#freddryer

Who’s That Guest Star?  Jeanna Michaels (Dallas, Santa Barbara); Robert Ridgely (tons of voice and TV work); Gela Nash (also in the Hunter ep “War Zone” as a completely different hooker); Dana Lee (both TV & movie work including Rambo: First Blood Part II); Ji-Tu Cumbuka (mostly TV work); Nick Angotti (mostly episodic TV); Susan Peretz (mostly TV); Michele Tobin (child actress in stuff like Yours, Mine & Ours; this is her last credit on IMDb); Arnold F. Turner (he’s in four Hunter eps; mostly TV stuff).   Hunter mainstays Charles Hallahan as Devane, Garrett Morris as Sporty James, and John Shearin as Finn, and series stars Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer as Rick Hunter and Dee Dee McCall.

Jeanna Michaels as Laura Decker

Robert Ridgely as Big Jack Hemmings

Gela Nash as Vicki Lake... she's married to Duran Duran's John Taylor, and she co-founded Juicy Couture, so even though her acting career never took off, she's doing okay for herself.

Dana Lee as Dr. Lee

Ji-Tu Cumbuka as Homer

Nick Angotti (right) as Adler

Michele Tobin as Hooker

Arnold F. Turner as Detective ("Nick" Nicholson seems to be his name.)

Charles Hallahan as Devane

Garrett Morris as Sporty James

John Shearin as Finn

Where Can I Fast-Forward Through a Car Chase?  From 20:52, Hunter drives around listening to people on CB radios until he finally hears about the hookers-in-a-camper he’s looking for. If you don’t want to listen to truckers and watch Hunter drive, you can skip to 22:50.

OMG so boring.

A real car chase from 44:48-47:02. Just watch the end and you’ll get the idea.

I'm not sure if you can feel my boredom through the internet, but trust me, car chases make me yaaaawn.

Does Anyone Have Sex, and Does Their Partner Live Through The Episode?  Nope. McCall’s in traction and Hunter’s too busy.

Hunter does not have sex with this hooker.

No sex for McCall, who can't move her head let alone the rest of her.

What Are They Wearing?  McCall: 1. Pink blouse, pink slacks, pink pumps, pink purse, black blazer.

2. For the rest of the episode she’s in a pink hospital gown and halo traction device.

Hunter:  Button-down shirts, slacks/jeans, ties, sports coats.

Also, white long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans.

Wow, This Is Old School:  Gas costs less than a dollar a gallon at 23:17.

What’s For Lunch? At 21:05 Hunter’s eating blue corn chips.

At 21:50 he does NOT eat a sandwich because it looks too sad.

He drinks something out of a thermos at 22:15.

At 32:12, he has some gum. (He also put a piece of gum in his mouth in the first scene in Devane's office.)

Where In L.A.? McCall's house is still the one which is really at 13216 Bloomfield Street in Studio City.

At 32:20, Hunter’s sitting in his car on Orange Street just south of Hollywood Blvd. He turns right onto Hollywood and you see Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

Hunter follows the secretary into the building at 7046 Hollywood blvd (at Sycamore), and they use both the exterior and interior of the building:

Hunter is driving south (I think) on Interstate 5, and we see the exit for Rye Canyon Road in Valencia. There is no longer an exit for that road. He is going the wrong way if he's really heading for Palmdale.

Trivia: Rye Canyon Road is the street Paul Walker was driving on when he died. :-(

At 44:36, Hunter is supposed to be on his way to San Diego but he's really driving on Vanowen at Hayvenhurst in Van Nuys. 

At 45:23 the chase is on, at the intersection of Louise and Vanowen in Van Nuys:

It’s an X-File:  Dana Lee was in the X-Files episode “Alpha.”

Who Does Hunter Shoot, and Do They Die?  He doesn’t shoot anyone. Neither does McCall because she can’t even hold a gun.

Any Scenes Worth Watching? At 31:22-32:01, Hunter wraps up an old shoe in a box, then visits McCall and explains to the audience why he did that.

Is There Banter?  Not really banter but cute, at 04:07-05:17 when Devane gives them a case, and Hunter offers to let McCall go on her lunch date instead, saying he’ll handle the murder in Palmdale.

McCall is thankful.

At 06:45, when McCall says she’s going to talk to some working girls --  Hunter: Want me to go with you and hold them while you interrogate them? McCall: What are you, lonely?

WTF?: Does McCall really still not know that her house is the most dangerous place in L.A.? She takes yet another witness there to “protect” her -- those are totally air quotes -- and of course the witness ends up dead and McCall barely survives. McCall, listen to me: This house is not a place where people are safe. You’re not safe, your guests aren’t safe, your fish aren't safe. Don’t get anyone else killed, okay?? (I’m shouting into the wind, as you will find out in later recaps when even more people end up dead just because McCall invited them in.)

Seriously, never enter McCall's house if you want to come out of it alive.

Oops: Around 3:41 there is a moving boom shadow in the top right corner of the screen (and the top left, too, actually; there's a reflection in the glass of the door.)

Bonus: The script (Part 1 only) at Wonderful World of Hunter: HERE.

Bonus Screencaps:

The episode opens on a wacky commercial by a guy who sells RVs.

BIG JACK'S CAMPERLAND!

OMG how meta. The commercial ends with Big Jack watching himself in front of an RV on the TV inside an RV.

Meanwhile, it's nighttime on a freeway.

This Rolls Royce goes by...

