I watched this one tonight...I only give it a 4 on the Sidney scale, because it is just okay to me, but not what I would probably call "good." There are aspects to it which never make sense to me, namely who are those guys at Bach's stereo and why are they monitoring the VA? Were they connected with Joshua? And I hate, hate, hate the fact that Hannibal is just off playing Hugh Heffner with those twins in Rio when one of his men is in real trouble.
YES, that bugged me so much. That's another thing that is just... not characteristic of Hannibal. I suspect this is one of those episodes they needed to leave GP out of (for whatever reason), but... wow. For Hannibal to just be like, “eh, it's nothing, good luck” is... not him. I tell myself he thought they were exaggerating and thought Murdock was just messing around? (which, actually, is another sad blow for Murdock, if he can get in major trouble but it's maybe assumed that he's just being flaky or playing a trick somehow-- which is not something Murdock would do, not with something like that.)
Judy Joy is kind of funny. She's a bit of a bright spot in this episode. I still wish Murdock had gone with Face to Hawaii instead of Jody, but on the other hand, I could see Face taking Jody over Murdock.
Oh, that would've been a fun twist... not sure how he would've pulled that off since it was Murdock's trip, but I could see him coming up with some BS “excuse” why he would think Murdock wouldn't have wanted to/couldn't go and he didn't want to let the trip go to waste...
I actually love Jody Joy. I totally agree that she is a bright spot. She is a bright spot for Murdock - period.
I really don't classify her in with all the two-dimensional women that guest star in the series. The character is what she is. She's not inconsequential nor is she trying to appear to be a deeper character and falling flat. She's meant to be fun and a good time. Murdock enjoys her. She brings such a positive outlook to things and just makes him feel good about himself. I like her a lot.
I didn't like her at all, and I didn't see her as a bright spot-- just an annoyance. There were a lot of reasons I didn't like her. The biggest one was that she was a fame hanger-on who was only interested in Murdock because he was on TV (and in the end she made out like a bandit and got to go on the trip, which may have also been part of her hope). Plus, she was dippy. “OMG, bad guys are trying to kill us; this is so exciting!” as if she's not bright enough to understand there's real danger involved and thinks it's just a game or she's just playing in an action movie (I almost would've liked a scene where she gets hurt and realizes, “Oh man, this is actually real,” and doesn't think it's so fun anymore). I was surprised Murdock went for someone so shallow and dorky (despite the fact that he's on the dorky side himself, but not in the same way, and usually not when the chips are down). (She did have a nice car, though-- is that a GTO?)
The more I watch this episode, the less it bothers me about Hannibal being gone. Yes, I think it hurt the dynamic some, but I also think it was fun to see how Face and B.A. work together as a team. We got so little of that in the series that this episode is fun to watch in that respect.
Yeah, I did like that aspect. I know it sounds bad to say “it's nice to get rid of Hannibal/GP sometimes and let the other guys shine,” but... (and I do love Hannibal, but, I also feel this way.)
And I admit that it was pretty funny when he told that nurse at the VA that he was part of Murdock's fantasy weekend!
OMG. I forgot about that part. It was hilarious. I love it when we do see that B.A. has a sense of humor.
Makes you wonder if Face had a list of unused scams in the van for such things and B.A. found them. Much like he used to have the code cards in the pilot.
Haha. I could totally see them having a list of scams. (I mean, what else are you going to do on long van trips... and if I was on the team, I could see me coming up with ideas during times of insomnia... Face would probably get sick of me, lol)
But I also like the idea that B.A. can come up with his own ideas. Especially since he's watched Face enough times.
I think I would prefer that the mission truly be about an international situation (even the fictional country of "Barak") rather than them just wanting to rob that casino using that fancy helicopter.
Yeah, I found that whole scenario weird. Really, the whole plot felt sort of contrived. Like they were like, “we want Murdock to get kidnapped... hm, what could we have as a plot for that?” But it was fun to see Murdock playing with the helicopter. I was surprised though when he blew up that building... doesn't seem like something he'd do, destroy stuff just for the sake of it, OR believe bad guys when they claimed it was unoccupied...
