The White Ballot - Episode 26

[Deleted]

Original Air Date: December 6, 1983

Written By: Jeff Ray

Sidney's Rating Scale: 7

this is one of the weaker episodes in S2 for me - that being said it still ranks a 7 but other S2 episodes are just so much better.   THis episode marks the last appearance of Amy.    Full disclosure - I used to not be an Amy fan but with age comes wisdom I guess and she has earned a special place in my heart.   I think she was treated unfairly on the show and I am sad and upset that she was not given a proper send off.     At least a scene with the guys saying goodbye to her as she goes overseas.    What do you all think?    Did Amy deserve better or was this the best the show could do considering the tensions behind the scenes with her and the guys?

I did not get a chance to watch this yet - I really need to get into the habit of watching my DVDs for these viewings.    So this is just from memory but this is the episode with Murdock climbing into the ceilings singing "ceilings", right?    I do like that scene.     

I also think that Face looks mighty nice in his campaign photo - I'd vote for him!    But it is funny that he lost to the corrupt sheriff 

[quartermaster22]

Jan 23, 2017 6:08:27 GMT -5 @ladyjay said:

So this is just from memory but this is the episode with Murdock climbing into the ceilings singing "ceilings", right?    I do like that scene.     

LOL yes this is the one!

I thought it was an above average episode for Season 2. Nowhere near the best of Season 2 of course, but a solid episode nevertheless. Episodes that prominently feature Decker create a great three-way tension (A-Team vs. villains vs. Decker). I love the ending where they nail Decker with Hannibal's "pincers movement" and Hannibal offers his classic quote for Amy's newspaper.

[amyk]

One of my sentimental favorites, particularly because of me and mizhowlinmad’s fanfiction script CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE A-TEAM KIND, which is sort of an epilogue to this one. I give this one a 9 on the Sidney scale. And of course it is Amy Allen’s last episode. By the way, they could have used her close run-in with Col. Decker as an excuse for her to have to get out of the country and separate ties with the team, since after this it would be pretty impossible for her to continue to pretend she wasn’t connected with the team. So yes, they could have even had a send-off, with them even encouraging her to take the overseas job and stay away at least for a year or two.

So what keeps this one from being a 10? The main thing that I really dislike about it is the way that not only BA treats the man at the restaurant at the beginning (“in a cup fool!”) but also this time I realized that Amy also treats him very badly, making fun of his nose and his toupee. Granted, she thought it was Hannibal, but still….and then Face also makes fun of his toupee. And with BA growling and scowling at him, I just really feel sorry for that man. He is probably very self-conscious about his appearance already, if he’s wearing that toupee, and then to be treated so unfairly by the team just seems really wrong.

Apart from that, though, I love the rest of the episode. But when the team was about to be captured by the deputies, could they have just held the sheriff hostage and made the deputies lay down their guns? Maybe they just didn’t have time to grab the sheriff or maybe they thought that they would still perhaps be shot at, especially those not holding the sheriff?

I do love Face running for sheriff as Joe Morgan. Still wonder why the real Joe Morgan would never have filed a tax return….answered that for myself in my fanfiction script, but it makes you wonder if maybe he came back even after earning a silver star and then just ended up living on the streets or something. Another thought I had watching the show was “what if the real Joe Morgan is also a part of a fugitive A-team and is in reality, himself, a military criminal?” I think the show missed a great opportunity to do a follow-up episode (or maybe a 2-parter) where the team did go in search of the real Joe Morgan, perhaps even to get him to become sheriff of Parkland. (What would happen now in Parkland, i.e. who would be the sheriff? Would they hold another election?)

I always love the way that the team is going to move that table in the place where they are captured and then the guard is coming over to the door so Murdock, BA, and Hannibal just try to act all nonchalant. And who doesn’t love “Ceilings…..nothing more than ceilings……”? Well, maybe younger people don’t know the song “Feelings” these days? In that case, they may not think “Ceilings” is as funny as I do.

And like Quartermaster, I also love the pincer movement and Hannibal’s classic quote about how the team is proud to help reduce the rampant violence so prevalent in society! (Don’t know if I remember the exact quote right at the moment, but I think that pretty much sums it up.)

[sidney]

Murdock didn't fly the plane. He had the video camera. Who was flying the plane?

[amyk]

I think it was just a commercial flight, you know one of those very small domestic flights? There were other people getting off the plane besides just Face and Amy. So I think it was just an ordinary pilot. They didn't need Murdock for that, and it would have just created more problems for them to have to scam a plane for this. I think they flew a legitimate, albeit small, airline.

