The A-Team

A reporter disappears in Mexico and his friend, Amy Allan, tracks down The A-Team to help her find him. Almost all the elements of the formula are present in expanded form and therefore essential viewing to understand what is in later episodes just hinted. Anyway, the plot involves drug-dealers holding a small village ransom and some revolutionaries. A dynamite two-parter that never bores.

Iffy episode about Murdock crashing their plane somewhere in North Carolina, where the team stop a mob of hillbillies executing a land surveyor for a new highway. They build a microlight plane and fight the mentioned idiots.

The team is hired to rescue the hostages and retrieve a Boeing taken by terrorists. The straight forward plan goes wrong when the terrorists decide to takeoff before the team can act. B.A. is trapped and keeps passing out or freaking out each time he realises were they are, especially when Hannibal must land the plane. A typical first series episode.

The team (and Amy) go to the funeral of a buddy, but the local bullies have stopped everyone else in town from attending. The A-Team finish the fight their comrade started. OK’ish episode.

A rancher is rounding up all the mustangs and shipping them to a dogfood company in Mexico. Daniel Runningbear, a local injun, enlists the help of The A-Team to stop this travesty. Col. Decker is introduced and goes after the team with a vengeance, especially since he and Hannibal came to blows several times in Vietnam. Murdock is his silly self thinking he’s The Range Rider and Face has a running gag with a bucket of grease. Enjoyable two-parter that has been edited into one long episode.

The team is hired by Corporal Brown to investigate the murder of her brother (and fellow soldier) by a suspected gun-running armoury officer. She seems genuine and the team infiltrate the army base to investigate. Problem is she made a deal with Col. Decker to deliver The A-Team in exchange for him also investigating the murder. The team makes their escape in typical inventive fashion and wraps up the case. Fun episode.

Bad moonshine is killing the people of Arcadia County and Reverend Taylor, who knew Face in Vietnam, enlists the help of The A-Team to destroy the setup. Typical episode.

A friend is falsely accused of boosting cars and the team investigates. Using Face’s Corvette as bait, they end up having the van stolen instead. B.A. goes bonkers and Face infiltrates a used-car dealership acting as a front for a chop-shop. Then they also uncover a plot to assassinate the D.A. So-so episode.

A crime syndicate hires a mercenary to dispose of The A-Team. They are captured one by one on their weaknesses (B.A. is drugged milk, Face is a girl in a Ferrari and Murdock a whimpering dog), until only Hannibal is left. After a spectacular entrance he rescues the team and some hostages to boot, and dares the mercenaries to come and take The A-Team on head-to-head. And to bring their own tourniquets. Great fun as we see how the team might have been had they moved to the Darkside of the Force. Hannibal also show a rare moment of absolute seriousness and even perhaps deadliness when he confronts the girl in the Ferrari.

A group of pacifists enlist the help of The A-Team to protect them from the local bully. A philosophical episode where Hannibal explains the need for men of violence to protect the pacifistic beliefs of others.

Face’s super-model girlfriend is kidnapped, but when rescued wants to return to her captor. She explains that he intends to rip off fashion designs and is forcing her to take part in the crime. The team decide to help, whether she wants them to or not. Typical episode, with Face running several scams and Hannibal ending the final confrontation with the pithy remark of “sorry about the hole in your boat” before lobbing a grenade.

B.A. is absent from this episode. Murdock not only substitutes by driving the van, but also takes on the persona of B.A. – gold chains, earings and mannerism included. Very well done.

A developer uses strongarm tactics to clear out apartment buildings so he can tear them down and build a huge hotel and office complex. Problem is that the hoodlums are leaning on the wrong momma and she calls her son for help. B.A. even threatens Face with bodily harm if he doesn’t scam them a jet to get The A-Team to Chicago in record time. A very enjoyable episode, with a multi-layered plot.

Face joins an exclusive country club and decides to impress Hannibal with a tour. Poor Face soon finds that this club just isn’t for him, as an obnoxious woman tries to marry him off on her daughter, Murdock is there as a regular guest of his psychiatrist and it turns out Fullbright is also a member. Things heat up when they uncover a theft involving counterfeit money and a crooked banker. Highly enjoyable episode poking fun at Face’s ability to fit in anywhere... not anymore!

