TWE: Stranglehold

[owlcroft]

Mark gets a call from Kate Murphy, an old friend. She asks him to meet her at the auditorium that evening. Mark doesn't get any details from her, but it sounds as if she needs help.

He leans on Hardcastle to accompany him, invoking a quid pro quo for all the times he saddled up and rode out with the Lone Ranger. When the two of them arrive at the appointed location, Mark is confused. His friend was a dancer; the entertainment currently booked at the auditorium is women's wrestling.

They're at the right place. Kate is currently working for sleazy wrestling manager, Marty Torrance. She's having a trouble with him. He keeps promising to put her in touch with one of her co-workers who purportedly took an overseas job arranged by Marty. But when Mark finally catches up with her in the locker room, she says she's not worried anymore.

She's up next. Mark and Milt settle in to watch. But something goes horribly wrong in the match. Kate collapses. Mark rushes to her side but it's too late; she's dead.

Mark is distraught. The next morning he's tearing through Hardcastle's files, certain that he'll find some dirt on Kate's boss. The judge tells him he's still too wound up to tackle the problem. They go for a long walk on the beach and Mark talks about Kate.

The autopsy results are inconclusive. Kate had a lot of adrenalin on board but there's no proof that it was administered to her. Mark stalks out of Frank Harper's office, angry and suspicious. Frank tells Milt to keep Mark in line.

By now Milt is suspicious, too. He's arranged to meet an old friend of his, Lucy Parmiter, a cute blond singer who's game for going undercover. She recruits an athletic friend of hers, Denise. The four of them pay another visit to the auditorium. When Nancy Mack, Marty's shopworn girlfriend, issues a general challenge from the ring, Denise steps in and defeats her soundly.

Marty isn't happy. Kate's missing friend is dead, and he's further in arrears, not being able to supply the girls he owes to his overseas customers. He vents his anger on Nancy, then tells her she'll be taking a fall and ending her career in her next match.

In his office, Marty confers with overseas rep, Eric, who reminds him that blonds are in demand. Milt barges in, professing to be the manager of Lucy and Denise (with Mark as his body guard to complete the entourage). He demands matches for his girls. Marty agrees reluctantly. After the crowd leaves, Eric tells Marty that Lucy is their next victim.

Marty puts the moves on Lucy, taking her to a fancy restaurant. She's kidnapped in mid-date. She doesn't show up for her scheduled match. Mark, Milt, and Denise search frantically. They finally encounter a despondent Nancy Mack, who tells them Marty ships girls to buyers overseas. She also tells them about his beach house. They arrive too late to intercept the kidnappers, but find traces of an address on the top sheet of a note pad.

It's off to the airport, where Mark regrets having been raised not to hit women. Luckily Denise is there to take on Marty's loyal amazons. Lucy, drugged but otherwise unharmed, is rescued before she can be bundled onto a plane to who knows where.

In the epilogue, Mark tells Milt how much he owed Kate for being the person who kept him from cracking when he was in San Quentin.

Written by: Marianne Clarkson
Premiered Nov. 18, 1985

[krokkie]

I did not like this ep at all. The only good thing about it for me was the scene where Mccormick discovers a filthy old sock in the plumbing system. He looked terribly scruffy and the scary feet on the table scene was kinda cute.

[Deleted]

This episode was far, far too grim, in my opinion. Almost humorless, in fact.

Mark refusing to fight a woman and then getting beat up was a pretty good 3 seconds. And I enjoyed Miss Moth hitting on both of our guys. The rest was a total downer.

[owlcroft]

This is never on anybody's favorites list, but there a few -- a very few -- good bits in it. Ms. Moth's despair in the ring, the touching epilogue, Frank ruffling McCormick's hair in sympathy. But overall, it looks like a script that had originally been intended for another show. There's not a whole lot of our guys being our guys in this one. Marianne Clarkson was such a good writer, though, that the fault must lie elsewhere, and I'm betting this was supposed to be for "Greatest American Hero" or "A-Team" or something. My favorite moment in the entire episode was the opening, with the sock in the drain. And that's kind of a sad thing to say about 50 minutes.

[Coyote X]

I always wondered how Marianne Clarkson could write such other great "H&McC" episodes, but be so off with this one. But you could be right because the plot would be much better for the "A-Team."

Barbara

[Deleted]

That's a really interesting theory. I never thought of that possibility before.

[owlcroft]

We know that they had problems getting scripts that year. And that a lot of their scripts had to be re-written by Cannell or Hertzog or someone else. I think we also had someone confirm that they'd pull a script from somewhere else on occasion to get this show filmed on time. There are so many great episodes in season three that the bad ones really stand out.