A-Team Episode 4×17
“Waiting for Insane Wayne”
- Location: Cannon’s Crossing, Arizona (Arizona two eps in a row–continuity?)
- Tank: No
- Disguises: No
- Scam: Radioactive fallout detour
- Flight: No
- Fixation: Just generally being insane
- Flips: 0
- Fee: Free (and not $200k)
- Quote: “It’s a butterfly, fool!” – B.A. Because if you’re going to take a Rorschach test, you’d better pass it.
- Bonus Quote: “Go B.A.!” – Hannibal, usually in the van when it’s escape time. I realized we hear this one enough that it should probably be pointed out though it’s certainly not as quotable as some of our favorites.
- Who is that?? Anthony James, Three Finger Harry. Hint: the same face I never forgot is back. We’ve seen him twice before.
This is it. This is the big one. No, there are no flips. Well no, no disguise either, actually–ok fine, there’s also no tank or… But there is something that happens less than once a season and we’ve now arrived at that moment: someone gets hit. By a bullet.
How’s that for a cold intro? But for now, the gang is headed to the mental testing facility where Murdock hopes to pass his test. They settle into a diner, B.A. does a milk commercial and some rednecks approach them, taking them for the mercenaries they’re supposed to work with. The boys decide to play along because, well, wouldn’t you? There’s someone who bad guy wants run-off his land (aka, dead; and aka not his land). Oh, and the someone is a decorated ex-special forces vet with a 15 year old kid. Our heroes thank him for the money and promptly switch sides.
Wow, that’s some bad luck for this bad guy, accidentally invoking the A-Team against his cause. Our heroes drive off to their new client to inform him he’s their new client. They’re too late–dad is dead, but the 15 year old son who’s definitely not 21 like the actor portraying him is still up for a fight. He’s also in love with bad guy’s step-daughter.
Face and Murdock scam up a detour to buy time to dress up the property with anti-bad guy stuff and when the real Insane Wayne and company show up, things are ready to go. One of his henchmen is quite familiar–that gaunt, unforgettable face… (shivers)
With the mercenaries re-routed, bad guy offers a deal–which is refused, though I loved seeing Face once again demonstrate his Fenton Crackshell-like abilities, fanning through the bills and determining how much is there just from the sound of it. Some explosions and a gunfight follows (there’s a fun shot composed from the falling tree’s point of view), and then the good guys happily accept another deposit to the helping the good guys fund. And B.A. receives a deposit of lead. Yes, seemingly out of nowhere, random bad guys, not even pros, manage to actually hit one of our heroes with a bullet!
Back at Bad Guy Ranch, the real mercenaries show up. Finally things are straightened out and suddenly I find myself liking Insane Wayne. He’s skilled, no-nonsense, and most of all, clearly graduated from the Hannibal Smith School of Military Tactics. Their plan is “sometimes the front door is easier.” Of course having an APC helps.
Here’s where things go wrong. This is the perfect setup for some sweet tank vs. tank combat. Instead, the opposition is a pickup truck. Albeit, the truck looks like it was fired out of a cannon or something, but still, just a plain old truck. Face takes a nasty fall and there’s a hostage situation, but that’s quickly resolved, and before we know it, the ep is over, the APC having been taken out by a simple pipe bomb lobbed at it. Right about here is where I realize we paid for that “offering a deal” scene by losing our captured/tank montage/second battle scene.
Anyway, the end fight was somewhat of a let-down even though I can’t quite explain why. Our heroes give the kid the money, the bad guy goes to jail, kissy kissy, happy ending. The final act has the boy’s uncle showing up with a rather nice character scene over the grave of the dad.
So yeah, a strange ep, almost like they decided to reward us by layering in some very rare parts of the formula but this time exacted payment by removing some other, time-honored favorites from it. It’s a dangerous game, toying with a formula that works, but I suppose these are dangerous times. The 80’s, I mean.