Time Present, Time Past

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 22: Suicide Squad Aired on CBS: August 24, 1989 Directed by: Marc Laub Written by : Jacqueline Zambrano Featuring: Ving Rhames, Adam Coleman Howard, Joe Morton Ladies and gentelmen, we have arrived. The 88th and final episode of the hit 80s show The Equalizer, and the 94th and final episode of our podcast The Equalizers. The episode itself doesn't provide any closure for the original series, but at least it's one last bonkers plotline - Ving Rhames, playing what we assume is a first draft version of Marsellus Wallace, is a drug lord who employs specifcally injured athletes, and EQ has to protect a teenager Willy whose football is ending short because of a bad knee. But whereas the episode doesn't give any kind of grand sendoff to the series, Chris, Chuck, and Vince (yes Vince!) do their best to make up for it. We got together and MST3K'd this guy, having our own party and sending off our podcast in style. It's a different format and different sound because we wanted to go all out to celebrate The Equalizer. This episode was a blast as was this entire ride. Thank you to everyone who came along with us. @equalizerspod equalizerspodcast at gmail dot com https://www.facebook.com/equalizerspodcast/

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 21: Endgame Aired on CBS: August 10, 1989 Directed by: Alan Metzger Written by : Coleman Luck Featuring: Elizabeth Berridge, Amy Morton, Lewis Van Bergen, Josef Sommer, Nick Bakay Penultimate episode! We all remember the gaming mastermind Leon from the 1980 movie Midnight Madness who set off five teams on an epic scavenger hunt just for his own whimsy. Similarly in Endgame, the Equalizer goes up against an old dude who is really into "war games" - which unfortunately are less about Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy, and more about an elaborate recreation of the Battle of Gettysburg with little toy soldiers in his office. And this old dude's fixation on strategic games has bled into a real life game of vengeance aimed at an attorney and her sister (who happen to be pretty messed up themselves). Not necessarily a top tier EQ episode, but Chris and Chuck are on the home stretch and still giving it everything they got, including perhaps the best On This Date segment yet as Chris shows us what he's made of with a heartfelt serenade. @equalizerspod equalizerspodcast at gmail dot com https://www.facebook.com/equalizerspodcast/

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 20: Race Traitors Aired on CBS: June 29, 1989 Directed by: Robert E. Warren Written by : Robert Sabaroff Featuring: Laurence Fishburne, David Andrews, Michael Cerveris, Verna Bloom, John Cale The antipenultimate Equalizer episode. This one is... woo boy. The Equalizer is going against a local chapter of neonazi skinheads including a childhood friend of Mickey's. Does the episode approach the topic delicately? Well it starts right off with stock footage of the Third Reich and sails on from there. At the very least, the viewpoint of the Equalizer and the show is in line with today's sensibilities. That said, maybe for the best that so much off the plot focused on weird white supremacy middle management. It's a very strange angle on a very real and sensitive topic. Similarly, Chris and Chuck handle the coverage of this episode with the delicacy of a runaway elephant. @equalizerspod equalizerspodcast at gmail dot com https://www.facebook.com/equalizerspodcast/

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 19: Heart of Justice Aired on CBS: May 11, 1989 Directed by: Bradford May Written by : Gail Morgan Hickman Featuring: John Shepherd, Paul Guilfoyle, Vincent Gallo (!), Philip Bosco, Patty Mullen New York City in 1989. When the wheels of justice can't convict obviously guilty criminals because of legal loopholes, those criminals run free and, once they get drugged up, they can go out and spend the day terrorizing innocent people without any consequences. This is the case for The Equalizer in this episode, so much so that while he's trying to stop a man who's out for vengeance to right a legal wrong, that guy gets beat to the punch by ANOTHER dude who's out for vengeance to right a legal wrong, just in a more general sense. This episode has emotions, it has an EQ-patented intricate plan that explodes, and it acts as a "Stay Away" sign for anyone thinking of visiting NYC. @equalizerspod equalizerspodcast at gmail dot com https://www.facebook.com/equalizerspodcast/

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 18: The Caper Aired on CBS: May 4, 1989 Directed by: Alan Metzger Written by : Tom Towler Featuring: Maureen Stapleton, Laura San Giacomo, Zach Grenier, Michael Wincott A lighter episode of The Equalizer. Yes there's still some grisly violence but this time that's paired up with a lighter mystery plot, a diamond heist, and a spunky new sidekick for Robert McCall. EQ is helping out Mrs. Rutherford (Maureen Stapleton), an older woman who's witnessed a murder and whose head is otherwise in the clouds from all the cheap mystery novels she reads. And she insists on a female bodyguard, so on Mickey's recommendation EQ enlists the help of Trudy Collins (Laura San Giacomo) who looks straight out of Desperately Seeking Susan. All that plus a mystery plot twist and a rather gratuitous strip club scene. Chris and Chuck dig deep into the episode as well as into the Florentine Diamond, Indy 500 pace cars, and the Kinsey report. @equalizerspod equalizerspodcast at gmail dot com https://www.facebook.com/equalizerspodcast/

