| Aired on 02.16.2008
Fade up on a utility truck pulling up to a house at night. The driver gets out, looks around in a pointedly evil fashion, and heads up to the house with his Asian henchman. The grey-haired and bespectacled guy who answers the door is suspicious that the power company would send a team out at night; he's satisfied with their IDs, but gets suspicious again when Pointedly Evil asks a bunch of, um, pointed and evil questions about the guy's generator and whether he lives there alone. Grey Hair -- who looks familiar, but whom I don't see on the IMDb cast list -- asks if they know what the problem could be. As the closed captioning helpfully notes, Pointedly Evil's accent then switches from American to British as he evils pointedly, "Actually, Mr. Graiman, I do." The camera tilts all "uh oh" as Pointedly Evil adds, "We cut your power." Graiman: "[Gulp.]" Asian Henchman leaps forward to headlock Graiman as Pointedly Evil says he wants Graiman's hard drives; Graiman tells him to take the drives and leave, then, but Pointedly Evil will need Graiman to walk him through the encryptions. Graiman gurgles something to the effect of "over my dead body," but killing Graiman doesn't do Pointedly Evil any good -- not when he can drive up to Stanford, kidnap Graiman's daughter, and torture her while Graiman watches instead. By way of response, Graiman starts flailing at his own chest, using the universal sign language for "I'm having a heart attack"; it seems a little naïve of Asian Henchman to just let go of him under the circumstances, but as it turns out, Graiman isn't faking, and drops to the floor, where he promptly dies. Pointedly Evil's like, "Oh well that's just great."
Outside, two other henchmen get out of the truck. One is a nerdish Anthony Rapp-looking guy with Buddy Holly glasses; the other is a well-built African-American dude whose character, according to the IMDb, is called "Smoke." Hard to believe nobody threw the flag on that naming choice, but as it's far from the only goofy moniker in the movie, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Inside, Anthony Crapp looks at Graiman's cooling corpse and snarks that that didn't go according to plan. Pointedly Evil tells him to shut it; they'll just take the drives, snatch the daughter, and get her to give up the codes. A sudden whirring sound startles the group, and Asian Henchman shoots -- at a Roomba (hee), which throws off a few defeated sparks as Anthony Crapp is like, nice one, Hopalong. Pointedly Evil orders them to fan out and make sure the house is empty, and Asian Henchman and Anthony Crapp skulk into a darkened robotics lab, where Anthony Crapp gets a boner about all the "complex" "algorithms" he sees displayed on various computer screens. More lurking and interpretive-dance pointing of flashlights and laser gun-sights as the team makes its way into the garage area of the lab. Shot of an old-school California license plate reading "KNIGHT." (Not shown: the alternate tag reading "KNI 641.") (It was something like that; don't email me.) Pointedly Evil stares at part of an engine block marked "Knight Two Thousand" before more or less bumping into a shiny black Mustang with expensive rims. The team regards the car for a moment before a red light on the hood comes on and the sound of heartbeats fills the garage. KITT's aliiiiiiive! "Certainly didn't come from the dealership," Pointedly Evil remarks, and reaches for the door handle, but KITT isn't having any of that; the garage door opens, and KITT squeals out in reverse, the team in confused pursuit. Pointedly Evil yells at the ostensible driver to turn off the car and get out; cut to a Terminator-y KITT's-eye shot of Pointedly Evil as KITT processes his identity, then throws himself into forward gear and peels out. The team showers the car with gunfire. Close-up of KITT's exoskeleton semi-absorbing the bullets and pushing them back out.
Fade up on a utility truck pulling up to a house at night. The driver gets out, looks around in a pointedly evil fashion, and heads up to the house with his Asian henchman. The grey-haired and bespectacled guy who answers the door is suspicious that the power company would send a team out at night; he's satisfied with their IDs, but gets suspicious again when Pointedly Evil asks a bunch of, um, pointed and evil questions about the guy's generator and whether he lives there alone. Grey Hair -- who looks familiar, but whom I don't see on the IMDb cast list -- asks if they know what the problem could be. As the closed captioning helpfully notes, Pointedly Evil's accent then switches from American to British as he evils pointedly, "Actually, Mr. Graiman, I do." The camera tilts all "uh oh" as Pointedly Evil adds, "We cut your power." Graiman: "[Gulp.]" Asian Henchman leaps forward to headlock Graiman as Pointedly Evil says he wants Graiman's hard drives; Graiman tells him to take the drives and leave, then, but Pointedly Evil will need Graiman to walk him through the encryptions. Graiman gurgles something to the effect of "over my dead body," but killing Graiman doesn't do Pointedly Evil any good -- not when he can drive up to Stanford, kidnap Graiman's daughter, and torture her while Graiman watches instead. By way of response, Graiman starts flailing at his own chest, using the universal sign language for "I'm having a heart attack"; it seems a little naïve of Asian Henchman to just let go of him under the circumstances, but as it turns out, Graiman isn't faking, and drops to the floor, where he promptly dies. Pointedly Evil's like, "Oh well that's just great."
Outside, two other henchmen get out of the truck. One is a nerdish Anthony Rapp-looking guy with Buddy Holly glasses; the other is a well-built African-American dude whose character, according to the IMDb, is called "Smoke." Hard to believe nobody threw the flag on that naming choice, but as it's far from the only goofy moniker in the movie, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Inside, Anthony Crapp looks at Graiman's cooling corpse and snarks that that didn't go according to plan. Pointedly Evil tells him to shut it; they'll just take the drives, snatch the daughter, and get her to give up the codes. A sudden whirring sound startles the group, and Asian Henchman shoots -- at a Roomba (hee), which throws off a few defeated sparks as Anthony Crapp is like, nice one, Hopalong. Pointedly Evil orders them to fan out and make sure the house is empty, and Asian Henchman and Anthony Crapp skulk into a darkened robotics lab, where Anthony Crapp gets a boner about all the "complex" "algorithms" he sees displayed on various computer screens. More lurking and interpretive-dance pointing of flashlights and laser gun-sights as the team makes its way into the garage area of the lab. Shot of an old-school California license plate reading "KNIGHT." (Not shown: the alternate tag reading "KNI 641.") (It was something like that; don't email me.) Pointedly Evil stares at part of an engine block marked "Knight Two Thousand" before more or less bumping into a shiny black Mustang with expensive rims. The team regards the car for a moment before a red light on the hood comes on and the sound of heartbeats fills the garage. KITT's aliiiiiiive! "Certainly didn't come from the dealership," Pointedly Evil remarks, and reaches for the door handle, but KITT isn't having any of that; the garage door opens, and KITT squeals out in reverse, the team in confused pursuit. Pointedly Evil yells at the ostensible driver to turn off the car and get out; cut to a Terminator-y KITT's-eye shot of Pointedly Evil as KITT processes his identity, then throws himself into forward gear and peels out. The team showers the car with gunfire. Close-up of KITT's exoskeleton semi-absorbing the bullets and pushing them back out.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
The team watches KITT burn rubber down the street and out of sight. Asian Henchman worries that "whoever was driving that car" can ID them, but Pointedly Evil is busy expositioning that they have 24 hours before law enforcement is "all over" them; their mission is "to deliver Prometheus," so they're going to get "the girl."
And now, the obligatory civilian-stunned-by-KITT's-capabilities scene. Drink! On a mountain road, a trucker drinks coffee and listens to Christian radio. In his sideview, he sees KITT approaching; then KITT whips past him and the trucker says, "Whoa."
Updated credits. The super-intense "the story of a man...who does not exist" narration by Richard Basehart (who played Foundation For Law And Government founder Wilton Knight in the original pilot) didn't make it into the new version, more's the pity.
Stanford. Sarah Graiman is using a whiteboard full of differential equations and a giant bubbly screensaver to illustrate a lecture on...nanophysics? Hell if I know. A student raises his hand and begins peppering her with irrelevant questions about whether she's working with her father "on this" and how he heard her father's working for the Pentagon. Sarah snips that if the guy can find her father, he can ask him himself, but until then, "try to stay on-topic, okay?" When we spin off Science Without Pity, she's my first hire as a mod. Anyway: she's estranged from her father. Scene.
Cut to a spindly guy with a mustache, passed out on a couch in a messy bachelor pad. He's awakened by knocking. Cut again, this time to Justin Bruening, who's in bed and wrapped around a woman. This is our hero, "Mike," and he sleepily accuses Spindly Mustache of putting hand soap in the dishwasher again, but Spindly is like, your "investors" are here, and that knocking doesn't sound like they're happy. Another woman squeezes past Spindly and crawls into bed with Mike, and Spindly asks, "What do you want to do?" Mike, slinging an arm around the second girl, throws him a "you're kidding, right?" eyebrow.
Elsewhere, Agent Carrie Rivai marches out of the Pacific, plants her surfboard in the sand, and treats us to a loooong sequence in an outdoor shower. And why do we need such a preponderance of evidence that Rivai has very long hair and looks cute in a bikini?
To give the upcoming reveal more pop, I suppose, because, inside, Rivai bustles into the bedroom to answer her cell phone, asking the caller, "How long ago?" and saying she's on her way. The bed, as it happens, contains a blonde girl, who sighs, "I wasn't expecting breakfast, but I didn't think you'd run out." Weren't expecting that, were you? Because Rivai is so pretty and feminine! So it's surprising that she's a lesbian or something! Not that her sexuality is relevant to the plot, because it isn't -- it isn't even mentioned again, so why did we need that cheesecake set-up in the first place? It's 2008. Who cares. Whatever, so: Rivai tells Blondie to hang out as long as she likes, and to lock up when she leaves. As Rivai clips a badge to her belt, Blondie asks if she's not worried about leaving someone she just met alone in her house. Rivai, chambering a round and tucking her gun into the back of her pants: "Not really." Heh. Blondie's like, "Daaaamn," and flops back on the bed.
The team watches KITT burn rubber down the street and out of sight. Asian Henchman worries that "whoever was driving that car" can ID them, but Pointedly Evil is busy expositioning that they have 24 hours before law enforcement is "all over" them; their mission is "to deliver Prometheus," so they're going to get "the girl."
And now, the obligatory civilian-stunned-by-KITT's-capabilities scene. Drink! On a mountain road, a trucker drinks coffee and listens to Christian radio. In his sideview, he sees KITT approaching; then KITT whips past him and the trucker says, "Whoa."
Updated credits. The super-intense "the story of a man...who does not exist" narration by Richard Basehart (who played Foundation For Law And Government founder Wilton Knight in the original pilot) didn't make it into the new version, more's the pity.
Stanford. Sarah Graiman is using a whiteboard full of differential equations and a giant bubbly screensaver to illustrate a lecture on...nanophysics? Hell if I know. A student raises his hand and begins peppering her with irrelevant questions about whether she's working with her father "on this" and how he heard her father's working for the Pentagon. Sarah snips that if the guy can find her father, he can ask him himself, but until then, "try to stay on-topic, okay?" When we spin off Science Without Pity, she's my first hire as a mod. Anyway: she's estranged from her father. Scene.
Cut to a spindly guy with a mustache, passed out on a couch in a messy bachelor pad. He's awakened by knocking. Cut again, this time to Justin Bruening, who's in bed and wrapped around a woman. This is our hero, "Mike," and he sleepily accuses Spindly Mustache of putting hand soap in the dishwasher again, but Spindly is like, your "investors" are here, and that knocking doesn't sound like they're happy. Another woman squeezes past Spindly and crawls into bed with Mike, and Spindly asks, "What do you want to do?" Mike, slinging an arm around the second girl, throws him a "you're kidding, right?" eyebrow.
Elsewhere, Agent Carrie Rivai marches out of the Pacific, plants her surfboard in the sand, and treats us to a loooong sequence in an outdoor shower. And why do we need such a preponderance of evidence that Rivai has very long hair and looks cute in a bikini?
To give the upcoming reveal more pop, I suppose, because, inside, Rivai bustles into the bedroom to answer her cell phone, asking the caller, "How long ago?" and saying she's on her way. The bed, as it happens, contains a blonde girl, who sighs, "I wasn't expecting breakfast, but I didn't think you'd run out." Weren't expecting that, were you? Because Rivai is so pretty and feminine! So it's surprising that she's a lesbian or something! Not that her sexuality is relevant to the plot, because it isn't -- it isn't even mentioned again, so why did we need that cheesecake set-up in the first place? It's 2008. Who cares. Whatever, so: Rivai tells Blondie to hang out as long as she likes, and to lock up when she leaves. As Rivai clips a badge to her belt, Blondie asks if she's not worried about leaving someone she just met alone in her house. Rivai, chambering a round and tucking her gun into the back of her pants: "Not really." Heh. Blondie's like, "Daaaamn," and flops back on the bed.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
Outside a classroom, Sarah Graiman takes a cell phone call. It's Val Kilmer, and he's wondering if she can hook him up with a new acting coach, because his current one coached him to do a note-perfect imitation of Data from Star Trek: TNG for this role, and he's kind of not feeli-- oh, sorry. It's actually KITT, who's been trying to reach her for several hours. Sarah's like, "And?" "I know your father; he has sent me to find you, as it is probable men who wish you harm are following you as we speak." Sarah doesn't buy it, saying her father would have given the caller a code word. "He did. The code word is 'knight.'" Sarah looks worried. KITT asks where she is; she's just gone into the library, so KITT tells her to keep going, and to watch for anyone trying to enter the library without proper ID. "Good idea," she says. "Yes, I know," KITT says. Oh, KITT. Moments later, Smoke passes through the library doors, and Sarah rats him out to the staff, then demands to know who KITT is and how he knows all this. KITT tells her to go to the front entrance, but the cell signal gets garbled, so Sarah hangs up.
