#stepfaniekramer

[biographyonair]

Who is Stepfanie Kramer?

#biographyonair #StepfanieKramer

Stepfanie Kramer is a well-known American actor, singer, and songwriter. Stepfanie Kramer is best known for her iconic role as Detective ‘Sgt.

Stepfanie Kramer Age, Divorce, Ex Husband, Ethnicity, Net Worth

Stepfanie Kramer Bio, Wiki, Age, Career, Height, Weight, Family. Also find Stepfanie Kramer current Net worth, Relationship, Ethnicity.

[tstreetfilms]

Currently #BingeWatching the series #Hunter on #Hulu. My favorite cop show from the #eighties. #FredDryer was a badass and my first crush was on Dee Dee McCall played by the beautiful #StepfanieKramer. Good times.

[themoviecave]

A whopping 152 episodes. "Works for me!" #hunter #hunterthecompleteseries #freddryer #stepfaniekramer #dvd #tv #tvondvd #tvseries #dvdcollection #millcreek #80s #80stv

[hunter-and-mccall]

Hunter episode 3.20, HOT PURSUIT: Part 1

Original Airdate:  May 2, 1987

What’s Going On Here?  While investigating a prostitution ring, McCall is shot and almost dies (on her birthday no less), and the hooker she’s protecting is killed. While McCall fights to survive, Hunter confronts “Big Jack” Hemmings, the pimp he suspects is responsible.

Who’s That Guest Star?  Jeanna Michaels (Dallas, Santa Barbara); Robert Ridgely (tons of voice and TV work); Gela Nash (also in the Hunter ep “War Zone” as a completely different hooker); Dana Lee (both TV & movie work including Rambo: First Blood Part II); Ji-Tu Cumbuka (mostly TV work); Nick Angotti (mostly episodic TV); Susan Peretz (mostly TV); Michele Tobin (child actress in stuff like Yours, Mine & Ours; this is her last credit on IMDb); Arnold F. Turner (he’s in four Hunter eps; mostly TV stuff).   Hunter mainstays Charles Hallahan as Devane, Garrett Morris as Sporty James, and John Shearin as Finn, and series stars Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer as Rick Hunter and Dee Dee McCall.

Jeanna Michaels as Laura Decker

Robert Ridgely as Big Jack Hemmings

Gela Nash as Vicki Lake... she's married to Duran Duran's John Taylor, and she co-founded Juicy Couture, so even though her acting career never took off, she's doing okay for herself.

Dana Lee as Dr. Lee

Ji-Tu Cumbuka as Homer

Nick Angotti (right) as Adler

Michele Tobin as Hooker

Arnold F. Turner as Detective ("Nick" Nicholson seems to be his name.)

Charles Hallahan as Devane

Garrett Morris as Sporty James

John Shearin as Finn

Where Can I Fast-Forward Through a Car Chase?  From 20:52, Hunter drives around listening to people on CB radios until he finally hears about the hookers-in-a-camper he’s looking for. If you don’t want to listen to truckers and watch Hunter drive, you can skip to 22:50.

OMG so boring.

A real car chase from 44:48-47:02. Just watch the end and you’ll get the idea.

I'm not sure if you can feel my boredom through the internet, but trust me, car chases make me yaaaawn.

Does Anyone Have Sex, and Does Their Partner Live Through The Episode?  Nope. McCall’s in traction and Hunter’s too busy.

Hunter does not have sex with this hooker.

No sex for McCall, who can't move her head let alone the rest of her.

What Are They Wearing?  McCall: 1. Pink blouse, pink slacks, pink pumps, pink purse, black blazer.

2. For the rest of the episode she’s in a pink hospital gown and halo traction device.

Hunter:  Button-down shirts, slacks/jeans, ties, sports coats.

Also, white long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans.

Wow, This Is Old School:  Gas costs less than a dollar a gallon at 23:17.

What’s For Lunch? At 21:05 Hunter’s eating blue corn chips.

At 21:50 he does NOT eat a sandwich because it looks too sad.

He drinks something out of a thermos at 22:15.

At 32:12, he has some gum. (He also put a piece of gum in his mouth in the first scene in Devane's office.)

Where In L.A.? McCall's house is still the one which is really at 13216 Bloomfield Street in Studio City.

At 32:20, Hunter’s sitting in his car on Orange Street just south of Hollywood Blvd. He turns right onto Hollywood and you see Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

Hunter follows the secretary into the building at 7046 Hollywood blvd (at Sycamore), and they use both the exterior and interior of the building:

Hunter is driving south (I think) on Interstate 5, and we see the exit for Rye Canyon Road in Valencia. There is no longer an exit for that road. He is going the wrong way if he's really heading for Palmdale.

Trivia: Rye Canyon Road is the street Paul Walker was driving on when he died. :-(

At 44:36, Hunter is supposed to be on his way to San Diego but he's really driving on Vanowen at Hayvenhurst in Van Nuys. 

At 45:23 the chase is on, at the intersection of Louise and Vanowen in Van Nuys:

It’s an X-File:  Dana Lee was in the X-Files episode “Alpha.”

Who Does Hunter Shoot, and Do They Die?  He doesn’t shoot anyone. Neither does McCall because she can’t even hold a gun.

Any Scenes Worth Watching? At 31:22-32:01, Hunter wraps up an old shoe in a box, then visits McCall and explains to the audience why he did that.

Is There Banter?  Not really banter but cute, at 04:07-05:17 when Devane gives them a case, and Hunter offers to let McCall go on her lunch date instead, saying he’ll handle the murder in Palmdale.

McCall is thankful.

At 06:45, when McCall says she’s going to talk to some working girls --  Hunter: Want me to go with you and hold them while you interrogate them? McCall: What are you, lonely?

WTF?: Does McCall really still not know that her house is the most dangerous place in L.A.? She takes yet another witness there to “protect” her -- those are totally air quotes -- and of course the witness ends up dead and McCall barely survives. McCall, listen to me: This house is not a place where people are safe. You’re not safe, your guests aren’t safe, your fish aren't safe. Don’t get anyone else killed, okay?? (I’m shouting into the wind, as you will find out in later recaps when even more people end up dead just because McCall invited them in.)

Seriously, never enter McCall's house if you want to come out of it alive.

Oops: Around 3:41 there is a moving boom shadow in the top right corner of the screen (and the top left, too, actually; there's a reflection in the glass of the door.)

Bonus: The script (Part 1 only) at Wonderful World of Hunter: HERE.

Bonus Screencaps:

The episode opens on a wacky commercial by a guy who sells RVs.

BIG JACK'S CAMPERLAND!

OMG how meta. The commercial ends with Big Jack watching himself in front of an RV on the TV inside an RV.

Meanwhile, it's nighttime on a freeway.

This Rolls Royce goes by...

And this girl is thrown out of the car.

This does not look at all good.

McCall's very interested in the boundary between Palmdale and L.A., saying that this dead body might not be their responsibility. (We will pretend that Palmdale isn't in Los Angeles County, which it is. Maybe the 122nd Precinct really is so far-reaching that it goes all the way up to Palmdale and stops there? I doubt it would be that large; surely some other precinct would grab the case of a dead body way out in Palmdale, which is over an hour's drive with no traffic.)

Hunter says she's got a point. It all depends what side of the road the body's lying on.

McCall's wondering, why today of all days?

Charlie calls his buddy up in Palmdale to ask which side of the road the d.b. is.

"Well, McCall, unless you want to drag that body to the other side of the road, she's all yours."

McCall sighs. "Great."

"What's the matter with her?"

"Today's her birthday, Charlie, and you screwed it up."

And then Charlie does a jig. (Okay, not really. But it looks like it, no?)

McCall's pissy 'cause she had a lunch date. Hunter, as usual, is in the act of putting on his jacket.

Hunter asks if it's 'another jerk attorney.' McCall: "What do you mean, 'another jerk attorney?' Just because I date one attorney... those are the only guys I date?" She says this guy happens to be a doctor, who is successful and busy, which means they don't get a lot of time together.

Hunter says he'll take this one and she can stay with her doctor.

"Really? You'd cover?"

"Sure," he says.

This is the cutest. The very cutest!

Off Hunter goes to the crime scene.

Barney says there's no ID on her but they're checking her prints. "Judging from the marks on the ground, looks like she rolled about 60 feet."

Hunter says it looks like she hit the ground going 90 mph.

Barney says she was already dead, though, shot in the head.

Moondoggie!

Hunter says the dead woman's name was Anita Fargo, alias Maria Fuego, first arrested in 1985 for prostitution when she was 19.

Then she was picked up again, this time as 'Darlene Darling.'

(Okay, if she was 19 in 1985 she's now 21. This woman in these photos is clearly 30 at the youngest. Yeah, being a hooker can age someone, but that much??)

"And then again as Betty Blade."

That's the last they have on her, but she was picked up with two other girls, Susan Dumont, alias Suzie Q, and Mary Lakowski, alias Vicki Lake. McCall says they were picked up at Macarthur Park so she'll go there and talk to the working girls.

"Want me to go with you and hold them while you interrogate them?"

"What are you, lonely?"

"No, you stay here and talk to Sporty."

So Hunter calls Sporty.

Oh good, Kirby's back! (Last time, someone else answered Sporty's payphone and I missed Kirby.)

Goodness. Some continuity! When Sporty says he's studying the new tax laws, Hunter asks if he's trying to lay off some of Bogota's million (from the episode "Love, Hate & Sporty James").

Hunter says he needs info on a hooker named Anita Fargo.

Hahahaaaa, Kirby's face.

Sporty says he's seen her around...

Hunter says she's dead, and he needs info on her friends, Suzie Q and Vicki Lake.

Sporty says he'll see what he can do.

Kirby answers the payphone as usual: "Sporty James Enterprises."

Sporty's shocked when it turns out this call's for Hunter.

It's McCall, who says she's found Suzie Q. McCall says Suzie and Anita Fargo were working for a guy who runs RVs from here to San Francisco, servicing truckers and traveling salesmen.

"You've gotta be kidding."

Suzie wants to talk but is scared... McCall asks Hunter to meet them at McCall's house at 7:30. 

He agrees, and says "ta ta" to Sporty.

"'Ta ta?'"

McCall arrives home with Suzie Q.

McCall is immediately shot in the back by a gun with a silencer.

And then Suzie's shot too.

The gunman turns out the light before leaving.

Hunter arrives at McCall's.

When there's no answer and the house is dark, he realizes the front door is unlocked, and he becomes alarmed.

Checking for a pulse, he realizes McCall's still alive. but barely.

"Officer down, send an ambulance Code 3..." (Code 3 means it's an emergency.)

Hunter follows.

The nurse tells Hunter he'll have to wait outside.

He hears some more commotion...

It's Suzie, who's also in bad shape.

Well of course it's Wilshire Memorial. It's the only hospital in the city.

Hunter's still waiting.

They bring someone out, obviously dead because she's completely covered by a sheet.

Hunter has to see if it's McCall.

The dead woman is Suzie Q, not McCall. Whew. Unless you're Suzie, in which case, not so much.

Devane and Finn have arrived at the hospital so that they, too, can worry in person.

"They just rolled Susan Dumont out; she's dead." (That's Suzie Q's real name.)

Dr. Lee introduces himself, and says Sgt. McCall is in the ICU in critical condition.

Finn asks about McCall's chances.

"She has a bullet lodged between the 3rd and 4th vertebrae ... she's paralyzed from the neck down."

He says it might be temporary, or the bullet might have caused permanent damage.

Hunter asks, "Can't you operate?"

The doctor says they won't know until the swelling goes down, and that might be a week.

Devane asks if they can talk to her tonight - they want to know if she saw who shot her.

Nope, she's in no condition. He'll let them know when they can talk to her.

She could still be in danger, Hunter says. He wants to post someone outside her room.

Dr. Lee will tell hospital administration.

As Hunter leaves, Charlie says if Hunter needs anything to let him know.

Sporty!

Sporty heard what happened and wants to know if McCall's okay.

Hunter says no; she's in the ICU. Sporty is sad.

Down in the hospital cafeteria, Sporty is telling a story about a guy coming to town a year ago and shaking down some of the best girls...

None of the pimps took him seriously until they realized, a few weeks later, that a couple of dozen of "the choicest girls" had disappeared.

Honestly, I try to use some restraint because every screencap of Garrett Morris' face is awesome and I just can't use them all or they'd have to change the show's name to "Sporty!"

Hunter thanks Sporty for the info...

..and says he's going to go look for Vicki Lake.

Sporty says that a guy owes him a favor... and if anyone knows where Vicki Lake is, Homer does.

Hunter's going to pay Homer a visit.

That's Homer on the right, and Pearlie on the left. You might remember them from episode 2.15, "Scrap Metal."

Hunter says he's looking for someone Homer might know ... Vicki Lake.

"And you expect me to help you find her?"

Hunter explains that someone's killed two of her friends and Vicki might be next.

"And you're not looking to bust her. Just want to help her? Tell me why I should believe you."

"The people after Vicki ... shot my partner."

Homer asks Pearly if he thinks Hunter's telling the truth, and he does...

So Homer says there's a massage parlor over on Hill ... he describes Vicki for Hunter.

Hunter thanks Homer and says he owes him one.

"Cover charge is $20."

Hunter doesn't say a word and just pays the lady.

She couldn't be more jaded.

Ummm... is that girl in the red doing needlepoint? I hope she is.

Hunter does not pick the needlepoint girl. He picks the girl Homer described.

Also jaded.

Badge flash! Vicki's not impressed. "What are you gonna do, bust me?"

Hunter asks about the guy who runs girls up and down the highway in motor homes.

Vicki just stares at him.

He's like, "Come on," and tells her that her friends Anita Fargo and Suzie Q are dead.

Vicki frets a bit...

...then checks that nobody can overhear.

She says that about a year ago she had a fight with her pimp, and that's when she heard about the guy with the motor homes, so she went to Pershing Square to meet him and check him out.

But the guy didn't show; he sent a woman named Flo. "She was a working girl, maybe forty, with a lot of miles on her."

"She said I'd be getting a thousand a week plus twenty percent. No pimps, no nothin'."

"Just me and three other girls in a motor home."

Hunter asks how many motor homes they used.

She says eight or nine. Flo was the manager She told them where to go and which roads to stop, and she handled the money.

Flo would give them what they were due and put the rest in an envelope and leave. Once Vicki saw Flo give the money to someone in a black Rolls, but she didn't see who.

Hunter asks for a description of Flo.

Vicki says Flo has red hair, is maybe 5'6, 140 pounds, and she has a tattoo of a rose on the back of her shoulder.

Hunter asks which highways they'd take.

"All of the major truck routes..."

"All we'd have to do is get on the CB, and say the Wild Bunch was pulling into a truck stop, and we'd be turning tricks like crazy."

"Each RV had its own handle. Soft Shoulder, Hot Pursuit, stuff like that." (And just like that they slip in the episode title, practically a throwaway!)

Hunter wants to know why Vicki quit when she was making so much money.

Vicki becomes visibly upset but doesn't say anything at first.

Hunter says, "You're in danger; your friends are dead. Talk to me here!"

