S1e01 - Mexican Slayride (Part 2)

We're in the sky with Murdock, who in the original episode, is jamming out to "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by The Rolling Stones before Face interrupts to discuss which flight they're going to attach themselves to on their way to Mexico.

[Excuse the bad quality]

Wait a minute, wait a minute....Face says "Hannibal wanted me to tell you, we're headed to Acapulco" so what, Murdock was just flying around aimlessly? How many times do they bust him out and not tell him where they're going until he's up in the air? 

Meanwhile, Hannibal's tying up BA which bemuses Amy. She asks why they drug him if he's part of the team. Simple, he hates the pilot, because the pilot is insane. Amy is understandably concerned about this information, "so he's up there now....flying us?" 
Well....kinda. After Face returns Murdock to the front of the plane, Amy snaps that The Team aren't what she expected and Hannibal tells her if she wanted good manners she should have hired an English Butler.



 Hannibal discovers Amy's stiffed them on the fee and threatens to call the whole thing off. Face suggests they start the film company up again, getting the stuff they need from the film commission, Amy promises them the money once they get back and then Hannibal reveals that he was both the wino behind the Kozy Kat Klub and Mr Lee. "I'll be damned," says Amy.

"No, you'll be a princess....in a world full of dragons." corrects Hannibal. 

BA has started to awaken, so Murdock lands the plane as fast as he can, and the Team pretend their unconscious compadre is a heart attack victim in order to explain their landing at the airport. There are some funny lines here from Amy insisting she was a passenger who couldn't be panicked to Murdock going from 0-60 in his request for the car keys ("keys please. KEEEEEEEEYSSS!") to Hannibal assuring the control man that he'll call him from the hospital. In the car, Face adjusts BA's watch and they all continue the ruse that they've driven to Mexico. Hannibal calls BA kid which is a rarity, and Murdock is ousted from the driving seat by a grumpy BA. Hannibal, BA and Amy are going to get a line on Manny Cortez whilst Face and Murdock set up the scam for the film commission. Amy and Hannibal go into the bar to get Manny and quickly discover they're not welcome when the door gets bolted as soon as they mention his name. 

 After speaking to them in Spanish only further angers the hostile crowd, Hannibal calls for BA who is matched by a Spanish giant. The bar erupts into a fight, with an ongoing joke where Amy keeps asking "Is this part of the plan?" only to be flatly told no by Hannibal. The fight ends with Hannibal being knocked out and them awakening tied to chairs. It turns out the guy they're desperately seeking is the man holding them captive, and the bar fight was a misunderstanding (or Hannibal's plan....).





Back at the hotel the Team start discussing their plans. Face is to get the stuff they need from the film commission, Murdock is going to find the cannabis fields from the air, and Hannibal takes great delight in the thought of poisoning the crops as well as having a bunch of artillary.  Amy and Face con Miguel the film commissioner out of a bunch of the required stuff.  BA is disappointed to discover the ten wheel truck had to be replaced with a battered looking bus due to funding, and Face is having trouble locating poison for the fields until Murdock suggests ammonia. In some early installment weirdness Hannibal refers to Murdock as "Howlin' Mad" as opposed to just Murdock and instructs him to head off with Face for the crop duster whilst BA, Amy and he go speak to the townsfolk. There's a lot of time to kill on the bus so Amy tries to get some information about Hannibal. He feeds her a line about being a rancher. 

Hannibal, Manny and BA try to recruit townspeople to help them fight off the bandits. They get very little co-operation until BA gives them his own brand of pep talk 

 "look at you standing here lookin' at your shoes, moaning 'bout some dumb, big, fat, stupid stinkin' bandit, I suppose I can understand one man runnin' scared...but a whole town?! A whole village?! You people might as well be dead." 

(which is possibly the most BA will say at once for the entire series 😉)

We have a montage as they work with the townspeople to prepare for the arrival of Malavida Valdez. Whilst they're working BA explains to Amy what "the jazz" is and how Hannibal is forever on it, and by doing so saved all their lives in 'Nam. 

Murdock and Face spray the Marujana crops with ammonia and then drop a bunch of helpful leaflets informing exactly where they can be found, then reconvene with the Team and BA sets up a weapon for them with a timing chain to prevent them shooting off the prop. Face asks if he's nuts and Murdock reminds everyone that it is, in fact, he who is nuts and calls BA a mudsucker for the first time in the series. (There's a trend in the early episodes for someone to call someone nuts only for Murdock to point out his own sanity status.) Valdez shows up with his fellow bandits and threatens the empty courtyard before Hannibal starts shooting at them from the bell tower, Valdez makes the mistake of presuming he's alone so Murdock and Face shoot at him too. He refuses to hand over Al Massey so a shootout ensues before BA comes barging out in the armoured bus. The townsfolk cheer as the bandits depart after The A-Team.


After some explosions and jeep flipping, they manage to run Valdez and his cronies into a dead end. Unfortunately, Face spots a lot of guerrillas heading their way, Murdock shoots off the prop ("Goodbye, sweet prince!") Hannibal, BA, Amy and the handful of townspeople aboard the bus are taken captive and reunited with Al Massey in a cage. Hannibal's taken away for interrogation and is told he has a very irritating manner. He's aware.


Face and Murdock are back at the hotel trying to scrounge up an army, whilst Hannibal puts together a disguise using Amy's makeup bag and they escape in a truck BA hotwired with some explosives Hannibal lifted. Unfortunately, they didn't pick one that had a lot of gas, and things start looking bleak until the cavalry arrives in the form of the townspeople led by Face and Murdock in a chopper.
The townspeople take care of the guerrillas whilst Hannibal and Murdock chase after Valdez.

