Ep by ep; Deadly Maneuvers
Rated as the top ep of the series by IMDB, I don't agree with that but it is still a marvellous ep, another break from the formula and it's really great, we have the evil anti-A-team and they're terrific, you wish they'd escaped prison and come back for a second crack in a later season. They're so much more formidable than the regular gangsters and rednecks, love the scene where the demo expert finds and disarms the boobytrap, these guys know what they're doing. We have the gang training which is good and Murdoch and Face both lured by their weaknesses (Murdoch driving Face's corvette!). Hot siren too although the villains let her keep the Ferrari? Love the scene where Hannibal and BA interrogate her (at gunpoint!) and you can see it slowly dawn on them that this isn't Decker, who wouldn't go around threatening to kill his lure. To see them laid low by their poisoning is also rather unsettling.
Tawnia is the hero here and really comes through for the team. Interesting how The A-team go to great lengths to distinguish themselves from all the Soldier of Fortune types (a very big issue at the time given the MIA issue and the not so Cold War in Central America and Africa), it would have been nice for the A-team to have known some of their opponents as heroes from Vietnam and wonder what happened to their old comrades that they turned out this way? Face's escape attempt is also good, you wonder that he doesn't try to bluff it out with the bad guys when they step on a landmine. The final gag with BA pulling him out of the van is also genuinely funny and this time it's Hannibal who sees through the master of disguise. I like the scene where the evil A-team are gearing up to go to the final battle and some aren't sure but eventually all decide to take part, from pride or they've just come this far and realise that there's no going back?
One question here, Ed Lauter is terrific as the team leader but it seems weird that they bring him back in the same ep as they bring back the doctor from the same episode which he was previously in, were they intending to bring him back as the police chief but the original actor they hired for the part of the evil A-team leader dropped out and he stepped in as a replacement?