"That's right... I am in danger, all right -- talking to you!"

"I have answered all your questions. The well is dry." 

"Your time is up."

He gives her his card and some money.

"The name's Sergeant Rick Hunter, Metropolitan Homicide. You know how to get hold of me. You know how it works."

Now Vicki can finally be sad about her dead friends.

Dr. Lee tells Hunter not to ask McCall to talk too much. "She's in pain and under a lot of medication."

Things sure don't look good.

(Though McCall looks good, considering.)

Hunter asks how she's doing. What a terrible question. 

She says "Okay," in a way that means OMG I AM SO NOT OKAY, I'M PARALYZED FROM THE NECK DOWN and he says the doctor told him not to make her talk too much.

Hunter says he found Vicki Lake.

"Suzie okay?"

"She didn't make it. ...Did you see the guy that did this?"

McCall says no.

"...You're gonna be okay."

McCall doesn't say anything. This episode's a bit of a downer, man. 

Hunter sets out looking for the hookers in motor homes.

He's got his CB radio, because that's how they communicate. 

(Useless personal information: When I was 14 or so, I had a CB radio at home, complete with a 64-foot antenna on my roof. I was totally internet chatting with strangers before there was an internet! My handle was 'Pink Panther.' Oh 1970s, you were awesome. Yes, I was super cool, if cool means dorky. Thirty-five years later, a boy I talked to back then found me on LinkedIn. I'm temped to marry him just so I can tell people how we met.)

Hunter's eating blue corn chips while he drives. He likes those.

He likes them a lot.

Hunter listens to the truckers on the CB. Nothing about any hookers.

Really, he likes blue corn chips quite a bit.

Night has fallen and Hunter must have run out of blue corn chips. Now he's got tea or coffee or something. He's still listening to truckers on the CB.

Also, he's brought a sandwich.

What's in this thing, anyway?

Hunter does not like the looks of that ham and/or cheese product.

Hmm. I guess he just sticks with coffee.

Night has turned to day.

This is apparently not the camper he's looking for.

Day turns back to night.

Hmmm... all of a sudden, in contrast to truckers asking for rides and giving warnings about Smokey, the CB broadcasts a sexy female voice

"Breaker 1-9 ... Hello, all you lonely truckers out there. This is the Wild Bunch calling to let you know we're on the Highway to Heaven." A few truckers break in, happy to hear this news. She goes on: "Now boys, no fighting. There's enough for everyone." She tells them where they'll be. "We've got a couple of experienced mechanics here just waiting to service your big rig."

"...We're in a Country Comfort cruiser, beige with a brown stripe..."

U-turn!

Are they thataway?

Ooh, looks like they're thisaway.

Hunter thinks this looks like the motor home described over the airwaves.

Sooo, he sits and watches it.

Then a guy comes out of the camper.

And another guys goes IN the camper. I'm pretty sure this is the one he's looking for.

Can you see gears turning in Hunter's head? He is hatching a plan!

This plan involves Hunter backing his car into the motor home.

Not too hard... just enough that they'd notice from the inside.

"Hey!" says the lady in the motor home.

"What the Hell's going on here?" Hunter says he's sorry. "Backing up here I misjudged the distance..."

"Yeah, well you oughta be more careful," he says. We hear another woman from inside say, "Hey Ginger, it's cold in here, shut the door!" Ginger asks Hunter to come in.

While walking in, he's saying he's sorry and that he intends to pay for the damage to the motor home.

"Oh, really?" she says.

Hunter says hi to these girls and they pose seductively, probably because he's a lot cleaner, better looking and fit than most of the truckers they service.

"I'd like to forgo my insurance... maybe we could exchange phone numbers and addresses and you can send me the bill." She says it's nothing serious and they can just forget it.

No, he insists on paying!  But she says she doesn't own this rig, and she doesn't think the owner wants to exchange addresses with him. "So since it's not a big dent, let's just forget about it, okay?"

Hunter bids the hookers adieu. They invite him to stick around, stay for a  drink... (or some bow chicka bow wow action, I'm sure.)

He thanks them, but says the accident shook him up, and he leaves.

She gives this look like, "WTF is wrong with that guy?"

Before he leaves, Hunter makes a note of the hookermobile's license plate.

Vicki Lake has left tons of urgent messages!

...But when he calls there's no answer.

So he calls someone named Wayne and asks for the address for that phone number.

Then Hunter heads to the high-tech computer room to do some research.

This guy Jimmy says he has the info on the RV Hunter asked about. It's registered to Bay Industries, with a PO Box number in Hollywood.

"Post office box? I need an address, Jimmy." Jimmy says he'll get right on it.

Weight 140! Rose tattoo! Bingo!

Hunter makes a call to this guy:

"Vice, Nicholson."

"Yeah, Nick ... I'm looking for a prostitute .. Florence Kean. She's connected with the people who shot McCall."

Nick says he'll get back to him as soon as he finds something.

Someone (Wayne?) calls and gives him Vicki's info.

Hunter writes down the address. It's on K Street, which at the time was completely industrial and had no residential buildings so they're just making junk up. ;-)

Well this doesn't look good at all.

Hunter goes to check on this dead body (indeed, dead, it turns out)...

Then someone clocks Hunter over the head.

This neighbor man was walking down the hall and the door was open and he saw these two bodies...

The EMT says Hunter had better go to the hospital and get his head x-rayed. Hunter says, "Yeah, I'll get right on that," with absolutely no intention of doing so.

Finn tells him to listen to the guy and take it easy. The dead body, Finn says, is Mary Lakowski, and whoever shot her was waiting behind the door when she came in, and she was shot in the back.

Hunter says that Mary Lakowski is the real name of a hooker named Vicki Lake, and that the dead body is NOT her.

He tosses Finn the ice pack. "See ya."

And off Hunter goes.

Back to the massage parlor...

The manager says Vicki hasn't been there since the last time Hunter came in.

...Nope, no Vicki.

After peeking in all the rooms, Hunter leaves without saying a word.

"Jerk."

Hunter goes to see Sporty, who tells him he thinks Vicki is long gone.

Hunter says Vicki knows an awful lot and that's why they'e after her. He asks Sporty to stick with it.

Oooookay, what's Hunter doing with this old shoe?

He's putting it in a box. 

And wrapping it in Christmas paper.

"So when I checked out the address I had for Bay Industries, I realized it was an abandoned building," Hunter says. "Then I asked myself, 'What would Sgt. McCall do in a situation like this?'" 

"'She'd get out the old wrapping paper and send them a package to the post office box.'"

McCall can smile. Those are the only working muscles she's got left, pretty much.

So, Hunter waits outside the post office. Now, normally this might take like DAYS ON END, right? But as far as we know, Hunter pulls up and waits for like five minutes, and... 

...This lady goes to pick up her Christmassy-wrapped package soon thereafter.

And if he really was waiting there a long time, it's a good thing he's a cop, because there is so no parking in that area.

That's right; she's on Hollywood Blvd. They love themselves some Hollywood Blvd on Hunter.

Look how tall he is compared to a car door. I look nothing like that getting out of a car.

Hunter checks the building directory when she stops at the 5th floor.

Bingo! Bay Industries! (Along with a whole bunch of other stuff in the same suite.)

"Sorry, no solicitors," she says, barely looking up.

"Look, I don't care what you're sellin', I don't want it..."

Then arm-crossing ensues. "How is it," Hunter asks, "a little office like this could house what appears to be one of California's largest conglomerates?"

Two can play that game, the lady proves by crossing her arms too. 

"I just work here, Mister."

Hunter asks to talk to her boss. She does not cooperate. "Do you got a warrant? 'Cause if you don't, I don't have to talk to you."

She answers the phone...

...Then looks at Hunter and says, "Are you just gonna stand there? Cause if you are, I'm gonna hang up."

Next thing we know, Hunter's talking to Big Jack at a whole different location, though we don't really know that 'til he leaves. "You've got five companies in an office that big, Jack."

"...One of them belongs to your wife, Louise Hemmings. The rest belong to a John [Something], is that you?"

"Mr. Hemmings' corporate  holdings are a matter of public record," this guy says. Not that it matters, but this guy is named Adler. He's Hemmings' accountant.

"You're also running hookers up and down Interstate 5 in motor homes, Jack," Hunter says.

"That's a damn lie! it's also slander ... I run an honest business!"

"You're a pimp and you're a murderer, Jack," Hunter says.

"You paid some punk to shoot my partner; now I'm gonna get ya."

"Get out of my office."

Hunter: "You've given new meaning to the term 'recreational vehicle,' Jack." 

"Call me when you want to confess."

And he leaves.

This woman follows.

She looks a bit distressed as she watches Hunter go.

"You heard me," Big Jack says on the phone. "Shut the whole thing down!"

"Florence, listen... you work for me!" He's all angry and junk. "Get rid of the girls, and get the RVs back in here!"

"What the hell about Anita Fargo and Suzie Q?"

"Do whatever you want! Just get rid of those stinkin' hookers, and make sure you and the vehicles are back here tonight."

Big Jack tells Adler to use his friends at City Hall to get this cop off his back.

They're not even in the door and Charlie's already mad.

"You know what this sounds like," Charlie says. "It sounds like an officer harrassing an innocent citizen without just cause."

"I'm just trying to get the guy to make a mistake, Charlie, you know that."

"Meanwhile Big Jack's got one of the commissioners dumping on us."

Devane: "You look like my cat after a bad night." Hunter: "Hairballs?"

"Go home and get some sleep."

The stuff Charlie has to deal with, man.

Someone's waiting at Hunter's desk.

It's the woman we saw a bit ago. "I'm Laura Decker," she says. I saw you today at Big Jack's. ...I took this stuff from his office. I want to help you get him."

"Why's that?"

"He killed my father."

Hard to tell, I know, but this is an establishing shot of Hunter's house.

...Where he has taken a totally unknown person. WTF, Hunter? Anyway, she tells the story of how her parents were going to see America in their RV but they had a lot of trouble with it, then it turned out that the RV had been sold at least once before, and her dad sued.

"And right in the middle of the trial," Laura says, "he had a heart attack and died."

She says she got a job with Big Jack, hoping she'd find a way to make him pay for what he did. When she saw Hunter she decided she'd found the way.

She has a folder of papers. "These are his in-house originals. They haven't been doctored yet by his CPA ... Roger Adler." 

That's the guy Hunter saw in Big Jack's office. 

"Big Jack pays him a lot of money to make sure everything adds up."

"What about Big Jack's wife Louise? She's on record as the owner of one of his businesses."

Laura says that it's probably a tax scam -- Louise is a cheap-looking bimbo who can't balance her checkbook, let alone run a company.

Laura asks for some cream for her coffee.

Hunter says that when Jack finds out the files are missing he'll come looking for Laura.

He doesn't think she should go back her house 'til this all blows over. He invites her to stay at his place. (It doesn't play as skeezy as it sounds. Hunter's not picking up on Laura.)

She says she can't; she'd be imposing.

"You don't have much choice, honey, you're in danger." (Robbie's note: Ewww, I hate when guys call me 'honey' and they're not my boyfriend.)

Hunter gets a call. We don't know who it is.

"Great," he says. "I'll pick you up at the precinct in 20 minutes."

He says he's going to be gone an hour or more. "If anybody calls, don't answer it. If anyone knocks at the door, call the police."

And off he goes.

Hunter and Nick are watching this middle-class house in a nice neighborhood.

...A taxi pulls up.

"Yeah, that's Flo," Hunter says.

As Flo walks to her front door...

...Someone runs across her lawn with a gun and shoots her..

Hunter and Nick run to check it out.

Nick checks on Flo while Hunter follows the shooter.

The guy's already in a car.

So Hunter shoots at it.

He knocks out a tail light but that's all.

Nothing new here; I just like shots of Hunter with his gun.

Flo's dead.

Hunter calls it in.

"I've got a 187 victim, suspect driving a late model sedan with the left rear tail light out." He gives the location.

Meanwhile, back at Wilshire Memorial...

...McCall is still paralyzed...

...And Hunter's still sad about it.

...But at least a kind nurse or random hospital makeup artist came by to make sure her makeup was perfect.

Hunter arrives back at his house.

He finds Laura sleeping in his bed and leaves her there.

Hunter heads backdownstairs to check out the files Laura took from Big Jack.

"Do you know it's 5:00am?"

Hunter asks about some initials on the papers.

Laura: "The bank inspector's. Dealers buy their inventory with borrowed money. Then when they sell a car or RV, they repay the bank. The inspector's initials tell the bank the vehicle's still on the lot, unsold."

Hunter says all these loan agreements show the RVs were sold weeks before these pages were initialed.

"We got him! He's selling RVs and he's not giving the bank their money! It probably amounts to millions of the bank's dollars!"

"Big Jack plays the stock market all day long. I've heard him buying options, commodities...Rick, if we take this to the bank, we've got him!"

Hunter points out that if they take this to the bank, Laura will be arrested for stealing the papers. He asks what would happen to Big Jack's buisiness if the RVs stopped coming in.

"His whole scam depends on turnover," she says. "RVs coming in as fast as they're going out."

"...You cut off his supply and he's had it."

"Where does the supply come from?" Hunter wants to know.

From a plant in San Diego near the border, in El Mirage.

Hunter says he's going to the hospital, then to El Mirage.

Morning has broken at Wilshire Memorial.

"Can Sergeant McCall come out and play?"

He asks how she's doing and she says okay. (Dude, she's not okay.)

"You may not see me tomorrow." He says he's going to San Diego.

McCall asks why and he says he'll tell her when he gets back. He asks how it's going.

"...I can't feel anything yet, you know?"

"The doctors say it'll take about a week for the swelling to clear up."

"Then what?"

"You're gonna be all right."

McCall is clearly not so sure.

This car comes from behind Hunter and gets way too cozy, smacking into him..

Then Hunter chases the guy.

"This is L-56, in pursuit of an ADW suspect driving a late model red sedan, license plate number blah blah..." (ADW = Assault with a Deadly Weapon, btw.)

He asks for backup.

... I love it when they reach up to put the cherry light on the car.

Blah blah car chase.

It goes on and on.

And on.

Have you dozed off? I have. Car chases, blah blah car chases.

Seriously, it's still going on? Something has to end this car chase soon because the episode's almost over.

I'll let the screencaps do the talking.

The End. (Of Part 1.)

[hunter-and-mccall]

Hunter episode 3.18, A CHILD IS BORN

Original Airdate:  March 14, 1987

What’s Going On Here?  McCall wants to adopt an unborn baby girl whose mother was shot and left brain dead.

Who’s That Guest Star?  Tracy Vaccaro (at the time, Mrs. Fred Dryer); Carmen Argenziano (Stargate: SG-1, Godfather Part II); Rhoda Gemignani (Who’s the Boss?, Ghostbusters); Viola Kates Stimpson (mostly episodic TV); Leif Garrett (teen heartthrob); Carmen Zapata (Sister Act I & II, Santa Barbara); Jana Marie Hupp (Ed, episodic TV), Corinne Michaels aka Corinne Camacho (Medical Center, episodic TV); William Bronder (episodic TV, Return to Me, Stand By Me – he’s the guy in the junkyard!); Anthony Peck (Die Hard: With a Vengeance, lots of movies/TV, 3 eps of Hunter, ); Raymond St. Jacques (tons of TV/movies), Alan Keller (Deadwood, Heaven’s Gate, Convoy); Grand L. Bush (lots of TV & movies; 5 episodes of Hunter).  Hunter regular Charles Hallahan as Devane, and of course Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer and Rick Hunter and Dee Dee McCall..

