| Desperado |
| Episode 12 Aired October 6, 1987 |
| Guest Stars: Rex Smith as Jake Bodine Bonnie Burroughs as Holly Devane Red West Dana Young as Eric Kincaid Nancy Everhard as Sgt. Carol O'Brien James Crittenden as Sgt. Joe Bill McCandless |
| Supervising Producer Gregory S. Dinallo Producers Herman Miller and Jon Andersen Co-Producers Jeffrey Morton and William Cairncross Teleply by Valerie West Story by Deborah Arakelaian Directed by Reza Badiyi |
| Webster's defines a Desperado as a dangerous criminal, a bold outlaw. That's exactly what our Knights find themselves up against in this episode. We join the story as Jake Bodine is in the middle of robbing his third bank in a week. This robber is not only polite, but he is witty and likeable. As he is fleeing from the bank with guns drawn, he bumps into an old lady pushing a shopping cart. He apologizes, and hands her five crisp one hundred dollar bills. Lundy and LaFiamma arrive shortly after with the troops and find this case is going to be harder than usual. The boys interview everyone at the scene including a Hot Dog vendor who traded away his stolen money for Rockets/Bulls tickets. LaFiamma drooled as the man flashed the tickets. Our Felon shows up after the robbery at the Oil Workers Union Hall. We find out that Bodine was once an oil worker until the Devane Bank repossessed his rig, his house, and just about everything he owned. So now he is getting even by robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. At the hall he happens upon Holly Devane, daughter of the man who stole his life away. Holly volunteers her time distributing food and clothing at the hall. She suffers from debutant guilt as Lundy so eloquently describes it. Holly falls for Bodine's charm and soon finds herself smitten with Houston's newest Robin Hood. After receiving a hot tip the Knights follow along to the hall, as they arrive Bodine spots Lundy and makes a run for it. The oil workers block Lundy's Jimmy, allowing Bodine an easy escape. L & L are furious with the men for aiding a known criminal and can't seem to understand why the city's folks are embracing this man. Levon also recognized the suspect, but can't quite place where he knows the man from. After combing through old case files, Levon finally gets a lead on him and remembers that a few years back he and Beaumont were partners and they talked Bodine down from jumping off a building. Bodine breaks into Holly Devane's apartment, while she's in the shower and sweet talks her into helping him get even once again. By this time Levon and Joey are cooling down at Chicken's discussing their newest suspect. Even Chicken seems to be rallying for the Desperado, and admits even if he did have any leads, he'd have a hard time passing them along. Joey and Levon agree to lean on Holly Devane for information and follow her into an area mall. They grill her as she shops from rack to rack buying up expensive men's clothing. She swears she doesn't know anything about this Robin Hood. She coolly gives the detectives the brush off and hires a big time attorney to lean on the Knights. He slaps a court restraining order the the H.P.D., to steer clear of Ms Devane. (Money talks!) The police shrink, Tom Frasier, sits down with Joe and Levon and explains the mental side of their suspect. He is in fact, despire popular belief a very dangerous ticking time bomb and it's only a matter of time before he turns deadly. Soon after, Devane assists Bodine as the get away driver on his next robbery. Bodine enters the bank to cheers and claps as patrons recognize Houston's newest celebrity. The people cheer him on as he waves his gun around the room. After he callously shoots a bank employee in cold blood for being flip with a customer, the bank job goes horribly awry. The tide turns and the people of Houston finally agree this man needs to be place behind bars. Bodine lies to Holly telling her the shot she heard was the guard in the bank shooting at him. She believes him, and the two stash themselves in a cheesy motel to hide out. In the meantime Lundy, LaFiamma and Beaumont execute a search warrant at Devane's posh apartment and find numerous credit receipts. The trace of credit lead the Knights to the motel just as Holly was figuring out she'd been duped. Bodine turns on her and takes her at gunpoint to flee from the Knights. A high speed chase erupts and Holly leaps from the pickup in the middle of an intersection. As the boys comes to her aid, the Desperado escapes again! Devane comes clean, against her attorney's advice and makes a deal with police. She leads the boys to a bus depot where they close in on Bodine. Now even citizens try to capture Jake Bodine on their own. He shoots a cab driver in desperation and flees to the one place he felt safe - the Oil Union. When Bodine tries to take sanctuary in the union hall, they turn on him and a gun battle arises. The Knights burst through the doors and corner Bodine in an upstairs hall. Lundy tells the desperate man that he has two choices, put down his gun or DIE! He thinks a moment and chooses foolishly, as the Knights blow him clear through the window. As Levon and Joe look down at his body, they agree, "He chose wrong!" |
| Summary by Linda E. / New Jersey, USA |
| Rex Smith |
| updated February 15, 2008 |
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