A-Team Episode 1×10
“West Coast Turnaround”
- Location: Green Valley, California
- Tank: Amy’s Car
- Disguises: Hospital Attendant
- Scam: Amy’s Car (from Amy)
- Flight: No
- Fixation: Billy the (invisible) Dog
- Flips: 3
- Fee: 20% of a Watermelon Crip (down from 30%)
- Quote: “He said ‘I love it when a plan comes together'” – Face, translating for a punched-out, half-conscious Hannibal
- Who is that?? I didn’t exactly recognize anyone, but Hint: at least four of our guest stars show up in future eps of The A-Team as well as in at least one of Knight Rider.
Three flips this episode–and one is our heroes! Don’t worry, they climbed out unharmed. We also got a truck flip, that was pretty cool. The driver actually did a pretty good job keeping it under control, even on the embankment, but I think we all knew there was only one way for this scene to end. And sure, it only landed on its side and not completely upside down, but it was a truck so I’m going to give it a pass.
Our client this ep is another Vietnam War veteran. It’s always nice to see the team able to share that bond with another and this won’t be the last time it’s with a client. Speaking of our guest stars, we have an abundance of them in this episode and no less than four will show up again (Michael Alldrege, who plays Whitaker–the name is only used once, it took me a long time to figure out who that character was–will show up again just six episodes from now). Many guest stars made the rounds in the 80’s, so you’ll see them show up on Knight Rider, as well as shows that aren’t as cool as The A-Team or Knight Rider.
Face and Hannibal share credit on a scam to lift a couple of trucks from our bad guys. The routine opens with Hannibal asking for a volunteer to be a cop and Murdock’s sarcasm-drenched reply of “Oh me–me, me, me. Oh, please me.” was pretty great. As was the almost Looney Tunes method in which our heroes make their final escape: Hannibal puts his cigar in his mouth, knowing full-well the bad guy won’t stand for it. Sure enough, he yanks it out and throws it on the ground. Hannibal reciprocates in a manner straight out of a Laurel & Hardy film, casting bad guy’s cigarette to the ground–and into a puddle of gasoline, which of course was the plan from the start.
The episode closes with one of the more surreal gags of the show, with Murdock’s invisible dog Billy dragging him off screen.