The A-Team: Fire
episode number: season 3, episode 3 (1984)
viewing setting: home DVD, 2/3/06
episode synopsis: The team helps a small-town fire chief who's being bullied by a rival fire company.
impressions: This one was pretty good. There was a deeper plot, Hannibal had a romantic interest, the Army put a new guy in charge of capturing the A-Team, and Murdock wasn't overbearingly annoying (plus B.A. tricked him at the end.) One thing I didn't like (and this goes back to other similar gripes with other episodes) was that the bad guys were playing for keeps, meaning that any real ex-soldiers would have dealt with them permanently. B.A. said it best, early on: "If those guys had slowed us down, this little boy would be dead." Yep, and given that, there's no reason not to play hardball with those bad guys.
notable guest star: Stefanie Kramer, from the Hunter TV series, was the owner of the good firefighter company here. Charles Napier, who also guest-starred in season 2, episode 7 as a bad-guy henchman, is the new head MP after the team.
what the team builds in this episode: Nothing.
Hannibal wisecrack highlight: Nothing major, but he does have some witty flirting banter with the fire chief woman.
B.A. toughness highlight: Bends a steel bar into a "U" shape, later throws a bad guy onto a vehicle roof.
Murdock insanity highlight: Adopts a Scottish persona not unlike Smokey the Bear; also invents "Squirt", a seltzer bottle with an identity.
Face scam highlight: Talks his way into the bad firefighter chief's office to plant a tape recorder.
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