And this girl is thrown out of the car.

This does not look at all good.

McCall's very interested in the boundary between Palmdale and L.A., saying that this dead body might not be their responsibility. (We will pretend that Palmdale isn't in Los Angeles County, which it is. Maybe the 122nd Precinct really is so far-reaching that it goes all the way up to Palmdale and stops there? I doubt it would be that large; surely some other precinct would grab the case of a dead body way out in Palmdale, which is over an hour's drive with no traffic.)

Hunter says she's got a point. It all depends what side of the road the body's lying on.

McCall's wondering, why today of all days?

Charlie calls his buddy up in Palmdale to ask which side of the road the d.b. is.

"Well, McCall, unless you want to drag that body to the other side of the road, she's all yours."

McCall sighs. "Great."

"What's the matter with her?"

"Today's her birthday, Charlie, and you screwed it up."

And then Charlie does a jig. (Okay, not really. But it looks like it, no?)

McCall's pissy 'cause she had a lunch date. Hunter, as usual, is in the act of putting on his jacket.

Hunter asks if it's 'another jerk attorney.' McCall: "What do you mean, 'another jerk attorney?' Just because I date one attorney... those are the only guys I date?" She says this guy happens to be a doctor, who is successful and busy, which means they don't get a lot of time together.

Hunter says he'll take this one and she can stay with her doctor.

"Really? You'd cover?"

"Sure," he says.

This is the cutest. The very cutest!

Off Hunter goes to the crime scene.

Barney says there's no ID on her but they're checking her prints. "Judging from the marks on the ground, looks like she rolled about 60 feet."

Hunter says it looks like she hit the ground going 90 mph.

Barney says she was already dead, though, shot in the head.

Moondoggie!

Hunter says the dead woman's name was Anita Fargo, alias Maria Fuego, first arrested in 1985 for prostitution when she was 19.

Then she was picked up again, this time as 'Darlene Darling.'

(Okay, if she was 19 in 1985 she's now 21. This woman in these photos is clearly 30 at the youngest. Yeah, being a hooker can age someone, but that much??)

"And then again as Betty Blade."

That's the last they have on her, but she was picked up with two other girls, Susan Dumont, alias Suzie Q, and Mary Lakowski, alias Vicki Lake. McCall says they were picked up at Macarthur Park so she'll go there and talk to the working girls.

"Want me to go with you and hold them while you interrogate them?"

"What are you, lonely?"

"No, you stay here and talk to Sporty."

So Hunter calls Sporty.

Oh good, Kirby's back! (Last time, someone else answered Sporty's payphone and I missed Kirby.)

Goodness. Some continuity! When Sporty says he's studying the new tax laws, Hunter asks if he's trying to lay off some of Bogota's million (from the episode "Love, Hate & Sporty James").

Hunter says he needs info on a hooker named Anita Fargo.

Hahahaaaa, Kirby's face.

Sporty says he's seen her around...

Hunter says she's dead, and he needs info on her friends, Suzie Q and Vicki Lake.

Sporty says he'll see what he can do.

Kirby answers the payphone as usual: "Sporty James Enterprises."

Sporty's shocked when it turns out this call's for Hunter.

It's McCall, who says she's found Suzie Q. McCall says Suzie and Anita Fargo were working for a guy who runs RVs from here to San Francisco, servicing truckers and traveling salesmen.

"You've gotta be kidding."

Suzie wants to talk but is scared... McCall asks Hunter to meet them at McCall's house at 7:30. 

He agrees, and says "ta ta" to Sporty.

"'Ta ta?'"

McCall arrives home with Suzie Q.

McCall is immediately shot in the back by a gun with a silencer.

And then Suzie's shot too.

The gunman turns out the light before leaving.

Hunter arrives at McCall's.

When there's no answer and the house is dark, he realizes the front door is unlocked, and he becomes alarmed.

Checking for a pulse, he realizes McCall's still alive. but barely.

"Officer down, send an ambulance Code 3..." (Code 3 means it's an emergency.)

Hunter follows.

The nurse tells Hunter he'll have to wait outside.

He hears some more commotion...

It's Suzie, who's also in bad shape.

Well of course it's Wilshire Memorial. It's the only hospital in the city.

Hunter's still waiting.

They bring someone out, obviously dead because she's completely covered by a sheet.

Hunter has to see if it's McCall.

The dead woman is Suzie Q, not McCall. Whew. Unless you're Suzie, in which case, not so much.

Devane and Finn have arrived at the hospital so that they, too, can worry in person.

"They just rolled Susan Dumont out; she's dead." (That's Suzie Q's real name.)

Dr. Lee introduces himself, and says Sgt. McCall is in the ICU in critical condition.

Finn asks about McCall's chances.

"She has a bullet lodged between the 3rd and 4th vertebrae ... she's paralyzed from the neck down."

He says it might be temporary, or the bullet might have caused permanent damage.

Hunter asks, "Can't you operate?"

The doctor says they won't know until the swelling goes down, and that might be a week.

Devane asks if they can talk to her tonight - they want to know if she saw who shot her.

Nope, she's in no condition. He'll let them know when they can talk to her.

She could still be in danger, Hunter says. He wants to post someone outside her room.

Dr. Lee will tell hospital administration.

As Hunter leaves, Charlie says if Hunter needs anything to let him know.

Sporty!

Sporty heard what happened and wants to know if McCall's okay.

Hunter says no; she's in the ICU. Sporty is sad.