Over at Frat Pad, Mike is preparing to bolt in what looks like a souped-up soapbox-derby car. Spindly is not a big fan of that idea, and neither are the "investors," who are totally staring in through the garage-door windows menacingly. It's unclear whether Mike is planning to just run over them or what, but he runs into the garage door instead, so whatever the plan is, it's foiled. The investors barge in through a side door and glare at Mike and Spindly. Mike's "Need a lift?" is a feeble line, but Bruening almost sells it.
Sarah sprints out of the library, making a beeline for a campus policeman -- who is actually Pointedly Evil. KITT's warnings to this effect, and suggested subterfuge, go for naught as Smoke comes up behind her and shows his gun. Pointedly Evil smarms that she's clever, just like her father. "How do you know my father?" The camera goes all tilty again as Pointedly Evil evils, "Because I watched him die." You know, I already nicknamed the guy "Pointedly Evil"; it's a good bet that I get it already. Why not just cast a guy with a mustache so that he can literally twirl it? Sarah gives him a look that's half "eep" and half "girl, please" as we head into the first commercial.
After the break, Pointedly Evil breaks it down: she helps him crack the hard-drive codes, and he'll let her live. Sarah, God bless her, rolls her eyes. Pointedly Evil jams a gun with a silencer on it into her ribs and adds, "Refuse, and I'll reunite you with your father directly." Okay, bad guys of television and film, listen up: if a given hostage is the only means you have of attaining your goal, and if she knows that, threatening to kill her is dumb, and this is a perfect illustration. Only Sarah or her father can code-break for you, which she must know, and you've just told her that her father's already dead, so now she also knows that if you kill her, you're fucked. There are things you can leverage against her here -- safety of loved ones, low pain threshold -- but if she knows she's no good to you dead, why would you threaten her with...death, which is the only outcome you can't afford? Sarah grits that she'll never help him; maybe she's calling his bluff, but more likely, she spots KITT approaching, as indeed he is. KITT IDs her as Sarah Graiman, screeches to a stop, and pops the passenger door when the baddies scatter: "Sarah. Get in." She dives into the empty car and KITT takes off with much screeching of tires; during his evasive maneuvers, we see that he has the same airplane-style steering wheel as his predecessor. Smoke shoots at KITT a bunch of times, but of course the bullets do nothing, so Pointedly Evil calls him off and radios the others that Sarah's headed their way -- "in the car from last night."
Outside a classroom, Sarah Graiman takes a cell phone call. It's Val Kilmer, and he's wondering if she can hook him up with a new acting coach, because his current one coached him to do a note-perfect imitation of Data from Star Trek: TNG for this role, and he's kind of not feeli-- oh, sorry. It's actually KITT, who's been trying to reach her for several hours. Sarah's like, "And?" "I know your father; he has sent me to find you, as it is probable men who wish you harm are following you as we speak." Sarah doesn't buy it, saying her father would have given the caller a code word. "He did. The code word is 'knight.'" Sarah looks worried. KITT asks where she is; she's just gone into the library, so KITT tells her to keep going, and to watch for anyone trying to enter the library without proper ID. "Good idea," she says. "Yes, I know," KITT says. Oh, KITT. Moments later, Smoke passes through the library doors, and Sarah rats him out to the staff, then demands to know who KITT is and how he knows all this. KITT tells her to go to the front entrance, but the cell signal gets garbled, so Sarah hangs up.
Over at Frat Pad, Mike is preparing to bolt in what looks like a souped-up soapbox-derby car. Spindly is not a big fan of that idea, and neither are the "investors," who are totally staring in through the garage-door windows menacingly. It's unclear whether Mike is planning to just run over them or what, but he runs into the garage door instead, so whatever the plan is, it's foiled. The investors barge in through a side door and glare at Mike and Spindly. Mike's "Need a lift?" is a feeble line, but Bruening almost sells it.
Sarah sprints out of the library, making a beeline for a campus policeman -- who is actually Pointedly Evil. KITT's warnings to this effect, and suggested subterfuge, go for naught as Smoke comes up behind her and shows his gun. Pointedly Evil smarms that she's clever, just like her father. "How do you know my father?" The camera goes all tilty again as Pointedly Evil evils, "Because I watched him die." You know, I already nicknamed the guy "Pointedly Evil"; it's a good bet that I get it already. Why not just cast a guy with a mustache so that he can literally twirl it? Sarah gives him a look that's half "eep" and half "girl, please" as we head into the first commercial.
After the break, Pointedly Evil breaks it down: she helps him crack the hard-drive codes, and he'll let her live. Sarah, God bless her, rolls her eyes. Pointedly Evil jams a gun with a silencer on it into her ribs and adds, "Refuse, and I'll reunite you with your father directly." Okay, bad guys of television and film, listen up: if a given hostage is the only means you have of attaining your goal, and if she knows that, threatening to kill her is dumb, and this is a perfect illustration. Only Sarah or her father can code-break for you, which she must know, and you've just told her that her father's already dead, so now she also knows that if you kill her, you're fucked. There are things you can leverage against her here -- safety of loved ones, low pain threshold -- but if she knows she's no good to you dead, why would you threaten her with...death, which is the only outcome you can't afford? Sarah grits that she'll never help him; maybe she's calling his bluff, but more likely, she spots KITT approaching, as indeed he is. KITT IDs her as Sarah Graiman, screeches to a stop, and pops the passenger door when the baddies scatter: "Sarah. Get in." She dives into the empty car and KITT takes off with much screeching of tires; during his evasive maneuvers, we see that he has the same airplane-style steering wheel as his predecessor. Smoke shoots at KITT a bunch of times, but of course the bullets do nothing, so Pointedly Evil calls him off and radios the others that Sarah's headed their way -- "in the car from last night."
| Aired on 02.16.2008
In the car, KITT apologizes for his "brusque" phone demeanor and his "tardiness," all the while nimbly dodging undergrads on campus walkways. Sarah manages despite the centrifugal force whipping her back and forth to ask what's going on; KITT hasn't formed a theory on that yet. Nor is he certain that Graiman is really dead. Come on, KITT -- a system that advanced, and you don't have IMDb bookmarked? Bruce Davison is in this movie and we haven't seen him yet. Do the math. KITT continues careening through the remarkably empty Stanford campus, explaining that "hostiles" breached the mansion perimeter, which triggered a very specific program. Asian Henchman leaps out in front of KITT and starts shooting, so KITT has to slam on the brakes while Sarah cringes away from the bullets; then he takes off again, and Sarah's like, "Who are these guys?" Same guys who broke into the mansion, KITT tells her, as the rest of the bad guys pile into a Ford Focus to follow KITT. KITT, meanwhile, notes (with the help of a Lawnmower Man graphic) that Sarah's heart rate and respiration are elevated. "Gee, ya think?" Sarah snaps. Well, seriously. Shut(t) up, KITT. Sarah asks if KITT has a name. Graiman, not the most original thinker, dubbed him the Knight Industries Three Thousand, but Sarah can call him "3 Thou." Just kidding. She can call him "KITT," uh duh, and you know, I understand why they have to do all this exposition and why it's nineteen minutes into the movie before we officially learn the car's name, and yet, I...don't really understand why they have to do that, actually, because...we know the car's name. Everyone watching the movie knows the car's name; everyone watching the movie either watched the original Knight Rider, or knows the references, because if we didn't, we wouldn't care enough to bother with this new one in the first place. Yeah, the movie's doing double duty as a pilot, but it's not like anybody watching just went, "Ohhhhh, I thought it was that other black car that drives itself." Amish tweens figured that shit out the minute KITT turned on his little whchoo whchoo heartlight, come on.
Sorry about that! But now that I've bitched about it once, I don't have to do it again. Probably. Back to the car chase already in progress. KITT plans to take mountain roads to try to lose the guys in the Focus.
Frat Pad. The collision with the garage door has broken a critical rod of some sort, which means Mike can't race the car, which means he can't collect prize money, which means he can't pay his "investors" the ninety grand he owes them. Mike's like, so, what, you're going to break my legs now? No, the bearded investor says; Mike was an Army Ranger, he'd probably kick Beardy's ass. His silent-lummox sidekick, however, is happy to do the honors. Lummox lurches at Mike, they fight, and Mike's about to win when Beardy points a gun at Spindly and gives Mike his motivation: "You have until midnight to get me my money." Mike asks for more time, but Beardy's given Mike more than enough already, and when Mike asks how he's supposed to get that kind of money by midnight, Beardy snorts, "Have a bake sale, what do I care." Hee. Come sit to me, Beardy. If Mike doesn't get the money, Spindly meets his maker in the Nevada desert; if Mike still doesn't have the money 24 hours after that, Mike joins him. Beardy and Lummox leave. Mike and Spindly exchange defeated looks.
In the car, KITT apologizes for his "brusque" phone demeanor and his "tardiness," all the while nimbly dodging undergrads on campus walkways. Sarah manages despite the centrifugal force whipping her back and forth to ask what's going on; KITT hasn't formed a theory on that yet. Nor is he certain that Graiman is really dead. Come on, KITT -- a system that advanced, and you don't have IMDb bookmarked? Bruce Davison is in this movie and we haven't seen him yet. Do the math. KITT continues careening through the remarkably empty Stanford campus, explaining that "hostiles" breached the mansion perimeter, which triggered a very specific program. Asian Henchman leaps out in front of KITT and starts shooting, so KITT has to slam on the brakes while Sarah cringes away from the bullets; then he takes off again, and Sarah's like, "Who are these guys?" Same guys who broke into the mansion, KITT tells her, as the rest of the bad guys pile into a Ford Focus to follow KITT. KITT, meanwhile, notes (with the help of a Lawnmower Man graphic) that Sarah's heart rate and respiration are elevated. "Gee, ya think?" Sarah snaps. Well, seriously. Shut(t) up, KITT. Sarah asks if KITT has a name. Graiman, not the most original thinker, dubbed him the Knight Industries Three Thousand, but Sarah can call him "3 Thou." Just kidding. She can call him "KITT," uh duh, and you know, I understand why they have to do all this exposition and why it's nineteen minutes into the movie before we officially learn the car's name, and yet, I...don't really understand why they have to do that, actually, because...we know the car's name. Everyone watching the movie knows the car's name; everyone watching the movie either watched the original Knight Rider, or knows the references, because if we didn't, we wouldn't care enough to bother with this new one in the first place. Yeah, the movie's doing double duty as a pilot, but it's not like anybody watching just went, "Ohhhhh, I thought it was that other black car that drives itself." Amish tweens figured that shit out the minute KITT turned on his little whchoo whchoo heartlight, come on.
Sorry about that! But now that I've bitched about it once, I don't have to do it again. Probably. Back to the car chase already in progress. KITT plans to take mountain roads to try to lose the guys in the Focus.
