Curtain Call

Intro Teaser

Murdock: Colonel, look out!
[Murdock jumps in front of Hannibal as one of the bad guys shoots at him.  Murdock falls to the ground and rolls over as Hannibal tries to check on him.]

Hannibal
: Let me see how bad it is.
[Cut to Decker, looking at a map.]
Decker: There's only one way in and one way out of this area.  The A-Team's not going anywhere.
[Cut to the van jumping a downed bridge.]
[Cut inside abandoned mine.  Murdock is laying across B.A.'s lap and not looking at all well.]
B.A.: He's gonna die if we don't get him to a hospital and get that wound cleaned out.
[Cut to Face creeping out of a window with a first aid kit, then to Decker and the MPs.]
M.P.: The signal is coming in perfectly.  The homer in the medical kit will lead us straight to the A-Team.
[Cut to outside the abandoned mine.]
Decker: It's Colonel Decker.  You're surrounded.
[Cut to Hannibal, outside, with his hands up.]
Hannibal: Looks like you won, Colonel.
[Inside mine.  Murdock unconscious across B.A.'s lap.]
B.A.
: Come on, Murdock!  I ain't gonna let you die, man!  You're my friend!
[Cut to a  different episode entirely – Murdock in the ultralight from Holiday in the Hills.]
Murdock: [grinning at B.A.]  I didn't know you cared, sweetheart.

Pretty accurate summing up of the episode – and just a clue that it's going to be a clips show.

 

Plot

Decker and friends are following up a report of someone seeing the A-Team in the area.  As indeed they are—we see them finish off the latest bad guys and stand around talking to each other.  One of the bad guys doesn't know when to say 'when' though and pulls a gun.  Only Murdock sees it in time.  He shouts to warn Hannibal, jumps in front of him and gets shot in the shoulder.

With usual bad timing Decker chooses that moment to turn up.  The team help Murdock into the van and escape.  Decker watches them go without too much concern and points out that there's only one way in and out of the area and they are effectively trapped.

In the van the team are worried about Murdock.  He's lost a lot of blood and is sounding pretty delirious (even by his usual standards).  Hannibal is concerned that the wound might get infected.  He tells Face to scam them a place they can hide out for a while and look after Murdock.

Face tricks some hunters into leaving their cabin to go in search of a local grizzly for which there is a large reward.  The team move Murdock into the cabin and lay him down.  Unfortunately the first aid kit is rather under-stocked and has no antiseptic.  The nearest hospital is too far to reach with Decker watching for them but there's a ranger station a few miles away so Face and Tawnia set off to retrieve medical supplies from there.

Meanwhile one of the MPs has spotted the blood on the ground where Murdock got shot and realises one of the team is injured.  They guess that they might try and reach the ranger station and set guards there. 

Back at the cabin Murdock is getting feverish and B.A. is getting worried.   He remembers that he and Murdock are the same blood type and thinks back to the time Murdock gave him a transfusion.

~~~Clip from Black Day at Bad Rock~~~

B.A. and Murdock lying down during the blood transfusion.  B.A. is protesting that he doesn't want any of Murdock's blood because he thinks it will make him crazy too.  Murdock is not exactly reassuring him.

~~~

Hannibal remembers some of Murdock's wilder antics.

~~~ Clip from Pros and Cons ~~~

Murdock and Hannibal with the helium filled bags attached to the chairs.  Just taking off.  Hannibal wonders how he let Murdock talk him into doing it.  Murdock says he doesn't remember.  They both float up in the air looking delighted.  Murdock blithely flapping his arms instead of holding on.

~~~ Clip from Holiday in the Hills ~~~

Murdock in the ultralight B.A. built for him.  Murdock thanks B.A. who warns him to fly carefully.  Murdock is unconcerned and sings happily as he takes off.  The team watch him go.

~~~ Clip from 'Til Death Do Us Part ~~~

The team in the helicopter and running out of fuel.  Murdock lands at a filling station to refuel and severely confuses the attendant.

~~~ Clip from Holiday in the Hills ~~~

The team in the plane as it begins to falter.  It turns out Murdock got it from the repair line before it was fixed.  Face wants to know what's going to happen.  With remarkable composure Murdock tells him they're going to crash and die.

~~~

Murdock rouses enough to have a drink of water.  He tells Hannibal they should get out of there and leave him behind.  Hannibal refuses, telling him they're a team and they go together or not at all.  As Murdock drifts off again B.A. repeats that they go out together.

~~~ Clip from 'Til Death Do Us Part ~~~

Murdock pretends to eat the drugged burger meant for B.A. and collapses onto the grass.  B.A. laughs, right up until he discovers he got the doped one after all and passes out.  Murdock sits up and grins.  Hannibal gives him an OK sign.

~~~ Clip from There's Always a Catch ~~~

Murdock is chattering on about being a fish but B.A. has heard enough.  He chases Murdock down the jetty and throws him in the water.

~~~

In the van on the way to the ranger station Face is reminiscing about the scams he and Murdock pulled together.

~~~ Clip from Diamonds and Dust ~~~

Face and Murdock con the shopkeeper out of his dynamite by pretending to be officials from the government.