Tracy Vaccaro as Stacey Collins

Carmen Argenziano as Dr. Schneider

Rhoda Gemignani as Mrs. Palovsky

Leif Garrett as Todd Logan

Corinne Camacho as Sister Nora

Carmen Zapata as Edna Watley

(I'm not at all sure Zapata & Stimpson aren't identified wrongly on IMDb, so it's possible these photos should be switched.)

Jana Marie Hupp as Todd’s Ex-Girlfriend (Tiffany)

Alan Keller as Nick Roncoe

William Bronder as Det. Mike Harrison

Anthony Peck as Ray

Raymond St. Jacques as Judge Clancy

Grand L. Bush as Billy

Charles Hallahan as Devane

Where Can I Fast-Forward Through a Car Chase? At 34:50-35:46, you can skip it if I tell you that both the bad guy and Hunter/McCall follow Stacey's car into Griffith Park. Then the foot chase at 43:20-45:24. (But it's sort of the final big scene, so if you've watched this far, you probably shouldn't skip it.)  Roncoe chases Irene, and we know he’s a bad guy ‘cause he shoots a dog for Pete’s sake; Hunter chases Roncoe; McCall joins in at the end. 

Does Anyone Have Sex, and Does Their Partner Live Through The Episode?  Nope, no sex.

What Are They Wearing?  McCall:  1. Royal blue turtleneck, grey slacks, silver earrings.  (Looks like the same turtleneck she wore in episode 3.07, “True Confessions,” and similar slacks in a different shade of grey.)

2. Off-white blazer, brown patterned blouse, brown skirt, tan/black pumps, brown purse.

3. Muted light blue turtleneck, slacks with a tiny blue/white plaid or herringbone (they look light blue from afar), light pink blazer, silver lapel pin (looks like a child or angel), silver earrings, light blue flat laced shoes.

(See what I mean about the slacks?)

4. Navy blue blazer, white slacks, navy/white striped shirt and -- I’m sorry to say -- navy/white striped socks, white loafers with navy trim.

Hunter:  Button-down shirts, slacks/jeans, ties, sports coats.

 Wow, This Is Old School:  Quick shot of a Rolodex at 14:40.

Rolodex in the bottom left corner.

At 21:10, Tiffany is the most awesome ‘80s girl ever.

Manual typewriter at 27:27.

Police radio at 33:45.

Hunter uses a payphone at 38:29.

Old school nurses’ caps at 40:52.

What’s For Lunch?  Lots of coffee, that’s what! McCall drinks coffee at 11:12, at 13:37, and again at 21:05.

Hunter drinks coffee at 21:13 and at 28:57.

Where In L.A.?  Culver City’s City Hall fills in as the Metro PD as usual.

At 15:49, the establishing shot of “Wilshire Memorial Hospital” is really the old Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital (aka Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center) in Inglewood, on Prairie Avenue between Grace Ave & Howland Drive.

At 35:14, they enter Griffith Park at the Riverside Drive/Los Feliz Blvd/Crystal Springs Drive entrance.

At 36:19, Hunter is driving southeast on Foothill Blvd as it crosses Terra Bella Street in Pacoima.

It’s an X-File:  William Bronder was in the film Return to Me with David Duchovny.  And for the hardcore XF fans, the clock at 09:33 says the time is 11:21. Not to mention, the McCall/baby thing is similar to the Scully/Emily thing (without the sci-fi component and the fact that Scully was Emily's mother. Sort of).

It's 11:21.

Who Does Hunter Shoot, and Do They Die?  Hunter shoots Nick Roncoe dead at 45:30.

Any Scenes Worth Watching?  Tiffany (Jana Marie Hupp) steals her scene at 21:10.

The scene with Hunter and McCall in the park at 31:07-33:36 is particularly sweet.

So’s the one at 46:09-47:32. The way McCall’s voice breaks makes me a little weepy.

Is There Banter? Not really.

Oops: At 36:25 there is a boom reflection on the hood of Roncoe's car.

You see it move and everything.

Bonus:  All the McCall scenes in this episode are good.

Bonus Screencaps:

This girl has ridden the bus home.

This truck pulls up.

This guy exits the truck. Somehow I just know no good can come of this.

The girl walks through the adorable courtyard to her apartment.

Truck Guy finds the name he's looking for.

He buzzes a different apartment.

He lies to this lady and says she has a package, and she buzzes him in. Oldest trick in the book, but people still fall for it.

This pregnant girl is wholesome. We know this because she's wearing a flowery dress with a Peter Pan collar, and drinking milk.

Truck Guy lies to her and says the manager sent him to fix her plumbing. Or something like that; I'm too lazy to go back and check.

People who live in this building are too trusting, man.

Yup, he shoots her. At close range! BAD TRUCK MAN. Why would he shoot a wholesome pregnant girl and make her drop her glass of milk?

Fred Dryer directed this episode! This was the first of five episodes directed by Dryer.

(This is the same uniformed cop who forgot to read the rapists their rights in "True Confessions.")

He's telling them that this girl was shot in the head at close range, she's barely alive, and that she's six or seven months pregnant.

Billy shows them her driver's license, which says she's Irene Palevsky, 21, from Buffalo.

McCall asks if there is evidence of a robbery.

Nope, just shot at the front door.

McCall goes thataway to subdue Neighbor Lady.

Hunter goes thisaway to talk to this other neighbor lady, Edna Watley, who found the body and called the police.

Hunter sits daintily on this wee bench and shows off his white socks and topsiders. (WTF is with him and the topsiders with white socks? I lived through the '80s. We did NOT wear socks with our topsiders.)

"Who'd want to hurt that sweet child?"

She says, "I didn't hear no gunshots."

She tells how she went to get a package but there wasn't one, and she came back and found Irene's body.

She says Irene had only been there a few months and didn't have any friends, except for her and Sister Nora. She gives him Sister Nora's info.

Nobody heard gunshots so it must have been a silencer...but why would someone put a professional hit on a kid like Irene?

Hunter says he'll go to the hospital and drop McCall off at Sister Nora's.

This is Sister Nora.

Sister Nora can't say much about Irene because "the most important thing we offer these girls is confidentiality."

She says there was no contact with the baby's father, and that Irene wouldn't didn't want her family to know she was pregnant, so she told them she was traveling in Canada as an exchange student, and she'd call them every ten days or so "from Canada."

"Did you ever try to call the parents?"

"That would be violating an irrevocable trust. If we didn't offer that, many of these girls would opt for abortion."

"But Palevsky isn't a common name, I'm sure if you called Buffalo information..."

McCall thanks Sister Nora.

McCall asks if Mrs. Palevsky has a daughter named Irene, and an alarmed Mrs. Palevsky says yes.

Must be the next day. Mrs. Palevsky has flown to L.A.

Dr. Schneider says that Irene is brain dead.

Mrs. Palevsky says that's not Irene.

McCall asks her to look again and make sure...

Mrs. Palevsky says she knows her daughter... and that she's sorry for this poor girl, but it's not Irene.

Hunter sits like Riker.

Mrs. Palevsky last saw Irene six months ago.

She was upset when Irene cut off all her beautiful hair.

"Up to here!"

"The next morning she was gone."

This officer is going to take Mrs. Palevsky to the airport.

They'll keep her posted until they find Irene.

When they say they'll look for Irene and need to find her fast...

Mrs. Palevsky becomes alarmed.

McCall tells her to be sure and send a photo of Irene; it could help.

She'll send it as soon as she gets home.

They agree they have to find Irene fast; whoever put the hit on her will try again as soon as they realize they've killed the wrong girl.

Charlie says the DA wants one of them to testify in the Juliano case; which one's it gonna be?

This screencap cracks me up.

He tells them to work it out.

Hunter immediately goes for his lucky coin.

McCall's like, "No, wait... I want this case."

"Something about it with the girl, and the baby, and everything..."

"...I want the case, all right?"

"Sure."

"I'll make Charlie wait ten minutes then I'll go tell him."

(They actually wink at each other but it was impossible to catch while screencapping.)

We hear McCall explaining how the one on the left is a pregnant Jane Doe in the ICU with a bullet in her brain, and that she was hiding from her parents... 

...by using the ID of the one on the right. That's Irene Palevsky, who now has short hair, and who might have been the real target for the bullet.

"Might have been? You mean you're just guessing?"

"Well that's one of the things I do best, Mike."

"We drew a blank on Jane Doe's fingerprints."

"You love to complicate my life, don't you?"

"What? I got you the dental history on Jane Doe ... and everything we have on Irene Palevsky."

Blah blah dental fillings.

Mike says that if someone's filed a missing person report he can probably get McCall something from the computer on Jane Doe in a few hours.

They are loving some coffee this episode. Also, I'm pretty sure that's McCall's mug from earlier in front of the coffee maker. Or maybe they're standard police-station-issue mugs.

"Well, uh...I don't think you'l find anything in the computer."

"The girl told her family she was traveling in Canada..." 

"So... they don't think of her as missing."

"...So there's no report."

Mike is like, Um, do you know how ridiculous this is? The dental stuff means nothing unless someone looks for her.

Heehee, McCall's look says, "I can kill you with my brain."

She tells him to concentrate on Irene. "Maybe she knows who this Jane Doe is. ...Put her picture in the paper!"

Mike says all she ever gives him is a bunch of mights and maybes.

"Well, that's why we come to you, Mike."

"Because you're the expert on mights and maybes."

Ah, Wilshire Memorial. My favorite fake hospital.

Lots of exposition ahead. Dr. Schneider says that the hospital Ethics Committee met this morning.

If someone doesn't come forward to claim responsibility, he says, they'll have to ask the court to appoint a guardian, and it would be up to the guardian to decide if and when life support will be discontinued.

Schneider takes off his lab coat just to make McCall feel at home, since Hunter spends all day taking his jacket off only to put it back on and take it back off again later.

"Are you saying that some stranger is going to be able to decide the fate of the baby that's inside that girl?"

He says the hospital can't assume responsibility indefinitely. If McCall can't find out who Jane Doe is, they'll probably be instructed to turn off life support. They're doing ultrasounds and monitoring the heartbeat just in case.

McCall asks about amniocentesis but the results won't be in for ten days. Preliminary findings show that the lungs aren't developed and there's a hole in the heart, which isn't uncommon for a fetus at 27 weeks.

"So ... some court appointed guardian is going to be able to pull the plug??"

Aaaand ... the putting on of the sport coat!

The doctor doesn't know how long they can keep Jane Doe's body functioning.

"How long is it going to take for the court to appoint this guardian?"

He says tomorrow or the day after. McCall says thank you in that "I don't really mean 'thank you' at all" sort of way, and leaves.

"You're welcome."

...I thought you might like to see McCall's shoes.

McCall explains the situation to the judge. She's quite impassioned.

"Let's go into my office, where I will remove my robe. I hear you like that sort of thing." (Okay, okay, he doesn't really say that. But it's so true.)

"Dee Dee, the hospital is not a charitable institution, nor is it an adoption agency."

McCall: "We're talking about a child here!"

"Relax, take it easy; I happen to agree with you ... that Jane Doe's parents will probably show up soon."

"So, I'm granting you your 72-hour injunction."

"Thank you!" she says. (I'm sad to say this adorable cheek-pinching and hug are the closest thing to sex in this episode.)

"Which means that the county is footing the bill for three days..."

"So don't let me down!" (An unseen 

McCall yells back "I won't!" as she's leaving.)

Back to the hospital she goes (I assume this is the next day since she's changed clothes.)

McCall drops the judge's order on the doctor's lunch table.

She's all snooty about it, like, "Nyah nyah, you can't pull the plug on Jane Doe 'cause I'm stopping you!"

She's taken aback when Dr. Schneider says "Good for you!"

"Did you think I was drooling to pull the plug on Jane Doe and her baby?"

"Well, ... no, I, uh... I just thought you weren't very concerned."

He asks if police officers indulge their emotions on their cases. "No," McCall says as she sits down.

"Actually, we have to keep a certain distance." (Um, McCall, I'm not sure what mythical creature you're talking about, but it's not you.)

"But you're not willing to assume that doctors do too?"

He says since he was eighteen, everything he's done has been because he wanted to save lives, preserve them with dignity and comfort, and that his instincts are to deliver the baby and hand her over to someone who will love and care for her.

"Boy, I feel pretty stupid."

"...I'm very sorry."

"...I thought you were cold and callous, and I was very wrong."

Schneider says that when he started out 20 years ago things were simpler; life support systems were more primitive and these complex ethical questions hadn't been asked yet. The Ethics Committee tries to do the right thing, but there are rules, and the hospital has a budget, etc.

...So it warms him when someone like McCall comes along and forces them to do what they wanted to in the first place.

He asks if there's been any luck finding Jane Doe's family.

"We don't have much to go on, but we're doing everything we can."

Cut from McCall drinking coffee, to...

...Hunter drinking coffee.

Meet Tiffany! She's one of my all-time favorite "Hunter" day players!

I'll have to summarize, because Tiffany talks a mile a minute. She's a fast-talking, gum-snapping, super tubular '80s girl.

The story goes that she was going out with this guy Todd.

Todd worked in a super cool club, and one night a totally bogus girl came in and Todd dumped Tiffany for her!

Then she read in the newspaper that the police were looking for this Irene Palevsky... (Me: Tiffany reads the newspaper?)

"So, I like... Came. Right. Down."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you come right down?"

"Because, like, that was her name, Irene Palevsky."

Hunter shows her a photo of Irene and asks if that's her.

Yes, that's her!

"...Except when I saw her, her hair was like, really really really short."

"...I mean, I wouldn't be caught dead with that hairstyle, you know what I'm sayin'?"

"Once she moved in on me, Todd, he could not even remember my first name."

"Your boyfriend is Todd who?"

"My EX-boyfriend, please. His name is Todd Logan, and he's real real super foxy and he works at the Cosmos Club, on Pico?"

Hunter asks when all this happened.

About ten weeks ago, Tiffany says.

"...Is she, like, um, in trouble or anything?"

"Not that I know of, no."

Then Tiffany talks some more.

McCall comes in, happily telling Hunter she got three more days.

Hunter says he has to get back to court, and he wants Tiffany to tell McCall everything she just told him.

"And I mean everything."

While Tiffany talks and talks and talks, the cop behind McCall is shaking his head. So funny.

It would seem that McCall took Tiffany's info and is searching for Todd Logan at the Cosmos Club.

"Todd Logan?" she calls out as the band warms up.

"Who wants him?" the front guy replies.

"Los Angeles Metropolitan Police. Can we talk?"

Me:

 Hey, isn't that ....?