Down in the hospital cafeteria, Sporty is telling a story about a guy coming to town a year ago and shaking down some of the best girls...

None of the pimps took him seriously until they realized, a few weeks later, that a couple of dozen of "the choicest girls" had disappeared.

Honestly, I try to use some restraint because every screencap of Garrett Morris' face is awesome and I just can't use them all or they'd have to change the show's name to "Sporty!"

Hunter thanks Sporty for the info...

..and says he's going to go look for Vicki Lake.

Sporty says that a guy owes him a favor... and if anyone knows where Vicki Lake is, Homer does.

Hunter's going to pay Homer a visit.

That's Homer on the right, and Pearlie on the left. You might remember them from episode 2.15, "Scrap Metal."

Hunter says he's looking for someone Homer might know ... Vicki Lake.

"And you expect me to help you find her?"

Hunter explains that someone's killed two of her friends and Vicki might be next.

"And you're not looking to bust her. Just want to help her? Tell me why I should believe you."

"The people after Vicki ... shot my partner."

Homer asks Pearly if he thinks Hunter's telling the truth, and he does...

So Homer says there's a massage parlor over on Hill ... he describes Vicki for Hunter.

Hunter thanks Homer and says he owes him one.

"Cover charge is $20."

Hunter doesn't say a word and just pays the lady.

She couldn't be more jaded.

Ummm... is that girl in the red doing needlepoint? I hope she is.

Hunter does not pick the needlepoint girl. He picks the girl Homer described.

Also jaded.

Badge flash! Vicki's not impressed. "What are you gonna do, bust me?"

Hunter asks about the guy who runs girls up and down the highway in motor homes.

Vicki just stares at him.

He's like, "Come on," and tells her that her friends Anita Fargo and Suzie Q are dead.

Vicki frets a bit...

...then checks that nobody can overhear.

She says that about a year ago she had a fight with her pimp, and that's when she heard about the guy with the motor homes, so she went to Pershing Square to meet him and check him out.

But the guy didn't show; he sent a woman named Flo. "She was a working girl, maybe forty, with a lot of miles on her."

"She said I'd be getting a thousand a week plus twenty percent. No pimps, no nothin'."

"Just me and three other girls in a motor home."

Hunter asks how many motor homes they used.

She says eight or nine. Flo was the manager She told them where to go and which roads to stop, and she handled the money.

Flo would give them what they were due and put the rest in an envelope and leave. Once Vicki saw Flo give the money to someone in a black Rolls, but she didn't see who.

Hunter asks for a description of Flo.

Vicki says Flo has red hair, is maybe 5'6, 140 pounds, and she has a tattoo of a rose on the back of her shoulder.

Hunter asks which highways they'd take.

"All of the major truck routes..."

"All we'd have to do is get on the CB, and say the Wild Bunch was pulling into a truck stop, and we'd be turning tricks like crazy."

"Each RV had its own handle. Soft Shoulder, Hot Pursuit, stuff like that." (And just like that they slip in the episode title, practically a throwaway!)

Hunter wants to know why Vicki quit when she was making so much money.

Vicki becomes visibly upset but doesn't say anything at first.

Hunter says, "You're in danger; your friends are dead. Talk to me here!"

"That's right... I am in danger, all right -- talking to you!"

"I have answered all your questions. The well is dry." 

"Your time is up."

He gives her his card and some money.

"The name's Sergeant Rick Hunter, Metropolitan Homicide. You know how to get hold of me. You know how it works."

Now Vicki can finally be sad about her dead friends.

Dr. Lee tells Hunter not to ask McCall to talk too much. "She's in pain and under a lot of medication."

Things sure don't look good.

(Though McCall looks good, considering.)

Hunter asks how she's doing. What a terrible question. 

She says "Okay," in a way that means OMG I AM SO NOT OKAY, I'M PARALYZED FROM THE NECK DOWN and he says the doctor told him not to make her talk too much.

Hunter says he found Vicki Lake.

"Suzie okay?"

"She didn't make it. ...Did you see the guy that did this?"

McCall says no.

"...You're gonna be okay."

McCall doesn't say anything. This episode's a bit of a downer, man. 

Hunter sets out looking for the hookers in motor homes.

He's got his CB radio, because that's how they communicate. 

(Useless personal information: When I was 14 or so, I had a CB radio at home, complete with a 64-foot antenna on my roof. I was totally internet chatting with strangers before there was an internet! My handle was 'Pink Panther.' Oh 1970s, you were awesome. Yes, I was super cool, if cool means dorky. Thirty-five years later, a boy I talked to back then found me on LinkedIn. I'm temped to marry him just so I can tell people how we met.)

Hunter's eating blue corn chips while he drives. He likes those.

He likes them a lot.

Hunter listens to the truckers on the CB. Nothing about any hookers.

Really, he likes blue corn chips quite a bit.

Night has fallen and Hunter must have run out of blue corn chips. Now he's got tea or coffee or something. He's still listening to truckers on the CB.

Also, he's brought a sandwich.

What's in this thing, anyway?

Hunter does not like the looks of that ham and/or cheese product.

Hmm. I guess he just sticks with coffee.

Night has turned to day.

This is apparently not the camper he's looking for.

Day turns back to night.