Frat Pad. The collision with the garage door has broken a critical rod of some sort, which means Mike can't race the car, which means he can't collect prize money, which means he can't pay his "investors" the ninety grand he owes them. Mike's like, so, what, you're going to break my legs now? No, the bearded investor says; Mike was an Army Ranger, he'd probably kick Beardy's ass. His silent-lummox sidekick, however, is happy to do the honors. Lummox lurches at Mike, they fight, and Mike's about to win when Beardy points a gun at Spindly and gives Mike his motivation: "You have until midnight to get me my money." Mike asks for more time, but Beardy's given Mike more than enough already, and when Mike asks how he's supposed to get that kind of money by midnight, Beardy snorts, "Have a bake sale, what do I care." Hee. Come sit to me, Beardy. If Mike doesn't get the money, Spindly meets his maker in the Nevada desert; if Mike still doesn't have the money 24 hours after that, Mike joins him. Beardy and Lummox leave. Mike and Spindly exchange defeated looks.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
In the chase car, Pointedly Evil burbles about the "urban legend" that says Graiman helped Wilton Knight build a remote-control car 25 years ago, a car with the most advanced AI yet seen. Smoke doesn't see what they need with a thinking car. Pointedly Evil: "It's the step in Prometheus." Prometheus, Schmometheus -- has Smoke never driven from New York to Chicago? Indiana has many things to its credit, starting with my own grandparents, but thrilling interstate is not on that list. Also: go out for a few beers on a Friday night, and your own car drives you home and parks itself, and you can send it out for Starbucks the morning. You don't want it, send it out to Brooklyn; I'll find a use for it. At the moment, though, it's currently engaged in a chicken game along twisty blacktop, inches away from vertical drops, in and out of oncoming traffic, on a road that looks awfully familiar, probably because it's appeared in so many episodes of L.A.-based shows like CHiPs that it practically has a SAG card. Sarah: "Um. Are you gonna slow down?" KITT, accelerating to 102 mph: "Negative." Hee, Kilmer went all Iceman on that delivery. Asian Henchman is doing a creditable job keeping up given the speeds involved (and the fact that Anthony Crapp is seconds away from, well, crapping himself), and Sarah is evidently trying to distract KITT with dumb questions like "What are you doing?" and "Are you crazy?", but KITT is staying ahead of the tail, explaining to Sarah that GPS and satellite imagery help him navigate without crashing. "Did my dad get a chance to, um, test this?" KITT, unperturbed: "Not extensively, no." Hee. Sarah freaks; KITT is unemotional; lather, rinse, repeat. The chase continues, Anthony Crapp telling Asian Henchman to let it go already before they get killed, Asian Henchman calling Anthony Crapp a bitch, and Sarah tells KITT to get on with it; he would end it on the pass, but it might kill the guys in the chase car. Sarah's like, "I'm a compassionate person? But...so what?" Heh. As it was back in the day, KITT's primary directive is the preservation of human life, but Sarah points out that preservation of her life is his directive right now, so make the damn pass already. He does. The Focus gets hung up by, but does not actually crash into, a tractor-trailer.
Back from commercial, staring at the truck grille two feet away from him, Anthony Crapp mutters at Asian Henchman, "God, I hate you." Sarah is saying something similar to KITT, who assures her that satellite imagery shows the baddies stuck in a multi-car clusterfuck behind them. Sarah's like, they'll keep coming after us; we have to get off this road. KITT says they need to stay on it for a couple dozen more miles, then changes his exoskeleton to look like a more garden-variety silver Mustang with Idaho plates. Sarah observes this transformation with childlike glee, which is cute. Then she and KITT get into an argument about where to go -- she wants to go home, to find her father, but KITT forces her to admit that she has no plan for that, and no defense against another onslaught by the baddies...and KITT himself won't be enough. "You're impossible," Sarah smirks. "Because you're my father." KITT rather testily disagrees. Sarah asks where he's taking her, then. KITT explains that his mission is to "enlist the help of Mike Traceur" -- the same Mike we saw before, obvi, although in the picture on KITT's viewscreen, he's kitted out in his Ranger dress uniform and looking like he's trying not to giggle. Also: "Traceur"? I guess it beats "Hunt," but not by much. Sarah's response is eye-rolling disbelief, but before the history that's clearly there is revealed, we cut...
In the chase car, Pointedly Evil burbles about the "urban legend" that says Graiman helped Wilton Knight build a remote-control car 25 years ago, a car with the most advanced AI yet seen. Smoke doesn't see what they need with a thinking car. Pointedly Evil: "It's the step in Prometheus." Prometheus, Schmometheus -- has Smoke never driven from New York to Chicago? Indiana has many things to its credit, starting with my own grandparents, but thrilling interstate is not on that list. Also: go out for a few beers on a Friday night, and your own car drives you home and parks itself, and you can send it out for Starbucks the morning. You don't want it, send it out to Brooklyn; I'll find a use for it. At the moment, though, it's currently engaged in a chicken game along twisty blacktop, inches away from vertical drops, in and out of oncoming traffic, on a road that looks awfully familiar, probably because it's appeared in so many episodes of L.A.-based shows like CHiPs that it practically has a SAG card. Sarah: "Um. Are you gonna slow down?" KITT, accelerating to 102 mph: "Negative." Hee, Kilmer went all Iceman on that delivery. Asian Henchman is doing a creditable job keeping up given the speeds involved (and the fact that Anthony Crapp is seconds away from, well, crapping himself), and Sarah is evidently trying to distract KITT with dumb questions like "What are you doing?" and "Are you crazy?", but KITT is staying ahead of the tail, explaining to Sarah that GPS and satellite imagery help him navigate without crashing. "Did my dad get a chance to, um, test this?" KITT, unperturbed: "Not extensively, no." Hee. Sarah freaks; KITT is unemotional; lather, rinse, repeat. The chase continues, Anthony Crapp telling Asian Henchman to let it go already before they get killed, Asian Henchman calling Anthony Crapp a bitch, and Sarah tells KITT to get on with it; he would end it on the pass, but it might kill the guys in the chase car. Sarah's like, "I'm a compassionate person? But...so what?" Heh. As it was back in the day, KITT's primary directive is the preservation of human life, but Sarah points out that preservation of her life is his directive right now, so make the damn pass already. He does. The Focus gets hung up by, but does not actually crash into, a tractor-trailer.
Back from commercial, staring at the truck grille two feet away from him, Anthony Crapp mutters at Asian Henchman, "God, I hate you." Sarah is saying something similar to KITT, who assures her that satellite imagery shows the baddies stuck in a multi-car clusterfuck behind them. Sarah's like, they'll keep coming after us; we have to get off this road. KITT says they need to stay on it for a couple dozen more miles, then changes his exoskeleton to look like a more garden-variety silver Mustang with Idaho plates. Sarah observes this transformation with childlike glee, which is cute. Then she and KITT get into an argument about where to go -- she wants to go home, to find her father, but KITT forces her to admit that she has no plan for that, and no defense against another onslaught by the baddies...and KITT himself won't be enough. "You're impossible," Sarah smirks. "Because you're my father." KITT rather testily disagrees. Sarah asks where he's taking her, then. KITT explains that his mission is to "enlist the help of Mike Traceur" -- the same Mike we saw before, obvi, although in the picture on KITT's viewscreen, he's kitted out in his Ranger dress uniform and looking like he's trying not to giggle. Also: "Traceur"? I guess it beats "Hunt," but not by much. Sarah's response is eye-rolling disbelief, but before the history that's clearly there is revealed, we cut...
| Aired on 02.16.2008
...Over to the FBI, where an agent named Kevin is smarming at Rivai about coming in on her day off. His only purpose is to serve as an exposition foil, so here's what we learn: Graiman was a "civilian inventor" working on Prometheus for the Pentagon. Prometheus is the remote system that controls all military drones and smart bombs. They called Rivai in when Graiman's death popped up in their database, because Rivai knew him.
In a helicopter, Pointedly Evil and Smoke search for KITT -- in vain, because they're looking for a black car and KITT isn't that at the moment. Pointedly Evil orders Anthony Crapp to do what he can with the hard drives, then looks speculatively at his cell phone before telling Smoke to land the chopper; the car won't go anywhere without Sarah, but they'll have to find some other way of tracking her.
FBI. Rivai reports that Graiman died of cardiac arrest, so she won't get any backup unless/until she can prove foul play. She's headed to the mansion to meet up with local law enforcement; she tells Kevin to go find Sarah at Stanford, ensure her safety, and see if Graiman's contacted her. Kevin asks if Sarah is hot, then babbles on all "done, got it, you can count on me," and Rivai's like, "What is wrong with you?" He's intended as comic relief, but got terrible dialogue, is what. Memo to the producers: axe that character, it's not working.
KITT is asking what's up between Sarah and Mike. Sarah grumps that, when she left for Stanford, Mike never called her again. KITT: "That's strange. Why would he cut off all contact?" That's a little disingenuous, even for KITT, but Sarah just says Mike is immature and selfish, which prompts KITT to wonder why Graiman picked him. Graiman trusts him, Sarah shrugs. Now, they have to find the guy, which requires KITT to scan a bunch of security cameras and utility bills. Sarah's a little weirded out by the Patriot Act-y-ness of that, but KITT's tracked the guy to an address outside Vegas -- 627 miles away, and KITT can cover it in three hours plus. "You're kidding," Sarah says. "I do not kid," KITT prims. Shut(t) up, KITT. KITT flips his exoskeleton back to black, raises the ridonkulous Super Pursuit Mode spoiler in the back, and steps on the gas. (It's not referred to as "Super Pursuit Mode," now or at any other time, which is kind of too bad, because I'd hoped they would address a question I've always had about that: the first KITT had two Pursuit Modes, regular old ordinary PM and Super, which you could see because the buttons were side-by-side, but Michael Knight always used Super. I don't remember him ever hitting plain Pursuit Mode, not once. He jumped over oil tankers, he laid down oil slicks and created fog, he used Super Pursuit Mode to drive across the country while sleeping, but regular Pursuit Mode, never. So why program KITT with it in the first place? Why didn't Bonnie or April just take it off the control panel?) (Don't email me.) Sarah smiles. Money shot of vapor trailing up and over KITT's chassis. Money shot of the spoiler. KITT shoots around a dead man's curve as the guitar on the soundtrack pops a Woodrow.
...Over to the FBI, where an agent named Kevin is smarming at Rivai about coming in on her day off. His only purpose is to serve as an exposition foil, so here's what we learn: Graiman was a "civilian inventor" working on Prometheus for the Pentagon. Prometheus is the remote system that controls all military drones and smart bombs. They called Rivai in when Graiman's death popped up in their database, because Rivai knew him.
In a helicopter, Pointedly Evil and Smoke search for KITT -- in vain, because they're looking for a black car and KITT isn't that at the moment. Pointedly Evil orders Anthony Crapp to do what he can with the hard drives, then looks speculatively at his cell phone before telling Smoke to land the chopper; the car won't go anywhere without Sarah, but they'll have to find some other way of tracking her.
FBI. Rivai reports that Graiman died of cardiac arrest, so she won't get any backup unless/until she can prove foul play. She's headed to the mansion to meet up with local law enforcement; she tells Kevin to go find Sarah at Stanford, ensure her safety, and see if Graiman's contacted her. Kevin asks if Sarah is hot, then babbles on all "done, got it, you can count on me," and Rivai's like, "What is wrong with you?" He's intended as comic relief, but got terrible dialogue, is what. Memo to the producers: axe that character, it's not working.
KITT is asking what's up between Sarah and Mike. Sarah grumps that, when she left for Stanford, Mike never called her again. KITT: "That's strange. Why would he cut off all contact?" That's a little disingenuous, even for KITT, but Sarah just says Mike is immature and selfish, which prompts KITT to wonder why Graiman picked him. Graiman trusts him, Sarah shrugs. Now, they have to find the guy, which requires KITT to scan a bunch of security cameras and utility bills. Sarah's a little weirded out by the Patriot Act-y-ness of that, but KITT's tracked the guy to an address outside Vegas -- 627 miles away, and KITT can cover it in three hours plus. "You're kidding," Sarah says. "I do not kid," KITT prims. Shut(t) up, KITT. KITT flips his exoskeleton back to black, raises the ridonkulous Super Pursuit Mode spoiler in the back, and steps on the gas. (It's not referred to as "Super Pursuit Mode," now or at any other time, which is kind of too bad, because I'd hoped they would address a question I've always had about that: the first KITT had two Pursuit Modes, regular old ordinary PM and Super, which you could see because the buttons were side-by-side, but Michael Knight always used Super. I don't remember him ever hitting plain Pursuit Mode, not once. He jumped over oil tankers, he laid down oil slicks and created fog, he used Super Pursuit Mode to drive across the country while sleeping, but regular Pursuit Mode, never. So why program KITT with it in the first place? Why didn't Bonnie or April just take it off the control panel?) (Don't email me.) Sarah smiles. Money shot of vapor trailing up and over KITT's chassis. Money shot of the spoiler. KITT shoots around a dead man's curve as the guitar on the soundtrack pops a Woodrow.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
On the way to Vegas, Sarah and KITT have a conversation we've seen a hundred times before via the Terminator and Trek canons re: the inability of AIs to understand the nature of grief. Then Sarah gives us some backstory about her parents' divorce, how her mom got fed up with Graiman's "eccentricities" and paranoia. "You blame him for your parents' failed marriage," KITT Freuds, and Sarah says she did -- and she told him that, and she hasn't had a chance to take it back. KITT puts his tire in his mouth by posting a picture of Sarah and her mom on his viewscreen and remarking that he has no recent data for Mrs. Graiman. Sarah whispers that her mom died last year. KITT silently slow-dissolves the photo off of the viewscreen, which is hilariously cheesy, but kind of sweet at the same time. Hee. Then, after a brief exchange in which KITT tries to prove that he's down with the lingo by agreeing that something "sucks," Sarah's like, and you dredged all this shit up why? KITT says that sometimes it helps to talk about it -- or so he has read. Sarah eyes his viewscreen with fond exasperation and admits that that's true. They drive on.
