10:00 Hunter
11:00 Riptide
12:00 Stingray
Hunter. Season 3, Episode 6. "From San Francisco With Love" Absolutely superb murder mystery, with great character work on the regulars. A man is gunned down and his friend flees the scene convinced that the shot was intended for him. When Hunter and McCall finally track him down he explains that his step-mother murdered his father and is gunning for him next, but when the detectives find the woman in question she puts forward a convincing case against the man, saying that he's behind the murders.
The story has several great twists and turns, and it's genuinely impossible to figure out who the killer is going to turn out to be. Laura Johnson guests as a San Francisco cop who teams with the guys on the case and winds up in Hunter's bed before too long. But instead of being about Hunter's romance this episode is more about his relationship with McCall than anything else. Their every scene together is playful, funny and laden with character detail. When sparks start flying between Hunter and the lady cop the camera returns time and time again to Stepfanie Kramer to show us McCall's reaction to all of this. And, while a lot of that reacting is funny, most of it is devoted to the real bond between Hunter and McCall. Particularly in the last half of the episode as they talk openly about Hunter's "one night stand". Some of these scenes are on the list of Best Ever Hunter-McCall scenes and they leave you with a big smile on your face when the closing credits roll. A+
Riptide. Episode 6. "Diamonds Are For Never" Fast cars, boats and a helicopter, plus a beautiful girl in distress: it must be Riptide! As well as a very good story this one has some great comedy between the three leads. The "let's-synchronise-our-watches" scene being laugh-out-loud funny. Murray, as usual, gets most of the screen time. He's the one who finds the girl in trouble, gets into the first big car chase and lands himself in jail. The jail scenes are also very funny.
Stingray. Season 2, Episode 8. "The Neniwa" Below-average episode, which doesn't really fit in with the usual style of the series. This is one of those stories about developers building on Indian Burial grounds that popped up all the time in action-adventure series of the 80s. The Stingray take on the story is typically stylish and thoughtful: lots of specially-written music and shots of eagles sweeping majestically over the plains. There is no real bad-guy in the story and 'Ray doesn't really have a client. He is hired, yes, but not by somebody in trouble so it's hard to believe that some guy from a museum would really turn to 'Stingray' over a problem such as this. Not that 'Ray really accomplishes much. There's nothing much to investigate and nobody to fight with, so mostly he just goes around from place to place listening to an old Indian guy telling stories. Meanwhile (between shots of the eagle) we are shown repeated close-ups on unhappy Indian people watching the diggers at work. Yawnworthy.
The climax of the episode is awful. A hostage siege suddenly develops involving characters who have never appeared before and it serves to create false tension, as everyone stands around watching while 'Ray is able to dig up some vital artifact and - of course - save the day.
Stories like this tend to be awful. It takes a show like Midnight Caller to do this thing right. The Stingray version has it's heart in the right place but is basically unwatchable. In fact, this may be the worst episode of this great series.
Highlight? Hunter (and McCall)
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Fri, Sep 5, 08 - Hunter, Riptide, Stingray
