A-Team Episode 3×16

“Champ!”

• Location: Los Angeles, California
• Tank: No
• Disguises: Paramedic, Jimmy Pearl
• Scam: Access to Bad Guy lair as cable guy
• Flight: No
• Fixation: Boxing Trainer
• Flips: 0
• Fee: Profits made from selling Markers (I actually have no idea what this means, but Hannibal seems happy)
• Quote: “Some people are connosieurs of wine, some are into art, me… need I say more?” – Face, speaking to what he knows best
• Bonus Quote: “Right now, we’re running a special introductory offer for this month only” – It’s nice to know at least cable TV has not changed one bit in 35 years.
• Who is that?? Jimmy Lennon Sr., Announcer. And Mr. T, Volcano Johnson. Hint: they were Announcer and Boxer somewhere else, too…

Drug Lords, woo-hoo, our favorite! Hey, how often am I going to be able to open an essay with that phrase? Gotta take advantage of it when I can! This week, one of our top-three 80’s bad guys are back as some drug lords are trying to get a new operation off the ground–and what better way to fund a new drug smuggling operation than with gambling winnings from a fixed boxing match?

Now the bad guys are also strong-arming a local boxer into taking the dive for them, but none of that is really important. What’s important is we turn B.A. into a boxer this episode. I mean what a natural Mr. T is as a boxer! Someone should really put him in a movie in that role. Maybe if they made some kind of sequel to Rocky or something.

Anyway, B.A. will be boxing, but before that, some confusing stuff with gambling and markers happens–I confess, I did some research, and I still have no idea how he made money off of this transaction. My best guess is Hannibal did the equivalent of a “short sell” only with a gambling debt. Anyway, maybe my reader can clue me in. Meanwhile, here’s a sweet picture of Face blowing a perfect smoke ring (the shadow of the ring was a nice touch) (a smoking doctor was also a nice touch–oh, 1980’s, you were so cool).

Hannibal breaks into a safe and steals some tapes, then it’s off to the bad guy’s seller to scam our way into their place and rig their TV so they think the fight’s going how it should. B.A. is supposed to go down, against the odds, but of course being a good guy, he won’t do that. And being bad guys, they’ve spiked his water to ensure he does. And being a good guy on the A-Team, he defeats the drugging through sheer will power and takes down his opponent. The bad guys conveniently converge on the locker room, our heroes beat’em up, and it’s slammer time for slimeballs.

I know B.A. was the star of this ep, but I gotta say, Face is a man of many talents. Once again, the writers did their homework (mostly) and the medical techno-babble is actually (mostly) a real thing. Not only can face spout mostly-appropriate, complex medical terms, but he can take a woman’s measurements from 50 yards with only a pair of binoculars, and he can blow the most exquisite smoke rings from a pipe (maybe that’s easy, I don’t know, but that ring is no CG effect). I’m not sure where Face went to school, but he sure learned a lot of useful stuff.