The Bend in the River - Episode 39

[amyk]

Watching this one now (but also doing other things). I had a whole bunch already written, but then I accidentally did something which deleted all that I wrote. Right now I'm on the scene where Face had to fight in the jungle while the others are in cages. I do like how Murdock says that he needs more after poor Face has just gone through the big fight.

While there are a lot of good things about this episode, I also get kind of bored with it sometimes. And I don't really like all the changing loyalties between Bobby Cardena and her dad. Plus, in many ways, it is kind of a re-tread of the pilot episode.....both episodes involve a newspaperman who has been kidnapped south of the border, etc. And even a repeat of the same actor for one of the bad guys (or maybe in this one he is a partial bad guy but then becomes one of the good guys?).

[amyk]

I do enjoy Murdock's brief impersonation of Jacques Cousteau (at least I think that is who he is being). And most of his director stuff I enjoy as well.

I think the "Chipate" stuff is pretty corny.

I like that Hannibal seemed to know that Doyle let them escape on purpose and that was why he was willing to let Face fight.

I still think this episode should have been contained to one hour. By the time the montage scene at the Lost City rolls around, I'm pretty bored. And then there still is quite a bit to go.

Brian says his dad has dealings with Ritterman. So his dad has dealings with the Nazis? Brian even says his dad always suspected him....so that seems to mean that his dad was willing to have dealings with a suspected Nazi.

By the time the final big showdown comes, I've pretty much lost interest, sad to say. Of course, I've seen the episode numerous times, so that may be one reason that I've lost interest. But I just feel that this episode seems so long.

I don't think that I would want the man who originally kidnapped me to perform my wedding ceremony.

I'm kind of surprised at Hannibal requiring payment from Brian, seeing as how they did this sort of for Tawnia. And what are they going to do with all that money anyway, if they ever get to see any of it?

Well, I am glad that we get a proper send-off for Tawnia, unlike for Amy. I do think it is kind of funny that the wedding ceremony is all in Spanish, when I'm not even sure if Tawnia or Brian understand any of it. I like the way El Cajon says "Tawnia Baker." Where did Brian get a wedding band? B.A. looks funny when Brian and Tawnia are kissing!

I only give this one a 4 on the Sidney scale.

[sidney]

Ugh. I don't even want to watch this one for this.
I agree with the low rating.
I don't care about Tawnia's send off.

Hey, the stuff with Murdock in the coffin is good. I like that he's pushing Face. He's purposefully trying to throw a wrench into Face's scam to get him out. It's funny when he does that. He's definitely on the jazz and wanting to see Face get out of it.

[amyk]

Yes, the VA breakout is one of the highlights of this episode. I pretty much always enjoy it when Face is being a priest. I also like seeing the Aquamaniac again and how Face is his dialog coach. And I think it is funny how poor BA had to fly down there to the Amazon in a coffin and his rant about that when he wakes up and discovers they flew him down in a coffin.

[quartermaster22]

I'm continually surprised by how poorly this episode is rated by fans. I remember after it first aired in the U.S. in 1984, my friends and I were going nuts over it, calling it "the best A-Team episode." I think a lot of that had to do with the "adventure" aspect of the episode, plus having a huge battle at the end (as opposed to the usual small fight against four other guys).

I don't think of this episode the same way now. And I definitely don't think it's the best episode; my friends probably felt that way at the time because the episode was new (even if it was derivative of the pilot episode). But I still rank this as among the better Season 3 offerings... not as good as BOUNTY but at least up there with RIVERTOWN, ROAD GAMES and CRYSTAL LAKE.

[amyk]

Maybe this is an episode that appeals more to males? Oh, ROAD GAMES is one of my least favorite episodes of all. But CRYSTAL LAKE is one of my favorite episodes of all.

It's always interesting the different takes people have on episodes, isn't it? But that may be a good thing. I like to learn what others love about episodes that are not my favorite ones, and also I'm interested to know why they may dislike episodes that are my favorites.

Different strokes for different folks.

[quartermaster22]

To me, Season 3 really seemed like a big drop in quality from the previous two seasons. The Saturday morning cartoon writers, the formulaic episodes, substituting action-adventure stories with the team running restaurants or working as lumberjacks, etc. The scams at the VA hospital, which were novel in Season 1 and still funny in Season 2, grew stale for me by the time we got to TIMBER.

The Season 3 episodes I like are BEND IN THE RIVER, RIVERTOWN, BREAKOUT, SKINS, ROAD GAMES, BOUNTY, and CRYSTAL LAKE. The reasons I like them is because they're all good adventure stories (ROAD GAMES is actually more of a "con game" episode, like LAS VEGAS). These episodes don't resort to the "helping the underdog business" formula. In three of those episodes, there isn't even a client (four if you don't count Tawnia as a client). And these episodes don't go over-the-top with cartoonish antics.

[amyk]

I like the team running the restaurant in THE BIG SQUEEZE and the diner in CUP A JOE, and even like them okay as the lumberjacks, but it does seem like suddenly they are trained to do anything and everything (even being firefighters). I do like the "helping the underdog business" formula, although perhaps it did get a bit overused. I agree that the over-the-top cartoonish antics are not so great, but even in earlier seasons we had some of that, like Murdock being pulled by Billy in WEST COAST TURNAROUND. I do like seasons 1 and 2 better than season 3, but I still like season 3 better than seasons 4 and 5.

[sidney]

RIVERTOWN and CRYSTAL LAKE are amazing episodes. Season 3 does offer some good ones.
But SKINS I find is as poor as BEND IN THE RIVER... I don't really find that kind of adventure that thrilling. They are a little boring to me.

