A-Team Episode 2×04
“Bad Time on the Border”
- Location: Mexico
- Tank: Bad Guy’s car
- Disguises: Mexican Guy
- Scam: Helicopter (executed by Murdock)
- Flight: No (though in hindsight, it may have been better than the boat)
- Fixation: Moby Dick, Herman the Cockroach
- Flips: 0
- Fee: NA
- Quote: “Whoever separated them isn’t big on human dignity” – Hannibal, speaking directly to 2019
- Who is that?? Marla Heasley & Jack Ging, Cherise & Taggart. Hint: stick around and you’ll see more of both of them…
The show wastes no time establishing just how awful this week’s bad guy is. He’s frighteningly callous regarding the value of human lives, and once again, I highly anticipate the Team putting him in his place. I couldn’t help but watch the truck and shudder a bit as it literally bounced over the rough terrain as it performed its duty of what today we’d call human trafficking. and look at that thing bounce
Our quote for the episode is also uncannily relevant today as Hannibal remarks on the type of person who would separate child from parent at the border. Obviously that one stayed with me, but there were some other (more light-hearted) quotes in this one, too. Murdock’s Moby Dick quotes were wonderfully (scenery-chewingly) delivered, and I also got a kick out of bad guy’s reaction to B.A.’s glowering threats with “Why don’t you call this jewelry store off me, ok?” Later, when the team opts for (is opted for by B.A.) a boat for their travel, Hannibal wryly quips, “We should have taken a plane, right B.A.?” as sea-sickness begins to overtake them.
The plan is fairly standard, find the bad guy, make him tell us the next bad guy up the chain, etc, etc, then assault the main bad guy base. It fails pretty spectacularly as Hannibal whips out an M-16, blowing his cover in the big reveal–only to find he has zero support (the rest of the team is waylaid by a busted van).
So I know it was the 80’s, and this is just a simple action TV show, but I have to point out it was a little odd watching B.A. befriend the little girl in the beginning. We all know B.A. has a soft spot for helping kids, but it did feel a like it wandered into “don’t talk to strangers” territory. Equally questionable was that later we learn they’ve apparently left the girl with the local floozies on the boat next door. Ah well, 80’s TV, what can ya do.
With Hannibal captured, Murdock takes charge with a plan even Hannibal later has a hard time imagining was his. Naturally they build a tank, and I believe this is the first time a bad guy has ever gotten to watch actually gotten to watch the team build a tank (out of his car, no less). This tank was pretty cool–a sort of demolition derby muscle car. As we saw recently, the team now seems to keep dynamite on hand. The dynamite/hubcap frisbees were an unconventional touch and made for some excellent stuff blowing up. I love how the boys can bring an entire war with them in a car and then unload it on the bad guys.
The second prong of Murdock plan involves him bring air support and I loved the rambling, ranting, red scare/nuclear war/Communist plot scheme he used to get hold of a chopper. “Big Macs today, borscht tomorrow!”
The final battle takes place during “Molotov cocktail hour!” and as always, the helicopter stunt work is a highlight with a pair of bad buys getting blown to the ground by an extremely low pass. Good ol’ fashioned A-Team action brings this particularly nasty bad guy to justice!