Plot in a Nutshell: Someone has a ridiculous plan to sell a nuclear weapon he doesn't have for less money than he's offered for it.
Story Summary: Four mysterious men...
or 3 mysterious men and Jabba the Hutt...
...are participating in an auction on board an airplane. They each can make only a single bid on the item for sale, and they must take turns according to the numbers they pick out of a vase.
Naturally, the 4th bidder wins as he knows everyone else's bid. In a fit of rage, the 3rd bidder offers millions more for the item, but is rebuffed. Angered, and spotting an opportunity to cash in, he appears at Oscar Goldman's office the next day and offers information on the auction in return for whatever he wants. And what was for sale? A tactical nuclear weapon. Oscar agrees to his demand.
"Gosh, how can I say no to that face?"
At a meeting the next day, they come to the conclusion that the seller may not yet have a bomb. However, the most difficult to obtain part of a nuclear bomb, the whatchamacallit, has just left a factory on it's way to somewhere. Steve and Oscar leave the meeting and head to the factory, where they are taken to a room where the whatchamacallits are kept.
"We keep each whatchamacallit individually in a dark room of indeterminate size, placed in the center of a freshly-polished living room table, and lit with a carefully-placed spotlight from directly above."
Oscar moves to have the truck stopped and the whatchamacallit returned under heavy guard.
Oh, wait. Steve, seeing an opportunity to make the episode last longer than 10 minutes, suggests they substitute him as the driver of the truck so they can catch the bad guys. But what if the bad guys actually get the whatchamacallit? Well, all Steve has to do is remove the thingamajig to deactivate it. Why, it's a piece of cake.
Steve takes over the driving of the truck, and after traveling for a short time, pulls over so he can remove the thingamajig from the whatchamacallit. Does he toss the thingamajig away? Crush it with his bionic hand? Swallow it? No, he sticks it in the breast pocket of his shirt.
Meanwhile, Dr. Broder, apparently the only person who knows how to add the whatchamacallit to the bomb, is kidnapped by the villain.
Later, Steve is hijacked at a rest stop, has drugs pumped into his bionic arm, and is tossed, feigning unconsciousness, into the back of a car.
Once the truck is on the road, Steve jumps out of the car and chases it down on foot.
Awesome-sauce!
He jumps on the truck and climbs into the back with the whatchamacallit.
When the truck arrives at the airport, Steve jumps out and enters the hanger bay. He rescues Dr. Broder and they get about 3o feet before he and she are both nabbed by the villain. The villain loads them on his plane with the bomb and off they go, just as Oscar and General Wiley arrive.
"Quick, follow that plane!"
On the plane, the villain discovers that the thingamajig has been removed from the whatchamacallit, and manages to find it even though Steve hid it so carefully in his shirt pocket. The bomb is now activated.
The General threatens to shoot down the plane. The villain threatens to set off the bomb if the General doesn't tell his fighter planes to back off. It's a nuclear mexican standoff.
Steve escapes his bonds and kicks out the door of the plane, sending the villain to his doom.
"But my plan was so perfect! I don't understand how it failed!"
Steve then deactivates the bomb by tearing its wiring apart.
Bonus Video: Oscar Does "The Move" TWICE!
The End.
How Did You Do That Quote:
Dr. Clea Broder: "Oh, Steve. The things you did on the plane, and even before that. The way you knocked down that door. How do you do it?"
Dr. Clea Broder: "Really."
Oscar: "Dr. Broder, he fascinates a lot of women with those tricks. I, well, I have to rely on my native charm."
Dr. Clea Broder: "Come on, I can keep a secret."
Move your mouse over Steve to see his answer.
Overall Grade:
Final Thoughts: This should have been the shortest episode ever. Not only that, but Steve is the reason the bad guy ends up with a working nuke in the first place. The bad guy's plan was faulty from the moment he held his poorly-thought-out auction to the minute he flew backwards out the airplane door. His auction plan netted him less money than he could have made, and in the process he pissed off one of his clients, resulting in the client ratting him out. Then he had someone with enough knowledge to build a nuclear weapon working for him, but still needed to kidnap someone else to bolt the final piece on for him. And he wouldn't have made it past the selling-it-to-the-not-highest-bidder phase if not for Steve's brillant plan to let him have the whatchamacallit with the thingamajig.
And yet I love it. I don't know why. I can't explain it. But I love it. I suspect those of you taking the time to read this understand what I mean.
So, four Steves for the second season opener. A fun and amusing episode.
Steve makes one hell of a trucker. If I were him I would of had a slice of strawberry pie before I left the diner. It was stupid though that Steve didn't distroy that button instead of putting it in his pocket.
Comments
I love being on the road with Steve
Steve makes one hell of a trucker. If I were him I would of had a slice of strawberry pie before I left the diner. It was stupid though that Steve didn't distroy that button instead of putting it in his pocket.
Still finding the way
In some ways I felt that in this episode the series was still finding it's direction.
videoking