Todd says yeah, but instead of talking, he makes  run for it.

McCall follows.

Todd stops dead when she yells, "Hey, I've got your guitar!"

Why, it IS! It's Leif Garrett, my childhood crush! *girly scream*

You might recognize this shot from the Season 5 opening credits.

"Do we talk, or do I trash this thing?"

"Please, lady... be careful, don't even hold it like that! You could drop it."

"Can we talk?" McCall asks again.

"Talk about what?"   McCall tells him it's about Irene.

"Irene? Why didn't you say so? ... With Irene gone, this [guitar] is the only good thing I've got left."

He says that he and Irene were together nine or ten weeks. Then they heard on the radio that a girl name Irene Palevsky had been shot.  Irene looked shocked, and he told her it must be a weird coincidence, and he went to work. When he got home, she was gone. Irene left a note saying she loved him and that someday she'd call and explain, and to not forget about her.

"Did she call?" McCall wants to know. Nope, she did not call.

Todd says that Irene said she used to be a showgirl in Las Vegas, but when they had a chance to lay a gig there, all expenses paid, Irene wigged and said she never wants to go there, but didn't tell him why.

"When you find Irene, will you tell her I didn't forget about her? Tell he to come home?" McCall says she'll tell her.

Poor Todd. He's all lovesick and shit.

Not sure who McCall's talking to, but she's telling them about Irene, and how she used to be a showgirl and that she probably wasn't using her real name.

McCall tells Ray that if Hunter or anyone else calls, to tell them she's at the hospital. As usual, there is the obligatory Background Hooker at the station.

Hunter comes in looking super happy. Did he meet a hot woman in court or something?

This cop gives Hunter a message that came in for McCall from Las Vegas PD. Irene Palevsky used the name 'Gloria Bouchet' and Bouchet disappeared six months ago.

This young lady is looking for Sgt. McCall. Hunter explains he's her partner.

She is Stacey Collins. 

She drove all night from Vegas after the cops in Vegas told her McCall had made an inquiry about Gloria Bouchet. This is the lamest thing in the world. She doesn't have a phone??

Hunter shows her the photo of Irene Palevsky.

That's her!

But in Vegas she was just Gloria Bouchet. She was Stacey's roommate and best friend for two years.

Six months ago, Gloria/Irene disappeared without a trace.

There are a few things Hunter loves to do. One is checking his watch.

Another is putting on his jacket. He must be having the best minute ever, getting to do both so close together. Anyway, he asks if Stacey wants a cup of coffee.

Stacey wants coffee if it comes with breakfast. 

They seem to be in Hollywood here but I can't figure out the location. I can't even explain to you in words how this sort of thing vexes me.

Hunter tells Stacey what they found out from Todd Logan, which isn't that much. Stacey says she wants to talk to Todd.

Hunter asks why.

"Because people tell cops only what cops ask. People tell showgirls everything."

"You know, you'd make a pretty good cop."

"But you'd make a lousy showgirl."

The judge tells McCall that it's cost the county over $13,000 so far to keep Jane Doe alive and asks if they're any closer to finding her family. 

Not really, but McCall thinks that every day that goes by is a day closer to her family looking for her.

"Please, just extend the injunction a few more hours, 48 hours... 24 hours!"

He asks her to be practical.

Practical? McCall? When there's a baby involved? I don't think so.

Byron asks,

w

hat if the baby has birth defects? People looking for babies want to know what they're getting.

McCall thinks the baby will be born healthy.

She's done her research. One out of 10 babies at 6 months has this hole in the heart defect and it usually seals itself around the time the baby is born.

The hospital won't assume responsibility and neither will anyone else, he says.

McCall says that if nobody else will accept responsibility for the baby, then she will.

"...I've given this a lot of thought; I really have." She asks if he'll help her.

"I'm going to protect you from yourself." He grants another 24 hour extension, and tells her to use the time to think it over. If she still wants to, he'll get the ball rolling to have her appointed guardian.

She thanks him.

Hunter says that most women have nine months to prepare themselves and it's happening to McCall overnight.

Hunter asks, "What if the baby comes into the world with a birth defect?"

McCall knows the odds, knows it could happen, but just feels it won't. And if it does, "That's all the more reason I will need to be there for that baby."

He wants to know that her decision is based on fact and reality...

...Not emotion and circumstance.

Emotion and circumstance obviously enter into it, but here are the facts, she says...

"That baby needs a parent desperately."

"And I can fill that need."

"...I want to."

"I am moving carefully ... deliberately. I have thought about this for a long time." (It’s been what, two days? That is not a long time, McCall.)

"Rick, you know I want kids." (First name alert! Important conversation!)

"It's something that's very important to me, and ... I feel ready."

"Let me play devil's advocate," he says.

"What if somebody steps forward and puts a claim on that child?"

She says she'll deal with that if and when it happens but until it does, she's all that baby has.

"...I can't turn my back on that..."

"...Could you?"

"You're pretty clear about all this, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah..." she says again. He voice breaks in an adorable way. I might have the sniffles or something.

Hunter: "I like you."

Okay. While this is one of the sweetest scenes ever on "Hunter," how is it that nobody in this whole episode thought to bring up the fact that McCall is a homicide cop? Who's going to take care of the baby while she's at work at her super-dangerous job with irregular hours where she gets shot at a lot? 

So at this point, I figure I'd better throw in a couple of shots of the car for the car lovers. Check out that sweet grill.

We hear the police dispatcher. "L-56, come in, please."

The dispatcher patches Stacey Collins through.

"Stacey, what's happening?"

"Somebody in a beige sedan's following me." When Hunter asks, she says she's at her hotel and she's driving a blue Mustang convertible.

Hunter gives her instructions on what to do: Drive north on Riverside Drive, enter Griffith Park, and he'll pick her up there. She's to make a bunch of turns and they'll find out if she's being followed.

"You got it."

And off everyone goes to Griffith Park.

Stacey's rental car...

Roncoe following Stacey...

Hunter & McCall following Roncoe and Stacey...

Stacey enters Griffith Park, and for once someone's actually where they say they are on the show.

Actual Griffith Park sign!

This goes on a while. Blah blah following through the park.

Hunter pulls the guy over.

"Hey, I'm a cop, Las Vegas PD. My badge is in my right jacket pocket."

Hunter grabs the guy's badge and gun.

Hunter asks, "Sgt. Roncoe, what are you doing following this lady?"

Roncoe says he's on a case, and Stacey's roommate Gloria Bouchet was an eyewitness.

Hunter's like, usually cops notify us when they come into our jurisdiction, blah blah.

He says he just got in town and didn't want to lose her.

"Look," Stacey says, "I'm not sure how you found me and I'm not so sure I want to know. All this is making me nervous." She asks if Hunter or McCall could follow her back to her hotel.

Hunter introduces McCall and says she'll take Roncoe back to the precinct to meet Captain Devane and show Roncoe their case file.

"Much obliged." You can tell right off that this guy's skeezy. His facial features look like the original illustrations of Snape in the Harry Potter books.

Off McCall and Roncoe go.

Stacey thinks there's something fishy about Roncoe. Gloria never told her anything about being a witness in the murder case Roncoe's talking about, and the police never came around to ask either one of them any questions.

Hunter tells Stacey to  check out of her hotel and check into another, and to let him know where she is.

She wants him to keep her posted and he says he will.

Hunter calls the Las Vegas Police Dept.

Ray, whose job is probably actually detective but in this episode he just takes messages, tells McCall that Dr. Schneider called and said Jane Doe's baby needs to be delivered by C-section ASAP, and that Todd Logan heard from Irene and has an address in Malibu Canyon for her.

McCall professes her love for Ray.

She introduces Ray to Det. Sgt. Nick Roncoe from the Vegas PD.

"He needs to talk to Capt. Devane and probably get a look at this file."

McCall promises she'll be back, and rushes off to the hospital.

Captain Devane looks busy, says Ray. He's going to check with the secretary.

Roncoe's like, I'll just look at this file.

Um... do you have a bad feeling about Roncoe yet? You really should.

Hunter's driving so fast his cherry top is wobbly.

"Ray, where's McCall??"

Ray says McCall left in a hurry a few minutes ago; he thinks she went to the hospital.

"She wanted me to introduce the Captain to this Vegas cop, but the guy's not where I left him."

"That guy is NOT a cop, Ray; think hard, where'd she go?"

Ray says McCall left a file on her desk and it's gone. There was a message in it from Todd Logan. "Something about Irene and a house in Malibu Canyon." Ray remembers the address and gives it to Hunter.

Hunter tells Ray to call the hospital and have McCall paged, and tell her that Hunter talked to the Vegas PD, and Roncoe hasn't been a cop for six months, and to give her the Malibu address, and tell her Hunter's on his way there Code 3. Oh, the mounds of exposition this phone call is taking care of!

That nurse on the left says that McCall has an urgent call from headquarters. How the nurse knows that this woman randomly walking by is Sgt. McCall is a mystery. Dr. Schneider says the c-section starts at 6, and McCall says she'll be there.

Oh noes! Roncoe's on his way to Malibu Canyon!

Hunter: Also speeding his way to Malibu Canyon. (Pay no attention to the fact he's really an hour away in Pacoima.)

McCall calls Todd and tells him to call and warn Irene to get out of that house.

Todd calls.

The phone rings.

There's no answer.

Irene, it seems, is outside playing with a dog, and can't hear the phone.

Roncoe arrives at the house where Irene's staying.

Yeah.... I'm pretty sure cops don't use guns with silencers... not to mention his beady Snape eyes.

Oh, shit, Irene thinks. That guy's got beady Snape eyes. And not Snape from "Deathly Hallows" where we find out he's awesome, either. Early nasty Snape.

Irene turns and runs.

Roncoe shoots the dog! He is obviously a Very Bad Man.

Whew! Hunter has arrived to save the day!

Hunter hears something thataway.

You are getting the picture, right? Irene runs, Roncoe follows her with his gun because he's the bad guy.

McCall arrives, but I'm pretty sure it's Stepfanie Kramer's double, because most of the time she's hidden by this rosebush.

Roncoe shoots at Irene.

Irene runs back the other way.

Thank goodness she runs into Hunter. Not that she knows Hunter, but he has to be better than Roncoe, right?

Roncoe shoots at Hunter/Irene and misses.

Hunter shoots at Roncoe.

Hunter does not miss.

Hunter asks if she's all right.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."

McCall runs up. "Hunter? You okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine." He introduces them.

McCall says she wants to get back to the hospital for the baby's birth.

Hunter says he'll see her there.

Hunter asks Irene if she knows this dead guy, Nick Roncoe.

Yup, Roncoe's still dead down there.

She says yes. She saw Roncoe kill a man named Strober. (That's the case Roncoe claimed to be working on.)

Hunter: "Let's call your mother."

Confusing shot because that little pink sign is for a different baby than the one we're looking at, but they push past Baby Girl Adams to the baby in the back.

McCall is super excited and happy.

"...Is she beautiful?"

McCall's saying stuff like, "she's so tiny!" and I'm thinking, that baby's three months if it's a day.

Hunter looks at McCall. They're both a bit goopy-eyed. "What?" she says.

Hunter says that Mike was at his desk back at the precinct.

"He found Jane Doe's next of kin."

"They're farmers from Wisconsin."

Awwwww, poor McCall.

"It's for the best, right?" Hunter says.

"...Yeah, I guess... yeah." OH STEPFANIE KRAMER HOW ARE YOU SO GOOD? Her voice breaks and my heart breaks for her.

The End.

[hunter-and-mccall]

Hunter episode 3.14, REQUIEM FOR SERGEANT McCALL

Original Airdate:  February 7, 1987

What’s Going On Here?  McCall lands in hot water after she reopens the case her husband was working on when he was killed. This is a retcon episode: in the pilot, McCall said her husband Steve was randomly killed when he pulled some kids over on a traffic violation; in "The Shooter," she said Steve was a motorcycle cop; the new (and final) story is that he was working on a murder case and was killed because of that.

Who’s That Guest Star?  Cesare Danova (Mean Streets, Cleopatra, Animal House, tons of movies and TV); Leslie Hope (24, Revolution); Kaff Kaake (Viper, Bad Influence); Paul Lieber (random TV & movies as well as a lot of theater); Franc Luz (mostly episodic TV); Kathleen Freeman (movies/TV from the 40s ‘til she died in 2001); Robert Hirschfeld (Hill Street Blues, Escape From Alcatraz; also a food critic).  Charles Hallahan as Devane, Bruce Davison as Wyler.

Cesare Danova as Roger Duquesne

Leslie Hope as Julie Lawrence

Jeff Kaake as David Lawrence

Paul Lieber as Rodney Allister Moody

Franc Luz as Det. Sgt. Stephen J. McCall

Kathleen Freeman as Ann Ridley

Robert Hirschfeld (right) as Howard Brovard

Charles Hallahan as Capt. Charles Devane

Bruce Davison as Deputy Chief Wyler

Where Can I Fast-Forward Through a Car Chase? At 32:00-32:26, McCall climbs some stairs. At 39:15-39:50, Hunter follows Duquesne.

Does Anyone Have Sex, and Does Their Partner Live Through The Episode? McCall has sex with her husband Steve, or at least they're about to when they're interrupted. Not-Really-a-Spoiler: No, he does not live.

What Are They Wearing? McCall:  1. Hunter green turtleneck, hunter green and black velour sweater over, gold pin, gold earrings (don’t see the bottom half, but my guess is: a black skirt or black slacks, and black pumps).

2. White & red turtleneck-type blouse, red blazer (possibly a suit but we don’t see the bottom half).

3. Police uniform.

4. Lacy nightgown (in bed), later with a light blue robe to cover up.

5. Naked in bed.

6. Back to the blue robe.

7. Awesome white knit dress last seen in “From San Francisco With Love,” same white belt with gold chains in front, big gold hoop earrings.

8. Red high-necked dress, gold earrings, black pumps, black purse, va-va-voom matching red lipstick. (Damn, she wear that dress like she means it.)

9. White high-necked blouse, black slacks, beige jacket, black low-heeled pumps, black purse, enormous sunglasses, gold earrings.

10. Grey sweatshirt, light blue jeans.

11. Light blue jeans, light blue patterned blouse (same blouse previously worn in "Change Partners and Dance" in the 'breakup' scene on the pier), dark jean jacket over.

12. Blue/black checked blouse, pin at the neck, black slacks, silver earrings.

Hunter:  1. Black polo shirt, grey slacks, light suede jacket. (I think he just wore this polo shirt in "Down and Under" two episodes ago, but that episode's set 5 years after this bit. But guys do get attached to polo shirts, so it could happen. Right?)

2. Various button-down shirts, ties, jeans the rest of the time.

Wow, This Is Old School:  At 06:41 there's a newspaper ad featuring Thrifty drugstore and Polaroid film. Thrifty went defunct in 1988 and was bought out by RiteAid. Polaroid stopped making cameras in 2007 and stopped selling film in 2009.

At 12:31, the McCalls have a rotary phone on their bedside table in 1982.

At 15:58, Charlie uses an intercom at the precinct.