Hmmm... all of a sudden, in contrast to truckers asking for rides and giving warnings about Smokey, the CB broadcasts a sexy female voice

"Breaker 1-9 ... Hello, all you lonely truckers out there. This is the Wild Bunch calling to let you know we're on the Highway to Heaven." A few truckers break in, happy to hear this news. She goes on: "Now boys, no fighting. There's enough for everyone." She tells them where they'll be. "We've got a couple of experienced mechanics here just waiting to service your big rig."

"...We're in a Country Comfort cruiser, beige with a brown stripe..."

U-turn!

Are they thataway?

Ooh, looks like they're thisaway.

Hunter thinks this looks like the motor home described over the airwaves.

Sooo, he sits and watches it.

Then a guy comes out of the camper.

And another guys goes IN the camper. I'm pretty sure this is the one he's looking for.

Can you see gears turning in Hunter's head? He is hatching a plan!

This plan involves Hunter backing his car into the motor home.

Not too hard... just enough that they'd notice from the inside.

"Hey!" says the lady in the motor home.

"What the Hell's going on here?" Hunter says he's sorry. "Backing up here I misjudged the distance..."

"Yeah, well you oughta be more careful," he says. We hear another woman from inside say, "Hey Ginger, it's cold in here, shut the door!" Ginger asks Hunter to come in.

While walking in, he's saying he's sorry and that he intends to pay for the damage to the motor home.

"Oh, really?" she says.

Hunter says hi to these girls and they pose seductively, probably because he's a lot cleaner, better looking and fit than most of the truckers they service.

"I'd like to forgo my insurance... maybe we could exchange phone numbers and addresses and you can send me the bill." She says it's nothing serious and they can just forget it.

No, he insists on paying!  But she says she doesn't own this rig, and she doesn't think the owner wants to exchange addresses with him. "So since it's not a big dent, let's just forget about it, okay?"

Hunter bids the hookers adieu. They invite him to stick around, stay for a  drink... (or some bow chicka bow wow action, I'm sure.)

He thanks them, but says the accident shook him up, and he leaves.

She gives this look like, "WTF is wrong with that guy?"

Before he leaves, Hunter makes a note of the hookermobile's license plate.

Vicki Lake has left tons of urgent messages!

...But when he calls there's no answer.

So he calls someone named Wayne and asks for the address for that phone number.

Then Hunter heads to the high-tech computer room to do some research.

This guy Jimmy says he has the info on the RV Hunter asked about. It's registered to Bay Industries, with a PO Box number in Hollywood.

"Post office box? I need an address, Jimmy." Jimmy says he'll get right on it.

Weight 140! Rose tattoo! Bingo!

Hunter makes a call to this guy:

"Vice, Nicholson."

"Yeah, Nick ... I'm looking for a prostitute .. Florence Kean. She's connected with the people who shot McCall."

Nick says he'll get back to him as soon as he finds something.

Someone (Wayne?) calls and gives him Vicki's info.

Hunter writes down the address. It's on K Street, which at the time was completely industrial and had no residential buildings so they're just making junk up. ;-)

Well this doesn't look good at all.

Hunter goes to check on this dead body (indeed, dead, it turns out)...

Then someone clocks Hunter over the head.

This neighbor man was walking down the hall and the door was open and he saw these two bodies...

The EMT says Hunter had better go to the hospital and get his head x-rayed. Hunter says, "Yeah, I'll get right on that," with absolutely no intention of doing so.

Finn tells him to listen to the guy and take it easy. The dead body, Finn says, is Mary Lakowski, and whoever shot her was waiting behind the door when she came in, and she was shot in the back.

Hunter says that Mary Lakowski is the real name of a hooker named Vicki Lake, and that the dead body is NOT her.

He tosses Finn the ice pack. "See ya."

And off Hunter goes.

Back to the massage parlor...

The manager says Vicki hasn't been there since the last time Hunter came in.

...Nope, no Vicki.

After peeking in all the rooms, Hunter leaves without saying a word.

"Jerk."

Hunter goes to see Sporty, who tells him he thinks Vicki is long gone.

Hunter says Vicki knows an awful lot and that's why they'e after her. He asks Sporty to stick with it.

Oooookay, what's Hunter doing with this old shoe?

He's putting it in a box. 

And wrapping it in Christmas paper.

"So when I checked out the address I had for Bay Industries, I realized it was an abandoned building," Hunter says. "Then I asked myself, 'What would Sgt. McCall do in a situation like this?'" 

"'She'd get out the old wrapping paper and send them a package to the post office box.'"

McCall can smile. Those are the only working muscles she's got left, pretty much.

So, Hunter waits outside the post office. Now, normally this might take like DAYS ON END, right? But as far as we know, Hunter pulls up and waits for like five minutes, and... 

...This lady goes to pick up her Christmassy-wrapped package soon thereafter.

And if he really was waiting there a long time, it's a good thing he's a cop, because there is so no parking in that area.

That's right; she's on Hollywood Blvd. They love themselves some Hollywood Blvd on Hunter.

Look how tall he is compared to a car door. I look nothing like that getting out of a car.

Hunter checks the building directory when she stops at the 5th floor.

Bingo! Bay Industries! (Along with a whole bunch of other stuff in the same suite.)

"Sorry, no solicitors," she says, barely looking up.

"Look, I don't care what you're sellin', I don't want it..."

Then arm-crossing ensues. "How is it," Hunter asks, "a little office like this could house what appears to be one of California's largest conglomerates?"

Two can play that game, the lady proves by crossing her arms too. 

"I just work here, Mister."

