The A-Team: A Small and Deadly War
episode number: season 1, episode 4 (1983)
viewing setting: home DVD, 6/14/04
episode synopsis: The team is hired to stop a group of police who assassinate people for money.
impressions: This one was fairly serious too. There were definite implied murders, and even the threats used by Hannibal against these bad cops were serious: he told them to confess or else he'd find them and kill them. There was also a scene where the team got to showcase their commando abilities in a night attack against the cops who are set up to ambush them. Also notable was a lot of internal strife within the team, and the fact that everyone got to fight a bad guy in hand-to-hand combat at the end. Heck, the leader of the death squad might have even died (he fell from a sky bucket that was at least 30 feet up.)
notable guest star: Dean Stockwell, who has a long and varied TV resume and was a co-star on Quantum Leap, plays one of the crooked cops.
what the team builds in this episode: not much, and it's all thanks to B.A.: miniature microphone/transmitters disguised as buttons, and a strobe-light array for his van.
Hannibal wisecrack highlight: obnoxiously pushes the bad guys to keep then on edge and off balance, notably when he drives up and tells them to confess to their chief or else he'll kill them
B.A. toughness highlight: punches through a car windshield to get the bad guy
Murdock insanity highlight: poses as a singing flower delivery guy
Face scam highlight: poses as an exterminator so he can get bugs (pun intended) onto the cops' uniforms, also poses as a doctor to get Murdock out
Amy usefulness highlight: has to plant roaches in the police station locker room to back up Face's scam, also used as bait for the skirt-chasing bad cop
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