Frat Pad. Mike is going to Vegas to try to win the money they need at poker. Spindly is anxious. Scene.
Cut to an inexplicably long montage of Vegas scenery, although the travelogue does include a cool shot of the Sphinx at the Luxor reflected in KITT's super-shiny exterior. KITT has located Mike at the Montecito. Then a wireless communicator set comes out of the glove box; KITT tells Sarah to put the earpiece in so they can keep in contact.
Rivai pulls up at Graiman's mansion, which looks exactly like Reuben's house in Ocean's Eleven. The local police chief, Sheriff Ramsey, greets her and says his men haven't found any evidence of foul play. Rivai is dismissive and blows past him to take a look around herself, but Ramsey asks her for a favor first -- he doesn't have contact info for Sarah, and he needs someone to ID the body. Would Rivai mind? She curtly agrees and heads inside. Rather more time than would seem necessary is devoted to Ramsey fidgeting on the front steps before we head over to...
...another Vegas travelogue. Y'all, we watch CSI; we know what Vegas looks like. Air the pilot at 90 minutes if your material's that thin. Mike's at a poker table, bluffing his way to fortune, when Sarah marches up with a smart remark. He's shocked to see her, she's like, "Nice to see you too, jerk," and then she tries to convince him to leave and come with her right away and she'll explain later. He's like, there is no explanation that would work, and she tells him her father is missing and possibly dead, and she survived an abduction attempt that morning. "That's actually a pretty good start," he admits (heh), but then gets all bent when she says she hasn't gone to the cops. Cut to Smoke, reporting that he has a visual on Sarah and she's talking to some guy. The baddies fan out through the casino as Mike says he's sorry, but he's got problems of his own. Just then, KITT reports on comms that the baddies are in play. Sarah tugs Mike's arm and tells him that her would-be abductors "are here." Mike stares us stonily into the break.
On the way to Vegas, Sarah and KITT have a conversation we've seen a hundred times before via the Terminator and Trek canons re: the inability of AIs to understand the nature of grief. Then Sarah gives us some backstory about her parents' divorce, how her mom got fed up with Graiman's "eccentricities" and paranoia. "You blame him for your parents' failed marriage," KITT Freuds, and Sarah says she did -- and she told him that, and she hasn't had a chance to take it back. KITT puts his tire in his mouth by posting a picture of Sarah and her mom on his viewscreen and remarking that he has no recent data for Mrs. Graiman. Sarah whispers that her mom died last year. KITT silently slow-dissolves the photo off of the viewscreen, which is hilariously cheesy, but kind of sweet at the same time. Hee. Then, after a brief exchange in which KITT tries to prove that he's down with the lingo by agreeing that something "sucks," Sarah's like, and you dredged all this shit up why? KITT says that sometimes it helps to talk about it -- or so he has read. Sarah eyes his viewscreen with fond exasperation and admits that that's true. They drive on.
Frat Pad. Mike is going to Vegas to try to win the money they need at poker. Spindly is anxious. Scene.
Cut to an inexplicably long montage of Vegas scenery, although the travelogue does include a cool shot of the Sphinx at the Luxor reflected in KITT's super-shiny exterior. KITT has located Mike at the Montecito. Then a wireless communicator set comes out of the glove box; KITT tells Sarah to put the earpiece in so they can keep in contact.
Rivai pulls up at Graiman's mansion, which looks exactly like Reuben's house in Ocean's Eleven. The local police chief, Sheriff Ramsey, greets her and says his men haven't found any evidence of foul play. Rivai is dismissive and blows past him to take a look around herself, but Ramsey asks her for a favor first -- he doesn't have contact info for Sarah, and he needs someone to ID the body. Would Rivai mind? She curtly agrees and heads inside. Rather more time than would seem necessary is devoted to Ramsey fidgeting on the front steps before we head over to...
...another Vegas travelogue. Y'all, we watch CSI; we know what Vegas looks like. Air the pilot at 90 minutes if your material's that thin. Mike's at a poker table, bluffing his way to fortune, when Sarah marches up with a smart remark. He's shocked to see her, she's like, "Nice to see you too, jerk," and then she tries to convince him to leave and come with her right away and she'll explain later. He's like, there is no explanation that would work, and she tells him her father is missing and possibly dead, and she survived an abduction attempt that morning. "That's actually a pretty good start," he admits (heh), but then gets all bent when she says she hasn't gone to the cops. Cut to Smoke, reporting that he has a visual on Sarah and she's talking to some guy. The baddies fan out through the casino as Mike says he's sorry, but he's got problems of his own. Just then, KITT reports on comms that the baddies are in play. Sarah tugs Mike's arm and tells him that her would-be abductors "are here." Mike stares us stonily into the break.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
Mike and Sarah hustle toward the exits, Mike figuring out that the baddies tracked her using her cell. He tells her to turn it off, and hands her his sweatshirt so she won't have the same top on as before. He can't go with her, he says, because he has a debt to earn back; she scoffs at his poor planning, but says she'll pay his debt if he helps her out. Mike's like, done, and takes the earpiece to ask KITT how he can see them and where the baddies are. The baddies realize they've been made, and start closing in. Mike and KITT get into a pissing match over how best to escape, and then KITT activates the casino fire alarm and unlocks a security door for Mike and Sarah to slip through -- but not before Pointedly Evil catches up, wastes an opportunity to just shoot him by snarking that Mike is in way over his head, and brawls with Mike. It's a stand-off until Mike looks down at Pointedly Evil's nuts; Pointedly Evil follows Mike's gaze; Mike pops a "sorry, dude" eyebrow before kicking Pointedly Evil in the slats, shoving him through the security door, and slamming it. Mike then goes back to arguing with KITT, who he still thinks is a person, over comms.
Asian Henchman finds Pointedly Evil panting angrily near the security exit and asks, "What happened?" Pointedly Evil: "Our job just got harder." You know, you could have imparted some actual information there, but no, you went with a vague but threatening quip. This is why TV bad guys always lose -- pretty surprising, given this one's impressive ability to shake off a kick in the balls in all of six seconds.
Outside, KITT pulls up. Mike's first reaction is "Nice ride," but then he sees that nobody's driving and starts to wig out. KITT, whipping through a crowded parking structure, introduces himself; Mike is like, "Nice to meet you WHY ARE YOU DRIVING YOURSELF AND KNOWING MY NAME AIIEEEEEE." Sarah tries to mediate between Mike, who is threatening to put sugar in KITT's gas tank, and KITT, who's like, "Wouldn't be prudent." Mike's worry is that the baddies will recognize KITT; Sarah smirks that he needn't worry about that.
Cut to KITT at a stop sign outside the casino, his exoskeleton now lavender. Heh. Mike stares. Sarah smiles smugly. The baddies mill around in the chaos caused by the fire alarm, but don't spot purple KITT.
Rivai leafs through autopsy photos of Grey Hair and asks Sheriff Ramsey how many men he has available: "We're gonna need all of 'em." Grey Hair isn't Graiman, you see, which means "Charles Graiman is still alive." Sheriff Ramsey apparently didn't watch the credits, because he does a stagy double-take at this revelation.
Mike and Sarah hustle toward the exits, Mike figuring out that the baddies tracked her using her cell. He tells her to turn it off, and hands her his sweatshirt so she won't have the same top on as before. He can't go with her, he says, because he has a debt to earn back; she scoffs at his poor planning, but says she'll pay his debt if he helps her out. Mike's like, done, and takes the earpiece to ask KITT how he can see them and where the baddies are. The baddies realize they've been made, and start closing in. Mike and KITT get into a pissing match over how best to escape, and then KITT activates the casino fire alarm and unlocks a security door for Mike and Sarah to slip through -- but not before Pointedly Evil catches up, wastes an opportunity to just shoot him by snarking that Mike is in way over his head, and brawls with Mike. It's a stand-off until Mike looks down at Pointedly Evil's nuts; Pointedly Evil follows Mike's gaze; Mike pops a "sorry, dude" eyebrow before kicking Pointedly Evil in the slats, shoving him through the security door, and slamming it. Mike then goes back to arguing with KITT, who he still thinks is a person, over comms.
Asian Henchman finds Pointedly Evil panting angrily near the security exit and asks, "What happened?" Pointedly Evil: "Our job just got harder." You know, you could have imparted some actual information there, but no, you went with a vague but threatening quip. This is why TV bad guys always lose -- pretty surprising, given this one's impressive ability to shake off a kick in the balls in all of six seconds.
Outside, KITT pulls up. Mike's first reaction is "Nice ride," but then he sees that nobody's driving and starts to wig out. KITT, whipping through a crowded parking structure, introduces himself; Mike is like, "Nice to meet you WHY ARE YOU DRIVING YOURSELF AND KNOWING MY NAME AIIEEEEEE." Sarah tries to mediate between Mike, who is threatening to put sugar in KITT's gas tank, and KITT, who's like, "Wouldn't be prudent." Mike's worry is that the baddies will recognize KITT; Sarah smirks that he needn't worry about that.
Cut to KITT at a stop sign outside the casino, his exoskeleton now lavender. Heh. Mike stares. Sarah smiles smugly. The baddies mill around in the chaos caused by the fire alarm, but don't spot purple KITT.
Rivai leafs through autopsy photos of Grey Hair and asks Sheriff Ramsey how many men he has available: "We're gonna need all of 'em." Grey Hair isn't Graiman, you see, which means "Charles Graiman is still alive." Sheriff Ramsey apparently didn't watch the credits, because he does a stagy double-take at this revelation.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
Cut to some woods, through which one Bruce Davison, a.k.a. the somewhat battered but otherwise peppy Charles Graiman, is running. He stumbles and falls, then raises his perfectly coiffed head (seriously, what conditioner is this guy using?) to stare, terrified, into the commercial break.
Back to Graiman race-walking through the woods. He's brought up short by a flashback to a conversation he had with Grey Hair, who is evidently employed as his double; Grey Hair spots the power company's van, smells a rat, and sends Graiman out via a secret passageway to escape harm. Graiman slips through a door disguised as a bookshelf, then out an ivy-covered outer door. He stops to watch Pointedly Evil and Asian Henchman approaching the house, then flees.
Back at the mansion, Rivai expositions that Graiman had been using the double for public appearances; then he started using "Ben for everything," to the point where most people didn't know the difference. Sheriff Ramsey thinks it sounds crazy, but Rivai points out that the double is dead, which proves it was a pretty solid plan. Rivai asks again for back-up from Ramsey since hers is hours away. Ramsey agrees.
KITT. Mike's asking who's after Sarah and what they want. Based on a license plate KITT traced, they figure out that Pointedly Evil and the Eviltones work for Blackriver Corporation, a private security firm. Mike looks gloomy as he says he spent time with some of their guys in Iraq: "They're just about the money." Sarah snarks that that sounds familiar. Mike shoots her a "...wow, really?" side-eye. KITT allows for an awkward pause before explaining for the benefit of the radio audience that Blackriver probably wants Graiman's research so that they can gain control of Prometheus, which in turn will allow them to crash planes, launch missiles, and so on and so forth. KITT predicts "chaos, certain death, and possible war" while showing various demolitions on his viewscreen, followed by a mushroom cloud. I see Graiman didn't get around to upgrading KITT's copy of SugarCoat to the latest release. Mike's surprised that Graiman would just leave that info on the hard drives, but KITT says that only Graiman can crack the encryption. "Or someone who knows what [he] knows," Mike grunts, glaring at Sarah, who's like, okay okay, we worked on the initial codes together, but then we stopped speaking. KITT pipes up that he also knows what Graiman knows, so now that he's protected Sarah and found Mike, he's supposed to go to the FBI and turn himself in. Pause. Sarah orders KITT to stop, now, so he screeches to a stop and Sarah jumps out. "That seemed somewhat irrational," KITT observes. Bruening does his best with the dated line "You clearly don't know much about women," and KITT steps on his punchline, such as it is, with some blather about what his database says, but as Mike hops out to follow Sarah he mercifully tells KITT to cram it.
Cut to some woods, through which one Bruce Davison, a.k.a. the somewhat battered but otherwise peppy Charles Graiman, is running. He stumbles and falls, then raises his perfectly coiffed head (seriously, what conditioner is this guy using?) to stare, terrified, into the commercial break.
Back to Graiman race-walking through the woods. He's brought up short by a flashback to a conversation he had with Grey Hair, who is evidently employed as his double; Grey Hair spots the power company's van, smells a rat, and sends Graiman out via a secret passageway to escape harm. Graiman slips through a door disguised as a bookshelf, then out an ivy-covered outer door. He stops to watch Pointedly Evil and Asian Henchman approaching the house, then flees.
