BJ And The Bear S3 E4: Intercepted Pass

Originally aired on February 3, 1981
Directed by Georg Fenady
Written by Rogers Turrentine

Callie, Sam(antha), BJ and Bear are heading to some sort of carnival of  to drop of 3 tons of popcorn. BJ sends the gals to the Post Office to get a $200 money order and mail it to his business partner. Through much chicanery, they lose the money and wind up with a briefcase filled with blackmail photos. That relates, through much convolution, to a blackmailing racket run by a guy named Kenton (who has a dating service) and Grant's right hand man, Steiger. BJ and the gals come up with a plan to take them down! But wait! Isn't that Marland Proctor, star of .357 Magnum and Curse of the Headless Horseman? What's he up to? And why are he and his friend tapping Kenton's phone?

Hi, I'm a douche.

I stand corrected: Grant does NOT appear in this episode. We learn that Steiger has just as many shady things going on as Grant does. This SCAT team is the worst.

I'm Marland Proctor. And, yes, the SCAT team IS the worst.

 

Things aren't quite as overcomplicated as they were in the two previous episodes. It's presented more of a mystery and less of a "What the heck is going on and why are we here now?" kind of thing. In fact, the gals point out to BJ that he loves a mystery. I don't see how he can disagree. They actually have a long scene (with 6 of the 7 gals) trying to interpret the facts and materials they have. It's a pretty good scene. It is shot in the foot somewhat by the fact that we already know pretty much everything that's going on. There's no mystery for us. Just for them. It's an odd way to tell the story.

 Whose what where?

After the cluster of the previous three episodes with all the new characters, this one focuses on Callie and Samantha. Callie = Annoying. Samantha = Gambling Gal. They spend most of the first half of the episode with BJ. Then, three of the other five gals get something (more or less) substantial to do. Stacks goes to a nudie photographer to find out how he relates to Kenton. Angie helps them get a telephone number from the phone company. Cindy drops in on the dating service to blackmail the blackmailing Kenton. Teri and Geri are there but don't do much. They look cute in their Roman outfits though.

I would like to be right there

So, they, finally, more or less, figured out how to use all the extra characters. Do it Virginian-style. Have some of them featured up front. Have some of them make brief but important contributions. And leave some of them for next time. The one tricky thing with their choice of gals in this one is that Callie is really annoying. And Samantha might be even worse. Sam is a liar and likes cheating folks. At one moment, she opens up to BJ and tells him about her childhood. It's a nice moment and it's a lie. The show took a couple of minutes to let the closed-off, gambling character open up to us but she was lying, which completely proves what we knew of her character and adds nothing. Hmm, I guess that's interesting?

 Stacks In Danger!

 It's nice work if you can get it

"How'd we wind up on the roof?"

(Yes, that is Bear over on the right.)

I liked this episode most of the first four. The second half of it is far above anything we've seen so far this season. From the point where they begin to piece everything together (with the other gals) to the very end is pretty good BJ and the Bear. Not fantastic BJ and the Bear. But, possibly, the best we're going to get this season. It moves fast. It's exciting. It resolves the story nicely. It has some charm. And, it's only slightly dumb. Unfortunately, the first half is the exact opposite of that.

Surprise, we're hiding in a train!

or

BJ And The Bear in "We're No Hoboes"

All that plot that I skipped in the opening paragraph makes up the first half and, boy, is it dumb! Slap your forehead dumb. Shake your head at the screen dumb. Want to fast forward ahead dumb. BJ is going to send the money to their partner. The gals insist they can do it. The post office is closed. So, somehow, they end up playing a crooked card game and losing BJ's money. (Sam's idea.) This leads to Sam stealing a woman's purse who they saw near the game. That leads to a fight. That leads them to the airport with a key where they find the briefcase...  I know they have to get the briefcase and that this is how they chose to write it. But, Sam is so dumb here. And Callie isn't much better. And BJ doesn't seem to get nearly as mad here as he did at Dolly in the last episode. And Dolly was being blackmailed with her own child! Sam deliberately went out and gambled with his money! What?! Mix that in with a scene where Kenton slaps the woman who lost the purse (which is a moment that a breezy show like this cannot sustain) and you get an episode I almost turned off. Then Stacks appeared...  and everything became all right again.

Three Moments from

"The Worst Plan Ever"

In the end, this is a great half an episode, which, for this season, is pretty darn good. I don't mind the "Feature one or two gals but give the others stuff to do" set-up. I can deal with that. And, it was nice to get a break from Grant. I'm not sure exactly how to rate an episode that starts so bad but ends OK. If you can wade through the opening, things get better. I'm hoping that's the way the rest of this season will go.

Bear even got something to do!

Well, he drank a beer (and stole an appointment book)

One weird thing: The woman who gets slapped is Laura. She features tangentially in the episode. I don't remember her meeting BJ. But, in the end, she goes to his office, retrieves a photo and gushes about how much he helped her and kisses him. Now, there is a chance that I am missing a few minutes of this episode. But, where did that come from? I know they have to give BJ someone he can smooch with in the episodes and it can't be his employees. But this almost seems like someone said "Hey, BJ didn't smooch anyone! Oh wait. We'll have him smooch Laura." "Do they even meet in the episode?" "We'll pretend like they did and no one will notice." Apparently, no one did.

"Sorry, Laura. We forgot you in all the mad rush of the episode.

You can kiss Greg, though."

"I'm in!"