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 17: Prisoners of Conscience Aired on CBS: April 27, 1989 Directed by: Marc Laub Written by : Robert Eisele Featuring: Tony Plana, Pat Hingle, Dan O'Herlihy, Tim Woodward (Edward's son!) Another Equalizer episode with international intrigue. Whereas last week dealt with Bulgarian ambassadors, this time we got a team of torturers in town working for the Chilean government. But as with every Equalizer episode, the creators add some additional, crazy intrugue of their own: The head torturer (Randall Payne) just happens to be the same man who killed Robert McCall's father; we get a flashback/dream sequence with the Equalizer talking to his father, played by Edward Woodward's real life son Tim Woodward; plus the torture sequences have less polish than our 21st century sensibilities are accustomed to, so that's kinda weird. Chris and Chuck go deep on Chilean history, pronounce "Pinochet" in every way possible, and salute Robert Lansing for his final appearance as Control. @equalizerspod equalizerspodcast at gmail dot com https://www.facebook.com/equalizerspodcast/

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 16: Time Present, Time Past Aired on CBS: April 20, 1989 Directed by: Gordon Hessler Written by : Tom Towler Featuring: William Zabka, Shirley Knight, Brian Bedford, Dennis Boutsikaris A big episode for the larger Equalizer through-story: First, the second appearance of Kay: Equalizer's ex-wife and Scott's mother. Shirley Knight got a Best Guest Actress Emmy nomination for her "You were never there for us... and now look what you've done: Scott's been kidnapped by the Bulgarian Embassy" scenes with Edward Woodward. Secondly, this episode is a series wrap for William Zabka, and what a way to go: a training montage, thwarting the Bulgarians, losing his innocence, listening an opera album on headphones. It's a tour de force. And then the action itself - brotherly strife between two Bulgarian spies by two veteran guest stars of the show - packs a punch and checks off one more country whose spies the Equalizer has taken head on. @equalizerspod equalizerspodcast at gmail dot com https://www.facebook.com/equalizerspodcast/

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 15: Starfire Aired on CBS: April 13, 1989 Directed by: Bradford May Written by : Robert Eisele Featuring: Michael Moriarty, George Plimpton, Wendell Pierce, Angela "you're what the french call les incompetents" Goethals Equalizer episode or early precursor to the X-Files? Another superlative episode, the most sci-fi episode to date. This one reinforces once again that audiences have no idea what to expect when they sit down to watch an Equalizer episode. EQ helps a man who calls himself Seti (nudge nudge, UFO nerds) who believes he is part of a large cosmic battle but who is for real being targeted by assassins. That would be enough but this episode just keeps giving - Bunk from The Wire as a psychologist monitoring this odd alien guy; a spacey kaleidoscope; some budget 80s special effects; and another odd inclusion of a young girl in trouble (Angela Goethals not long before Home Alone). Is the show hinting that UFOs are real? Are they in fact real? Chris and Chuck provide conclusive answers to that question and many more in this can't-miss episode. @equalizerspod equalizerspodcast at gmail dot com https://www.facebook.com/equalizerspodcast/

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 14: 17 Zebra Aired on CBS: April 6, 1989 Directed by: Alan Metzger Written by : Jacqueline Zambrano Featuring: William Atherton, Cordelia González, Joe Seneca, Robert Joy Just like other epic shows like The Sopranos or Breaking Bad, we at this Equalizer podcast have a different schedule for the second half of our final season. In our case, what has usually been a weekly show is now... every month or so. But like Gideon's army of three hundred against the Midianites, we are charging ahead with trumpets blaring. And 17 Zebra is a doozy of an episode to come back to: legendary Equalizer guest William Atherton (jerk from Real Genius, Die Hard, Ghostbusters) stars as an esteemed paramedic who is so fed up with the drunks, winos, and junkies he picks up that he starts killing them! If that wasn't enough, we go deep on every Bible verse McCall tosses around. Just like a prayer we will take you there, listeners. @equalizerspod equalizerspodcast at gmail dot com https://www.facebook.com/equalizerspodcast/

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 13: Lullaby of Darkness Aired on CBS: March 30, 1989 Directed by: David Jackson Written by : Coleman Luck Featuring: Stephen Lang, Ellen Latzen, Mary-Joan Negro, Vivian Nathan, Jacqueline Brookes Stephen Lang - the villainous Colonel Miles Quaritch in Avatar - is similarly evil in this one, though his victims aren't the Na'vis but rather his character's own wife and daughter. Like most episodes dealing with ugly topics, the viewpoint of the show is good but the execution gets uncomfortable, being from 1989 and all. Shaking up the episode: a) Lang's character takes out a restraining order against the Equalizer (future EQ villains take note) b) the daughter escapes into her imagination along with her old/creepy/evil dolls, making this the most that The Equalizer has ever dipped into the fantasy genre. We wouldn't say it's the easiest Equalizer episode to watch, but of course we're established professionals so this podcast episode goes down easy as always. @equalizerspod equalizerspodcast at gmail dot com https://www.facebook.com/equalizerspodcast/