Back at the mansion, Rivai expositions that Graiman had been using the double for public appearances; then he started using "Ben for everything," to the point where most people didn't know the difference. Sheriff Ramsey thinks it sounds crazy, but Rivai points out that the double is dead, which proves it was a pretty solid plan. Rivai asks again for back-up from Ramsey since hers is hours away. Ramsey agrees.
KITT. Mike's asking who's after Sarah and what they want. Based on a license plate KITT traced, they figure out that Pointedly Evil and the Eviltones work for Blackriver Corporation, a private security firm. Mike looks gloomy as he says he spent time with some of their guys in Iraq: "They're just about the money." Sarah snarks that that sounds familiar. Mike shoots her a "...wow, really?" side-eye. KITT allows for an awkward pause before explaining for the benefit of the radio audience that Blackriver probably wants Graiman's research so that they can gain control of Prometheus, which in turn will allow them to crash planes, launch missiles, and so on and so forth. KITT predicts "chaos, certain death, and possible war" while showing various demolitions on his viewscreen, followed by a mushroom cloud. I see Graiman didn't get around to upgrading KITT's copy of SugarCoat to the latest release. Mike's surprised that Graiman would just leave that info on the hard drives, but KITT says that only Graiman can crack the encryption. "Or someone who knows what [he] knows," Mike grunts, glaring at Sarah, who's like, okay okay, we worked on the initial codes together, but then we stopped speaking. KITT pipes up that he also knows what Graiman knows, so now that he's protected Sarah and found Mike, he's supposed to go to the FBI and turn himself in. Pause. Sarah orders KITT to stop, now, so he screeches to a stop and Sarah jumps out. "That seemed somewhat irrational," KITT observes. Bruening does his best with the dated line "You clearly don't know much about women," and KITT steps on his punchline, such as it is, with some blather about what his database says, but as Mike hops out to follow Sarah he mercifully tells KITT to cram it.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
On the rail bridge where they've stopped, Sarah announces that she's going to rent a car and go back to the house to figure out where her dad got to. Mike thinks maybe the FBI can help them, but Sarah's like, Caucasian, please. During this convo, KITT is following them, and tells Sarah he can't let her go by herself. She's going whether KITT takes her or not, so KITT agrees to drive her. Mike points out that she's playing right into Blackriver's hands; they'll expect her to go back to the house, and she'll deliver KITT right to them. "I am not running from this!" she teary-voices, as though she's spent a lifetime running, which she hasn't really, so the line is a bit much. Mike informs her cynically that he's "done plenty of fighting" and it never makes a difference. Sarah sneers that he can leave, then; she'll still pay his debt. He pulls a face, but follows her back to KITT.
In the Ford Evilsplorer carrying the Blackriver gang, Pointedly Evil answers his cell, then gasps, "How is that possible?" Cut to Sheriff Ramsey reiterating that the body in the morgue isn't Charles Graiman's; Rivai confirmed it. Oh, Sheriff Ramsey. The corrupt small-town lawman never prevails on Knight Rider! Watch the DVDs, dude! Pointedly Evil shares the info with the team, and says they'll continue back to the mansion as planned.
Back to KITT for more emotional backstory as Mike apologizes for "all this" and says Graiman was always good to him and his mom -- not that he's talking to his mom right now, because she "sent [him] away" as a kid. "Mike? You weren't exactly a choir boy. She might not have had a choice," Sarah says. Well, that was sensitive to his abandonment issues, Sarah. Mike's like, everyone has a choice, and Sarah serves up some platitudes about not regretting anything after his mom's gone blah blah. Fortunately, this carpe matrem musing is interrupted by Mike's cell; it's Spindly, calling to see how Mike's doing with the money. Change of plans, Mike says, but he'll get Spindly the money soon. The shot of Spindly pans out to reveal the "investors" both training guns on him. "Yeah...how soon were you thinkin'?"
Kevin calls in to Rivai to report that Sarah's off the rez and doesn't have her cell phone turned on. Rivai curtly tells him to email her the number, and clicks off, and then there's a bit of "comedy" involving Kevin "hello"-ing at a busy signal, which of course you don't get on cell phones. Funny how movies and TV still do that -- that, and giving characters old-school answering machines so the audience can hear their messages. Anyway, Rivai is now noticing based on patterns in the dust in Graiman's office that someone took all the hard drives. "No kidding," gulps Sheriff Ramsey.
On the rail bridge where they've stopped, Sarah announces that she's going to rent a car and go back to the house to figure out where her dad got to. Mike thinks maybe the FBI can help them, but Sarah's like, Caucasian, please. During this convo, KITT is following them, and tells Sarah he can't let her go by herself. She's going whether KITT takes her or not, so KITT agrees to drive her. Mike points out that she's playing right into Blackriver's hands; they'll expect her to go back to the house, and she'll deliver KITT right to them. "I am not running from this!" she teary-voices, as though she's spent a lifetime running, which she hasn't really, so the line is a bit much. Mike informs her cynically that he's "done plenty of fighting" and it never makes a difference. Sarah sneers that he can leave, then; she'll still pay his debt. He pulls a face, but follows her back to KITT.
In the Ford Evilsplorer carrying the Blackriver gang, Pointedly Evil answers his cell, then gasps, "How is that possible?" Cut to Sheriff Ramsey reiterating that the body in the morgue isn't Charles Graiman's; Rivai confirmed it. Oh, Sheriff Ramsey. The corrupt small-town lawman never prevails on Knight Rider! Watch the DVDs, dude! Pointedly Evil shares the info with the team, and says they'll continue back to the mansion as planned.
Back to KITT for more emotional backstory as Mike apologizes for "all this" and says Graiman was always good to him and his mom -- not that he's talking to his mom right now, because she "sent [him] away" as a kid. "Mike? You weren't exactly a choir boy. She might not have had a choice," Sarah says. Well, that was sensitive to his abandonment issues, Sarah. Mike's like, everyone has a choice, and Sarah serves up some platitudes about not regretting anything after his mom's gone blah blah. Fortunately, this carpe matrem musing is interrupted by Mike's cell; it's Spindly, calling to see how Mike's doing with the money. Change of plans, Mike says, but he'll get Spindly the money soon. The shot of Spindly pans out to reveal the "investors" both training guns on him. "Yeah...how soon were you thinkin'?"
Kevin calls in to Rivai to report that Sarah's off the rez and doesn't have her cell phone turned on. Rivai curtly tells him to email her the number, and clicks off, and then there's a bit of "comedy" involving Kevin "hello"-ing at a busy signal, which of course you don't get on cell phones. Funny how movies and TV still do that -- that, and giving characters old-school answering machines so the audience can hear their messages. Anyway, Rivai is now noticing based on patterns in the dust in Graiman's office that someone took all the hard drives. "No kidding," gulps Sheriff Ramsey.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
Graiman, still barging through the wooded area, comes upon a house. After checking to see if anyone's home, he breaks a pane of glass in the door and lets himself in. He splashes his face with water, checks the fridge (hee -- and it's empty), then flops down on a settee. The way the shot of his head is framed leaves plenty of room for the barrel of a shotgun to enter it, and here's one now, followed by the sound of cocking. Graiman makes a "henh?" face, and it's time for another testament to the joys of Ford ownership.
Back from another installment of the KITT/Mike mini-show commercials which I refuse to dignify. "Move and I'll kill you," says the gun's owner. "Jenny, it's me," Graiman grits out. "It's Charles." She drops the gun, rolls her eyes, and asks what the hell he's doing; he just says he needs a phone or a computer. Luddite Jenny doesn't have either of those things, but Graiman really needs one, and asks if her car's out back.
More awkwardness in the car; now it's Mike's turn to order KITT to pull over. KITT and Sarah both ask what's wrong, and there's dramatic pulsing on the soundtrack, but Mike just has to pee. Har. A few minutes later, Mike is addressing his bladder concerns to a roadside bush, which Sarah thinks is the perfect time to ask why he blew her off after she left for Stanford. Mike's like, kinda busy here, but Sarah rambles on about the great summer they had together and how she "practically stalked" him but he never responded. Mike: "...Sorry." Sarah's like, that's...it? Mike thinks it over, apparently decides that it's better long-term to lie meanly to her, and shrugs that he met someone else and didn't know how to tell her. Sarah: "At military school?" Good question. How old are they supposed to be, exactly? Because she's talking like this just happened, but also like it happened before college, which, if he's already out of the army...I don't get the timeline. Mike is done with the conversation, basically. Sarah keeps trying, saying that he could have told her, and Mike's like, fine, time you'll be the first to know, and gets in the driver's seat.
The Pine Woods Motel, whose crisp new neon sign would like you to know that it has vacancies, and color TV. As if motels still tout that. Jenny asks if KITT is another Trans Am. Graiman says it's a Mustang. Then Jenny asks who's driving, and when Graiman makes a "busted" face, Jenny realizes who it is -- Mike, Jenny's son, not that the movie thinks we'll figure that out without a PowerPoint presentation -- and immediately starts spluttering. Graiman says pleadingly that he needed someone who would watch over Sarah. Why Sarah, who is apparently an AI Ph.D of some sort, isn't deemed capable of taking care of herself is not really clear to me here in 2008 -- hell, she wouldn't even be the only ass-kicking Sarah on TV right now -- but I won't make a big feminazi issue of it. (...Yet.) Jenny storms past Graiman into the motel.
Graiman, still barging through the wooded area, comes upon a house. After checking to see if anyone's home, he breaks a pane of glass in the door and lets himself in. He splashes his face with water, checks the fridge (hee -- and it's empty), then flops down on a settee. The way the shot of his head is framed leaves plenty of room for the barrel of a shotgun to enter it, and here's one now, followed by the sound of cocking. Graiman makes a "henh?" face, and it's time for another testament to the joys of Ford ownership.
Back from another installment of the KITT/Mike mini-show commercials which I refuse to dignify. "Move and I'll kill you," says the gun's owner. "Jenny, it's me," Graiman grits out. "It's Charles." She drops the gun, rolls her eyes, and asks what the hell he's doing; he just says he needs a phone or a computer. Luddite Jenny doesn't have either of those things, but Graiman really needs one, and asks if her car's out back.
More awkwardness in the car; now it's Mike's turn to order KITT to pull over. KITT and Sarah both ask what's wrong, and there's dramatic pulsing on the soundtrack, but Mike just has to pee. Har. A few minutes later, Mike is addressing his bladder concerns to a roadside bush, which Sarah thinks is the perfect time to ask why he blew her off after she left for Stanford. Mike's like, kinda busy here, but Sarah rambles on about the great summer they had together and how she "practically stalked" him but he never responded. Mike: "...Sorry." Sarah's like, that's...it? Mike thinks it over, apparently decides that it's better long-term to lie meanly to her, and shrugs that he met someone else and didn't know how to tell her. Sarah: "At military school?" Good question. How old are they supposed to be, exactly? Because she's talking like this just happened, but also like it happened before college, which, if he's already out of the army...I don't get the timeline. Mike is done with the conversation, basically. Sarah keeps trying, saying that he could have told her, and Mike's like, fine, time you'll be the first to know, and gets in the driver's seat.
The Pine Woods Motel, whose crisp new neon sign would like you to know that it has vacancies, and color TV. As if motels still tout that. Jenny asks if KITT is another Trans Am. Graiman says it's a Mustang. Then Jenny asks who's driving, and when Graiman makes a "busted" face, Jenny realizes who it is -- Mike, Jenny's son, not that the movie thinks we'll figure that out without a PowerPoint presentation -- and immediately starts spluttering. Graiman says pleadingly that he needed someone who would watch over Sarah. Why Sarah, who is apparently an AI Ph.D of some sort, isn't deemed capable of taking care of herself is not really clear to me here in 2008 -- hell, she wouldn't even be the only ass-kicking Sarah on TV right now -- but I won't make a big feminazi issue of it. (...Yet.) Jenny storms past Graiman into the motel.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
Aaaaaand it's lighten-the-mood time in the car, as Mike uses voice-commands to futz with the seats, then, when KITT says he has to make a stop, busts out the hoary old "you should have gone when we stopped before" chestnut. As is consistently the case, though, Bruening's wise-ass delivery is almost good enough to put the cheap line over. Not the one about KITT running on plutonium, which Olivier couldn't have saved, but in any case the scene is primarily for the purposes of proving KITT's green-a fides -- he runs mostly on solar power and gets 167 miles to the gallon. It does seem, if they already made the plutonium reference, like they could also have had KITT run on household refuse or compost, like at the end of Back To The Future, and it would make a great running gag in the series. With the...banana peels? No?