They should have come up with a better reason for Hannibal's absence. If the explanation had been something more serious than just hanging out with some girls (which didn't sit right for Hannibal's character anyway) it wouldn't have been so bad that he didn't come straight back when Murdock was in trouble.
Yes, precisely. I'm not sure where he would've been, but maybe they couldn't reach him. Or maybe he had to have surgery or something and was stuck in the hospital (they could even say the nurses wouldn't let them call/see him or something-- although it might've been fun for that to be the case and Face to come up with a scam to get in to him anyway, lol).
There's a lot that doesn't make sense in this episode, but you just have to overlook it - I assume TV gameshows aren't/weren't broadcast live?
Yes, I still wonder how Murdock got away with being on TV when I assume he got scammed out of the VA. I mean, I found the fact that he was on a game show weird anyway; this seems more like an S5 “oh crap ratings falling must work in something else current in pop culture to try to save it” gimmick. It sort of fit well with Murdock's personality-- he's smart enough to pull it off (though I'd see him as more of a “Jeopardy!” guy myself-- I can just see him driving everyone nuts studying up; he could spend a whole episode just on that and actually be on the show at the end), and quirky enough to want to be on a game show. But I'm not sure why they worked it in at all-- it really had nothing to do with the rest of the plot. It's not like they needed it to be how he got on the bad guys' radar; they knew about him because of his military record, not because he was a face on daytime TV.
I thought it was sweet that he chose prizes for Hannibal, BA and Face with some of his prize money.
I loved this. It was so cute.
I'm not sure I had thought about this, but yes, I believe the episode does imply that BA has stayed with Face before, and I also love that. I really think the relationship between those two could have been explored more. They actually seem more like opposites to me than even Murdock and BA.
And I wonder why. On one hand, it seems implied in places that the guys don't see each other much between jobs. In other places, like this, it seems they do and certainly from their interactions it seems they're close. I mean, surely they all have other friends besides each other, so they'd have other people to stay with if need be (except Murdock), yet B.A.'s staying with Face. (Why not at Hannibal's place, if Hannibal isn't there? He could house-sit. Then again, we have NO IDEA where or how Hannibal lives {or B.A., for that matter}.)
BA has said before that he usually lives in a cheap motel and I assume he has to move regularly to avoid being recognised, so maybe there are times when he hasn't been able to arrange anywhere to live so he goes to stay with Face for a few days.
Oh, I don't remember ever hearing about this. I wonder why he does? I mean, I know, there's the whole “on the run from the military” thing, but in most things they don't seem that cautious-- after all, there's a whole episode where pretty much everyone who knows them knows they're the A-Team-- so it doesn't make sense. Unless they're implying B.A. doesn't make enough to be able to afford a regular apartment (get together security deposit and first/last month's rent) which also doesn't make sense-- surely he has a regular job (I imagine he does mechanic work or something) on top of what the team makes (even if very little), and I bet he spends plenty of coin on his van...
I do think that sometimes Murdock pushes BA to his limit, whereas Face does not purposely try to get under BA's skin.
Do you think Face is kind of scared of BA? I don't think Murdock is at all afraid of BA.
Oh yeah, Murdock clearly gets a kick out of annoying B.A. And I'm sure B.A. knows it, but can't help getting het up anyway...
I think Face, who's sometimes almost humorously cautious, is probably somewhat afraid of B.A., just because they all know about his temper and he's not taking any chances (I think even Hannibal is slightly cautious of it). I don't know if he'd actually beat them up or not, though-- he threatens a lot, and might do stuff like throwing Murdock in the water, but I don't know if he'd actually haul off and hit them (well, there's Hannibal in the first episode, but I still half-discount anything in the first episode or first few episodes of a show when they're still getting plot points and backstories and characters settled-- I don't think we see B.A. actually hit any of them after that, right?).
Murdock-- I think even he won't push B.A. *too* far. There's one episode where he's annoying B.A. or standing up to him about something, and B.A. gets in his face, and Murdock holds for a minute and stares him down, but then suddenly backs down. I think he wouldn't have if he was certain B.A. wouldn't do anything to him.