Water, Water Everywhere - Episode #24

[Deleted]

I know I am late posting and I am sorry but here you go:

Original Air Date: November 22, 1983

Written By: Jo Swerling, Jr & Sidney Ellis

Sidney's Rating Scale:  9

This episode is an 9 for me  - although I hate hate hate Murdocks "wee folks" bit  - I don't know why but it comes across as really creepy to me - there are some great moments that more then make up for that.    Of course Corky Duke - I wish Corky got more air time than the wee folks.    Face's speech about how apart they are social misfits but together they are something special.   I love the whole 22 bit and Hannibals comment that they rehearse.   I love that they are helping fellow veterans and it unless I missed it - it looks like they did it free of charge.

What are your thoughts?

[amyk]

I love this one. I would give it a 10, except that I don’t really love Murdock’s “wee people.” Other than that, though, it is such an excellent episode – 2 great scams (the one with Corky Duke as well as the “effluvium” scam), great clients, Face’s wonderful talk about them being social misfits when they’re apart but “something else” when they are together….love it! I also love that the handicapped veterans have a lot to do and really engage in the action alongside of the team, rather than the team just doing everything for them. Face also has perhaps his best “flying Face tackle” in one of the fight scenes…it seems like he is really hurtling through the air so fast! I also love it when BA is doing his “happy dance” when they strike the well. And also his line “make ‘em by hand, break ‘em by hand!”

P.S. Oh, I forgot to write....since I won't give this one a 10, I do give it a 9!

[Myrtle Groggins]

I have been wanting to note this for a while: The show deserves some kudos for casting disabled actors.

[quartermaster22]

WATER WATER ranks lower for me as a Season Two episode. The biggest flaw for me is that The Team is on a mission where they are performing a relatively menial task as opposed to a mission that is an actual adventure.

For the record, the following are examples of missions that do not qualify as adventures:

1. Driving watermelons to farmer's market
2. Forming a labor union
3. Drilling for water
4. Building a meeting house (without using violence, no less!)
5. Doing a photo shoot of phony fashion designs
6. Booking Boy George into a rowdy country-western venue

So my problem with WATER is that it just doesn't rank up there with the best of Season 2 (RANGE RIDER, BATTLE OF BEL AIR, SAY IT WITH BULLETS, HARDER THAN IT LOOKS, DEADLY MANEUVERS, CURTAIN CALL). This episode feels like one of the earlier versions of The Team helping a small business against an evil real estate developer, which has never been my favorite TAT formula.

But let's instead focus on the positive. Alan Fudge is an effective villain in his second of three appearances on the show. I love the effluvium scam, the Corky Duke scam, and Face's scene with Amanda (a young Robin Riker, who would appear in many sitcoms).

And of course...

"There's nothing like a good ol' twenty-two."
"Twenty... TWO!"

By the way, for all my fellow TAT fans from other countries who may have missed the reference...

During the Corky Duke scam, Face says "I guess he can't eat turkey." His comment makes sense if you know that this episode originally aired right before the American holiday of Thanksgiving!

[Deleted]

Jan 6, 2017 14:27:13 GMT -5 Myrtle Groggins said:

I have been wanting to note this for a while: The show deserves some kudos for casting disabled actors.

Absolutely!   And I love that they were not portrayed as helpless - yes they needed the ATeam's help to fight the bad guys - but they held their own against them too.  Plus they were working and renovating their business together.   

[amyk]

Jan 6, 2017 14:27:13 GMT -5 Myrtle Groggins said:

I have been wanting to note this for a while: The show deserves some kudos for casting disabled actors.

Do you think the actor playing the guy in the wheelchair (who I think may be Jamie?) is actually disabled? I think I've previously noted that his legs seemed very thin, such as they would be if his muscles were atrophied, but I didn't pay any attention to that the last time.

[Myrtle Groggins]

Jan 7, 2017 19:02:07 GMT -5 amyk said:

Jan 6, 2017 14:27:13 GMT -5 Myrtle Groggins said:

I have been wanting to note this for a while: The show deserves some kudos for casting disabled actors.