At the gas station, Sarah goes into the mini-mart while Mike tells KITT that his whole deal is weird -- "like having a creepy guy in the backseat." "You think I am a...creepy guy," KITT Datas. Well, not you, but we've heard rumors about KILM on the set of The Island Of Dr. Moreau, and they aren't super-flattering. Then KITT decides to stir up some shit(t) by asking why Mike really left Sarah, tattling that Sarah says he's immature and selfish. Mike: "She said that?" KITT asks, "Do you have another girlfriend?" then posts a picture of a rainbow flag on his viewscreen before adding, "Are you a homosexual?" I am absolutely paralyzed by the number of "William Daniels as KITT" jokes I could make here, so you'll have to go on ahead without me. For his part, Mike is like, shut up, dude. Then Mike and KITT have a conversation about whether monogamy makes sense (Mike is against), and KITT coughs up some national divorce statistics. Mike: "Yeah. You happy?" Kitt points out that technically he can't be happy. "Me neither," Mike sighs.
The Blackriver team takes a really really long time to land a chopper and disembark from it, after which Anthony Crapp expositions that, if they can get close to KITT, they can hack into it. "Him." Whatever. Pointedly Evil says that, if they find Graiman, the car will come to them.
Mike is frattily eating potato chips, and drops one in the foot well. KITT's like, do you mind, and viewscreens a picture of Iron Eyes Cody. Hee! Mike's like, whatever, man, and it's time to kick off the endless series of Odd Couple arguments that characterize the Knight Rider driver-car relationship. KITT even includes a Bible quote in his Felixing, which Mike characterizes as "intolerable," and then KITT slams the brakes on and whaps Mike and his bag of chips into the window. Mike burbles an apology with his lips mooshed on the glass, but KITT is only changing course; he got new coordinates, plus a phone call from Graiman that he's patching through. As Graiman's photo pops up, Mike and Sarah exchange "sweet, he's alive" looks.
Aaaaaand it's lighten-the-mood time in the car, as Mike uses voice-commands to futz with the seats, then, when KITT says he has to make a stop, busts out the hoary old "you should have gone when we stopped before" chestnut. As is consistently the case, though, Bruening's wise-ass delivery is almost good enough to put the cheap line over. Not the one about KITT running on plutonium, which Olivier couldn't have saved, but in any case the scene is primarily for the purposes of proving KITT's green-a fides -- he runs mostly on solar power and gets 167 miles to the gallon. It does seem, if they already made the plutonium reference, like they could also have had KITT run on household refuse or compost, like at the end of Back To The Future, and it would make a great running gag in the series. With the...banana peels? No?
At the gas station, Sarah goes into the mini-mart while Mike tells KITT that his whole deal is weird -- "like having a creepy guy in the backseat." "You think I am a...creepy guy," KITT Datas. Well, not you, but we've heard rumors about KILM on the set of The Island Of Dr. Moreau, and they aren't super-flattering. Then KITT decides to stir up some shit(t) by asking why Mike really left Sarah, tattling that Sarah says he's immature and selfish. Mike: "She said that?" KITT asks, "Do you have another girlfriend?" then posts a picture of a rainbow flag on his viewscreen before adding, "Are you a homosexual?" I am absolutely paralyzed by the number of "William Daniels as KITT" jokes I could make here, so you'll have to go on ahead without me. For his part, Mike is like, shut up, dude. Then Mike and KITT have a conversation about whether monogamy makes sense (Mike is against), and KITT coughs up some national divorce statistics. Mike: "Yeah. You happy?" Kitt points out that technically he can't be happy. "Me neither," Mike sighs.
The Blackriver team takes a really really long time to land a chopper and disembark from it, after which Anthony Crapp expositions that, if they can get close to KITT, they can hack into it. "Him." Whatever. Pointedly Evil says that, if they find Graiman, the car will come to them.
Mike is frattily eating potato chips, and drops one in the foot well. KITT's like, do you mind, and viewscreens a picture of Iron Eyes Cody. Hee! Mike's like, whatever, man, and it's time to kick off the endless series of Odd Couple arguments that characterize the Knight Rider driver-car relationship. KITT even includes a Bible quote in his Felixing, which Mike characterizes as "intolerable," and then KITT slams the brakes on and whaps Mike and his bag of chips into the window. Mike burbles an apology with his lips mooshed on the glass, but KITT is only changing course; he got new coordinates, plus a phone call from Graiman that he's patching through. As Graiman's photo pops up, Mike and Sarah exchange "sweet, he's alive" looks.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
Commercials. You can win your own KITT, or another Ford of your choice, by going to nbc.com/knight_rider. Won't get 167 miles to the gallon, though. Just FYI.
Graiman tells Sarah and Mike that he escaped through "the passage" and went to Jenny's. Mike isn't thrilled to hear that his mother is involved, or more generally that Graiman fingered him for this mission, but Graiman blows past that to say that KITT is bringing them to the motel, and that Sarah should use KITT's phone to contact Rivai: "Tell her and only her where you are."
Over a filler-y sequence of KITT buzzing along the desert roads at sunrise, we hear Kevin leaving Sarah a message, and then a message from a guy named Brock, who is apparently "kind of" Sarah's boyfriend. Mike makes fun, and then a message plays from Rivai, and Mike tells KITT to call her and viewscreen the motel's address.
Cut to Rivai picking up the call, confirming that Sarah's okay, and -- oops! -- putting her on speaker while Sheriff Ramsey is in the room. The sheriff can send a car to the motel immediately, and Rivai will meet them there within the hour. Rivai heads out; Ramsey stares corruptedly, then calls it in to the Blackriver team. In the front seat of the Ford Evilsplorer, Anthony Crapp reports that they're only 12 miles away from the motel.
At the motel, the teenaged desk clerk is engrossed in a copy of Wheels (heh); Pointedly Evil lowers the magazine with his gun barrel. Clerk: "Uh. Checkin' in?" Hee. It takes approximately a week of misdirection and gun-cocking before the clerk finally reveals that he's not sure exactly which room Graiman is in, as he's rented four of them. Meanwhile, Anthony Crapp has "a lock on" KITT, which is close. "Initiate the program," Pointedly Evil snaps. "This ends now." If only. Pointedly Evil's bloviating alone has cost us 12 minutes so far.
Cue KITT entering the motel parking area. In the front seat, Mike ties up the investor/loan-shark subplot by telling Sarah that Spindly got the money she wired, just before KITT reports that thermal imaging is picking up three heat sources. The viewscreen shows shapes that look like guys with guns, so Mike's like, "They're already here. Stay with KITT, I'll fetch your pops," and takes off. Have to object again to the "girls stay in the car" thing; I know she's not a Ranger, but come on. KITT directs Mike as the Blackriverdances fan out to the various rooms reserved by Graiman. Sarah worries. Smoke lurks. Mike finds the clerk's body. Pointedly Evil lurks. The doorknob in Graiman's room rattles; Jenny trains a pistol on the door. Lurking. Pistol. Lurking. Pistol. Commercials.
Commercials. You can win your own KITT, or another Ford of your choice, by going to nbc.com/knight_rider. Won't get 167 miles to the gallon, though. Just FYI.
Graiman tells Sarah and Mike that he escaped through "the passage" and went to Jenny's. Mike isn't thrilled to hear that his mother is involved, or more generally that Graiman fingered him for this mission, but Graiman blows past that to say that KITT is bringing them to the motel, and that Sarah should use KITT's phone to contact Rivai: "Tell her and only her where you are."
Over a filler-y sequence of KITT buzzing along the desert roads at sunrise, we hear Kevin leaving Sarah a message, and then a message from a guy named Brock, who is apparently "kind of" Sarah's boyfriend. Mike makes fun, and then a message plays from Rivai, and Mike tells KITT to call her and viewscreen the motel's address.
Cut to Rivai picking up the call, confirming that Sarah's okay, and -- oops! -- putting her on speaker while Sheriff Ramsey is in the room. The sheriff can send a car to the motel immediately, and Rivai will meet them there within the hour. Rivai heads out; Ramsey stares corruptedly, then calls it in to the Blackriver team. In the front seat of the Ford Evilsplorer, Anthony Crapp reports that they're only 12 miles away from the motel.
At the motel, the teenaged desk clerk is engrossed in a copy of Wheels (heh); Pointedly Evil lowers the magazine with his gun barrel. Clerk: "Uh. Checkin' in?" Hee. It takes approximately a week of misdirection and gun-cocking before the clerk finally reveals that he's not sure exactly which room Graiman is in, as he's rented four of them. Meanwhile, Anthony Crapp has "a lock on" KITT, which is close. "Initiate the program," Pointedly Evil snaps. "This ends now." If only. Pointedly Evil's bloviating alone has cost us 12 minutes so far.
Cue KITT entering the motel parking area. In the front seat, Mike ties up the investor/loan-shark subplot by telling Sarah that Spindly got the money she wired, just before KITT reports that thermal imaging is picking up three heat sources. The viewscreen shows shapes that look like guys with guns, so Mike's like, "They're already here. Stay with KITT, I'll fetch your pops," and takes off. Have to object again to the "girls stay in the car" thing; I know she's not a Ranger, but come on. KITT directs Mike as the Blackriverdances fan out to the various rooms reserved by Graiman. Sarah worries. Smoke lurks. Mike finds the clerk's body. Pointedly Evil lurks. The doorknob in Graiman's room rattles; Jenny trains a pistol on the door. Lurking. Pistol. Lurking. Pistol. Commercials.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
Lurking. Door slowly opening. Pistol. Lurking. Smoke finds no one in his assigned room, just a phone off the hook. Pistol. Door. Asian Henchman enters a room. Pointedly Evil enters a room. Jenny fires the pistol at last, hitting the fire-safety instructions sign instead of the intruder -- who turns out, of course, to be Mike. The sound attracts Smoke, who heads toward it as, inside the room, Jenny asks if Mike's okay and Graiman asks where Sarah is and Jenny bitches that Graiman "built another one" and blah blah. Mike's like, "another" one? Graiman thinks it's time Mike learned the truth, but before anyone can spit it out, KITT reports that the three "heat sources" are headed their way.
While Anthony Crapp is methodically proceeding through KITT's firewalls, Mike, Graiman, and Jenny are hopping out the window of their room, and Graiman is explaining that, after he finished the first KITT, he got relocated so that nobody would ever know who built it. Over comms, KITT suggests avoiding visual contact; Mike skips "duh"-ing this advice to ask his mother how she fits in. They were relocated there too, she says, when Mike was a baby -- "at [his] father's request." I thought on first viewing that the big reveal would be that Graiman is Mike's father, which means Mike and Sarah are actually siblings, which means ew, but then I remembered that there's a Hasselcameo still to come. The three of them scuttle across the suspiciously deserted motel outbuildings as Mike bitches that his father left them, and Graiman says his father "had obligations he couldn't abandon, even for you." Yeah, somebody had to buy those Members Only jackets. Jenny concurs, and ends the "suspense" by telling Mike that his father's name is Michael Knight, the driver of the first KITT. Jenny and Graiman gaze at him fondly. Mike gazes back all, "You two are freaks." Heh. Then Graiman shrugs, "He'll get over it" (hee), and Mike rounds the corner and runs smack into...
...Rivai, who's got a gun on him. Graiman calls her off, and they all head over to KITT, walking entirely too slowly for a group of people who know armed assassins are nearby. Rivai tells Graiman that his double got killed, and asks how long it would take to break Graiman's encryption codes. He estimates that it "could be hours," and Rivai's talking about getting him somewhere safe and getting the drives back, but Graiman doesn't really listen because he's reuniting with Sarah. Then he greets KITT and asks if he can pinpoint the baddies' location. KITT, using the froggy voice common to all compromised AIs since the HAL 9000 first debuted it in 2001: A Space Odyssey, garbles that he's trying, but he's getting hacked at the moment. KITT's estimate that the baddies will have control of his drives in about 23 seconds sets off...a lot of worried staring. "Fourteen seconds," KITT croaks, like, does someone want to...do something? Besides stand around waiting for Pointedly Evil, in an attempt to create suspense which Pointedly Evil will himself disperse by prating on instead of just killing you all? (...Spoiler.) After an ice age, Graiman orders KITT to shut himself down.
Lurking. Door slowly opening. Pistol. Lurking. Smoke finds no one in his assigned room, just a phone off the hook. Pistol. Door. Asian Henchman enters a room. Pointedly Evil enters a room. Jenny fires the pistol at last, hitting the fire-safety instructions sign instead of the intruder -- who turns out, of course, to be Mike. The sound attracts Smoke, who heads toward it as, inside the room, Jenny asks if Mike's okay and Graiman asks where Sarah is and Jenny bitches that Graiman "built another one" and blah blah. Mike's like, "another" one? Graiman thinks it's time Mike learned the truth, but before anyone can spit it out, KITT reports that the three "heat sources" are headed their way.