Hunter asks to talk to her boss. She does not cooperate. "Do you got a warrant? 'Cause if you don't, I don't have to talk to you."

She answers the phone...

...Then looks at Hunter and says, "Are you just gonna stand there? Cause if you are, I'm gonna hang up."

Next thing we know, Hunter's talking to Big Jack at a whole different location, though we don't really know that 'til he leaves. "You've got five companies in an office that big, Jack."

"...One of them belongs to your wife, Louise Hemmings. The rest belong to a John [Something], is that you?"

"Mr. Hemmings' corporate  holdings are a matter of public record," this guy says. Not that it matters, but this guy is named Adler. He's Hemmings' accountant.

"You're also running hookers up and down Interstate 5 in motor homes, Jack," Hunter says.

"That's a damn lie! it's also slander ... I run an honest business!"

"You're a pimp and you're a murderer, Jack," Hunter says.

"You paid some punk to shoot my partner; now I'm gonna get ya."

"Get out of my office."

Hunter: "You've given new meaning to the term 'recreational vehicle,' Jack." 

"Call me when you want to confess."

And he leaves.

This woman follows.

She looks a bit distressed as she watches Hunter go.

"You heard me," Big Jack says on the phone. "Shut the whole thing down!"

"Florence, listen... you work for me!" He's all angry and junk. "Get rid of the girls, and get the RVs back in here!"

"What the hell about Anita Fargo and Suzie Q?"

"Do whatever you want! Just get rid of those stinkin' hookers, and make sure you and the vehicles are back here tonight."

Big Jack tells Adler to use his friends at City Hall to get this cop off his back.

They're not even in the door and Charlie's already mad.

"You know what this sounds like," Charlie says. "It sounds like an officer harrassing an innocent citizen without just cause."

"I'm just trying to get the guy to make a mistake, Charlie, you know that."

"Meanwhile Big Jack's got one of the commissioners dumping on us."

Devane: "You look like my cat after a bad night." Hunter: "Hairballs?"

"Go home and get some sleep."

The stuff Charlie has to deal with, man.

Someone's waiting at Hunter's desk.

It's the woman we saw a bit ago. "I'm Laura Decker," she says. I saw you today at Big Jack's. ...I took this stuff from his office. I want to help you get him."

"Why's that?"

"He killed my father."

Hard to tell, I know, but this is an establishing shot of Hunter's house.

...Where he has taken a totally unknown person. WTF, Hunter? Anyway, she tells the story of how her parents were going to see America in their RV but they had a lot of trouble with it, then it turned out that the RV had been sold at least once before, and her dad sued.

"And right in the middle of the trial," Laura says, "he had a heart attack and died."

She says she got a job with Big Jack, hoping she'd find a way to make him pay for what he did. When she saw Hunter she decided she'd found the way.

She has a folder of papers. "These are his in-house originals. They haven't been doctored yet by his CPA ... Roger Adler." 

That's the guy Hunter saw in Big Jack's office. 

"Big Jack pays him a lot of money to make sure everything adds up."

"What about Big Jack's wife Louise? She's on record as the owner of one of his businesses."

Laura says that it's probably a tax scam -- Louise is a cheap-looking bimbo who can't balance her checkbook, let alone run a company.

Laura asks for some cream for her coffee.

Hunter says that when Jack finds out the files are missing he'll come looking for Laura.

He doesn't think she should go back her house 'til this all blows over. He invites her to stay at his place. (It doesn't play as skeezy as it sounds. Hunter's not picking up on Laura.)

She says she can't; she'd be imposing.

"You don't have much choice, honey, you're in danger." (Robbie's note: Ewww, I hate when guys call me 'honey' and they're not my boyfriend.)

Hunter gets a call. We don't know who it is.

"Great," he says. "I'll pick you up at the precinct in 20 minutes."

He says he's going to be gone an hour or more. "If anybody calls, don't answer it. If anyone knocks at the door, call the police."

And off he goes.

Hunter and Nick are watching this middle-class house in a nice neighborhood.

...A taxi pulls up.

"Yeah, that's Flo," Hunter says.

As Flo walks to her front door...

...Someone runs across her lawn with a gun and shoots her..

Hunter and Nick run to check it out.

Nick checks on Flo while Hunter follows the shooter.

The guy's already in a car.

So Hunter shoots at it.

He knocks out a tail light but that's all.

Nothing new here; I just like shots of Hunter with his gun.

Flo's dead.

Hunter calls it in.

"I've got a 187 victim, suspect driving a late model sedan with the left rear tail light out." He gives the location.

Meanwhile, back at Wilshire Memorial...

...McCall is still paralyzed...

...And Hunter's still sad about it.

...But at least a kind nurse or random hospital makeup artist came by to make sure her makeup was perfect.

Hunter arrives back at his house.

He finds Laura sleeping in his bed and leaves her there.

Hunter heads backdownstairs to check out the files Laura took from Big Jack.

"Do you know it's 5:00am?"

Hunter asks about some initials on the papers.

Laura: "The bank inspector's. Dealers buy their inventory with borrowed money. Then when they sell a car or RV, they repay the bank. The inspector's initials tell the bank the vehicle's still on the lot, unsold."

Hunter says all these loan agreements show the RVs were sold weeks before these pages were initialed.

"We got him! He's selling RVs and he's not giving the bank their money! It probably amounts to millions of the bank's dollars!"

"Big Jack plays the stock market all day long. I've heard him buying options, commodities...Rick, if we take this to the bank, we've got him!"

