The Trouble With Harry - Episode 81

[amyk]

Watched this one tonight. Only giving it a 3 on the Sidney scale ("Of Limited Quality"). It just does not feel right to me. Even the resolution with Harry isn't so heartwarming as it could have been. Is he now still on the run for the killing of Richie's brother, even though Richie is apparently going to jail? And if he murdered Richie's brother, isn't Richie going to either have someone else come after Harry or wouldn't Richie tell the cops about Harry murdering his brother and have them go after him, since he himself can't get his revenge? I think they somehow should have had more resolution to this, like Harry confessed all to the police, he gets some kind of plea-bargain deal for helping turn in Richie and because he didn't really mean to kill Richie's brother, etc.

Even the stuff with Murdock and Face got a bit old to me in this episode.

Also I always find it sort of cringe-worthy that they even have Refrigerator Perry in this one, particularly since he really has no significant role. And why are BA and Hulk Hogan at the end acting like they are big pals with Refrigerator Perry or something, the way they are giving him a hard time for not giving them any Bears hats?

[Eclipse139]

I reached this episode on my rewatch and it's one I have no recollection of at all, so it was like watching a new ep for me.

I think the establishing scene in black and white is a bit too long. I might have been better if this scene had been used later in the ep as Harry having a flashback/dream instead so we could have got into the story sooner. I did love the set up with BA helping Jeffrey at the youth centre and Hannibal quickly realising he was in some kind of trouble. I also loved the sensitive way Hannibal treated Harry when they found him and took him to hospital. It would have been easy to paint him simply as a 'bad person' because he was drunk, but instead they portrayed his alcoholism quite sympathetically.

I didn't know Hulk Hogan was in another ep, so I was surprised to see him return. It's a fun idea that Hannibal has arranged an acting role for him, even though the dialogue he has with BA about the quality of the script (or something like that) is really clunky! Hulk Hogan does seem to fit into the storyline of the ep (and the first one he was in) more naturally than some of the other celebrity guests in Season 4, but like you, Amy, I'm not sure why they needed to have 'The Refrigerator' in it too - I've vaguely heard of him, but I thought he might be another wrestler until I realised he was an (American) footballer!

It always feels wrong when the team are separated for the whole ep - even Hannibal and BA didn't work together that much because Hannibal seemed to favour chasing after the baddies with Hulk Hogan instead. I like the idea that Face would ask Murdock to go on a double date and buy him new clothes for the occasion (although the identical twins idea is a bit cringeworthy - as are the horrid, shiny suits! ), but seeing them repeatedly getting caught by the various baddies gets annoying after a while. And I don't like the idea that they keep getting beaten up, they can usually handle themselves better than that in a fight - we even see them with injuries/blood and that hardly ever happens! Having said that, Dwight and Dirk played the comedy in those scenes brilliantly and I was genuinely laughing.

You're right about the ending, Amy. It's disappointing and quite confusing and doesn't live up to the promise of the set up. There's no real resolution to the story and Harry doesn't seem to have redeemed himself at all.

[amyk]

I think Refrigerator was on the Chicago Bears, and so maybe Mr T, being from Chicago, just wanted to have him on the show or something. It just seems silly that he is even in this episode to me.

[Eclipse139]

That could be the connection then, Amy. Maybe they already knew each other? You're absolutely right, there was no point to him being in this ep, especially not when it already had Hulk Hogan as the celebrity guest star.