in BEVERLY HILLS ASSAULT. I still feel like Murdock's "can we go home now?" seems rather atypical of him. I do like the relationship between Toby and BA. But I am a bit confused about Toby and her father.....she's been to the mine hundreds of times, but I thought he just recently found the mine??? Or has she just been to that site hundreds of times with her dad and he just recently found that there were actually diamonds there? It's a bit confusing, she seems to contradict her own backstory. I remember thinking, the first time I saw it again recently, that she wasn't being entirely thruthful with the team and I was half expecting it to be revealed that she wasn't even really his daughter, or something like that.
The video is blocked in the UK.
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amyk
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A-Team Fan Extraordinaire
Posts: 19,463
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Post by amyk on Apr 21, 2021 18:06:10 GMT -5
That's really strange that the video would be blocked....I think it was just a video recorded by a person in attendance at the event, i.e. I didn't think it would be copyrighted or anything. Anyway, it was these horses and riders in the dark (yes, in the dark) but they were wearing lighted up things and they did a routine. It was really pretty and also I would think a bit dangerous as they were always moving fairly quickly, like at a canter, and sometimes intertwining with each other.
Oh, that would have been a neat twist to this episode and maybe would have jazzed it up a bit!
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Katia
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Post by Katia on May 26, 2023 21:03:39 GMT -5
When I first saw Bogey the Bear come on the screen, I remember being so incredibly excited because Ubu and Bogey are the same stuffed bear. I was thrilled that I had the same bear as Murdock. Now my Ubu is 30 plus years old so he is showing his age - but it is the same bear. Thus proving I was destined to be a Murdock girl. Oh, man. I would've been devastated as a kid at his demise, let alone if I'd had the same bear... "Sit Ubu Sit-good dog!"-the production company from Family Ties right? I just remember that part at the end of every episode. I didn't get it-- but, I always thought the dog's name was Booboo... Back to this episode....well, the main part I do love about it (and which perhaps keeps it a bit higher in my rankings than it otherwise would be) is the whole scam scene. Such a great scene. The rest of it is sort of so-so. I guess I also have a bit of a problem with the white foreigner coming into the African country and laying claim to the diamond mine, which is also most likely worked by poor Africans. If they had made a big deal that he paid the local workers extremely well and thus earned their loyalty or something like that, then maybe that would sit better with me. Anyway, I don't really feel so motivated to see Toby be able to mine that diamond mine and make a fortune. Again, if she would promise to give a certain percent of the proceeds to the "Zulabweans" or something, then I would be more sympathetic to her plight. However, her dad certaintly did not deserve to be murdered in cold blood like that, so I am glad they caught the guys responsible. That's a good point. I sort of thought of the episode as being about "avenging her dad" and didn't really think about the rest of it that much. (Well, in a way, it was also sort of about "taking back something of yours that someone else tried to take from you and not letting them get away with it." But yeah, once you start thinking about it below the surface... why did *any* of them deserve it? (Or anybody at all, considering what we know about diamond mining.)
The scam scene might be my favorite one run by Face and Murdock. I can almost quote it word for word. I love Face looking at Murdock about the "Hey Jude" reference. Such a perfect scene. Yes, absolute gold. Of course, if you know me, you know why I love the Hey, Jude reference, anyway! I was pleased to see Amy involved in the action, I'm puzzled about what exactly Melinda Culea's issue was with her character from that perspective. Sometimes I am, too. I mean, Amy gets WAY more action than I think would be realistic-- in real life, there's no way military or law-enforcement guys would *ever* give her that much leeway. And I like that the guys seem to include and respect Amy, for the most part they don't talk down to her, and that she never becomes a love interest... she's got an actual role in her own right.
But, I also don't know what was going on behind the scenes. For all I know, they were trying to reduce her action scenes or something. Or maybe there was something going on that made her feel a bit pushed to the side as if she was a minor character when she really wasn't. I imagine that as a woman, you're always going to feel you have a bit more to prove and aren't seen on the same footing.
It's a bit confusing, she seems to contradict her own backstory. I remember thinking, the first time I saw it again recently, that she wasn't being entirely thruthful with the team and I was half expecting it to be revealed that she wasn't even really his daughter, or something like that.
Ooh, that would be a good way to make it a two-parter... That's really strange that the video would be blocked....I think it was just a video recorded by a person in attendance at the event, i.e. I didn't think it would be copyrighted or anything. Anyway, it was these horses and riders in the dark (yes, in the dark) but they were wearing lighted up things and they did a routine. It was really pretty and also I would think a bit dangerous as they were always moving fairly quickly, like at a canter, and sometimes intertwining with each other. That's pretty cool. It's just a lot of practice on the precision, which they'd need in full daylight, too. They're all pretty bright, so it's not like they won't see each other-- the biggest hazard would be anything in the arena to trip over (debris, holes, etc.), and I'm sure they probably made sure there wouldn't be anything like that. It's like Tron on horseback!
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