We see a Mayfair Market at 17:22; they were bought out by Gelson’s and no longer exist (this particular market is now a Pavilions, though).

At 17:59, a payphone; again at 19:13.

Also, the police radio.

At 26:17, McCall uses a manual typewriter.

What’s For Lunch? Hunter brings McCall a pizza but they don’t even open the box.

Where In L.A.?  The former City Hall in Culver City stands in as the Metro PD as usual this season.

At 17:22, the Mayfair Market is at the intersection of Dume Drive & Heathercliff Road in Malibu.

When McCall’s on the roof, that’s the Roosevelt Hotel in the background at 33:47.

And at 34:03 we see the old Holiday Inn (now the Loews Hollywood Hotel) in the background, on Highland & Franklin in Hollywood.

My guess is that she’s standing on the building at the corner of Hollywood and N. Sycamore that now houses Live Nation. It's at 7060 Hollywood Blvd.

The McCalls' house (at least, the living room and front entry) is the interior of 12718 Valley Spring Lane in Studio City. McCall will later live in this house in Season 6, but I'm sure it's not supposed to be the same house where she lived with Steve, because she moved several times in between.

As you'll see under "bonus screencaps" below, there are establishing shots of San Quentin State Prison. The same shots were used for the opening of episode 2.15, "Scrap Metal."

It’s an X-File:  Paul Lieber was in the X-Files episode “Hollywood A.D.” and also guested on David Duchovny’s show Californication.

Who Does Hunter Shoot, and Do They Die?  Nobody.

Any Scenes Worth Watching? The sweet/sexy stuff with McCall & Steve at 09:06-11:24.

Hunter tells McCall Steve’s dead at 14:39-15:29.

McCall confronts Moody at 21:15-22:45.

Sweet scene between McCall and Devane at 26:17-27:40.

The final scene at 46:46.

Is There Banter?  A little at 19:01-19:13.

FYI: The music at 13:52 was also used in episode 2.18, "Death Machine."

Bonus: This is the first time we see Devane at home with his best buddy, his cat Harry.

Bonus #2: The Script, at Wonderful World of Hunter: HERE!

Bonus Screencaps:

This is really the sign in front of San Quentin.

Actually San Quentin again!

Pretty sure this is not really in San Quentin. Anyway, they're at a parole hearing for Rodney Moody, who, we learn, gunned down McCall's husband Steve five years ago. She's calling it murder, but he was only convicted of manslaughter.

Moody on the left, his lawyer on the right. The lawyer's all, Um, she can't say that stuff, blah blah.

The presiding officer of the parole board, who seems sympathetic to McCall, has to agree with the lawyer.

McCall's not happy about it.

Back at the station...

McCall asks Devane to reopen the case that her husband Steve was working on when he died. Diana Duquesne's death was ruled an accident; this made it look like Steve was harrassing Moody, and Steve's reputation at the police department was destroyed.

McCall has written a report on it, and Devane says he'll read it tonight.

Charlie's cat, Harry, has more personality than most of Hunter's dates.

::crazy cat lady sounds::

Harry is eating the same dinner that Charlie cooked for himself. Sweet.

Charlie gets down to reading.

At this point, do one of those "Wayne's World" dream sequence thingies, as we travel back in time...

This is Steve McCall, five years ago, interviewing the lady who found her boss, Diana Duquesne, dead in the bathtub.

She's Ann Ridley, who took care of Diana since she was a child. She thinks Diana was murdered.

"They hated her, all of them." She's talking about Diana's husband and "those two ungrateful children."

Later...

This is the actor husband, Roger Duquesne. He says he loved his wife very much, and so did David & Julie, her kids.

The guy on the right is Steve's partner, Sam Bullens. IMDb doesn't want me to know the actor's name.

Roger was on a boat at the time his wife died, and his alibi's airtight.

Aha, the ungrateful children! David walks in saying "You mean you haven't arrested him yet?" about his stepfather Roger.

"Our mother's dead, and he killed her!" Julie asks David to please not yell. 

Their alibis are airtight too; they'd been playing mixed doubles in a celebrity tennis match at the time. McCall's VO says that Steve still doubted the death was accidental.

Sam thinks it was an accident, but Steve thinks Duquesne or one of the kids hired someone to kill Diana. She had $270 million, and all three of them were always asking her for money and she'd started saying no. (By the way, they're leaving the morgue and talking about Barney the Coroner. He's not in this episode but he's there in spirit, five years in the past.)

Sam says he's the senior partner and he's calling it an accident, but if Steve wants to investigate further, he can go ahead.

Steve follows a station wagon leaving the Duquesne mansion, and it stops and picks up Moody. Moody gets out and goes into this strip bar. Steve follows him in, but it turns out Moody walked right through and out the back.

Dee Dee comes home to find a tired Steve looking through mug shots.

Aww, look how cute she is in her uniform.  "Didn't your mom ever tell you you could go blind doing that?" she says.  "So stop me when I need glasses," he replies.

Then there's some adorable sexiness.

She tells him he needs to get some sleep.

They go to bed but, um, I don't think sleep ended up being on the agenda.

They're interrupted by a knock at the door... at this hour??

Hey, it's Hunter! McCall doesn't know him, of course, because it's five years ago. He apogizes for coming over so late, but says Steve wanted this info as soon as it came in.

Hunter's wearing his jacket from the first season. (See? Pretend he has more hair five years ago than he did in the pilot.)

Awwww, Hunter and McCall being introduced for the first time, retcon fashion!

Yup, that's Moody all right. Steve wants to pick him up.

"On what grounds?"

"Just for questioning. A station wagon registered to Diana Duquesne leaves that house at one in the morning, picks this guy up, drops him off a few blocks later... I want to know who's driving that car."

"...But if he refuses to tell you, haven't you just put him, and the driver, on guard?"

"Is she always like this?"

"You mean smart, careful, by the book?" Steve goes on to say he'll figure out something and call Hunter in the morning.

Hunter and Dee Dee say it was nice to meet each other. Hunter: "It's about time; all Steve does is talk about you." Dee Dee: "Now you know the awful truth." It's so cute I can barely stand it.

Hunter leaves, and the McCalls go back to bed.

This time the phone interrupts them.

Steve says it's someone who knows where he can find Moody, and he jumps out of bed to get dressed and run off into the night.

Steve comes back for more smooching before he goes.

He says he'll be back before his pillow's cold.  ... (*sob* It's not true, Dee Dee! Don't let him go!)

Steve looks around for his source.

Another late-night knock at the door doesn't bode well.

She asks where Steve is.

Hunter says Steve was shot.

Dee Dee wants to know where he is, which hospital, but you can tell she's already panicking inside.

Hunter says Steve didn't make it, that he died on the way.

Back to the present, as Charlie finishes reading McCall's report. Her VO says "Rodney Moody claimed that Steve had been harassing him, had followed him to the Side Show club, and attacked him. My testimony about what Moody said to Steve was rejected as hearsay, and Moody's attorney convinced the jury that I couldn't have recognized Moody's voice. He was found guilty of manslaughter. No connection was ever established between Moody and the death of Diana Duquesne. Her death was classified as an accident."

Devane uses his old school intercom to tell his secretary to ask McCall to come in.

He says he read her report and sympathizes with her position.

But, he says, the report is not objective. It's full of personal opinions and debatable conclusions. But he knows her well enough to conclude there's some truth in it.

He's going to give McCall and Hunter some time to check it out.

But they could be pulled off at any time, and he wants no complaints from her if they are.

He also reminds her that Moody is a free man now, with full constitutional rights.

Hunter sticks his head in to say that Moody's been released and is on a plane to L.A.

Yup. 

Moody cabs it on PCH to Malibu.

Hunter & McCall watch while Moody writes down the number at a payphone.

Moody tells the person on the phone not to say anything, and to call him at the payphone number.

Moody tells whoever it is that he knows how much they made off him, and he wants $5 million bucks - a million for each year he spent in prison, because they let the cops to him.

They gloat a little, happy they were right about the payphone. 

McCall calls in the license number. 

The dispatcher tells them the car was leased to Moody, and they wonder who arranged that for him.

McCall follows Moody into a restaurant.

Badge flash! The maitre'd asks for her name and she says "The name's Sergeant. I have one of your patrons under surveillance and  I'd like that corner table by the pillar, please." She's SO BADASS. I love her.

This girl just seems slutty, but in the script it's made clear that she's a hooker who was provided for Moody by whoever gave him the money and the car.

This woman gasps loudly. "DEE DEE McCALL!"

This does not go unnoticed by Moody.

"For God's sake, keep moving, I'm running a surveillance here." It's too late, because Moody's already on his way over.

"Sergeant Dee Dee McCall, straight from the land of hearsay testimony, still out for blood. ... I'm a fully rehabilitated citizen. I shot your husband for exactly the reasons I gave at my trial. I have deeply regretted it ever since, and I've done my time."

"You killed Diana Duquesne, and you're gonna go to the gas chamber for it, buddy."

He says he still has rights and they're not going to let some vigilante cop follow him around making death threats.

"Okay, little lady ... you probably have a wire on you, so I'll do this in a way just the two of us will understand."

"You just lost the first round, babe."

McCall is the most va-va-voom bombshell ever to grace the 122nd precinct.

McCall gets a talking-to, but shockingly isn't suspended.

She promises not to follow or harass Moody.

Hunter found out Moody's car was paid for by cashier's check through his lawyer. They wonder who's really picking up the tab.

McCall says she's not going near Moody, but there are three cages she wants to rattle.

They meet Roger Duquesne.

He introduces his business adviser and his wife's kids, Julie & David.

Hunter introduces McCall. She says, "Widow of Det. Sgt. Steve McCall. Name ring a bell?" She says Diana Duquesne's death has been reclassified as a possible homicide.

"So... you have the right to remain silent...."

"This is the best news I've heard in years! Are you finally going after this bloodsucker?" I guess David's not too fond of his stepdad.

"David, please don't start. I don't want this dredged up all over again. Come on, Sweets, sit down." Well, that's just creepy. 

McCall gives us some exposition, asking if it's correct that after Diana's death, Roger got half her estate and the two children got the other half.

Roger says he'll answer questions about his wife's death, but their financial affairs are private.

Sorenson's all, Um, no, it's public record. Yes, Mr. Duquesne and the two kids share in the income from the estate ... but they were equally well off while Diana was alive.

Hunter asks where Miss Ridley is. 'Member her? She's the nanny who found Diana's body in the flashback to 5 years ago, the one who was convinced one of these three did it.

Julie says she died a few months ago.

McCall says thanks, and if any of them wants to speak to her or Hunter they're welcome to do that in private.

Duquesne's all, "That's it? I thought you must have had something substantial to tell us."

McCall says that they're probably aware that Rodney Moody's out on parole. Hunter asks if they know Moody's attorney, Brovard? Roger says no.

"Well look him up, Roger. I have a feeling you're going to need him." David's very snarky. Julie says she'll leave if David doesn't stop.

McCall just says they can be reached at Metro Division homicide.

It's nighttime and pretty quiet at the precinct.

"I'm on your side. You know that, don't you?"

"Then why'd you tie my hands, Captain?"

"You tied your own hands when you popped Moody in the chops."

"Yeah, you're right. ...But it was worth it."

(Charlie is adorable, isn't he? Look at those dimples!) "I know what you mean. Off the record," he says.

"You and Hunter are important to me. ... You're good cops, both of you."

"Well, you're forgiven for wrecking my life; thanks."

That was such a good scene! It starts at 26:18 on the DVDs. Go watch!

After Devane leaves, McCall gets a call that seems important.

"All right, twenty minutes, I'll be there."

David's all smarmy and smug and weird.

"To our mutual interest in seeing Roger Duquesne on death row."

She's like, Ugh, I'm tired and you're annoying.

David finally gets to the good stuff: He says he saw Moody and Roger Duquesne together yesterday morning.

He says Moody called again today and he heard Duquesne call him by name.

David won't take an oath on it now -- he's scared Roger will have him killed too -- but if she gets enough to put Roger away, he'll back her up on it. 

McCall follows Duquesne.

Are her sunglasses big enough? I still recognize her, so I guess not.

As McCall walks into the building, that girl in the pink/grey/white top is behind her.

Duquesne catches the elevator.

But wait, there's Moody. Oh, and the girl in the pink/grey/white sweater is already leaving. Because it's been 15 seconds since she was outside so she'd better go outside again.

Moody heads for the stairs.

McCall follows.

She listens as Moody climbs the stairs, but doesn't want him to hear her, so she takes off her shoes.

The climbing of the stairs goes on quite a while.

D'oh!!

There's this long tense bit of McCall on the roof and you don't know if the person who conked Moody in the head is going to conk her in the head too, and she doesn't know Moody's been conked in the head, and ... she's going around roof machinery and ... so tense! Also, somewhat paradoxically, so boring. ;-)

Because honestly, look how long this is going on.

Um, what?

Yup, that's Moody, all *splat* on the sidewalk.

Security Guard Guy is all "hands up!"

McCall says she's a cop, but Security Guard Guy doesn't care.

Devane has been ordered by IA to put McCall under suspension.

She hands over her gun and badge. How many times were Hunter and/or McCall suspended, do you think?

Even Bernie doesn't think she had anything to do with Moody's death, Charlie says, but the facts don't look good and the DA thinks she's guilty as hell.

He tells her to go home and stay there 'til she hears from him.

Everyone knows what happened and it's like a walk of shame through the station.

Hunter's like, "Do you want to get some coffee?" (Meanwhile, where was he that he's just putting on his tie? Or what's wrong with his tie that he feels the need to fiddle with it like this?)

(For real, dude, wtf?)

Maybe he has a weird neck, that this is always such a problem.

Anyway, McCall says "Thanks, Rick, but I just want to get the hell out of here."

Yes, please. Continue fiddling with your collar. FREAK.

"It's  your ex-partner." Hunter's wearing a different shirt and tie. I wonder how long it took him to put them on.

Honestly I'm just glad he has a pizza box to hold in this scene, otherwise the shirt/tie/collar fiddling might drive me to drink.

The cute Hunter/McCall photo is back on the piano.

Oh, so anyway, McCall's very upset. She's like, everyone KNOWS I didn't push Moody off that building!

She's starting to wonder if she was set up, just like Steve was set up.

Hunter says that Sorensen's secretary logged Duquesne in at 2:08, Moody was pushed off the roof at 2:16, and Duquesne didn't leave 'til after 3pm.

Hunter's working on Moody's homicide case, see.

"You want a little help? I think I'd like to check out that receptionist."

Duquesne asks if he's under arrest. No, Hunter says, but he'd like to take him downtown to ask him some questions.

The phone call is from Julie, who's at the beach house. He says he'll call her back.

Hunter says that someone hired Moody to kill Duquesne's wife, and that Moody got greedy, and followed Duquesne into that office building, and then someone pushed Moody off the building.

Duquesne says he was in an office while McCall was pushing Moody off the building. Oh SNAP.

Even though the receptionist used to work for him before going to work for Sorensen, Duquesne wishes Hunter luck proving that she fudged the log book.

