A-Team Episode 4×16

“Cowboy George”

• Location: Dry Creek, Arizona
• Tank: No
• Disguises: Cowboy George
• Scam: Much like the previous episode, the entire ep is pretty much one, drawn-out scam (this time to make some money). More specifically, he scams Murdock into a radio station as a guest DJ.
• Flight: No
• Fixation: The Lennon Sisters are stuck in his head
• Flips: 3
• Fee: NA
• Quote: “Excuse me, I can’t play this place because it’s a certified toilet” – Boy George, who does have standards, after all.
• Who is that?? Why, it’s Boy George, of course.

It’s a simple mistake. Cowboy George/Boy George; The Forum/The Floor’em. One comedy of errors later and the A-Team now is responsible for booking Boy George at an Arizona redneck bar.

“But wait!” you say, “Rednecks will never go for Boy George, it’ll be the Blues Brothers vs. hurled bottles all over again–they’re gonna need chicken wire!” But “Ahhhhh…” I say. “You’re forgetting, this is the 80’s. Any pop act, if it’s big enough, will be universally loved.”

The rednecks are unusually eager to fill this bar for some reason, and they’re not taking no–or Boy George–for an answer, despite already having been paid. They’re also unusually well-armed, with rocket launchers and an M-60, among other things (gee, I miss Baby)*. So in comes Hannibal, that is, Cowboy George.

Next stop is the local radio station to promote the concert–I wish we’d see Face and Murdock playing scams together more often because they’re always a blast (I’m reminded of Darth Vader). The two really have great chemistry and my wife and I were busting up when Face started singing Murdock into submission with “Three Blind Mice.” Anyway, Murdock locks himself in and starts spinning the Lennon Sisters non-stop.

The bad guy plot is to knock over an armored car (hence the need to keep everyone distracted by a concert), so Boy George is going to have to hold down the fort (no problem, “Everybody likes Culture Club”) while our heroes go take care of things. In fact, the robbery and the counter attack by our heroes is all mantaged to one of his songs. Now funny thing about rednecks: we’ve seen them be the bad guys enough that they’re starting to feel like they might earn a spot in the Big Three. They haven’t yet… but you know who has? Crooked cops. Yup. Captured.

So, how’s Boy (can I call him Boy? Or Mr. George?) doing with those rednecks? Well it took a while for them to warm up (I’m pretty sure one guy picked up a chair WWF style toward the beginning), but they’re all havin’ a good ol’ time with him now, stompin’ and cheerin’. Which is not so much the case for our heroes who are either in jail being framed for the heist (did I mention the money stolen is the payroll for all the workers currently at the concert?) or being pried out of a DJ booth like spam from the can. But have no fear, Face’s lock picking kit to the rescue. They’re out, but the sheriff is dead (a rarity for this show, along with the blood shown a bit earlier during the heist) and an angry mob is on its way to the jail.

The rest of the ep is pretty cut and dry–Boy George kicks a door in, Murdock plays dress up with him, convinces the mob to let him through for the sake of his baby, then busts them all out in time to stop Beech 200 King Air N79CF from getting away. And because this is one of those musical episodes, we end it on Karma Chameleon, the only Boy George song I actually do know. Or at least know of.

*Hannibal does wield something a little different this episode–it’s got a grenade launcher on it, but it’s not an M-60. I believe it’s just an M16 but I’m not sure. Anyway, it’s not Baby.

Special Feature: Outside Interests of The A-Team

This ep we learn just what the boys do in their spare time. We pretty much already know most of these, but it’s fun to have it all summed up in such a tidy manner.

• Hannibal: of course Hannibal has his acting career. I’m not certain, however, whether to put “acting,” “career,” or both of those in quotes…
• Face: Face’s day job is apparently just scamming. I never gave it much thought, but I kind of like that his day job really is just more scamming.
• B.A.: This one’s new to me though not surprising–B.A. runs a daycare center. I bet they serve milk with every snack.
• Murdock: Murdock’s day job is “his psychoses.” Now of course we know by this point that’s just a cover and so Murdock has perhaps the best day job of all–he just gets to enjoy being him, with all basic needs met by the psychiatric hospital.