What, a 2.9 rating with 41 votes? Me, I thought it was one of the best so far. We get Matthew and Shep away from Crestridge High and over to Italy in a MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE-style Cold War-era caper. We get great guest stars in Michael Constantine and Robert Davi. There's Italian food and music and of course a pretty daughter with an eye on Matthew. All this and General Tucker too!
Okay, let's address the meatball in the room: Why were they transporting a top-secret United States-created anti-gravitational device (AGD) over dirt roads in a mountainous desert region of Italy? And who is this "they" with the funky insignia on their flag? Certainly not Italy, not America, and not the United Nations. And worse, this AGD was in a crate in the back of an old clunker military pickup. The chickens on the bus Matt and Shep took to this God-forsaken village were better secured than this advanced military weapon because one grenade blast and the darn thing falls out of the back, rolls down the hill, and of course is immediately covered in boulders.
General Tucker being on hand elevated the plot from high school hijinks to world events that made the most of Matthew's powers. I loved how Tuck engineered an excuse for Shep and Matthew to travel to Italy on the pretense of a science competition. A nice touch was the reference to Matthew's dancing moth ball experiment, first mentioned a couple episodes back in "Genius." (Speaking of which, didn't anybody wonder why Monica Kraft didn't merit an invitation?)
Zealotta (Italian for a lotta zeal?) was the leader of the mercenary band of freebooters. These espresso-quaffing crooks really weren't terrorists. Robert Davi played Zealotta in a dry run for his role as Bond villain Sanchez in LICENSE TO KILL. Davi was cool, calculating, and... cowardly (he'd prefer cautious) in not test piloting the AGD himself. He was smarter than the Soviet envoy, however, in demanding a demonstration of that sawed-off Dalek a latter-day Geppetto cobbled together in 12 hours (with a little help from his friends).
Adriatica, as Pam snarkily referred to Adrianna, was a spicy meatball and handy with a gun to boot! She could have landed a job on THE A-TEAM with her skilled "markswomanship" that only shot the gun out of the bad guy's hand. Sad to see Donna Cyrus, who played Adrianna, bowed out from acting after this appearance, which was only her second credit.
And what was up with Pam? She's usually the level-headed and common-sensical character, but here she wants to hire Bruce Springsteen or The Police to play the school dance? She ends up going with Moving Violations, a band only Beavis and Butthead could love. Her fits of jealousy are wearing thin but admittedly are not unjustified. Matthew is just a babe magnet, across international and possibly intergalactic lines. He only makes things worse lying about it (and lying so badly).
I really wondered when seeing the 2.9 rating what exactly it was in this exciting and espionage-tinged episode that provoked so many mighty low scores. I invite (dare I say challenge?) the naysayers to write reviews airing and clarifying their grievances. I mean, with seasoned stars Lou Gosset Jr., John Crawford, Michael Constantine, and Michael Tucci on hand, plus up n' comer Robert Davi, you're already at a minimum 6-star rating, right?
Okay, let's address the meatball in the room: Why were they transporting a top-secret United States-created anti-gravitational device (AGD) over dirt roads in a mountainous desert region of Italy? And who is this "they" with the funky insignia on their flag? Certainly not Italy, not America, and not the United Nations. And worse, this AGD was in a crate in the back of an old clunker military pickup. The chickens on the bus Matt and Shep took to this God-forsaken village were better secured than this advanced military weapon because one grenade blast and the darn thing falls out of the back, rolls down the hill, and of course is immediately covered in boulders.
General Tucker being on hand elevated the plot from high school hijinks to world events that made the most of Matthew's powers. I loved how Tuck engineered an excuse for Shep and Matthew to travel to Italy on the pretense of a science competition. A nice touch was the reference to Matthew's dancing moth ball experiment, first mentioned a couple episodes back in "Genius." (Speaking of which, didn't anybody wonder why Monica Kraft didn't merit an invitation?)
Zealotta (Italian for a lotta zeal?) was the leader of the mercenary band of freebooters. These espresso-quaffing crooks really weren't terrorists. Robert Davi played Zealotta in a dry run for his role as Bond villain Sanchez in LICENSE TO KILL. Davi was cool, calculating, and... cowardly (he'd prefer cautious) in not test piloting the AGD himself. He was smarter than the Soviet envoy, however, in demanding a demonstration of that sawed-off Dalek a latter-day Geppetto cobbled together in 12 hours (with a little help from his friends).
Adriatica, as Pam snarkily referred to Adrianna, was a spicy meatball and handy with a gun to boot! She could have landed a job on THE A-TEAM with her skilled "markswomanship" that only shot the gun out of the bad guy's hand. Sad to see Donna Cyrus, who played Adrianna, bowed out from acting after this appearance, which was only her second credit.
And what was up with Pam? She's usually the level-headed and common-sensical character, but here she wants to hire Bruce Springsteen or The Police to play the school dance? She ends up going with Moving Violations, a band only Beavis and Butthead could love. Her fits of jealousy are wearing thin but admittedly are not unjustified. Matthew is just a babe magnet, across international and possibly intergalactic lines. He only makes things worse lying about it (and lying so badly).
I really wondered when seeing the 2.9 rating what exactly it was in this exciting and espionage-tinged episode that provoked so many mighty low scores. I invite (dare I say challenge?) the naysayers to write reviews airing and clarifying their grievances. I mean, with seasoned stars Lou Gosset Jr., John Crawford, Michael Constantine, and Michael Tucci on hand, plus up n' comer Robert Davi, you're already at a minimum 6-star rating, right?