[amyk]

I like SKINS more than BEND IN THE RIVER....for one thing, I do love that gag with Face and Murdock and the knocked-out pilot and how they have him sort of wave.

[Paper Crane Song]

So we just watched this one... unfortunately I haven't made it all the way through the episode yet because I had a cracking headache and all of Murdock's jibber jabber with the directing and stuff just did my head in! We had to switch the TV off. And then I had a sudden burst of empathy and understanding for BA - maybe BA gets real bad headaches from being knocked out all the time, and that's why he's so grumpy towards Murdock. I totally felt the same way, and usually I love Murdock.



Anyway, I think you guys have done a good job already highlighting the most interesting parts in this episode, so I don't want to repeat them. Here's some other stuff that struck me about the episode:



- Murdock and Face sit really close together, even when there's a lot of room.
 






- The girl seemed like a prototype Sarah Connor character to me (Sarah Connor at the end of Terminator 1, before she goes a bit crazy in Terminator 2). I liked her character very much. She was strong and commanding but still feminine. 

- I really liked BA trying to help Face out in the fight scene by initially trying to tear his bars apart or whatever he was doing. And that was good that Murdock was giving Face moral support, but Hannibal - I was like, "wow, Hannibal must have a lot of faith that Face can win this fight, but at the same time that bad guy is huge and Face really may get pounded, so he is taking a big risk!".  But now I know Hannibal engineered the whole thing, so that's nice he really does care about Face and wasn't being careless with him. 

- I liked how Hannibal and Face joined in with Murdock's making-a-movie riff - how Hannibal plays along (he says something about set dressing?) and how Face says "I love this movie" and then the way he says "i HATE this MOVIE" but then says he likes the leading lady.
It's nice that they're all sharing in Murdock's fantasy together.

- Tawnia was a bit rubbish in this episode. I kept forgetting she was in it until she would be in a scene or say a line, and I was like, "Oh right, Tawnia," then, I'd promptly forget about her again. She seemed to have lost all her sassy-ness that she had in previous episodes, which was a shame... especially in the scene in Face's flat. But I guess she was pretty worried. 

- Tawnia's fiance looked kind of like Face, I thought.... I'm probably reading too much into this, but Face and Tawnia do seem to be quite close - that episode where they first meet and Face tries to seduce her in her flat before he gets thrown out the balcony.  And just the way Face says that Tawnia has been in his flat the whole morning crying her eyes out - she went to Face first. I thought it was interesting she picked someone to marry who looked like him. 

- Speaking of Face - he looked RIDICULOUS in his white shorts outfit. He looked quite nice before, and then for some reason he changed clothes - maybe to impress the girl? But those shorts were just too short. And the girl saw through him in a second - she says something like, "You dress like a playboy but you're not, you're a professional" (I forget the line). 

- Oh yeah, also loved the way Hannibal teased Face when they were taking the coffin (with Murdock inside) out of the hearse and  Hannibal pretends to have seen the film that Murdock is making. Just some nice gentle teasing from Hannibal, and his evident delight in winding Face up. Maybe he could tell that Face was a little stressed, so that was his way of telling Face not to worry so much.  

[Paper Crane Song]

May 21, 2017 14:50:32 GMT -5 amyk said:

I do like how Murdock says that he needs more after poor Face has just gone through the big fight.

 
Yeah, it's funny Murdock refers to the big fight as "ballet". That's quite a put-down. 

May 21, 2017 15:29:27 GMT -5 amyk said:

[There is no quote for this bit, I'm just still figuring out how to multiple quotes and I can't delete this bubble]

May 25, 2017 19:53:43 GMT -5 sidney said:

I don't care about Tawnia's send off.

Yeah. I totally forgot she was still in the A-Team. 

Hey, the stuff with Murdock in the coffin is good. I like that he's pushing Face. He's purposefully trying to throw a wrench into Face's scam to get him out. It's funny when he does that. He's definitely on the jazz and wanting to see Face get out of it.

Ooh, Murdock on the jazz! Not thought about that concept before. But you're right, he did seem to be deliberately trying to wind Face up. I liked his compliments to Face as he's getting into the coffin - "those eyes, that chin" and how Face smiles even though generally he was a bit stressed. 

May 25, 2017 21:44:43 GMT -5 amyk said:

Yes, the VA breakout is one of the highlights of this episode. I pretty much always enjoy it when Face is being a priest. I also like seeing the Aquamaniac again and how Face is his dialog coach. 
Yeah, Face made some really funny noises in that scene! Like he was imitating Chewbacca. I laughed a lot at that bit. All that hard work but he didn't even get the free lunch. 

May 27, 2017 17:48:41 GMT -5 amyk said:

Maybe this is an episode that appeals more to males? 

No, my husband didn't like it.... I asked him why he didn't like it, and he said there was too much interaction between the A-Team characters... and not enough welding.... or explosions... 

[amyk]

I don't know that I could ever have too much interaction between the A-Team characters!

[Paper Crane Song]

Jun 30, 2017 23:46:12 GMT -5 amyk said:

I don't know that I could ever have too much interaction between the A-Team characters!

Me too Amy!!! It's why I watch this show. It's what makes or breaks an episode. 

[sidney]

Murdock and Face were close because Dwight and Dirk were so close. I think that's what it comes down to. They like to tell how the crew would get them mixed up all the time and call them by each other's name. They were a united front against the madness that was T's and George's (alleged) egos. They just clicked with a lot in common and their chemistry really made Face and Murdock better. I don't think Murdock clicked with Fake(!)Face in the pilot. Dirk and Dwight were something special.