BJ AND THE BEAR S3 E12: Who is BJ?

Originally aired on April 25, 1981
Directed by Peter Crane
Written by Michael Sloan

During a storm, BJ crashes his rig in the middle of nowhere. He passes out in the dark, in the rain, with a very worried Bear nearby. The next morning, a Carny Girl named Gypsy finds BJ's body at the Port Of Call in Los Angeles. He has a nasty head wound. He is wrapped in fishing net and he has been crammed in among a bunch of junk. And, he has lost his memory. Plus, an oil heiress named Sarah MacKenzie has been kidnapped. Plus, Grant has some drug-related chicanery going on with Gypsy's boss, Jonah. And, the seven lady truckers are trying desperately to find BJ. And, there's a lot of stuff going on in this episode.

 This looks normal to me.

Michael Sloan continues to bring The Good back to the show again. I really enjoyed this episode. The mystery behind what happened to BJ is a pretty sharp one. On a second viewing, it seemed fairly obvious but the first time through it had me wondering. There is a LOT happening here and I actually forgot to mention that two guys are trying to kill BJ throughout. It has something to do with the space in time between BJ passing out after the accident and being found by the ocean. The goons are presented in a sort of competent/ incompetent way. They look like they should be good at what they do but they put Their Goof on a lot. (Check out the bumper car fight where the BJ theme is incorporated into the fight music.)

Goons!

It's nice to have an episode that brings in most of the seven lady truckers in a decent manner. (The twins are nowhere to be seen.) It really seems like they decided that Stacks and Callie would be the main ones but it's nice to see the DJ gal being utilized. (Is that Angie? I think it is. At this point, does it matter if I remember the others?) There are some nice scenes of them on the Santa Monica Pier trying to find BJ. A scene where several of them go to Grant demanding he tell them what he's done with BJ. (I like Grant's reply that he doesn't actually spend all his days trying to nab BJ.) And, a great scene where they find BJ and he doesn't know them. Good stuff. It shows that, yes, this premise for the show could have amounted to something.

I don't dislike this shot.

It is Angie!

Grant has some interesting stuff here. He is mixed in with Gypsy's boss (uncle?) Joshua. They are distributing drugs. Grant is really nasty in this episode. When Steiger mentions the missing heiress, Grant says "that girl's probably already dead." SCAT is kind of a gross place. Does it actually accomplish something? There's some nice plotting here where Grant meets the amnesiac BJ and gets him involved in a shipment of drugs being sent out. He plans on nabbing a sick BJ for drug running. How can BJ escape? (SPOILER: He does.)

Grant...  He's evil but he makes great coffee.

The episode, at first viewing, is a typical, entertaining episode of early 1980s television. It has a fast pace. It does some interesting things in its plot and its fun. It gives us everything we need from a show like this. But, on a second viewing, I noticed two things that, I don't think, are negatives. But, they're slightly weird. That is: 1) the way the story is told and 2) Gypsy.

This scene was a bit of a heartbreaker

You read that I got lost in the plotting of this. There is A LOT happening here. In fact, possibly too much. The kidnapping plot is almost shoehorned in. The first time I watched it it was sort of in the background and I didn't realize it was going to amount to anything. I should have known better. The bit about Amnesiac BJ was taking all my attention.* Plus, there were goons. And Grant. And the Gals. It was all a bit much. The drawback of all this incident is that the amnesia storyline never quite develops. It's just a plot point in an episode. It's a way to delay BJ saving the day. It's interesting certainly and it's nice when BJ returns to us. However, I felt like it may have had more weight if it had had more time to put BJ into this new world. The carny life we see on the Santa Monica Pier isn't really developed at all. Maybe this should have been a 90 minute episode?

Hello! I am One Crazy Broad.

Then, there's Gypsy. She's a Carny Gal. No parents. Working at the Santa Monica Pier. But, she also seems kind of...  touched. Watch her first scene. She sees BJ wrapped in a net and crammed in amongst a bunch of junk. His eyes are closed. She says, "Hey, are you OK?" Then, she touches his head wound. Really? Then, it takes her forever to suggest they go to a hospital. Then, she lies about knowing him to the gals. She does all this, it seems, to keep BJ in her life. I think the implication is that she's lonely and having BJ there is nice. But, isn't this weird? Watch her in this episode. She seems completely disconnected from reality. Is this a Carny Girl thing? And then, in the end, she says maybe she should have never helped BJ because then she wouldn't be so sad about losing him when his memory came back. I don't understand this character at all. She seems completely screwball to me. Maybe that's her charm.

Chill out with some fighting fun

In the end, though, this is a quick, fun, well-mounted episode. It's weird story moments are balanced out by giving BJ amnesia. Bear doesn't do much. No one else apart from BJ and Gypsy and Grant actually do much. But, the show is still working. Unfortunately, check the air date. There's about a month in between this episode and the last one. That doesn't bode well. And, sadly, we only have two more episodes. But, I believe we will go out on a high.

Hooray for the gals!

P.S.: Did they ever call BJ the "Milwaukee Kid?" Or did they make that up for this episode?

"I know him. Wasn't he on 'Battle of the Network Stars'?"

*Having said that, I don't know that "Amnesiac" is the right word. He remembers things fairly quickly. It just takes him some time to get to the moment when he remembers himself. That's during a lovely scene on the bumper cars where he sees Bear and beats up the goons. Loved that scene.