Hunter points out that if they take this to the bank, Laura will be arrested for stealing the papers. He asks what would happen to Big Jack's buisiness if the RVs stopped coming in.

"His whole scam depends on turnover," she says. "RVs coming in as fast as they're going out."

"...You cut off his supply and he's had it."

"Where does the supply come from?" Hunter wants to know.

From a plant in San Diego near the border, in El Mirage.

Hunter says he's going to the hospital, then to El Mirage.

Morning has broken at Wilshire Memorial.

"Can Sergeant McCall come out and play?"

He asks how she's doing and she says okay. (Dude, she's not okay.)

"You may not see me tomorrow." He says he's going to San Diego.

McCall asks why and he says he'll tell her when he gets back. He asks how it's going.

"...I can't feel anything yet, you know?"

"The doctors say it'll take about a week for the swelling to clear up."

"Then what?"

"You're gonna be all right."

McCall is clearly not so sure.

This car comes from behind Hunter and gets way too cozy, smacking into him..

Then Hunter chases the guy.

"This is L-56, in pursuit of an ADW suspect driving a late model red sedan, license plate number blah blah..." (ADW = Assault with a Deadly Weapon, btw.)

He asks for backup.

... I love it when they reach up to put the cherry light on the car.

Blah blah car chase.

It goes on and on.

And on.

Have you dozed off? I have. Car chases, blah blah car chases.

Seriously, it's still going on? Something has to end this car chase soon because the episode's almost over.

I'll let the screencaps do the talking.

Who’s That Guest Star?  Tracy Vaccaro (at the time, Mrs. Fred Dryer); Carmen Argenziano (Stargate: SG-1, Godfather Part II); Rhoda Gemignani (Who’s the Boss?, Ghostbusters); Viola Kates Stimpson (mostly episodic TV); Leif Garrett (teen heartthrob); Carmen Zapata (Sister Act I & II, Santa Barbara); Jana Marie Hupp (Ed, episodic TV), Corinne Michaels aka Corinne Camacho (Medical Center, episodic TV); William Bronder (episodic TV, Return to Me, Stand By Me – he’s the guy in the junkyard!); Anthony Peck (Die Hard: With a Vengeance, lots of movies/TV, 3 eps of Hunter, ); Raymond St. Jacques (tons of TV/movies), Alan Keller (Deadwood, Heaven’s Gate, Convoy); Grand L. Bush (lots of TV & movies; 5 episodes of Hunter).  Hunter regular Charles Hallahan as Devane, and of course Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer and Rick Hunter and Dee Dee McCall..

Tracy Vaccaro as Stacey Collins

Carmen Argenziano as Dr. Schneider

Rhoda Gemignani as Mrs. Palovsky

Leif Garrett as Todd Logan

Corinne Camacho as Sister Nora

Carmen Zapata as Edna Watley

(I'm not at all sure Zapata & Stimpson aren't identified wrongly on IMDb, so it's possible these photos should be switched.)

Jana Marie Hupp as Todd’s Ex-Girlfriend (Tiffany)

Alan Keller as Nick Roncoe

William Bronder as Det. Mike Harrison

Anthony Peck as Ray

Raymond St. Jacques as Judge Clancy

Grand L. Bush as Billy

Charles Hallahan as Devane

Where Can I Fast-Forward Through a Car Chase? At 34:50-35:46, you can skip it if I tell you that both the bad guy and Hunter/McCall follow Stacey's car into Griffith Park. Then the foot chase at 43:20-45:24. (But it's sort of the final big scene, so if you've watched this far, you probably shouldn't skip it.)  Roncoe chases Irene, and we know he’s a bad guy ‘cause he shoots a dog for Pete’s sake; Hunter chases Roncoe; McCall joins in at the end. 

Does Anyone Have Sex, and Does Their Partner Live Through The Episode?  Nope, no sex.

What Are They Wearing?  McCall:  1. Royal blue turtleneck, grey slacks, silver earrings.  (Looks like the same turtleneck she wore in episode 3.07, “True Confessions,” and similar slacks in a different shade of grey.)

2. Off-white blazer, brown patterned blouse, brown skirt, tan/black pumps, brown purse.

3. Muted light blue turtleneck, slacks with a tiny blue/white plaid or herringbone (they look light blue from afar), light pink blazer, silver lapel pin (looks like a child or angel), silver earrings, light blue flat laced shoes.

(See what I mean about the slacks?)

4. Navy blue blazer, white slacks, navy/white striped shirt and -- I’m sorry to say -- navy/white striped socks, white loafers with navy trim.

Hunter:  Button-down shirts, slacks/jeans, ties, sports coats.

 Wow, This Is Old School:  Quick shot of a Rolodex at 14:40.

Rolodex in the bottom left corner.

At 21:10, Tiffany is the most awesome ‘80s girl ever.

Manual typewriter at 27:27.

Police radio at 33:45.

Hunter uses a payphone at 38:29.

Old school nurses’ caps at 40:52.

What’s For Lunch?  Lots of coffee, that’s what! McCall drinks coffee at 11:12, at 13:37, and again at 21:05.

Hunter drinks coffee at 21:13 and at 28:57.

Where In L.A.?  Culver City’s City Hall fills in as the Metro PD as usual.

At 15:49, the establishing shot of “Wilshire Memorial Hospital” is really the old Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital (aka Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center) in Inglewood, on Prairie Avenue between Grace Ave & Howland Drive.