While Anthony Crapp is methodically proceeding through KITT's firewalls, Mike, Graiman, and Jenny are hopping out the window of their room, and Graiman is explaining that, after he finished the first KITT, he got relocated so that nobody would ever know who built it. Over comms, KITT suggests avoiding visual contact; Mike skips "duh"-ing this advice to ask his mother how she fits in. They were relocated there too, she says, when Mike was a baby -- "at [his] father's request." I thought on first viewing that the big reveal would be that Graiman is Mike's father, which means Mike and Sarah are actually siblings, which means ew, but then I remembered that there's a Hasselcameo still to come. The three of them scuttle across the suspiciously deserted motel outbuildings as Mike bitches that his father left them, and Graiman says his father "had obligations he couldn't abandon, even for you." Yeah, somebody had to buy those Members Only jackets. Jenny concurs, and ends the "suspense" by telling Mike that his father's name is Michael Knight, the driver of the first KITT. Jenny and Graiman gaze at him fondly. Mike gazes back all, "You two are freaks." Heh. Then Graiman shrugs, "He'll get over it" (hee), and Mike rounds the corner and runs smack into...
...Rivai, who's got a gun on him. Graiman calls her off, and they all head over to KITT, walking entirely too slowly for a group of people who know armed assassins are nearby. Rivai tells Graiman that his double got killed, and asks how long it would take to break Graiman's encryption codes. He estimates that it "could be hours," and Rivai's talking about getting him somewhere safe and getting the drives back, but Graiman doesn't really listen because he's reuniting with Sarah. Then he greets KITT and asks if he can pinpoint the baddies' location. KITT, using the froggy voice common to all compromised AIs since the HAL 9000 first debuted it in 2001: A Space Odyssey, garbles that he's trying, but he's getting hacked at the moment. KITT's estimate that the baddies will have control of his drives in about 23 seconds sets off...a lot of worried staring. "Fourteen seconds," KITT croaks, like, does someone want to...do something? Besides stand around waiting for Pointedly Evil, in an attempt to create suspense which Pointedly Evil will himself disperse by prating on instead of just killing you all? (...Spoiler.) After an ice age, Graiman orders KITT to shut himself down.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
But sure enough, the...whatever word implies even less action than "dithering" has allowed the baddies to catch up and surround the white hats. Pointedly Evil tells them to drop their weapons: "I won't ask a second time." Except that he obviously will, because he's a Talking Killer. Enter Sheriff Ramsey, screen right; Rivai fixes him with a dull "you, sir, are a dickhead" glare and shows her gun before dropping it, but Jenny has another weapon in her waistband, which she reaches for slowly -- so slowly that even Pointedly Evil can get the drop on her, and when he sees her arm moving, he shoots her in the chest. Asian Henchman grabs Graiman as Mike and Rivai rush to Jenny's side. "Guns! Now!" Pointedly Evil barks. "Or the girl dies ." Mike throws Jenny's gun to one side and stares a hole in Pointedly Evil before turning his attention back to Jenny, who's gasping out apologies. Pointedly Evil is prattling on about how KITT is a fine machine, fit for retro-engineering to other needs. Mike reassures Jenny, but before he can tell her he loves her, she dies. Mike looks like he's about to cry, and Bruening is pretty good at the snarky stuff, but the sad stuff...less so. Meanwhile, Pointedly Evil is yet again wasting time telling other characters what they, and the audience, already know -- if he can't get access to Prometheus via Graiman, he'll get it out of KITT. Graiman clichés that he's talking about starting a war, but Pointedly Evil doesn't care: "A little war is always good for business." Okay, Hall I. Burton, we get it, good grief. Pointedly Evil shoves Graiman at the others to get ready for the transport's arrival; orders Sarah toward KITT; and orders Mike and Rivai onto their knees for execution. Of course, he has them walk a short distance away instead of just shooting them both in the back en route, and I swear to God I'm not advocating murdering these people, even though I keep saying stuff like "just kill them already"; really, I'm not, but seriously, we know Mike isn't going to bite it. He's the hero, it's the pilot. That being the case, spare us the belabored execution set-up, because ain't nobody getting executed and we all know it.
Anywaaaaaaaaay! Mike and Rivai kneel. Mike's eyes dart around. Sarah weeps ineffectually. Smoke draws. Asian Henchman draws. Pointedly Evil murmurs to Asian Henchman, "Kill them." I...see? See what I'm saying? They're already kneeling; why are you delegating this job if you actually want them eliminated? Just SHOOT THEM YOURSELF. Jesus H. McGillicuddy. Annoying. So. After Asian Henchman kills them, he's to take the car and the girl and meet up at the rendezvous. Instead of just pulling the trigger and catching a ride to the rendezvous right then, Asian Henchman stares diabolically down his gun sight while hectic violins and a ten-minute close-up on Mike's face send us to commercial.
But sure enough, the...whatever word implies even less action than "dithering" has allowed the baddies to catch up and surround the white hats. Pointedly Evil tells them to drop their weapons: "I won't ask a second time." Except that he obviously will, because he's a Talking Killer. Enter Sheriff Ramsey, screen right; Rivai fixes him with a dull "you, sir, are a dickhead" glare and shows her gun before dropping it, but Jenny has another weapon in her waistband, which she reaches for slowly -- so slowly that even Pointedly Evil can get the drop on her, and when he sees her arm moving, he shoots her in the chest. Asian Henchman grabs Graiman as Mike and Rivai rush to Jenny's side. "Guns! Now!" Pointedly Evil barks. "Or the girl dies ." Mike throws Jenny's gun to one side and stares a hole in Pointedly Evil before turning his attention back to Jenny, who's gasping out apologies. Pointedly Evil is prattling on about how KITT is a fine machine, fit for retro-engineering to other needs. Mike reassures Jenny, but before he can tell her he loves her, she dies. Mike looks like he's about to cry, and Bruening is pretty good at the snarky stuff, but the sad stuff...less so. Meanwhile, Pointedly Evil is yet again wasting time telling other characters what they, and the audience, already know -- if he can't get access to Prometheus via Graiman, he'll get it out of KITT. Graiman clichés that he's talking about starting a war, but Pointedly Evil doesn't care: "A little war is always good for business." Okay, Hall I. Burton, we get it, good grief. Pointedly Evil shoves Graiman at the others to get ready for the transport's arrival; orders Sarah toward KITT; and orders Mike and Rivai onto their knees for execution. Of course, he has them walk a short distance away instead of just shooting them both in the back en route, and I swear to God I'm not advocating murdering these people, even though I keep saying stuff like "just kill them already"; really, I'm not, but seriously, we know Mike isn't going to bite it. He's the hero, it's the pilot. That being the case, spare us the belabored execution set-up, because ain't nobody getting executed and we all know it.
Anywaaaaaaaaay! Mike and Rivai kneel. Mike's eyes dart around. Sarah weeps ineffectually. Smoke draws. Asian Henchman draws. Pointedly Evil murmurs to Asian Henchman, "Kill them." I...see? See what I'm saying? They're already kneeling; why are you delegating this job if you actually want them eliminated? Just SHOOT THEM YOURSELF. Jesus H. McGillicuddy. Annoying. So. After Asian Henchman kills them, he's to take the car and the girl and meet up at the rendezvous. Instead of just pulling the trigger and catching a ride to the rendezvous right then, Asian Henchman stares diabolically down his gun sight while hectic violins and a ten-minute close-up on Mike's face send us to commercial.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
Back from the break and everybody's still alive, allowing Rivai to call the baddies out for "leaving a messy trail," which distracts Smoke so that Mike and Rivai can do a little white-hat-fu and grab the baddies' weapons. Mike is pounding away on Smoke's face with his gun, then points it, fixing to shoot him, but Sarah quavers at him not to, so he settles for knocking Smoke out. Rivai drops her gun and surveys the scene. Doesn't radio for backup, doesn't cuff anyone. Hard to believe the FBI isn't taken seriously in some quarters, eh what? After a shot of Dead Jenny to remind us what the emotional stakes are, Sarah grabs Asian Henchman's machine gun and heads for KITT. Mike tells her to beat it, but she's like, that's my dad, fool. Leaving Rivai crouched uselessly over Dead Jenny, they charge down a dirt road, leaving a telegenic cloud of speed dust in their wake.
Pursuit! Silence in the Evilsplorer as Pointedly Evil drives, Anthony Crapp does something computerish, and Graiman fidgets in the back seat beside Sheriff Ramsey.
KITT. Sarah thanks Mike for "doing this." "I'm not doing it for you."
Evilsplorer. Pointedly Evil spots KITT in the sideview and radios Smoke to see if it's him. No response. Anthony Crapp reports that KITT's computer is still shut down: "It's gotta be the kid driving." Pointedly Evil tells Graiman they'll need the codes right now, and Sheriff Ramsey points a gun at Graiman's jaw.
Mike pulls up alongside the Evilsplorer on the right and rams it from the side.
Ramsey snarls at Graiman to give up the codes. Graiman refuses. Anthony Crapp rolls down the window and machine-guns KITT, but because the computer is off, the exoskeleton can't repair itself, so it's broken windows and bullet holes galore.
Mike and Sarah debate turning the computer back on, which will protect them physically but may offer only ten seconds of cover before Anthony Crapp finishes hacking in.
Ramsey demands the codes again.
Sarah looks down at the machine gun in her lap, then tells Mike to pull around to the other side of the Evilsplorer, which he does. Pointedly Evil alerts Ramsey as Sarah rolls down the window and sprays the Evilsplorer with gunfire. Then Mike rams the Evilsplorer again as Ramsey's trying to get a shot off, and Graiman starts grappling with Ramsey and yelling that he'll give them the codes; Prometheus has a back door with a simple password.
Mike pulls around again on the right-hand side.
Anthony Crapp sends the code.
Back from the break and everybody's still alive, allowing Rivai to call the baddies out for "leaving a messy trail," which distracts Smoke so that Mike and Rivai can do a little white-hat-fu and grab the baddies' weapons. Mike is pounding away on Smoke's face with his gun, then points it, fixing to shoot him, but Sarah quavers at him not to, so he settles for knocking Smoke out. Rivai drops her gun and surveys the scene. Doesn't radio for backup, doesn't cuff anyone. Hard to believe the FBI isn't taken seriously in some quarters, eh what? After a shot of Dead Jenny to remind us what the emotional stakes are, Sarah grabs Asian Henchman's machine gun and heads for KITT. Mike tells her to beat it, but she's like, that's my dad, fool. Leaving Rivai crouched uselessly over Dead Jenny, they charge down a dirt road, leaving a telegenic cloud of speed dust in their wake.
Pursuit! Silence in the Evilsplorer as Pointedly Evil drives, Anthony Crapp does something computerish, and Graiman fidgets in the back seat beside Sheriff Ramsey.
KITT. Sarah thanks Mike for "doing this." "I'm not doing it for you."
Evilsplorer. Pointedly Evil spots KITT in the sideview and radios Smoke to see if it's him. No response. Anthony Crapp reports that KITT's computer is still shut down: "It's gotta be the kid driving." Pointedly Evil tells Graiman they'll need the codes right now, and Sheriff Ramsey points a gun at Graiman's jaw.
Mike pulls up alongside the Evilsplorer on the right and rams it from the side.
Ramsey snarls at Graiman to give up the codes. Graiman refuses. Anthony Crapp rolls down the window and machine-guns KITT, but because the computer is off, the exoskeleton can't repair itself, so it's broken windows and bullet holes galore.
Mike and Sarah debate turning the computer back on, which will protect them physically but may offer only ten seconds of cover before Anthony Crapp finishes hacking in.
Ramsey demands the codes again.
Sarah looks down at the machine gun in her lap, then tells Mike to pull around to the other side of the Evilsplorer, which he does. Pointedly Evil alerts Ramsey as Sarah rolls down the window and sprays the Evilsplorer with gunfire. Then Mike rams the Evilsplorer again as Ramsey's trying to get a shot off, and Graiman starts grappling with Ramsey and yelling that he'll give them the codes; Prometheus has a back door with a simple password.
Mike pulls around again on the right-hand side.
Anthony Crapp sends the code.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
Mike pulls up even with Graiman in the back seat and gives him an urgent stare, which Graiman returns, and Mike tells Sarah to turn on KITT's computer. She argues as Mike stomps on the gas; KITT passes the Evilsplorer and pulls ahead.
Pointedly Evil looks worried: "What's he doing?" Graiman gets a shit-eating look.
Mike tells Sarah to activate KITT, which she reluctantly does with her handprint.
Anthony Crapp reports that it's back online, but blocking his transmission. Pointedly Evil glares at Graiman in the rearview, and Graiman looks back all, "Looks good on you, dumb-ass."
