The Checklist: The A-Team (S1 Ep4) “Pros and Cons”
The A-Team is the television equivalent of comfort food for me. Going back and watching this series instantly takes me back to simpler, stress free times. Except when I watch The A-Team now, I can’t help but put whatever episode I may be watching (in this case “Pros and Cons” from Season 1) to The Checklist test…
Synopsis: The A-Team go behind bars to rescue an old friend of B.A. and bring the crooked warden and his staff to justice.
#1. Were there any notable guest stars?
The guest stars made themselves known early in “Pros and Cons” as the episode opens up in Strikersville, FL and more specifically a barn out in the middle of nowhere where a fight to the death is taking place between two inmates from the nearby prison. One of those inmates is Jase Tataro (William Smith, Eye of the Tiger). Jase was thrown in jail for 30 days after being involved in a bar fight, but crooked Warden Beale (Clifton James, The Man with the Golden Gun) trumped up some more charges so he could use the hulking Jase for his illegal fights. Every crooked warden needs some crooked prison guards and Beale has his in the form of Sneed (Paul Koslo, Mr. Majestyk). 1/1
#2. Was Hannibal in disguise?
John “Hannibal” Smith (George Peppard) had a theatrical side that was often on display during the course of the show’s 5 season run on NBC. When we first see Hannibal in this episode he is in disguise as a Hollywood agent trying to schmooze a gig for “his client” John Smith on the upcoming film ” Sinbad Goes to Mars”. But this business meeting is interrupted by none other than B.A. Baracus (Mr. T, Rocky III).
I mentioned Jase Tataro earlier, well Jase won the fight at the start of the episode and the perk of winning (other than not being killed) is Warden Beale gives the winner a chance to run. Jase made the most of that opportunity and managed to escape and make it all the way back to Los Angeles. In L.A. Jase would reunite with his “little brother” Joey (Meeno Peluce) and his old buddy from Chicago B.A. Baracus. I am not sure why they didn’t make the Joey character Jase’s son since visually there is a huge age difference between Jase and Joey. But there was a bigger question to answer… why did the prison guards from Florida go all the way out to L.A. to recover Jase, weren’t they a bit out of their jurisdiction?
There’s nothing B.A. can do to help Jase when Sneed and company show up heavily armed without risking Jase being shot…. but B.A. knows The A-Team can help, hence the reason he interrupts Hannibal’s Hollywood business meeting, letting him know The A-Team has a gig in Florida. 2/2
#3. Was there a montage?
The plan is to get Hannibal, Murdock (Dwight Schultz) and B.A. all arrested in Strikersville so they can bring Warden Beale’s operation down from the inside and rescue Jase in the process. Face (Dirk Benedict) is going to pose as Dr. Pepper, an author who wrote a book on prison reform who has been sent to Strikersville Prison to implement some of his ideas. Accompanying Dr. Pepper on this assignment is reporter Amy Allen (Melinda Culea), who will be documenting Pepper’s progress.
To really sell the fact that Faceman is author Dr. Pepper, they get some copies of the real Dr. Pepper’s book which leads to a “printing press montage” with Murdock and Face using some equipment in the van to create a deep fake of the book with Face’s picture on the back of the book covering up the real Dr. Pepper’s photo… I don’t recall this mobile printing press ever making an appearance in future episodes. 3/3
#4. Was there a big car stunt?
Hannibal, B.A. and Murdock find out it is much tougher to get arrested in Strikersville than they originally thought… but Hannibal solves that problem when he drives their rental car right into the local police station! 4/4
#5. Were any catchphrases used?
Unfortunately we did not get Hannibal’s iconic “I love it when a plan comes together” catchphrase… and with this episode being in the infancy of the series, I am not sure it was even a thing yet. 4/5
- Final Score = 4/5 (80%) The A-Team was still finding its way at this point in the series, but you can already see the seeds being planted for some of the tropes that would make the show near and dear to so many people’s hearts in the years to come.