Do you think the actor playing the guy in the wheelchair (who I think may be Jamie?) is actually disabled? I think I've previously noted that his legs seemed very thin, such as they would be if his muscles were atrophied, but I didn't pay any attention to that the last time.

Yes, I read that he ran wheelchair marathons. Pretty damn well too, won international events in the 80s.

[Myrtle Groggins]

I like the episode a lot - it's a very solid effort. One of those that I always feel like watching.

Thinking about the Corky Duke scene, I was wondering if Dwight Schultz ad-libbed the race to the door, and Dirk Benedict quickly went along.

[amyk]

Jan 7, 2017 21:45:52 GMT -5 Myrtle Groggins said:

Jan 7, 2017 19:02:07 GMT -5 amyk said:

Do you think the actor playing the guy in the wheelchair (who I think may be Jamie?) is actually disabled? I think I've previously noted that his legs seemed very thin, such as they would be if his muscles were atrophied, but I didn't pay any attention to that the last time.

Yes, I read that he ran wheelchair marathons. Pretty damn well too, won international events in the 80s.

Oh, that's really cool! Thanks for that information.

[HoudiniDerek]

Watched this tonight. The kids were curious about the handicapped veterans, so we answered questions about that. They were also surprised that B.A. could break the gun. Other than that, they weren't interested again.

I like the villain too. I like both Face scams, although sometimes I pull that charade with someone. "Last one inside the door is Corky Duke." Most have no idea what I'm talking about.

My wife loves how there are never more than ten people in these little towns.

I agree that this is not one of my favorites, although I do like that Murdock brings in the clients this time. I'm surprised Hannibal let Murdock talk to the veterans about how their lack of money is something the team likes though.

I was very surprised too. Is this the first one where we don't see the bad guys arrested or anything? Seemed anticlimactic.

[amyk]

Yes, it is pretty funny that the only people who seem to live in this town are the three veterans, their lady friend, and the bad guys.

[HoudiniDerek]

Apr 17, 2020 22:48:47 GMT -5 amyk said:

Yes, it is pretty funny that the only people who seem to live in this town are the three veterans, their lady friend, and the bad guys.

And if the bad guy owns the county, how in the world did he forget to buy this little rundown property before the veterans got there?

[amyk]

And why do the veterans think that this is a good business opportunity? Who are they expecting to be their customers? Oh, I hope their business succeeded after all the effort they had to go through in getting the A-Team to fight off the bad guys. But really who would be coming to this town and giving them any business?

[HoudiniDerek]

Apr 18, 2020 18:16:20 GMT -5 amyk said:

And why do the veterans think that this is a good business opportunity? Who are they expecting to be their customers? Oh, I hope their business succeeded after all the effort they had to go through in getting the A-Team to fight off the bad guys. But really who would be coming to this town and giving them any business?

Agreed. You hear the lady say that there is a bank, the cafe, and the hotel. But I never saw a bank and the sheriff never came around. Maybe they have some great camping or hiking in the area? I don't see how they would make it either.

Makes me wonder why we never seen an episode where Face runs the numbers for them and just tells them that they are going to be out of business by the end of the month. At least the taxi service made sense.

[Eclipse139]

Rewatched this one today and it's another great ep - I feel I'm saying this for every episode I rewatch!

I love that the clients are disabled veterans and that Hannibal makes a point of saying how much they've sacrificed for their country. It's great to see them get involved in fighting the baddies too. It's quite fun that it's Murdock who pursuades them that the team will help in the first place. I was confused about the two MPs walking around the garden at the VA hospital, though - were they there keeping an eye on Murdock, or for some other reason? Murdock and Hannibal (in disguise) weren't that bothered by their presence.

Face and Murdock's scam at the water plant is great as is the conversation the team have about rehearsing their fights.

So this is Amy's last ep - she's only in about three or four scenes. I assume they already knew she was leaving and so cut her part right down. It's a sad end for the character, really. I actually enjoyed her being there in S1, I thought she brought something to the team dynamics, but not so much in S2, especially after the first couple of episodes. I guess they just ran out of ideas for the character and if it's true that she wanted to do more fight scenes or whatever then I think she was always going to be out of luck!