At 35:14, they enter Griffith Park at the Riverside Drive/Los Feliz Blvd/Crystal Springs Drive entrance.

At 36:19, Hunter is driving southeast on Foothill Blvd as it crosses Terra Bella Street in Pacoima.

It’s an X-File:  William Bronder was in the film Return to Me with David Duchovny.  And for the hardcore XF fans, the clock at 09:33 says the time is 11:21. Not to mention, the McCall/baby thing is similar to the Scully/Emily thing (without the sci-fi component and the fact that Scully was Emily's mother. Sort of).

It's 11:21.

Who Does Hunter Shoot, and Do They Die?  Hunter shoots Nick Roncoe dead at 45:30.

Any Scenes Worth Watching?  Tiffany (Jana Marie Hupp) steals her scene at 21:10.

The scene with Hunter and McCall in the park at 31:07-33:36 is particularly sweet.

So’s the one at 46:09-47:32. The way McCall’s voice breaks makes me a little weepy.

Is There Banter? Not really.

Oops: At 36:25 there is a boom reflection on the hood of Roncoe's car.

You see it move and everything.

Bonus:  All the McCall scenes in this episode are good.

Bonus Screencaps:

This girl has ridden the bus home.

This truck pulls up.

This guy exits the truck. Somehow I just know no good can come of this.

The girl walks through the adorable courtyard to her apartment.

Truck Guy finds the name he's looking for.

He buzzes a different apartment.

He lies to this lady and says she has a package, and she buzzes him in. Oldest trick in the book, but people still fall for it.

This pregnant girl is wholesome. We know this because she's wearing a flowery dress with a Peter Pan collar, and drinking milk.

Truck Guy lies to her and says the manager sent him to fix her plumbing. Or something like that; I'm too lazy to go back and check.

People who live in this building are too trusting, man.

Yup, he shoots her. At close range! BAD TRUCK MAN. Why would he shoot a wholesome pregnant girl and make her drop her glass of milk?

Fred Dryer directed this episode! This was the first of five episodes directed by Dryer.

(This is the same uniformed cop who forgot to read the rapists their rights in "True Confessions.")

He's telling them that this girl was shot in the head at close range, she's barely alive, and that she's six or seven months pregnant.

Billy shows them her driver's license, which says she's Irene Palevsky, 21, from Buffalo.

McCall asks if there is evidence of a robbery.

Nope, just shot at the front door.

McCall goes thataway to subdue Neighbor Lady.

Hunter goes thisaway to talk to this other neighbor lady, Edna Watley, who found the body and called the police.

Hunter sits daintily on this wee bench and shows off his white socks and topsiders. (WTF is with him and the topsiders with white socks? I lived through the '80s. We did NOT wear socks with our topsiders.)

"Who'd want to hurt that sweet child?"

She says, "I didn't hear no gunshots."

She tells how she went to get a package but there wasn't one, and she came back and found Irene's body.

She says Irene had only been there a few months and didn't have any friends, except for her and Sister Nora. She gives him Sister Nora's info.

Nobody heard gunshots so it must have been a silencer...but why would someone put a professional hit on a kid like Irene?

Hunter says he'll go to the hospital and drop McCall off at Sister Nora's.

This is Sister Nora.

Sister Nora can't say much about Irene because "the most important thing we offer these girls is confidentiality."

She says there was no contact with the baby's father, and that Irene wouldn't didn't want her family to know she was pregnant, so she told them she was traveling in Canada as an exchange student, and she'd call them every ten days or so "from Canada."

"Did you ever try to call the parents?"

"That would be violating an irrevocable trust. If we didn't offer that, many of these girls would opt for abortion."

"But Palevsky isn't a common name, I'm sure if you called Buffalo information..."

McCall thanks Sister Nora.

McCall asks if Mrs. Palevsky has a daughter named Irene, and an alarmed Mrs. Palevsky says yes.

Must be the next day. Mrs. Palevsky has flown to L.A.

Dr. Schneider says that Irene is brain dead.

Mrs. Palevsky says that's not Irene.

McCall asks her to look again and make sure...

Mrs. Palevsky says she knows her daughter... and that she's sorry for this poor girl, but it's not Irene.

Hunter sits like Riker.

Mrs. Palevsky last saw Irene six months ago.

She was upset when Irene cut off all her beautiful hair.

"Up to here!"

"The next morning she was gone."

This officer is going to take Mrs. Palevsky to the airport.

They'll keep her posted until they find Irene.

When they say they'll look for Irene and need to find her fast...

Mrs. Palevsky becomes alarmed.

McCall tells her to be sure and send a photo of Irene; it could help.

She'll send it as soon as she gets home.

They agree they have to find Irene fast; whoever put the hit on her will try again as soon as they realize they've killed the wrong girl.

Charlie says the DA wants one of them to testify in the Juliano case; which one's it gonna be?

This screencap cracks me up.

He tells them to work it out.

Hunter immediately goes for his lucky coin.

McCall's like, "No, wait... I want this case."

"Something about it with the girl, and the baby, and everything..."

"...I want the case, all right?"

"Sure."

"I'll make Charlie wait ten minutes then I'll go tell him."

(They actually wink at each other but it was impossible to catch while screencapping.)

We hear McCall explaining how the one on the left is a pregnant Jane Doe in the ICU with a bullet in her brain, and that she was hiding from her parents... 