[amyk]

I watched this one tonight. I do love it, but still really hate BA's attitude toward the guy in the diner. In fact, they are all basically mean to that guy - even Amy, although she thinks it is Hannibal. Face also makes a comment about his "rug" and BA is not only mean to him when he comes in the door, but also later. When the guy serves BA's coffee, it is as though BA doesn't even want it or something. I don't remember exactly what he did, but he just seemed really annoyed with that man, who was only doing his job. It just seems out of character with the way BA usually is towards the average hard-working folks.

Also, where does Hannibal get the food he brings along to the team when he arrives in the sheriff's car, holding the sheriff at gunpoint? When he jumped onto the car, he didn't have the food. Did they stop somewhere along the way to go through a drive-through???

[HoudiniDerek]

Watched this one tonight.

My oldest has high respect for police, so he's always a little concerned when they are bad guys. He also wanted to know why Decker wasn't part of the team.

I like this one. Hannibal trying to convince Face that he's the best candidate to run while Murdock is offering comments that makes it seem like Face will lose and/or die. Classic scene in the van.

I wish they had done more with Amy. She could have been out campaigning and stuff too.

My wife HATES the scene with Amy and the diner guy. She cringes and can never watch it.

I think it's funny, but I can see how it could also make the guy self conscious.

I like that the sheriff was smart enough to know that they would go after the whiskey truck. I don't know why Hannibal didn't shoot the tires out on the big rig though. Much easier to hit something in front of you than behind you.

Great car crash. A complete flipover so the team could pop out firing guns.

When they put the bad guys in the truck, there were only four. They forgot about the one they left in the office.

I wish Murdock would have focused on politics the whole episode or his harmonica. The harmonica felt tacked on.

I wish the last few episodes had come first and then RANGE RIDER was the end for Amy. They gave her a reason there to stay behind. Here, it just kind of ends for her.

My youngest two were incredibly bored with this one.

[amyk]

RANGE RIDER could have been a nice send-off for Amy, but I don't see her as the type to give up a career in journalism in order to stay behind with a guy that she really didn't know all that long. I don't really seeing her settling down on the reservation with Daniel Running Bear, as much as I love him.

I agree that the harmonica is just sort of something that appears and does not seem to have a lot of purpose in this episode. For me, this episode is more about Face probably than any of the other team members. I think he really gets a chance to shine in this one.

[HoudiniDerek]

Apr 23, 2020 21:53:54 GMT -5 amyk said:

RANGE RIDER could have been a nice send-off for Amy, but I don't see her as the type to give up a career in journalism in order to stay behind with a guy that she really didn't know all that long. I don't really seeing her settling down on the reservation with Daniel Running Bear, as much as I love him.

I agree that the harmonica is just sort of something that appears and does not seem to have a lot of purpose in this episode. For me, this episode is more about Face probably than any of the other team members. I think he really gets a chance to shine in this one.

I don't think she would have given it up either, but it gave her a reason to be gone immediately. Then, when Tawnia showed up and announced Amy had moved on, we know that she didn't stay put.

I was disappointed we didn't see more of Face. A campaign rally would have been fun for example. He wasn't even out campaigning since that seemed to fall more towards B.A. and Murdock. We see him at the Lounge, but that was a different type of example.

I do love that this was Face's plan and then he got stuck with it.

[amyk]

Was it really Face's plan? I guess I don't remember that.

[HoudiniDerek]

He mentions in the cafe that "We could start by running our own candidate for Sheriff." And B.A. goes, "I think Hannibal would love a plan like that." But when the reporter friend mentions all the deaths, Face isn't sure they can find someone dumb enough to run. Flash forward to Hannibal opening up a file of Face and choosing the picture. So it seems like Hannibal took the idea and fleshed out the plan.

[amyk]

Or maybe Hannibal and Face both came up with the same plan!

[hasford1978]

I think Face came up with this plan while discussing with the client in the cafe, great episode which i watched last night..
Clifton James's second and last appreance as a corrupt bad guy which he played so well.. this is such a great story and was well written and well directed, I always felt it was a shame that Amy didn't get a proper send off like Tawina did

I love the scene where Murdock goes to pretend to kick that lady up the backside when she refused a leaflet for Joe Morgan's vote 😁 I wonder of that was written in or Dwight did that himself?

[amyk]

Clifton James plays a great corrupt bad guy. I would not have minded him being in an episode every season or so. Although he played similar characters in both episodes, I felt he brought enough to the roles that they didn't seem to be exactly the same character.

[hasford1978]

He also played a similar character in Live and let die didn't he, Roger Moore's first outing as Bond?