gnome@olivee.UUCP (GNOME) (10/04/85)
I just got a chance to see The Equalizer this week and have to admit that, unlike all of the Miami Vice and Dirty Harry ripoffs that are new to this season, this show has class. It's about an ex-"agency" operative who has quit battling the bad guys of international espionage and started using his skills to help regular folk with nowhere else to turn. Even though he has quit the "agency", he still has run-ins with people from both sides. Edited and paced like a movie, the results are excellent. Unfortunately, the name may make people think this is a TV-ized version of Death Wish. So far, it's far better. Gary
chod@gypsy.UUCP (10/07/85)
I completely agree with this poster's opinion of "The Equalizer". I first tuned in because I am interested in espionage fiction, and I had read that this show uses an ex-CIA agent as a consultant. I found the program to be subtle and intelligent, unusual these days. It is not the kind of program where all of the plot lines and character motivations are spelled out explicitly via dialogue. The watcher has to pay some attention. I find the style of this program similar to that of the British productions of John Le Carre's, George Smiley novels; "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", etc. They could pick worse programs to emulate. There have been some "shoot-em-up" action sequences in the program for which the Equalizer enlisted the aid of acquaintances whose backgrounds are left a mystery. I find even these believable, because the action was similar to the kind of thing in which Delta Force specializes. You would expect a CIA agent of long experience to know ex-Delta Force people. Finally, one aspect of the program aired on Wed. 10/2 solidified my high opinion of the show. The Equalizer was trying to aid a longtime agent and friend. The man was a minor economic attache in the Soviet embassy, who had been passing information to MaCall(sp) (the Equalizer) for many years. For one thing I believe the writers chose realism over pizzazz in creating this character. Not every useful human source of information has to be a politburo secretary. For another, the name of the character was Feliks Dzherzinski. In real life Feliks Dzherzinski was the creator of the Cheka, the first Soviet secret police. That makes him the father (grandfather?) of the modern KGB. At last, scriptwriters with subtlety and some knowledge of their subject.