...by using the ID of the one on the right. That's Irene Palevsky, who now has short hair, and who might have been the real target for the bullet.

"Might have been? You mean you're just guessing?"

"Well that's one of the things I do best, Mike."

"We drew a blank on Jane Doe's fingerprints."

"You love to complicate my life, don't you?"

"What? I got you the dental history on Jane Doe ... and everything we have on Irene Palevsky."

Blah blah dental fillings.

Mike says that if someone's filed a missing person report he can probably get McCall something from the computer on Jane Doe in a few hours.

They are loving some coffee this episode. Also, I'm pretty sure that's McCall's mug from earlier in front of the coffee maker. Or maybe they're standard police-station-issue mugs.

"Well, uh...I don't think you'l find anything in the computer."

"The girl told her family she was traveling in Canada..." 

"So... they don't think of her as missing."

"...So there's no report."

Mike is like, Um, do you know how ridiculous this is? The dental stuff means nothing unless someone looks for her.

Heehee, McCall's look says, "I can kill you with my brain."

She tells him to concentrate on Irene. "Maybe she knows who this Jane Doe is. ...Put her picture in the paper!"

Mike says all she ever gives him is a bunch of mights and maybes.

"Well, that's why we come to you, Mike."

"Because you're the expert on mights and maybes."

Ah, Wilshire Memorial. My favorite fake hospital.

Lots of exposition ahead. Dr. Schneider says that the hospital Ethics Committee met this morning.

If someone doesn't come forward to claim responsibility, he says, they'll have to ask the court to appoint a guardian, and it would be up to the guardian to decide if and when life support will be discontinued.

Schneider takes off his lab coat just to make McCall feel at home, since Hunter spends all day taking his jacket off only to put it back on and take it back off again later.

"Are you saying that some stranger is going to be able to decide the fate of the baby that's inside that girl?"

He says the hospital can't assume responsibility indefinitely. If McCall can't find out who Jane Doe is, they'll probably be instructed to turn off life support. They're doing ultrasounds and monitoring the heartbeat just in case.

McCall asks about amniocentesis but the results won't be in for ten days. Preliminary findings show that the lungs aren't developed and there's a hole in the heart, which isn't uncommon for a fetus at 27 weeks.

"So ... some court appointed guardian is going to be able to pull the plug??"

Aaaand ... the putting on of the sport coat!

The doctor doesn't know how long they can keep Jane Doe's body functioning.

"How long is it going to take for the court to appoint this guardian?"

He says tomorrow or the day after. McCall says thank you in that "I don't really mean 'thank you' at all" sort of way, and leaves.

"You're welcome."

...I thought you might like to see McCall's shoes.

McCall explains the situation to the judge. She's quite impassioned.

"Let's go into my office, where I will remove my robe. I hear you like that sort of thing." (Okay, okay, he doesn't really say that. But it's so true.)

"Dee Dee, the hospital is not a charitable institution, nor is it an adoption agency."

McCall: "We're talking about a child here!"

"Relax, take it easy; I happen to agree with you ... that Jane Doe's parents will probably show up soon."

"So, I'm granting you your 72-hour injunction."

"Thank you!" she says. (I'm sad to say this adorable cheek-pinching and hug are the closest thing to sex in this episode.)

"Which means that the county is footing the bill for three days..."

"So don't let me down!" (An unseen 

McCall yells back "I won't!" as she's leaving.)

Back to the hospital she goes (I assume this is the next day since she's changed clothes.)

McCall drops the judge's order on the doctor's lunch table.

She's all snooty about it, like, "Nyah nyah, you can't pull the plug on Jane Doe 'cause I'm stopping you!"

She's taken aback when Dr. Schneider says "Good for you!"

"Did you think I was drooling to pull the plug on Jane Doe and her baby?"

"Well, ... no, I, uh... I just thought you weren't very concerned."

He asks if police officers indulge their emotions on their cases. "No," McCall says as she sits down.

"Actually, we have to keep a certain distance." (Um, McCall, I'm not sure what mythical creature you're talking about, but it's not you.)

"But you're not willing to assume that doctors do too?"

He says since he was eighteen, everything he's done has been because he wanted to save lives, preserve them with dignity and comfort, and that his instincts are to deliver the baby and hand her over to someone who will love and care for her.

"Boy, I feel pretty stupid."

"...I'm very sorry."

"...I thought you were cold and callous, and I was very wrong."

Schneider says that when he started out 20 years ago things were simpler; life support systems were more primitive and these complex ethical questions hadn't been asked yet. The Ethics Committee tries to do the right thing, but there are rules, and the hospital has a budget, etc.

...So it warms him when someone like McCall comes along and forces them to do what they wanted to in the first place.

He asks if there's been any luck finding Jane Doe's family.

"We don't have much to go on, but we're doing everything we can."

Cut from McCall drinking coffee, to...

...Hunter drinking coffee.

Meet Tiffany! She's one of my all-time favorite "Hunter" day players!

I'll have to summarize, because Tiffany talks a mile a minute. She's a fast-talking, gum-snapping, super tubular '80s girl.

The story goes that she was going out with this guy Todd.

Todd worked in a super cool club, and one night a totally bogus girl came in and Todd dumped Tiffany for her!

Then she read in the newspaper that the police were looking for this Irene Palevsky... (Me: Tiffany reads the newspaper?)

"So, I like... Came. Right. Down."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you come right down?"

"Because, like, that was her name, Irene Palevsky."