"Wasn't Sgt. McCall on the roof of the building the moment Moody hit the pavement?"

Hunter says he has a witness that saw Duquesne with Moody 48 hours before Moody hit the pavement.

"Since no such meeting ever too place, I can tell you exactly who gave you that statement. David has accused me of killing his mother sine the day she died."

"But I didn't kill her. That's all I have to say, Sergeant. If you need anything else from me, talk to my lawyer."

"...I will."

"And I suggest you do the same."

Hunter follows Duquesne.

Duquesne calls out for David, so yeah, this is David's house.

David's not pleased to see his stepdad. I'm beginning to think he might not like him. 

Duquesne's like, Dude, why'd you lie about seeing me with Moody? What up, dog? I've tried to be a father to you, and you suck. (Okay, maybe I added the "you suck" bit.)

David's like, "I'll say anything to put you in jail and now Moody's not around to refute it."

Duquesne doesn't want to ask but he does. "Did you kill your mother?"

David's starting to realize that if HE didn't kill his mom, and Duquesne didn't either... "If it wasn't you, who was it?"

"It doesn't matter. It's history. It could still be an accident."

"You think it was Julie, don't you?"

David wants to go talk to Julie, but Roger says he'll do it. "Even if she's guilty we're not going to do anything about it, except to get some private professional help for her. We'll all get through this if we pull together as a family."

David scoffs. "We were never a family, even when my mother was alive, always squabbling over my father's money!"

"SHUT UP!"

Duquesne tells David to stay there, and that he'll call David after he speaks to Julie.

Hunter has been listening to the whole thing from behind this door, see.

At McCall's house, she still has the terrible lamp that we saw in "The Cradle Will Rock" (episode 3.10), though at the time she had a different phone and it was on the other side of the bed.

Hunter asks if McCall ever found the address for Julie's beach house. He thinks Duquesne's on his way to Julie's beach house to kill her.

She says she'll meet him at Sunset & PCH.

Again, this family's sorta creepy.

But I guess it's David who always hated Duquesne, not Julie.

He says David seems determined to keep them on the front pages of the scandal sheets.

Julie says she'll talk to David, that she can handle him.

"David couldn't kill anyone if his life depended on it."

"Well I guess that leaves you and me, huh?"

"David thinks you did it. And he's right."

"Your mother used money ... to keep you and David permanent adolescents. I never blamed you for hating her, but I never guessed you could kill her."

Dun dun DUUUUUUH! Julie's the bad guy.

"Drop the gun, Julie."

"You heard her."

Hunter places her under arrest for murder.

Roger tells Julie not to say a word.

He'll have the best lawyer in the country representing her tomorrow morning.

After all that, Roger's not the bad guy? He's a big softie??

Wyler reads the chief's proclamation belatedly awarding the medal of valor to Steve.

"Sorry it took so long, Sergeant."

"We got Steve's reputation cleared, that's what really matters."

Devane: "Not bad, for someone whose hands were tied."

"You know what?"

Hunter: "Yeah, you want that pizza now, right?" McCall: "Yes I do!"

So sweeeeet! The show ends on a freeze frame of their smooch.

[hunter-and-mccall]

Hunter episode 3.07, TRUE CONFESSIONS

Original Airdate:  November 22, 1986

What’s Going On Here?  After a teenage girl dies from a drug overdose during a high school party and the boys who drugged her are released on a technicality, the girl's sister is blamed for the boys' murders.

Who’s That Guest Star?  Lauren Tewes (Julie, Your Cruise Director in 199 episodes of The Love Boat); Timothy Patrick Murphy (Dallas, Glitter); William Bryan Curran (episodic TV); Kenneth Tigar (L.A. Heat, tons of episodic TV); H. Richard Greene (tons of episodic TV); Moosie Dryer (best known as Howard Borden’s son on The Bob Newhart Show and John Denver & Teri Garr’s son in Oh God; now does a lot of voice work); John J. York (General Hospital, episodic TV); Grand L. Bush (lots of TV & movies; 5 episodes of Hunter); famed lawyer Melvin Belli as himself; Martin E. Brooks (Dr. Rudy Wells on Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman, and 6 episodes of Hunter as Mike Snow).  As always, Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer play Rick Hunter and Dee Dee McCall. Charles Hallahan as Devane; Richard Beauchamp as Carlos; Perry Cook as Barney the coroner.

Lauren Tewes as Sheila Burke (aka Julie, Your Cruise Director)

Timothy Patrick Murphy as Jeffrey Wyatt - Okay, terribly sad. He died of AIDS at age 28, and then his brother died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 at age 36.

William Bryan Curran as David Kephardt

Kenneth Tigar as Judge Calvin Tyler

H. Richard Greene as the D.A.

Moosie Drier as Phillip Epperson

John J. York as Robert Kephardt

Grand L. Bush as Officer Meyers

Melvin Belli as Melvin Belli

Charles Hallahan as Devane

Richard Beauchamp as Carlos

Perry Cook as Barney the Coroner

Where Can I Fast-Forward Through a Car Chase? If you’re like me and hate courtroom scenes, I will sum up to save you. At 08:11-16:30 , the guys get off because they weren’t read their Miranda rights before one of them confessed at the scene, and because Melvin Belli’s their lawyer. That’s right. EIGHT MINUTES of a court scene, and I left you the bit where the case is dismissed and the aftermath. Deah Gott.

Does Anyone Have Sex, and Does Their Partner Live Through The Episode?  Nope, no sex.

What Are They Wearing?   McCall:  1. Red blouse buttoned to the neck, gold necklace, navy slacks, black belt, gold earrings, grey coat.

2. Dark teal/green turtleneck, dark teal/green and black matching sweater, short black skirt, black pumps.

3. Royal blue turtleneck, grey slacks, black pumps.

4. Taupe turtleneck, taupe/brown patterned pleated skirt, gold earrings, taupe purse. It’s very sad.

5. Bright red turtleneck, jeans, belt. (What’s up with all the turtlenecks, Hunter costume people? Was Stepfanie Kramer covered in hickeys that week, or what?? Four turtlenecks and a blouse buttoned all the way up.)

Hunter:  Jeans, button-down shirts, ties, sports coats.

Wow, This Is Old School:  Mostly just the décor and clothes in this episode, but in the courtroom they do have one of those old-fashioned microphones...

...And there's this manual typewriter in the squad room:

What’s For Lunch?  At 37:10, Hunter eats something tiny, like a peanut.

At 37:46 McCall does the same.

Where In L.A.?  Culver City’s old City Hall is used as the Metro PD.

At 42:27, Sheila Burke's beach house is really on the corner of Sunset Park Way and Evensong Drive in West L.A.

It’s an X-File: Kenneth Tigar (Judge Tyler) was in the X-Files episode “S.R. 819.”  Lauren Tewes was in the X-Files Video Game. 

Who Does Hunter Shoot, and Do They Die? Hunter and McCall go a whole hour without shooting anyone.

Any Scenes Worth Watching?  Nothing in particular, nope.

Is There Banter?  No. This is why I can’t really recommend this episode. I need banter.

Bonus:  Soap Star Alert! John J. York (Mac on General Hospital) plays one of the guys who rapes Rhonda.

Bonus #2: Here’s some random bonus info: We see Lauren Tewes (as Sheila) cutting up some mushrooms for dinner, and it turns out that Lauren now lives in Seattle, studied culinary arts, works as a cheese steward and sous chef, and does local theater. God, I love cheese.

Bonus #3: The promo for this episode is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IupiC2MiNyU

Oops: In the credits, Moosie Drier's name is misspelled as "Mossie."

That's Moosie on the left, thinking, "It's not bad enough my name is Moosie; you gotta misspell it, too?"

WTF?:  Why would Captain Devane let a pissed-off guy, whose brother was murdered, talk to the detectives on the case?? This happens at 25:13 and I think Devane should be fired for it. (I usually love Charlie. But WTF?)

Bonus Screencaps:

This girl and her boyfriend drive up to a house... she's expecting there to be a big party, but there aren't a ton of cars...

She doesn't want to have sex in the car, so she suggests they go inside.

It's just a few of her boyfriend's pals, not an actual party...

She's like, "No, I don't do cocaine."

But at some point they convince her to do it anyway.

...It all goes downhill from there. They all attack her, and the next thing we know...

McCall randomly shows up, saying she heard the call on her radio. Carlos says they thought there was a body, but it's an 18-year-old girl, still alive but barely, who was in cardiac arrest.

This guy Robert says the girl complained of chest pains and then had a seizure.

So they called 911.

This one goes, "No, we raped her!" and says they gave her coke though she didn't want to, and "we held her down," and all the other guys yell at him to shut up.

Cute Uniform Cop, Officer Meyers, is a bit smug, saying, see, sometimes we solve cases without the help of fancy homicide cops...

McCall: Did you Mirandize them?

Uhhhhhh.....No, it was a voluntary confession, he says.

She goes, "What are you, a lawyer now? Read him his rights." So he does, and shockingly now the guy doesn't want to talk anymore and thinks he should talk to a lawyer.

Sheila (aka Julie, Your Cruise Director) comes in looking for her sister.

The doctor tells Sheila (aka Julie, Your Cruise Director) that her sister has died.

McCall says no way will these kids get off, because they're guilty; that Miranda doesn't apply because the confession was voluntary. Hunter says they will totally get off, because Jeff Wyatt's confession won't be admissible in court, and because Melvin Belli is their lawyer.

McCall: He's guilty; they're all guilty.

Hunter: So was Miranda.

And now the snoozefest begins, unless you love courtroom scenes. I don't.

There's a judge.

There's a DA.

There's Melvin Belli as himself.

There's Barney the Coroner being grilled by Melvin Belli, who makes Barney admit that bruising such as Rhonda Burke's could have occurred because she was on the pill or because she smoked, blah blah blah.

There's the victim's sister Sheila (aka Julie, Your Cruise Director), not pleased at how things are going.

Suspect #1, Robert Kephardt

Suspect #2, Phillip Epperson

Suspect #3, Jeffrey Wyatt

There's Officer Meyers, getting eaten alive by Melvin Belli, who says Meyers is a hostile witness.

There's the DA again, looking like Mr. Burns on "The Simpsons."

Melvin Belli has this well in hand.

We don't hear what they're saying, but this is probably not our heroes whispering sweet nothings to each other. It's probably Hunter going, "See? I told you so."

"Unfortunately, I have no choice but to drop the charges at this time."

See? Hunter told her so.

Sheila (aka Julie, Your Cruise Director) is most displeased at this outcome. She screams, "That's insane, they're guilty!"

As she's being removed from the courtroom, she yells, "You'll pay for this! You'll pay with your liiiiiives!"

This is Patsy, played by April Wayne.

She's pretty comfy in a swimsuit.

Just as she's diving in....

Phil is shot.

Phil, we hardly knew ye.

Yo, stop readin' the paper, our suspect's here.

McCall's so pretty. But that perm is a bit insane. 

McCall informs Sheila of her Miranda rights before they ask her any questions, and tells her that Phillip Epperson was killed a few hours ago.

Sheila says that explains the call she got to go on a wild goose chase by a woman who said she knew the boys were guilty and had raped someone else six weeks earlier. So she went off to meet the woman.

She says she went to see the woman but there was nobody there.

"Why aren't you at work today?" (FYI, this is Hunter's second-favorite light blue sports coat.)

"I'm on a medical leave. They thought I was under too much stress to do my job; they were right."

  "The house was all boarded up."

Hunter wants to know if anyone saw her. Sheila says no.

"Do you own a gun?" McCall asks.

"Yes, but it's at the Westwood Gun Club... my father was a marine; he taught me to shoot when I was in grammar school."

Off they go to the address the woman gave Sheila on the phone.

Sheila says she asked for directions, so maybe the guy remembers her.

He does not.

McCall asks if anyone else was on duty. Yes, the guy says, but the other guy doesn't fit Sheila's description at all.

Nope, that's not helping Sheila's case a bit.

Later, Hunter shows up at Sheila's house.

Hunter's looking at a photo of poor dead Rhonda.

Sheila tells him that she practically raised Rhonda herself; their dad died in Vietnam, and their mother died when Rhonda was seven.

Hunter looks cute while Sheila says that she unplugged her phone because people have been calling like crazy telling her she's wonderful for being a vigilante, but wondering why she's not in jail. He says they don't have enough on her yet, and what kind of gun does she have, again?

"A Walther PPK, I told you." She also admits to being Women's Club champion at the gun club. She asks if she can work with a sketch artist to draw the guy at the gas station. Hunter says there's not enough motivation in this case for that.

"Don't the police have any interest in proving someone ELSE did it? ... I can't believe this. You think I killed him!"

"If somebody raped and murdered my sister, and got off scot free on some sort of technicality, I could kill them, plead diminished capacity, and not spend one single day in jail."

"Well I appreciate the free counsel, Sergeant, but I didn't kill the man, and I'm not pleading insanity! ... I didn't shoot Phillip Epperson."

Hunter thinks she did.

She says that though she didn't kill Phil, she won't shed a tear. As far as she's concerned, he can burn in Hell.

Next thing we know, Robert Kephardt (the 'd' is silent) pulls into his parking garage...

Robert, we hardly knew ye.

The next morning, Hunter & McCall go to Devane's office and find David Kephardt waiting. He's not happy to see them. "Well?" he says, "why haven't you arrested her??" He's totally snooty.

"We have arrested her, and she's with her attorney at this time."

"An A-1 example of locking the garage door after the car has been stolen."

McCall tells him that they couldn't arrest her after the first murder because suspicion doesn't cut it and they knew it wouldn't stick. Also, she's sure Sheila's attorney, Mr. Snow, will have her out by 5pm today.

Blah blah, Kephardt was told Phil and Robert were killed by the same gun, blah blah.

"We checked out Sheila Burke's gun; it was not the gun used in these homicides."

Charlie tells Kephardt that they're conducting a thorough investigation of Ms. Burke, and that Hunter is convinced of her guilt and is working to prove it.

"...If she'd been in custody Robert would still be alive. It's absolutely scandalous! And if my ears aren't deceiving me, it's you two who decided, after the first killing, not to arrest her!"

Hunter says that he's aware of Kephardt's clout in this city, "but when it comes to OUR police work, you have none. I have things to do."

"I don't happen to be using my clout, as you call it, Sgt. Hunter, but if and when I decide to use it, you'll know it's being used."

Hunter: "Great." And ... scene.

McCall wants to know what Hunter knows about Kephardt and his clout.

He tells her that the father left his fortune to the Kephardt Fund for Progress and to his four sons by four different marriages.

"Are you saying that's Robert Kephardt's half-brother?"

Hunter says that David's also the sole executor of that fund, and very influential in political circles.

"I think I'd like to do a little work on him."

Hunter says she can do that; he'll work on Sheila, who's just been sprung by attorney Mike Snow.

The crowd is on Sheila's side.

Sheila asks Hunter to get in the car, so he does.

Attorney Mike Snow wants to know why she'd invite the cop into the car.

Sheila says Hunter's her alibi, because she was with him last night at 8pm. "You see? I couldn't have done it."