KITT reports that he's back, but that the outside system will gain control in eight seconds. Mike apologizes to KITT in advance. KITT asks what Mike's planning, and if ever there were a time for the patented "But Michael!", this is it. Alas, no joy. Mike hits the brakes and skids to a stop. The Evilsplorer's passengers are all like, "What the -- well, shit," as it slams into KITT, who wrecks up the SUV but doesn't have a scratch on him. (Well, in theory. In practice, it's just a Mustang, and you can see pieces of it flying off in the aerial shot, but whatever. Credit for the initial impact shot, though; that was rad.) The fact that it's the back seat passengers who get the worst of that sort of collision doesn't seem to have occurred to Mike -- or to the writers, because after we pan across the crumpled car parts in the road and KITT checks Mike and Sarah okay, Sarah runs up to the SUV to find her father still alive. So is Pointedly Evil, which allows him to whisper through a mouthful of blood that "this doesn't change anything." Rivai, who's just arrived, frowns, then snags Pointedly Evil's cell and tells a nearby tech to trace all incoming calls. Anthony Crapp, his glasses resting forlorn and broken on the dash, is dead; so is Ramsey. Sarah helps Graiman from the car. Father and child reunion.
Jenny's cabin. Sarah comes upon Mike, looking at a photo of himself with his mom. All dressed up in funeral togs, the two of them discuss the future. Sarah's not going back to Stanford and "Brock the boyfriend" for a while; she's going to hang with Graiman and make sure he's okay. Mike can't stay, he says. A long look is shared between them before they walk out to the limo, in which Graiman and Rivai are already seated. Mike glares at Graiman and asks sarcastically if "this one" talks too. Dude, if they do the "evil/rival roving robot vehicle" plot in the series, they should totally have a talking limo. Or a talking Vespa! Rivai looks at her hands as Graiman says he knows "what today is," but they have things to discuss. Rivai tells him that, via Pointedly Evil's cell phone calls, they tracked the hard drives to just outside Dubai and got them back -- still encrypted. Mike doesn't really care. Graiman adds that the mastermind of the operation is "still at large," but Mike doesn't get any more interested, not even when it's revealed that the FBI knew Graiman had built another KITT, or that Graiman is resurrecting the Foundation, which will work in cooperation with the FBI...or that they want Mike to drive KITT. "This is insane," Mike says, and Graiman retorts, "No. The world is insane. This is the definition of sanity." If by "sanity," you mean "lazy dialogue," then I agree.
Mike pulls up even with Graiman in the back seat and gives him an urgent stare, which Graiman returns, and Mike tells Sarah to turn on KITT's computer. She argues as Mike stomps on the gas; KITT passes the Evilsplorer and pulls ahead.
Pointedly Evil looks worried: "What's he doing?" Graiman gets a shit-eating look.
Mike tells Sarah to activate KITT, which she reluctantly does with her handprint.
Anthony Crapp reports that it's back online, but blocking his transmission. Pointedly Evil glares at Graiman in the rearview, and Graiman looks back all, "Looks good on you, dumb-ass."
KITT reports that he's back, but that the outside system will gain control in eight seconds. Mike apologizes to KITT in advance. KITT asks what Mike's planning, and if ever there were a time for the patented "But Michael!", this is it. Alas, no joy. Mike hits the brakes and skids to a stop. The Evilsplorer's passengers are all like, "What the -- well, shit," as it slams into KITT, who wrecks up the SUV but doesn't have a scratch on him. (Well, in theory. In practice, it's just a Mustang, and you can see pieces of it flying off in the aerial shot, but whatever. Credit for the initial impact shot, though; that was rad.) The fact that it's the back seat passengers who get the worst of that sort of collision doesn't seem to have occurred to Mike -- or to the writers, because after we pan across the crumpled car parts in the road and KITT checks Mike and Sarah okay, Sarah runs up to the SUV to find her father still alive. So is Pointedly Evil, which allows him to whisper through a mouthful of blood that "this doesn't change anything." Rivai, who's just arrived, frowns, then snags Pointedly Evil's cell and tells a nearby tech to trace all incoming calls. Anthony Crapp, his glasses resting forlorn and broken on the dash, is dead; so is Ramsey. Sarah helps Graiman from the car. Father and child reunion.
Jenny's cabin. Sarah comes upon Mike, looking at a photo of himself with his mom. All dressed up in funeral togs, the two of them discuss the future. Sarah's not going back to Stanford and "Brock the boyfriend" for a while; she's going to hang with Graiman and make sure he's okay. Mike can't stay, he says. A long look is shared between them before they walk out to the limo, in which Graiman and Rivai are already seated. Mike glares at Graiman and asks sarcastically if "this one" talks too. Dude, if they do the "evil/rival roving robot vehicle" plot in the series, they should totally have a talking limo. Or a talking Vespa! Rivai looks at her hands as Graiman says he knows "what today is," but they have things to discuss. Rivai tells him that, via Pointedly Evil's cell phone calls, they tracked the hard drives to just outside Dubai and got them back -- still encrypted. Mike doesn't really care. Graiman adds that the mastermind of the operation is "still at large," but Mike doesn't get any more interested, not even when it's revealed that the FBI knew Graiman had built another KITT, or that Graiman is resurrecting the Foundation, which will work in cooperation with the FBI...or that they want Mike to drive KITT. "This is insane," Mike says, and Graiman retorts, "No. The world is insane. This is the definition of sanity." If by "sanity," you mean "lazy dialogue," then I agree.
| Aired on 02.16.2008
Mike continues staring sadly out the window as Rivai explains why they aren't using a federal agent, to wit: plausible deniability. Also, Mike is ex-military, "savvy, smart, with...no family to speak of, no ties." Graiman regrets the timing, but Mike has to decide to "participate, or withdraw" -- like, now. Michael doesn't "believe in the same things you do," so he can't help them, he's sorry. "As am I," Graiman says, and Sarah looks disappointed, but Graiman really doesn't, possibly because he still has a Hasselcard up his sleeve.
Cemetery. Sarah searches Mike's face, but he avoids looking at her. Montage: plinky piano; psalms; Sarah peering at Mike; Mike peering past her at a mysterious black-clad figure standing away from the other guests. A figure whose legs constitute 80 percent of his overall height. Who could it be?!
After the final break, the mourners file out of the cemetery. As the mysterious figure approaches, Sarah gives Mike a slllooooowww kiss on the cheek before leaving. Mike stands, regarding his mother's casket, and Famous Original Michael Knight comes up to him and whips off his sunglasses. Hee. "I'm sorry about your loss," he awkwards, then introduces himself as "Michael. Michael Knight." No shit, dude. Mike barely reacts, so the Hoff pulls a "damn, tough crowd" face -- I guess "pull" isn't quite the right word, given certain surgical procedures that appear to have taken place, but you know what I mean -- and says he's Mike's father. Mike snips that he knows. Knight sighs that he thought he'd wait and say goodbye after everyone else, but he realized he'd said goodbye a long time ago. Instead of pointing out that it's not really about Knight right now, Mike whisper-guilt-trips himself for how he treated his mom: "I blamed her for everything." "When I should have blamed you, Daddy Longlegs," he fails to add. Knight says Jenny did a good job raising Mike. "It couldn't have been easy." Mike says it wasn't, for either of them, and glares at Knight. "She loved you," Knight tells him, "from the very first day." Aw. As much as I love the Hoff, and I love the Hoff a lot, he's not the subtlest with lines like that; this one, he did a nice job with. "So now what?" Mike asks, and Knight, who's been apprised of Graiman's offer, says he can't tell Mike what to do, but back in the day, Wilton Knight told him that one man can make a difference. "I was that man." Knight heaves another sigh and extends his hand. Mike stares at the hand for a moment before shaking it, probably because he asked for advice, not a low-five. The whole scene is weird, Mike not asking any of the questions you'd expect him to, Knight not revealing what you'd expect him to...whatever, so Knight starts to go and Mike stops him to ask if they'll see each other again. Knight says it depends on whether he gets a furlough from rehab, but it comes out sounding like "I hope so."
Mike continues staring sadly out the window as Rivai explains why they aren't using a federal agent, to wit: plausible deniability. Also, Mike is ex-military, "savvy, smart, with...no family to speak of, no ties." Graiman regrets the timing, but Mike has to decide to "participate, or withdraw" -- like, now. Michael doesn't "believe in the same things you do," so he can't help them, he's sorry. "As am I," Graiman says, and Sarah looks disappointed, but Graiman really doesn't, possibly because he still has a Hasselcard up his sleeve.
Cemetery. Sarah searches Mike's face, but he avoids looking at her. Montage: plinky piano; psalms; Sarah peering at Mike; Mike peering past her at a mysterious black-clad figure standing away from the other guests. A figure whose legs constitute 80 percent of his overall height. Who could it be?!
After the final break, the mourners file out of the cemetery. As the mysterious figure approaches, Sarah gives Mike a slllooooowww kiss on the cheek before leaving. Mike stands, regarding his mother's casket, and Famous Original Michael Knight comes up to him and whips off his sunglasses. Hee. "I'm sorry about your loss," he awkwards, then introduces himself as "Michael. Michael Knight." No shit, dude. Mike barely reacts, so the Hoff pulls a "damn, tough crowd" face -- I guess "pull" isn't quite the right word, given certain surgical procedures that appear to have taken place, but you know what I mean -- and says he's Mike's father. Mike snips that he knows. Knight sighs that he thought he'd wait and say goodbye after everyone else, but he realized he'd said goodbye a long time ago. Instead of pointing out that it's not really about Knight right now, Mike whisper-guilt-trips himself for how he treated his mom: "I blamed her for everything." "When I should have blamed you, Daddy Longlegs," he fails to add. Knight says Jenny did a good job raising Mike. "It couldn't have been easy." Mike says it wasn't, for either of them, and glares at Knight. "She loved you," Knight tells him, "from the very first day." Aw. As much as I love the Hoff, and I love the Hoff a lot, he's not the subtlest with lines like that; this one, he did a nice job with. "So now what?" Mike asks, and Knight, who's been apprised of Graiman's offer, says he can't tell Mike what to do, but back in the day, Wilton Knight told him that one man can make a difference. "I was that man." Knight heaves another sigh and extends his hand. Mike stares at the hand for a moment before shaking it, probably because he asked for advice, not a low-five. The whole scene is weird, Mike not asking any of the questions you'd expect him to, Knight not revealing what you'd expect him to...whatever, so Knight starts to go and Mike stops him to ask if they'll see each other again. Knight says it depends on whether he gets a furlough from rehab, but it comes out sounding like "I hope so."
| Aired on 02.16.2008
Mike finds Sarah waiting at the limo. After a long silence, he admits to what really happened that summer: he realized they were from different worlds. I'm sorry; is this a thing men actually say? Because I have never heard, or heard of, a real-life guy using that rationale for dusting a relationship, not even if he's bullshitting -- only in scripted dramas. Sarah points out that that may be, well, there the two of them are. He just looks at her.
Cut to Rivai delivering a brief on an American diplomat; the contents aren't really important. What's important is that Mike is in KITT's driver's seat, attended by Sarah, Graiman, and Spindly -- and that KITT is apparently in the mobile-command truck. Awesome. There's the customary "joking" about Mike not crashing KITT, to which KITT KITTishly responds, "That hardly sounds reassuring." Oh, KITT. Shut(t) up. Sarah leans in, ostensibly to tell Mike about recalibrating something or other, but it's actually so we can finally see them kiss. Mike starts the engine, the rear door of the mobile command opens, and Mike and KITT exchange some banter about Mike's driving becoming a habit, and Mike backs KITT out. KITT's exoskeleton morphs back to black as he drops onto the ground, not behind a tractor trailer, but behind A PLANE. AWESOME.
Not a bad outing overall -- way too slow, needed more Hoff, but Bruening's likeable and funny, so we'll see what happens series-wise. To the man. Who does not exist.
Mike finds Sarah waiting at the limo. After a long silence, he admits to what really happened that summer: he realized they were from different worlds. I'm sorry; is this a thing men actually say? Because I have never heard, or heard of, a real-life guy using that rationale for dusting a relationship, not even if he's bullshitting -- only in scripted dramas. Sarah points out that that may be, well, there the two of them are. He just looks at her.
Cut to Rivai delivering a brief on an American diplomat; the contents aren't really important. What's important is that Mike is in KITT's driver's seat, attended by Sarah, Graiman, and Spindly -- and that KITT is apparently in the mobile-command truck. Awesome. There's the customary "joking" about Mike not crashing KITT, to which KITT KITTishly responds, "That hardly sounds reassuring." Oh, KITT. Shut(t) up. Sarah leans in, ostensibly to tell Mike about recalibrating something or other, but it's actually so we can finally see them kiss. Mike starts the engine, the rear door of the mobile command opens, and Mike and KITT exchange some banter about Mike's driving becoming a habit, and Mike backs KITT out. KITT's exoskeleton morphs back to black as he drops onto the ground, not behind a tractor trailer, but behind A PLANE. AWESOME.
Not a bad outing overall -- way too slow, needed more Hoff, but Bruening's likeable and funny, so we'll see what happens series-wise. To the man. Who does not exist.