There's Always a Catch. - Episode 23

[Deleted]

Original Air Date: November 15, 1983

Written By: Richard Christian Matheson and Thomas E Szollosi

Sidney's Rating Scale: 8.    This episode is an 8 for me.   I love Therm and the whole fish vibe thing Murdock has going on.   Love Murdock dressed in the Army uniform - he's adorable.     Love Murdock and Amy ( but mostly Murdock ) saving the guys again.   I love the montage scene where Face holds Murdock's head underwater to test the scuba gear.    I always wondered if that was scripted or improv.    And I love Decker  - always love Decker.    I love Hannibal's line to him about opening up an Army/Navy store because he is a born clerk.   HAHA

What I didn't like is the same gripe I have when Face doubts Murdock's abilities - ugh that is just so inconsistent to me especially coming from Face.  I can see BA making comments but not Face.    And I never noticed it before but Face's line about "American running out of heros".   Come on!   Murdock is a hero who has proven time and time again that he will always be there for the team - he saves them singlehandly all the time.    I guess they play it for laughs on the show but it seems out of character for Face.   But I love how Hannibal never doubts for one second.      Ok rant done.   And I am fully aware that I am completely biased when it comes to Murdock so I may be a tend sensitive when it comes to this topic 

[amyk]

I just finished this one. I give it a 7. Nothing particularly bad about it, but not in the same class as my higher-ranked episodes. Still, there's a lot that I do like about it. I don't think Face is too bad about doubting Murdock's help, but it does seem like he should have more faith in Murdock (and Amy). I enjoy the animal vibes thing, and I do like how BA says something like "Murdock, this is weird, even for you!" I also enjoy the Magnificent Templeton and Betty's responses to him.

[sidney]

I feel badly, but this is one where Murdock isn't attractive to me in a particular scene. It's after BA throws him into the water at the end and he does a fish gill thing (truthfully, I don't know what he's doing). I don't find him nice to look at here at all.

[Deleted]

don't feel badly - you don't like wet Murdock, its ok. He looks better wet with his hat on -I agree that when he takes it off, he's not as cute. But Murdock in uniform - swoon!

[sidney]

I prefer his balding head to when he has the combover in later seasons. I just didn't like wet Murdock, as you said. It made his face look sunken in and ratlike.

[Deleted]

ok that made me laugh - I'll have to watch again and see if I agree with your "ratlike" description And I hate the combover - complete agreement there

[sidney]

There are a few times throughout the series that I find Murdock very unattractive, and this is one of those moments. (Another is the punk rock look in DOUBLE HEAT and his bum in SOUND OF THUNDER when he's climbing the ladder after Tia.)

I do love the Amy/Murdock dynamic in this episode though. Did they *have* to roll around on the ground for this scam? I wonder why they chose to do that. Couldn't they have just stood in the middle of the road? (I didn't watch the episode, so I hope I'm talking about the right one.)

[Deleted]

Absolutely hate the punk rock look - ugh

I think they did the roll around or have Murdock appear to tackle Amy to make it look like Amy was in physical danger they needed to make sure the MP got out of the truck and that would seem more threatening than them just standing and arguing.

[sidney]

I guess you're right. Maybe if they just stood in the middle of the road, the MPs would have just driven around them and kept going.

[amyk]

I watched this one tonight. It's one of those that I enjoy but not likely to ever become a favorite. One thing I noticed tonight, which perhaps we have discussed before, is Murdock's anger when Thermidor is reduced to a claw. It seemed to me like he got that look in his eyes of intense anger, and it looked like real anger. I know I'm probably reading too much into this, but I thought that perhaps he was experiencing some kind of flashback and Thermidor represented someone to him who he was beside in the war but who got blown to bits right in front of him. If that is so, then the revenge he seemed to be taking out on the bad guy over Thermidor would perhaps not really be about Thermidor but rather about something that happened back in Vietnam. Not sure if any of this sounds at all plausible, and I doubt the writers had anything like it in mind. But it just made me feel more intrigued to think that maybe there really was a lot more to this "animal vibes" and Thermidor thing than Murdock just being strange. Even BA mentioned that what Murdock was doing when he was trying to channel Thermidor's vibes looked weird "even for you" (meaning even for Murdock).

I also wonder if BA had indeed injured his foot in real life or if they just wrote this all in order to have a reason for the team to be at the hospital to meet Shana.