The Team leave Valdez at the mercy of the townspeople he's been harassing, and Amy et al wonder how they can ever thank Hannibal. He has but one request - a cold beer, which Face readily provides.

On the way back to the airport they discover Amy has started writing a book about The A-Team, which none of them is too happy about. She then blackmails them into letting her join them and helps knock BA out for the plane ride home.

Lynch has followed them to Mexico, so Hannibal knocks him out and stuffs him into the car trunk, whilst the rest board the plane Face carries BA, explaining his unconsciousness by saying sadly the pilot died. Amy's on the jazz, and has a really corny line about her initials being Triple-A thus sounding like someone who belongs on a unit called The A-Team and Murdock does a barrel roll to end credits.

MY RATING ratings are given out of five

 The pilot does a good job of explaining who our main characters are and sets up some quirks and gimmicks that will remain for the rest of the show but seems drawn out in parts and is not an episode I tend to re-watch regularly.

S1e01 - Mexican Slayride (Part 1)

The pilot episode opens without the famous theme tune in Mexico which is looking very ghost town-ish as all the local residents are in hiding from Malavida Valdez who has been terrorising the community with his band of thugs and demands they hand over Al Massey an American reporter.
Al bursts out of his hiding place in a car and we have our first chase of the series which doesn't end well for Massey when he's captured. He tries to assure Valdez he is on vacation.
Cut to....angry Amy Allen who is adamant Al Massey is not on vacation. 

 Amy's been "rattling windows" under the paper's influence in a desperate attempt to find out what's happened to her friend, contacting the US embassy and general causing her editor grief so he suspends her for two weeks at half pay. Not one to take things lying down, Amy's recruited fellow journalist Zack in helping her locate the infamous A-Team, a commando team who people aren't even sure really exists. They go through the files Zack has together and Amy learns about the Hanoi Bank Job and their escape from Fort Bragg which kickstarted Colonel Lynch's vendetta against the team, that Hannibal is unorthodox, BA has the worst conduct record in the army due to his fondness for slugging officers, and that Face is an orphaned conman (and according to these files was born in 1935 making him older than Hannibal! They'll fix it in Season 5. )Amy likes the look of Face and wonders where they are now.

 They're on a film set. Hannibal's playing the monster but doesn't get to complete the final scene as Face (played by Tim Dunigan for this one episode and henceforth known as Fake!Face by the fandom) and BA shows up with Lynch in hot pursuit. BA has some great lines during the car chase including "I ain't stoppin' for no autographs Hannibal!" when he's recognised in the Aquamaniac suit. One MP car ends up in a lake, the other in someone's living room and Lynch ends up being dared into the water by Hannibal's jazz-loving antics.

Face is angry at Hannibal's actions, he and BA

are not impressed. Hannibal places a quick call to Murdock to let him know Lynch is on them and may be paying him a visit. Murdock already has a visitor in the form of Amy who has tracked him down via Pentagon records. Murdock pleads ignorant of The A-Team, informing Amy he has "problems". After telling Murdock she's sorry for what happened to him, he quits shaving his head and decides she's legit. On Hannibal's instruction informs her to go to the Kozy Kat Klub at 2am and wait until she's contacted. True to Hannibal's warning once she leaves Lynch shows up and Murdock plays him like a violin. Thus begins a series wide debate - is Murdock truly crazy or is he just faking it? To me this is ample proof the man is faking the crazy. He definitely hams it up for Lynch's benefit, complete with eye roll and amused smirk once the Colonel leaves.[Aside note: how did the producers consider ditching Dwight Schultz after seeing this? It's gold!]

We have our first Hannibal in disguise to communicate with the client followed by Mr Lee's only on-screen appearance [File under: things they couldn't do today] Amy passes Hannibal's tests and assures him she will provide $150,000 and a photo of Al Massey.
'Mr Lee' says $150 thou isn't enough to hire The A-Team! Hannibal must have agreed to the lower rate however as he starts putting the plans in motion via radio show for Face and BA to get on the mission.

Face is listening in whilst visiting an old Irish priest, one from the orphanage who remembers him fondly. He has a box of cards featuring codes for missions which is interesting as it never seems to pop up again. BA is listening in whilst surrounded by a group of children who he educates about Hannibal's namesake, the elephants and the alps. He has to leave to go pick up Hannibal ready to travel to Mexico and the kids are disappointed.

Face goes to bust Murdock out of the VA by imagining up an Uncle Deke who is only available for the day as he's getting a lobotomy.  ("the whole family is crackers.") Murdock is surprised to be out and there's a great exchange about the fictitious Uncle Deke.

Hannibal and BA go to pick up Amy, unaware that they've been spotted by an MP, whilst Face and Murdock go to scrounge up a Gulfstream for the trip to Mexico. Amy witnesses Hannibal drugging BA in preparation for the flight that they're supposedly not going on. A hilarious exchange occurs between BA and Hannibal about the road leading to the airport

BA: This road leads directly to the airport Hannibal!
Hannibal: This road is nowhere near the airport.
[Plane flies overhead]

which culminates in BA punching Hannibal before passing out. 

 They arrive at the airport and Hannibal is pleased to note Face and Murdock are already there (first appearance of "I love it when a plan comes together!") He's not so happy to realise Lynch is hot on their tail and with help from Face loads an unconscious BA onto the aircraft, Murdock takes off leaving a very disappointed Lynch behind.

To be continued in Mexico....