Face sets up a deal that will make the team a lot money by booking C&W star Cowboy George at a remote dancehall. Obviously things must go wrong and they do. The booked artist is replaced with Boy George. Will the tough crowd like Culture Club? And why is the owner of the dancehall so aggressive? They uncover a payroll theft, get captured, framed, escape and win out in the end. Boy George obviously had a lot of fun doing this typical episode. We too.

The team stop at a small town on their way to have Murdock retested (long story, not important), where they are mistaken for a mercenary named Insane Wayne and his similarly hilarious named buddies. Aparently a Vietnam veteran and his son has squatted on Government land adjacent to a wealthy rancher and have struck oil. The rancher wants him off, so he can claim the well as his own, and hired the mercenaries as his own men can’t do the job. The team accepts, takes the downpayment and go to work for the squatter. Hilarious episode, as the team take the rancher for yet another briefcase full of cash, before the (inept) Insane Wayne arrives to take on The A-Team.

B.A. is contacted by an old girlfriend to help locate her husband, B.A.’s High School rival. A good remake of the classic played-out goldmine con, with several laugh-out-load situations. “Look Paw, the gold’s floatin’ ”

Hannibal is captured by General Hunt Stockwell and informed that a certain Josh Curtiss is a passenger on a hijacked airliner in Spain. Apparently Captain Curtiss was present when the team were given the orders to rob the Bank of Hanoi, but assumed killed in action. As he will be able to clear them of all charges, the team accepts the job. Enlisting the help of FX man Frankie Santana, they rescue the hostages with an elaborate ruse. Curtiss agrees to clear the team in exchange for them not handing him over to Stockwell, but when Stockwell arrives he turns and accusses The A-Team of murdering Colonel Morrison.

A good episode, even thought it doesn’t follow the formula. Murdock is exceptional as an RAF pilot in order to pull the wool over the hijackers’ eyes and we are introduced to Frankie Santana, the know-it-all FX man.

The A-Team stands trial for the robbery of the Bank of Hanoi, desertion, treason and the murder of Colonel Morrison. Meanwhile, Murdock and Frankie look for a Viet Cong general who might clear the team. Everything backfires and Hannibal, Face and B.A. are found guilty and sentenced to death.

Overall a very weak courtroom drama, with the prosecution barely able to build a circumstantial case against the accused. The highlight is when Murdock takes the stand and laments over the lack of army manuals during the war. But he knows where the generals hid them…

Hannibal, Face and B.A. are imprisoned on a remote island awaiting execution, with Murdock and Frankie planning the escape. The team is visited by Stockwell, who offers them amnesty and a full pardon if they undertake a certain number of missions for him… mostly suicide, but not all. The catch is that they must first escape on their own, without his help; which they obviously do. Rather weakish.

The team must help a scientist and his wife escape from East Berlin. They use an American football team as cover, recruited from B.A.’s old high school team (sans The Duke). Shades of Escape to Victory, with most of the episode taken up by the match. It strayed from the formula and paid the price.

Face attempts to save the episode with the gag that, although he doesn’t understand German, he knows one lengthy joke by heart which he repeatedly tells to extract himself out of trouble. By the end of the episode, a soldier tells it his comrades only to be told they’ve heard it that morning. Weak, but in context a highlight.

The team is sent to San Marcos on a rescue mission. There they find the local dictator making a deal with the Soviets to exchange a CIA spy boat for military equipment. In true A-Team formula they rescue the captive agents, destroy the boat, blowup the ammunition depot and help the revolutionaries overthrow the dictator. Nice action episode.

The team steal a top secret Soviet airplane; Stockwell is kidnapped by an old friend, who now works for the Chinese and is trying to recover the plane for them. The team must work fast to free Stockwell, because without him their pardon disappears along with his secret network. Ultimately Hannibal trades the airplane for Stockwell. A good episode, with Murdock doing an entertaining Sinatra impersonation.

The team is asked to help a reporter escape from a mobster, but must keep her cover intact. Then they must stop an assassination attempt on a union boss. Meanwhile, Face decides that Stockwell will not honour their agreement and decides to leave the team. A mediocre episode on the whole.

The aspect of Face leaving the team is not well done, especially when compared to Mind Games. He assigns Frankie to the role of scrounger and conman, who just accepts. Although the ending with Murdock demanding his watch back is very funny.