A Little Town With an Accent - Episode 82

[amyk]

I just finished this one. I'm giving it a 4 on the Sidney scale ("Okay). In some ways, I like it because it started out more with the feel of earlier episodes, with the big bad guys oppressing the upstanding honest small business owner. But it also feels lacking in many respects. I kind of enjoyed it more tonight than I expected to, and I'll mention the things that do save the episode for me:

1) Zack and Kelvin - I do like them.
2) The way that BA treats Kelvin and sort of takes him under his wing - so sweet.
3) "Carlos Mendoza's" prayer - funny.
4) The scene paying homage to The Public Enemy (I'm a James Cagney fan)
5) Murdock's excitement at providing service at the gas station - cute.

But I honestly think the plot is pretty lame. I think there should have been a bigger reason that Sal was trying to take over the gas stations other than him just being bored. And is he supposed to be a mobster from the 1920s or what?

I think something that could have worked but maybe would be too corny for an A-TEAM episode would have been if Murdock had a weird dream where the team was back in the 1920s and fighting real mobsters from back then, of course defending someone being oppressed by them. They could have filmed the episode in black and white (or at least the dream part of it) and I would have loved to see the team wearing suits from that time period. Yes, I think this would have worked better than what they tried to do with this particular episode.

[Bert]

Watched this one earlier today. Was boredom really the reason for Sal buying out the gas stations? I feel like I missed something.

Also RIP Murdock's truck, we hardly knew ye.

[amyk]

It's been a while since I watched this, but I thought that there was even a comment made in the episode about Sal taking over the gas stations because he was bored. That's one reason why I feel this is kind of a lame episode. Wish there had been some other reason he wanted those gas stations.

[superfandomqueen]

Jan 6, 2019 22:25:13 GMT -5 amyk said:

I just finished this one. I'm giving it a 4 on the Sidney scale ("Okay). In some ways, I like it because it started out more with the feel of earlier episodes, with the big bad guys oppressing the upstanding honest small business owner. But it also feels lacking in many respects. I kind of enjoyed it more tonight than I expected to, and I'll mention the things that do save the episode for me:

1) Zack and Kelvin - I do like them.
2) The way that BA treats Kelvin and sort of takes him under his wing - so sweet.
3) "Carlos Mendoza's" prayer - funny.
4) The scene paying homage to The Public Enemy (I'm a James Cagney fan)
5) Murdock's excitement at providing service at the gas station - cute.

But I honestly think the plot is pretty lame. I think there should have been a bigger reason that Sal was trying to take over the gas stations other than him just being bored. And is he supposed to be a mobster from the 1920s or what?

I think something that could have worked but maybe would be too corny for an A-TEAM episode would have been if Murdock had a weird dream where the team was back in the 1920s and fighting real mobsters from back then, of course defending someone being oppressed by them. They could have filmed the episode in black and white (or at least the dream part of it) and I would have loved to see the team wearing suits from that time period. Yes, I think this would have worked better than what they tried to do with this particular episode.

You say the team fighting mobsters in the twenties and all I want is a fic of that now. (I should probably admit now that I like AUs and this would be an epic AU.) The black and white image makes me think of Spider Nior from Spider-Verse.

[hasford1978]

This is one of my favourite episodes from season 4, Murdock dressed as the very old cleaning lady haha 😅
It does have a feel of the early better episodes in the entire series probably the reason why i like it and I like how BA takes the younger guy at the gas station under his wing and bonded with him.

I like Faceman's Blazer jacket in this, very smart looks like the same one he wore in Pure dee poison

[amyk]

Oh yeah, Murdock as the old cleaning lady is pretty funny.....especially the way he talks!

[Eclipse139]

I rewatched this one yesterday and I really enjoyed it.

It was definitely a more conventional A-Team story than many of the eps in season 4 - it has all the elements with the exception of Murdock flying. Although Murdock was great in the ep anyway, from his dedication to customer service at the gas staion, to going under cover as a cleaning lady and then, of course, infiltrating the mobster's meeting! It was great to see BA acknowledge just how brave that was - you could see how grateful Murdock was when Hannibal finally came to his rescue.

The show almost never has any continuity from one ep to the next, so it was great to see the truck from WHEEL OF FORTUNE again. I love protective Murdock was over it and I felt really sorry for him at the end, although it didn't seem that badly damaged so I'm sure BA could have fixed it for him!

I actually thought the idea that the old mobster was only terrorising gas stations because he was bored was interesting. Although they'd faked his death, he just couldn't seem to change his criminal ways so he was doing it for fun. I was confused as to why his furniture was so important though, but I love that Murdock immediately recognised it was mostly 18th century English antique furniture!

BA teaching Kelvin to be a mechanic was really sweet. Kelvin was obviously supposed to be a slow learner, but BA was really patient with him. He's the same with the kids at the youth centre and it's a lovely side of BA.

It's good to see Hannibal attracted to a woman who is more his equal again in this ep, instead of the young girls in bikinis he seems to lust after most of the time. Annie's a good match for him, although it seems like there's a scene missing after Annie's men arrest the team because the next thing we see is her and Hannibal in the car watching the mobsters - I assume he talked her into giving him a chance to show her what was going on.

I loved the scene when they ask Hannibal if they're one of 'the families' and he replies that they're not, they're a team. It's really heartwarming to hear him say it. I wonder if they deliberately made the penultimate ep of Season 4 like this (almost like a homage to the show with all the elements that make up the eps we love) because they weren't sure if they were going to get renewed? The final ep of the season - SOUND OF THUNDER - is very different and designed to set up the new premise for a potential Season 5 (with Tia) so I wonder if they wanted to make sure they made one last 'traditional' episode?

[amyk]

I don't feel like we mention Annie when we talk about "love interests" for Hannibal. I guess they don't really play anything up too much about that in this episode, but yeah, Annie could be a good match for Hannibal (although I still like him with Dr. Maggie). Wasn't the fire chief also named Annie in FIRE???

[Eclipse139]

Yes, Amy, both characters are called Annie. It must be second only to Jennifer as the most popular name in the show!

They didn't make much of the potential love interest aspect (thank goodness, because it would have overshadowed the episode), but Hannibal seemed to be instantly attracted to her and flirted openly with her when she first arrived at the gas station. I think he likes her because she's a strong, intelligent woman - much like Dr. Maggie. Although a girl in a bikini always catches his eye and he enjoys spending time with them while they fawn over him, I can't imagine he would ever want to embark on a real relationship with a woman like that.