The A-Team is ready for action in this week’s dual episodes!

First up is A Small and Deadly War, which was written by Frank Lupo and aired 15 February, 1983. The team is approached by a police officer, Ed Maloney (Norman Alden) after he doesn’t know where to turn, and his family is under threat.

It seems that members of a SWAT team, led by Captain Stark (Jack Ging) have been working as hitmen, and Maloney wants to put a stop them.

Hannibal (George Peppard) who gets to disguise himself as an Irish boxer this time, likes the challenge of taking on someone with similar training and takes the job. He has Face (Dirk Benedict) break Murdock (Dwight Schultz) out of the V.A. hospital (again) – this time under the guise of tuberculosis, and with B.A. (Mr. T) and Amy’s (Melinda Culea) help they bug, and hunt the SWAT team (of which Dean Stockwell is a member), and begin rattling their cages.

Hannibal gives the SWAT team an opportunity to do the right thing and turn themselves in, which of course, they don’t… And then they think they turn the tables on the Team, leading to a final confrontation.

But, as always, Hannibal has a plan.

And although Lynch (William Lucking) doesn’t appear in the episode, he seems to keep missing the commando unit. As the episode ends, the boys make a run for it once again, pursued by Lynch’s forces, racing off into the dark, and into the next adventure…

Black Day at Bad Rock was written by Patrick Hasburgh, and aired on 22 February, 1983. The episode opens with the Team on the run, it seems B.A. has been wounded, something he blames Face for, and they race into the small town of Bad Rock looking for help from a local doctor, Maggie Sullivan (Tricia O’Neil).

Hannibal contacts Amy, asking her to get Murdock, who is talking in rhymes in this episode, out of the hospital so that he can provide the blood for a much-needed transfusion for B.A. In the interim, Maggie has her suspicions about the trio, and calls the local sheriff, Hank Thompson (Ed Lauter), who arrives, arrests them, and puts out the alert to the MPs (who seem to be taking the scenic route in getting to Bad Rock).

In jail, Face and Hannibal learn that Thompson has arrested the head of a biker gang, Sonny (Sid Haig), who is warning them that his boys are coming, and will raze the town to the ground. Not one to be kept in prison, the two promptly escape, team up with B.A., Murdock and Amy, and after the transfusion, leave town.

But when they come across the biker gang on their way to Bad Rock, they decide to turn around, and help the town out, even with the approach of the MPs. This time around, they don’t really make or improvise a weapon, so much as running a shell game on the bikers, outwitting and eluding them.

Lots of fun, and the humor between Hannibal and Face is a lot of fun to watch!

More next time!