~~~ Clip from A Small and Deadly War ~~~

Scamming Murdock out of the V.A. by pretending he has tuberculosis.

~~~

Face and Tawnia arrive at the ranger station to find it full of MPs. 

Back at the cabin the MPs burst in to find only the two hunters.  Hannibal had rigged a tripwire to warn them of anyone approaching.  A short distance away Hannibal and B.A. are carrying Murdock, dodging the MPs and looking for somewhere safe to hide while they wait for the medical supplies.  They find an abandoned mine and get Murdock inside.

At the ranger station Face knocks out one of the MPs, steals his uniform and goes inside.  Keeping a low profile he manages to get the first kit and get out.  What he doesn't know is that Decker planted a homing device in the kit.

Crane can't believe that one of the team would just stroll in like that.  But Decker remembers another occasion when the team should have been trapped and escaped.

~~~ Clip of the team escaping Decker yet again but I don't recognise which episode ~~~

At the mine Murdock is getting worse.  Hannibal heads out to meet Face and Tawnia with the medical supplies.  B.A. stays with Murdock who's semi-conscious.

~~~ Clip from Beast from the Belly of a Boeing ~~~

Murdock and B.A. are refuelling the plane when it takes off early.  B.A. tries to jump out but Murdock stops him.  B.A. is quite literally scared rigid.  Murdock tries to talk him round but with no success.

~~~

Hannibal arrives back with Face, Tawnia and the medical kit.  Murdock is unconscious and B.A. is distraught, trying to wake him.  Hannibal decides he'll have to remove the bullet himself and uses the supplies from the medical kit to clean up the wound.

Outside the MPs have found and surrounded the mine.  Decker orders them to come out.  Hannibal comes out with his hands up and tells Deckerhe has in injured man who needs medical help.  The MPs go into the cave and find Murdock laying on the floor wit bandages over his face as well as his shoulder.  They assume he's Face and take him to the van.  Face dressed as an MP follows them, carrying one end of the stretcher.

Outside Hannibal asks if he and B.A. can go in the van with 'Face' in case he doesn't make it.  Decker agrees.  Of course this is a big mistake as the moment they're all in, the MPs get flung out and away they go.

Back at the V.A. hospital Decker tries without success to get some sense out of a straightjacketed Murdock.  He eventually gives up and leaves.  Murdock returns to where the rest of the team are waiting nearby.  He tries to get B.A. to help him out of the straightjacket but B.A. refuses.  Murdock protests that he thought they were friends, that B.A looked after him when he was injured.  B.A. denies doing any such thing but as he turns his back on Murdock he can't help grinning.

Cute musical bit (to a song—Opposites Attract) with more clips of B.A. and Murdock winding each other up.  The clips are…

Murdock pushing B.A. in wheelchair, from Black Day at Bad Rock.
B.A. gagging Murdock with gaffer tape, from The Maltese Cow(?)
Murdock annoying B.A. with 'Lefty', from Waste 'Em.
B.A. hauling Murdock up by his jacket, from When You Coming Back Range Rider(?)
Murdock winking at B.A. while thanking him for the ultralight, from Holiday in the Hills. 

 

Bad Guys

Clayton

Not really in the ep except to shoot Murdock at the beginning.  Tried to run someone out of the cattle business apparently.

Decker and Co.

They really did try, poor things.  Guessed the team would try for the medical kit so planted the homer, set a watch in case they went to Murdock at the V.A. Decker even bothered to go talk to Murdock for all the good it did him.

I found Decker quite interesting in this ep.  His remarks about the team being vulnerable with one of them injured was quite cold and calculating but then he did let them ride in the van together (which was remarkably dim but nice of him.)  And he didn't hassle Murdock half as much as he could have, actually seeming almost sympathetic.

 

Good Guys

A rather pointless outing for Tawnia, who did nothing whatsoever except fret at Murdock when he's hurt, fret at Face when he's heading into the ranger station and fret at Hannibal when he's preparing to get the bullet out of Murdock's shoulder.

 

Hardware, Action, and Scams

Face the bearhunter

I agree with Hannibal--too slow.  Doesn’t seem a very efficient way of freeing up a cabin either.

Not a huge amount of action in this one, couple of car chases/shoot-ups.

 

Random Remarks

Yep, it's a clips show.  But it's a clips show based around my favourite Murdock so I can't really complain. 

The clips were nicely chosen and had some of my favourite bits.  In particular I adore the one in the plane from Holiday in the Hills where they're about to crash the plane--I love Hannibal's utterly calm, "It would be ridiculous for me to assume it'd been fixed."

Not much in the way of plot of course and how on earth did they explain handing Murdock back to the V.A. with a bullet hole in him? 

The musical burble at the end was fun in a cutesy kind of way.  Could almost have been a fannish vid—course we all knew already that B.A. and Murdock do like each other really<g>

 

End Frames

Helping Murdock out of the van.
Murdock in straightjacket watching Decker leave.
Face stealing the first aid kit.
MP getting chucked out of the van.
MPs barging in on the hunters.
Hannibal with his hands up.
Face as the bearhunter lying on the couch.

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