"Do you agree with that?" Snow asks Hunter.

"No." He goes on to say that she could have gotten to Kephardt's house in time, could have followed him into the garage, etc etc.

"I don't believe this... you still think I killed him?"

"Well, didn't you?"

Snow orders the driver to pull over, and kicks Hunter out.

This outfit is so ... neutral.

Squad room too bright for you, Hunter? It can't be McCall's oatmeal-colored outfit blinding you, that's for sure.

McCall begins to tell what she's found out...

Hunter's listening.

Fifteen years ago, the late Mr, Kephardt left 100,000 shares of stock to each of his 4 kids and 100,000 shares to the Kephardt Fund. 

David traded in his shares, and the fund's shares, for bonds.

"So what's your point?"

All of the kids got their shares when they turned 21, except David, who was only 19, so when he died his shares went into the fund. Those shares are now worth over $40 million. "And that is clout."

McCall says she's going to talk to Sheila.

There's a lot of neutral going on here.

And more neutral is walking in the door.

McCall says she called but the phone's out of order. Sheila says it's off the hook, because she's gotten so many calls from people asking when she's going to kill the third one, and if they can help, and "isn't that sick?"

  I never thought I'd be so happy to see peachy pink!

McCall asks about the phone call Sheila received. Did the voice have an accent? Would she be able to recognize the voice if she heard it again?

Maybe, but she wasn't really paying attention to that.

McCall sends Sheila to an extension to listen.

She calls David Kephardt, who puts her on speaker.

McCall informs Kephardt that Sheila Burke couldn't be detained due to inability to connect the suspect to the crime.

He's still a jerk; he apologizes for blaming McCall & Hunter, but thinks any system that allows a killer to run loose should be junked.

Sheila says that could be the voice; he had that same prep school quality.

Jeff Wyatt's waiting for Hunter; he asks for police protection.

"... I don't think so."

Jeff says there's a crazy woman out there killing people and he might be next.

"You sure could be. But guarding you is not in our budget."

"Whether you like it or not, the case against us was dismissed."

"On a technicality."

"You don't give a damn if I get blown away, do you? You'd just as soon she killed me too!"

"It's not important what I think right now. We just can't help you."

"Sorry."

Well, I wouldn't want to get on Sheila's bad side, that's for sure.

"If the police aren't going to take action against you, I am. I'm going to prove you killed my brother, if it takes every cent I have."

"But I didn't kill your brother. And I'm really sorry about what I said at the trial."

"You made what amounts to a public confession, and here you are, practicing for the next killing."

"Don't talk to me about confessions. Jeffrey Wyatt confessed, and that lawyer you hired got it thrown out of court! I didn't hear you screaming about justice then. Not when your brother would have been convicted of rape and murder!"

"Robert never touched your sister; they proved that. It's a tragedy that she died, but killing my brother didn't bring her back. I swear to God I'll see you answer for what you've done."

Personally, I want someone to answer for those boom shadows behind his head in these shots.

"Stop sounding so pious." ... Then she realizes she knows his voice. "Sgt. McCall was on the phone with someone and now I know who it was ... you."

"What are you talking about?" (Boom shadows, OMG, I'm talking about boom shadows, David! I can't not see them now!)

"You're the one who tricked me into going out to Malibu at the exact time Phillip Epperson was being killed. You're the suspect now, not me."

'You're saying I killed my own brother?"

"Not me; the police. But I'm going to do everything I can to help them prove it was you. If it wasn't for your lousy money -- money you never even earned -- those creeps would have paid for their crime."

Charlie says he has a suspect they haven't thought of: that third kid, Jeffrey Wyatt.

Hunter doesn't think it's Jeff; he came in looking for protection.

Charlie thinks that could be a good cover. Or else, the guilt's gnawing at Jeff and he blames his buddies, the real criminals.

"... You think he just goes out and executes them?" When Charlie says it's not any more far-fetched than her Kephardt theory, McCall agrees. "If it is [Jeff], at least we don't need to worry about any more kilings."

Hunter, unconvinced, says the only person they have to worry about is Sheila Burke.

Speaking of Sheila, she shows up at her house.

These cops are staking the place out.

The lights don't work! Sheila realizes she's not alone. "Who's in here?" she wants to know.

...A male voice tells her to put her purse on the coffee table, and she does. He takes out her gun.

Jeffrey wants to know if this is the gun she used to kill Rob and Phil.

She says she didn't kill them, and that if Jeffrey kills her he'll spend the rest of his life in prison. (California has the death penalty now, but it didn't in 1986.) 

"Well, I'd rather be in jail than be dead." Jeff has a good point.

She tells him the reason she's not in jail is that the police have reason to think someone else did it.

Jeff says nobody had any reason to kill his friends.

David Kephardt had reason; the money from the Kephardt fund. She says David probably plans to kill Jeff next.

She wants to help him, she says. He needs to go hide someplace until the cops arrest Kephardt. She offers him her beach house and gives him the keys to her car. He's wondering why she'd help him after what happened to Rhonda, and she says it's done and forgotten and she just wants to have her life back. She tells him to keep her gun for protection.

Jeff says they never planned what happened to Rhonda, that things got out of control.

She says it's done and she just wants to put it out of her mind.

Jeff takes Sheila's car.

The cops follow. (They think they're following Sheila.)

Jeff arrives at Sheila's beach house.

The cops follow and park down the street a bit.

Is this episode over yet, or what? There's no banter, no car chases, no explosions, no sex (I don't count Rhonda's rape; ick no), neither McCall nor Hunter shoots anyone, and I'm still trying to recover from the boredom caused by that long courtroom scene. I'm just itching for the next episode 'cause it features Sporty James.

Okay, anyway, onward...

The stakeout cops park and wait for something to happen. (It doesn't.)

Jeff wakes up in the beach house.

Hunter & McCall arrive. Thank goodness; can you imagine if the other cops we don't even know ended up in the grand finale??

Hunter tells these guys they can go home and sleep.

They call in and say that they are 10-24 (assignment completed) and L-56 is now Code Five. That means Hunter and McCall are now on the stakeout, in case you were confused.

Jeff has a flashback to the night he and his pals raped and killed Rhonda.

I'd feel more sorry for him if he and his pals hadn't, you know, raped and killed someone.

"Hey, you see what I see? My suspect is coming to visit your suspect."

Yup, that's snooty David Hendricks.

Jeff opens the door to David.

"Where is she?" Jeff asks David. "Sheila Burke - what have you done with her?"

"Stop talking nonsense; I came here because I got your message. I brought you the money you wanted."

...Jeff doesn't know what he's talking about.

And then we hear a gun cock, but it's not Jeff's.

It's Sheila's. "Drop the gun, Jeff." Jeff asks, "Why? Are you going to shoot me?" Sheila: "Yes."

We hear Hunter! Whew!

"No you're not," Hunter says. "Drop the gun, Sheila."

He tells her again to lower her gun.

Hunter collects everyone else's guns. "It was you," David says. "You got me to come here. What were you going to do, kill me after you killed him?"

"Just a minute," Hunter says.

"Before she answers any questions I want her to have her rights read to her."

(Um, I don't think answering questions by a guy named David who isn't a cop is really covered in Miranda, but okay.) "But to answer your question, yeah. She set you up for both murders, figuring your last victim here would shoot you before he died."

"I'm sure Michael Snow will tell you the same thing I told you. Plead guilty, diminished capacity. He's a damn good attorney."

"You have the right to remain silent..."

The. End. Thank. Pete.

[hunter-and-mccall]

Hunter episode 3.06, FROM SAN FRANCISCO WITH LOVE

Original Airdate:  November 15, 1986

What’s Going On Here?  A San Francisco cop joins Hunter and McCall in investigating a case. Intrigue and amusing banter ensues. What you need to know: I love this episode! Go watch it! 

Who’s That Guest Star?

Laura Johnson (Falcon Crest, Born Free TV series); Philece Sampler (Another World, Days of Our Lives, a ton of anime voice work); Mark Withers (mostly episodic TV and still working a lot); Dana Kimmell (mostly episodic TV); Wolfe Perry (White Shadow); Charles Hallahan as Devane.

Laura Johnson as Det. Sgt. Valerie Foster

Philece Sampler as Casey Hendricks

Mark Withers as David Hendricks

Dana Kimmell as Jill Tyler

Wolfe Perry as Valet

Charles Hallahan as Devane

Where Can I Fast-Forward Through a Car Chase? No real chases but around 14:23 our heroes (plus Sgt. Foster) follow Jill Tyler around as she runs errands, and this goes to 15:46. Bo-ring.

Seriously, look how boring.

Does Anyone Have Sex, and Does Their Partner Live Through The Episode? Hunter has sex with Valerie Foster at 18:45. Well, we just see them smooching, but it’s part of the plot that they had sex that night, so there you go. It’s pretty sad that Hunter has sex and we don’t even get to see him without a shirt. Wasted opportunity, if you ask me.

What Are They Wearing?  McCall:  1. Royal blue pant suit, white blouse:

2. White knit dress with loose white and gold chain belt, which looks awesome on her, and if I were McCall I’d wear this outfit as often as possible. Huge gold earrings, white purse, white pumps:

3. Red belted dress, gold necklace, red earrings w/ gold, black purse. Fairly sure we've seen this dress before, in "Change Partners & Dance." She even wears the same accessories.

4. Green sweater, gold earrings, can’t see the rest.

5. Black belted dress with gold embellishments, gold earrings. 

6. Royal blue sweater dress, blue purse, low-slung red and gold belt, gold earrings.

7. Silky pink robe, blue towel on her head.

8. Bright fuschia turtleneck, jeans, silver/gold necklace with turquoise, and big dangly earrings.

9. Peach dress with a cowl-ish neckline, loose gold belt, peach pumps, big gold earrings, white purse. 

10. White blouse with denim Western-style embellishment; silver belt, black jeans.

Hunter: Jeans, button-down shirts, sports coats (yes, his favorite powder blue one is back), ties. In the final scene he’s wearing a light blue polo shirt with jeans.

(It's time to retire this jacket, but he continues to wear it for years...)

Wow, This Is Old School:  Sgt. Foster uses a payphone at 10:20. At 15:21, there’s a sign at 7-Eleven saying that a Super Big Gulp is 59 cents(!). Jill Tyler uses a payphone at 16:12. At 17:17, McCall uses the old-school police radio in the car.  Hunter and McCall use a GTE payphone at 38:06. Cassette tape player at 46:03. And I won’t even get into the shoulder pads.

What’s For Lunch?  Hunter drinks coffee at 17:57.

Where In L.A.?  At 08:22, we see an establishing shot of San Francisco.

At 10:54, Casey's house is at  1847 Camino Palmero St in Hollywood. It’s worth about $10 million and backs up against Runyon Canyon.

At 14:08 we see the Theme Building at LAX (the Encounter restaurant closed in January 2014).

At 15:00 they stop at the parking lot for 7-Eleven at Santa Monica Blvd and 16th Street in Santa Monica (though they block out the word “Eleven” in the 7-Eleven sign, like we won’t know it’s a 7-Eleven), and Jill Tyler takes her dry cleaning to the cleaners there.

At 15:14 they’re on Wilshire Blvd driving east at 15th Street in Santa Monica.

At 15:16 they slyly use the same 7-Eleven from a different angle.

Looks like Echo Park at 45:57.

It’s an X-File:  Norma Lee was the hair stylist on Hunter and also worked on XF. Laura Johnson was on an episode of Red Shoe Diaries with David Duchovny (you can watch it HERE).  Also, and it’s a stretch, but work with me here: Bela Lugosi is heard on a TV in this episode of Hunter; Martin Landau played Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood; Martin Landau was also in the feature film X-Files: Fight the Future. There ya go.

That TV is playing a Bela Lugosi movie.

Who Does Hunter Shoot, and Do They Die? Nobody.

Any Scenes Worth Watching?  At 13:33-14:07 there’s some funny stuff.  At 16:54, McCall, who obviously senses that Hunter and Foster might like some alone time, says she’s going home to watch her plants grow. The next morning, at 19:16, Hunter asks McCall if her plants grew. She says, “Not an inch. Yours?” … At 29:52 -31:01, an adorably flirty McCall/Hunter scene. But don’t stop there, because another awesome Hunter/McCall scene follows at 31:02-33:20. Just watch all their scenes, for Pete’s sake. They banter through everything this episode.

Is There Banter?  There is a metric ton of banter. At 10:11, Hunter says, “You cannot stand it when there’s a beautiful woman around, can you?  (beat)  Another beautiful woman.” McCall: “Nice save.”

At 24:53 when they drop Foster off at her hotel, McCall says: “You thinking you’d maybe like to have a blonde partner?” Hunter: “Gee, I’m sorry you hate her guts.” McCall: “Hunter, I don’t know her well enough not to like her. I just wonder how she can afford a suit on a cop’s salary.”

Tons of banter in the Worth Watching Hunter/McCall scenes. Banter, banter everywhere. It’s banterrific!

Bonus: McCall picks a lock at 04:13.

Bonus #2: Soap star alert! Philece Sampler played Renee DuMonde on Days of Our Lives and Donna Love on Another World. Laura Johnson was on Falcon Crest.

Bonus #3! The Script, at Wonderful World of Hunter: HERE.

WTF?: When McCall opens her front door to Hunter, the chain’s not even latched. Granted, she’s moved recently, but she’s been brutally attacked at home on numerous occasions. She used the chain in episode 3.03, “Crime of Passion,” which only aired a month earlier. If I were her I’d use the chain. Not to mention an alarm system, a chair under the doorknob, a broom handle in the sliding glass door, a guard dog, and answering the door with her gun cocked, none of which she does here.

Bonus Screencaps:

The guy on the left is David Hendricks...

This doesn't look good for David. Any time someone is seen through a scope, that means someone's about to shoot at them.

Oops. The drunk friend stumbled and got shot instead of David.

Do you supposed they used a crane or just put the camera on a roof or something? I vote roof. 

The valet says that Hendricks went to wait in the car.

McCall shows Hunter the dead guy's ID. He was Joe Ellis, a private investigator.

Ummmm, there's nobody in the car.

The valet didn't see anyone getting out of the car, he says.

The restaurant's maitre'd wants all this commotion over with ASAP. 

He says that Hendricks is a regular, that he doesn't know the friend (Ellis), and that they seemed intent on their conversation all evening.

If you put those last two together, it's mesmerizing:

(You're moving your head, aren't you? I know you are.)

The valet says if he were Hendricks, he wouldn't have stuck around either...

Young Barack Obama says the friend was drunk and stumbled...

Young Obama thinks Hendricks was the intended target.

Yay! We haven't seen McCall pick a lock in a while.

And... we're in!

Why is Hunter wearing sunglasses indoors? Is it to shield himself from McCall's awesomeness in this dress?

"Take off your shades, freak." (What she actually says is, "You don't think this guy took Philip Marlowe too seriously, do you?")

Yeah, if I looked that good I'd wander around posing too. 

Hunter's found something in a desk drawer. "Don't tell me," McCall says. "A bottle?"

"Three of them ... two of them on empty."

McCall searches the file cabinet.

This old pair of shoes isn't much help.

This file might be, though. It's labeled 'Hendricks, David.'

Sadly for our heroes, it's empty.

"Looks like a check. Hmmm ... it's from David Hendricks."

Hendricks seems to live pretty well...

McCall found an answering machine, but Hunter already listened to it and it's blank.

"Do you think he erased it?" she asks. Hunter doesn't know.

"What are you doing here? Who

are

you people?" this woman asks in her super annoying voice.

Badge flash! I love a badge flash.

She doesn't love a badge flash. She's like, "Where's David?" Hunter asks, "Who are you?" "What are you doing here; what's happened?" Hunter: "Who are you?"

"I'm Jill Tyler, David's fiancée. And I want to know what's going on!"

"Where's David? And who let you in here? Do you have a search warrant?"

"Yeah."

"Well I'd like to see it." She has a valid point but she's so annoying that it gets lost in the haze of OMG-shut-your-whiny-mouth.

The search warrant is for Joe Ellis, not David Hendricks. (Um, if they had a warrant for Joe Ellis, why did McCall have to pick the lock?) Jill says "I want you out of here ... You are here illegally..."

McCall explains that they are NOT there illegally, that Hendricks fled the scene of a homicide, that they went to find him in his office, he wasn't there...

"...We came to the back door and it was open, so we came inside, which we had

every right to do under the circumstances!" You tell her, McCall.

They tell her Joe Ellis was killed last night.

She finally starts being more cooperative and says Joe was working for David. She doesn't think she should tell them what he was working on.

McCall: "Hendricks left the scene after the shooting and we haven't found him. We think he's in a lot of danger; that's why we're here."

Jill says she hasn't heard from David since yesterday, and wants to know what kind of danger he could be in.

Hunter tells her they think David could have been the intended victim last night, and asks if anyone was after him.

"Yes, his stepmother." Jill says the stepmom pushed David's father out of a 16th story window in San Francisco a few weeks ago.

You know what that means...

Road trip!

Here we meet Valerie Foster, a cop. She turns out to be nothing but trouble, but we don't know that yet. Also, crazy tall unmoving hair, no?

She tells us that Mr. Hendricks could have jumped, that he'd just been through an emotional trauma. His much-younger wife had suffered a miscarriage. The wife was still in the hospital when Hendricks went out the window, and she's been cooperative.

They decide to go see the widow Hendricks. After lunch.

It doesn't look like Hunter's eaten any of his food...

...But he pushes his plate away anyway.

Sgt. Foster is on the phone with Mrs. Hendricks, David's stepmother.

Hunter insists on paying the bill.

Of course when Sgt. Foster leaves, Hunter tells McCall what her share of the bill comes to. Heaven forbid he actually pick up a whole check.

Then he comes back to make sure she leaves a good tip 'cause the waitress was good.

They all head to Mrs. Hendricks' house.

Just a sweet wee cottage.

We get it; she's got money. We figured that from the gated estate (with a crest on the gate) and the big house. But just in case we thought she was poor or something, they make sure we see she also has a uniformed maid.

Casey Hendricks is on the phone acting bitchy to someone.

She says her stepson David Hendricks is a wimp.

She thinks David hired someone to kill his father, for the money.

But the joke's on him, because her husband changed his will to leave almost everything to her.

Sgt. Foster asks if they'd think she was intruding if she joined them in L.A. to continue the investigation.

"Not at all," Hunter answers. "I think we can exend you that courtesy."

"Besides, I think we can always use an extra pair of eyes and ears."

McCall eye roll #1

.

"Right, Sergeant?"

"Right."

"And what else?" (McCall Eye roll 1.5.)

Back to L.A. they go.

Jill lives here.

HELLO 1986 SHOULDER PADS.

Jill leaves her building...

Our heroes (and Sgt Foster) follow.

Jill pulls in at a place called Seven or something. I have no idea what it could be. 

It's pretty exciting to watch people do errands.

Dry cleaning is scintillating.

So is this mystery place where they serve Big Gulps.

Jill pulls into a restaurant.

Foster has to be the one to follow her in, since she's already met Hunter & McCall.

McCall says that as long as Valerie's in there, how about getting her a burger, and "a head of lettuce for the Big Guy."

Jill seems a little suspicious as she passes by eavesdropping!Valerie.

"I think I'm going to call in for some shift relief," McCall says, noticing that Hunter and Foster want to be alone. What a nice wing man she is!

"I guess I'll go home and do something real exciting, like watch my plants grow."

"Where does a hungry unmarried woman eat dinner in this town?"

Now, at this point, it looks like Hunter puts the car in gear,  and we assume they're going to dinner, right?

So... when did Valerie change clothes? I DON'T KNOW.

"...And then finally one day I had to face it. I wanted to be a cop. Something about the thrill of the chase. The unexpected, the unpredictable. The exciting."

"...I see what you mean."

"You know, my room has got one of those refrigerators full of tiny little liquor bottles. Can I interest you in a nightcap?"

"YES."

"I'll bet that you are not really a drinking man, are you, Rick?"

"No, I'm not."

"Is there anything else I can offer you?" she asks.

"I think you already have."

Bow chicka wow wow.

"So, did your plants grow last night?"

"Not an inch. ...Yours?"

It's Jill. Let the following begin. Again.

I'm yawning pretty hard right now.

Okay, this part's wacky. This scene opens with the women smiling, probably at something random Fred Dryer said just before the camera rolled, because we never know why.

They stop laughing, and follow Jill to a house in Malibu.

Aha! David Hendricks!

Hunter's too cool to use the gate. He jumps the wall.

And then of course there's a fistfight.

Hunter wins.

Hunter's probably all cranky because Hendricks nearly tore his favorite powder blue sports coat.

McCall asks David why he thinks his stepmother tried to kill him.

David thinks it's because she found out he'd hired a PI to prove she killed his dad.

Joe Ellis "found out she had a lover, for one thing. A longtime lover."

"The San Francisco PD cannot find anything to support that," Foster says.

She says it sounds to her like Joe Ellis was feeding David a load of garbage to keep the checks coming in.

Yes, by the way, David is wearing TWO polo shirts. He's DOUBLE '80s. "Casey got her boyfriend to take care of my dad's murder for her!" he asserts.

Jill says that Mrs. Hendricks was probably afraid, with the loss of the baby, that her husband would change his will back to the way it was before she got pregnant.

"I've got money of my own, and I'm willing to spend every last dime of it to prove that Casey had my father killed."

What time is it? It's time to stop fiddling with your cuffs for Pete's sake.

Jill says she's staying here with David tonight, but he insist that she go home.

Valerie's not sure if she thinks Hendricks killed himself or not.

But it's time for her to go home to San Francisco, in any case.

"Thanks for everything. If you ever get up my way again, give me a call."

"Well do better than that; we'll keep in close touch until this awful thing's taken care of, won't we?"

McCall nods. "Bye bye."

"You thinking maybe you'd like to have a blonde partner?"

"Gee, I'm sorry you hate her guts."

"

Hunter, I don’t know her well enough not to like her." 

"I just wonder how she can afford a Cacharel suit on a cop’s salary."

That night, in Malibu...

David is watching an old Bela Lugosi movie...

...When there's a knock at the door.

He's surprised to see Sgt. Foster

.

"

I'm going back to San Francisco on the eleven p.m. flight and I'd like to go over some notes with you."

David's not happy; he doesn't think they've done anything to take notes on. Foster says if he'll just go over a few puzzling points, they'll be closer to solving this thing.

"There were no records of any phone calls in or out on the night your father died."

David says he'd talked to his father a few nights prior.

"You told Sgt. Hunter you have a handgun and a permit; may I see them both, please?"

"Why? What has that got to do with this case?"

"Humor me, Mr. Hendricks."

Yeah... I'm pretty sure she's a Bad Guy now.

Wait, so they're dusting for prints and taking photos of the murder victim and letting his girlfriend just sit there in the middle of the crime scene? SUUUURE.

Jill thinks she led them to David. McCall says it's not her fault.

"The fact is," says Foster, "David killed himself. You had nothing to do with it." Jill: "I left David at nine o'clock last night and he was fine... he didn't kill himself!"

Foster says cases like this drive her crazy. "You're sure you know the answer, then suddenly the whole thing turns to sludge."

"So you think he killed himself," Hunter says.

Valerie: "No forced entry, his own gun in his own hand, prime suspect in a murder case; could be."

McCall: "Well, we have a definite M.O. here. I think the killer tries to make it look like suicide, and that makes him one deliberate killer."

"I don't think we'll ever know," Foster says. "You win some, you lose some ... sometimes the bad guys just get away with it."

"Ain't that the truth," McCall says.

She's pretty.

McCall eye roll #2.

"What is it about your attitude?"

"What is it about your piercing whistle?"

McCall: "Do you really think that David Hendricks tried to kill himself?"

"And what if I do?"

"I'm gonna try to get myself a new partner."

"You won't find one as cute as me."

"I think you're right!"

"He had a beautiful fiancée, and a bank balance that either one of us would kill for... a few hours before he's killed he tells us he's gonna spend every cent he has to find the guy that killed his father. Does that sound like someone who's gonna blow his brains out?"

"It's probably best we both sleep on this."

"Together."

McCall, in full makeup after her shower, hears a knock at her door.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" she asks. "Is mud wrestling over for the evening?"

"I've been thinking."

"Want applause?"

McCall eye roll #3.

"You know, Valerie Foster is very strange."

"She didn't wanna go steady, or what?"

"I'm gonna plunge right into this, okay?"

"Fine; plunge."

"Now you know Valerie and I, we, uh..."

"Yes, I know."

"Don't get me wrong; it was okay."

"...I don't want to hear the details."

"...But she acted very strange about it."

"So get to the point."

"She was faking it."

"You know, they're gonna be serving ice water in Hell..."

"...before I ever confide in you about anything I do again."

"I'm sorry.."

"I am sorry, really I am, Hunter, but listen..."

"Do you really think you can tell when a woman is faking it?"

"You know what I'm saying?"

"Hunter, she CHOSE to go to bed with you..."

"...So why would she fake it?"

"To get closer to me."

"Well, she certainly did that."

"She thought I was going to be one of those After Sex Talkers, about what you and I were doing, what we knew about the case."

"And how about the fact she was pushing that suicide deal on us?"

"Come ON, you and I both know David Hendricks did not shoot himself."

"Right?"

"Welcome back, partner."

"Well, I was never away."

"That's debatable."

"...I think we should go to San Francisco to check her out."

"Can I change first?"

"I like the way you are right now."

(Please notice the color of this car. It's kind of a gold/beige, am I right?)

Yup. More following. (McCall and Hunter are in a blue car; am I right?)

McCall think that Valerie Foster must have a date, the way she's dressed.

(Wait... whose red car is this? Who was in the gold car?)

They follow her to this beach house, and she enters with an overnight bag.

When the lights go out, it's decided that McCall will sleep first.

So Hunter gets in the driver's seat to fiddle with his collar, and McCall heads for the back seat for a nap. 

She tells him to wake her up if they leave or in 3 hours; he says he'll wake her up when he gets tired. He's so cranky.

"What is your problem, anyway? You think she's in there faking it with him?"

"Gimme my coat back!"

"...I was only kidding, geez!"

"Good night."

"Good. Night."

Next thing we know, morning has broken, and yeah, that car is definitely red. The gold car? IS A MYSTERY.

Taking lessons from Hunter? Valerie fiddles with her cuffs.

Well this puts a spin on things, doesn't it?

They head out the front door and...

...Our heroes await, looking fresh as daisies after sleeping in a car all night.

Guess who's not happy to see Hunter & McCall?

Time to put on your jacket, Hunter...

He starts reading them their rights...

Valerie tells Casey to go directly home, to not talk to anyone or let anyone in.

"There is nothing to worry about. Just do as I say. ...Go!"

Casey goes.

Foster says they'd never have let Casey go if they had anything.

"Well we do have this -- you and a principle in a homicide know each other. Intimately."

"You can't prove that. We spent a few hours at her beach house. That's not even a misdemeanor. Now if you'll excuse me I have a bag to pack. And don't try to follow me; I'll be on red light and siren."

They decide to go to breakfst. ...And then he walks right into the camera.

See? I'm not jus making junk up here.

"We've got two suspects and one problem; one of the suspects turns out to be a San Francisco police officer."

Charlie's smart to have his bottle of antacid at the ready.

"He doesn't trust me."

McCall eye roll #4.

"I asked Hunter, now I'm gonna sk you: What is your game plan?"

"Well, ... right now we don't ... really ... have one."

McCall eye roll #5.

"We think they might've gotten away with it."

"...Hello?"

Charlie tells McCall to go to breakfast and come up with a plan and call him back.

"He doesn't trust me either."

Back to Mrs. Hendricks' house...

Casey doesn't want to talk to McCall.

McCall says she can come back with a court order if need be. She convinces Casey to at least listen to what she has to say.

McCall says they'll assume that Valerie is the one who did the kiling, and that Casey was unaware of what Valerie was doing.

She says that Hunter's with Valerie right now and is trying to get her to cop a plea, and that he might have a good chance since he and Val slept together down in L.A.

McCall tells Casey that Valerie will probably take a plea in exchange for sending Casey to prison ... or the gas chamber. Since Val's a cop she knows all the tricks. McCall says they'd like to deal with Casey.  "...You think about it," she says.

McCall says Casey listened, but that it was over when she reminded Casey of her rights.

Casey tells Val that McCall was there and threatened to get a court order. Val calls Casey an idiot.

Casey says she said nothing to McCall. "I am NOT an idiot, Val."

Val says she went to see a criminal lawyer. She says Hunter and McCall know about them, but that's all, and if they knew anything else they'd have taken them both in at the beach house.

"Then why did you go see that lawyer? Without talking to me first?"

Casey wants to know if Val said they were both guilty, or if she told the truth...

"...That YOU pushed John out that window, and killed David ... that the whole thing was your idea because you were a cop and could guarantee results!"

Yeah, at this point Val hauls off and slaps Casey.

"What are you trying to do, convince yourself you had nothing to do with this?"

"We're gonna be okay... everything we planned is gonna come out just fine."

"No, Valerie," Casey says. "Everything YOU Planned. And it's all coming apart."

At this point we hear Hunter's voice: "Don't hit her again."

They tell Val to put her hands behind her back...

"Dee Dee, look in my purse."

While they read her her rights, Val tells them there's a key in the side pocket...

The key will open a locker where she's hidden a tape she made that will tell them who planned this whole thing.

"So if there's goign to be any plea bargaining here, you better come to me first, or you won't have a case."

The tape has Casey convincing Val to go along with the plan.

"I just have one question."

"... I know why Valerie jumped in the sack with you..."

She laughs. "No... she wanted to get as close to what we were doing as possible, right?"

"But what I don't get is... I didn't think that you ... were into one night stands..." 

"Why'd you fall for that?"

"I can't believe you asked me that. It's very personal. There are certain things men talk about and certain things men don't talk about; that's one of them."

"I will tell you this, though..."

"I hated myself in the morning."

Oh the wacky. The End.