The Final Verdict
The Final Verdict
Original Air Date: 12-03-1982
Once again, the teaser promises us exciting car chases! Hopefully the exciting car chase will involve KITT this time, and not some random pickup truck driven by Devon.
The episode begins with some scenic shots of KITT roaming the countryside, which will look familiar to anyone paying close attention to the last episode where we saw KITT roaming the countryside.
not that I am complaining about views of KITT like this one
They arrive at the semi and pull inside.
coming home to roost
no reason for this cap, except that it has KITT in it
They seem to be there so that KITT can collect a new gizmo. It will allow him to, essentially, do a police composite on the fly, drawing a portrait based on a verbal description. The accuracy of this new feature is implausibly high, but whatever. At least Bonnie's butt isn't hanging out KITT's window this time. They set a very, very low bar for themselves with that last episode.
Devon takes the opportunity to try to give Michael a new assignment as well, but Michael has a problem.
"my dear boy, don't be so modest! you have a wide range of problems!"
A very good friend of his named Cheryl Burns is in jail in Albuquerque, and has asked him to help her. Devon is okay with him taking some personal time to handle it, but only gives him two days before the new case needs attention. Michael is grateful and leaves, calling Bonnie "Bon" on his way out.
Michael and KITT hit the road to Albuquerque, to the soundtrack of Highways Run Forever. I'm sure they can both relate.
oh, KITT, you break my heart
why must you belong to another?
I am doomed to loneliness forever
sometimes I wonder what all these readouts are for. "compressor temp" and "volts" seem self-explanatory, but what is "propagation delay" and why is it measured in hours, and why does "access" run from 200 to 400?
Eventually they reach the Northfolk Women's House of Detention (for serious) where the inmates wear powder blue hospital-style gowns and catcall one another. Michael meets up with Cheryl in a visiting room.
Michael Knight will make it right!
After a heartfelt, near-tearful greeting, Cheryl explains the problem, which she apparently didn't bother to tell him on the phone: she has been accused of murdering her boss.
not a murderer, or so she claims
She's a little hysterical and he has to calm her down before she can tell him the story. She and the boss were working late, and she got tired of working late every night so she asked him for a raise. He responded with sexual harassment and assault, so Cheryl ran out. The next morning the bossman was found dead with a fractured skull and Cheryl's desk lamp next to him.
This sounds pretty bad, so Michael coaxes more info out of her, looking for an alibi.
talk to me baby
She went into a bar and chatted for hours to a dude named Marty, who, if he is found, should be able to prove that she was there. I'm not sure how good an alibi this is, but let's move on. She has no last name for Marty, but he mentioned being an accountant who likes to gamble, and she gives Michael a physical description. Michael promises to help, or else, he jokes, he'll rob a bank and get himself thrown in jail to be with her. They hug again, and Michael heads out.
He goes to the bar, which is called the Bent Arm. Inside, some men are arm wrestling, accompanied by much constipated grunting. Michael speaks with the bartender.
people of color aren't allowed to wear regular-person clothes
Michael pretends to be friends with Marty to see if the bartender knows him; she says she doesn't, until Michael says he is looking for Marty because Michael owes him money. Then she says she might remember him, but if it's the same guy he moved out of town. When Michael presses for more she gets rid of him by telling one of the arm wrestling guys that Michael wants to try. So now Michael has to go arm wrestle, because it's impossible for him to just say no thanks.
While Michael mosies over to the arm wrestling dude, the bartender picks up the phone, and Michael quietly asks KITT over the comlink to trace the number. Of course she is calling Marty. She explains the sitch, assures him that she told Michael nothing, and tells him to take care of himself.
Meanwhile, Michael is losing his arm wrestling match.
there are so many things wrong with this
KITT calls in to report that he successfully traced the call, and the fact that Michael's watch is talking startles the other guy and makes him lose his concentration, enabling Michael to win. Michael then escapes.
He returns to KITT, and discovers that they have been blocked in.
of course this turns into an anti-union joke
He asks the driver of the truck to move a few feet so he can get out, and naturally the guy refuses because he's on lunch. KITT then asks to handle it himself, and Michael lets him.
KITT hates unions
Michael gets in and they zoom off.
Later, on the road, Michael asks about the phone call. KITT traced the number to an apartment building in Claremont Bay, almost 500 miles away to the north-west.
Michael reflects that, without KITT, he would be nothing
KITT is doubtful; he has no way to verify to whom the call was made, so there's no way to know if Marty is at that address. Michael, however, thinks that a lead is a lead, and anyway it's a nice day for a 500-mile drive. He settles back and apparently takes a nap.
They decide to cut through the desert, which allows KITT to open up, and the act ends.
born to run
The next act begins as they pull into Claremont Bay. Michael gives KITT the description of Marty that Cheryl provided, and although the information is very sketchy KITT tries his best.
doing all the work today
Cheryl mentioned glasses, but either Michael forgot them, or else KITT made the executive decision that they weren't important
a perfect likeness!
Meanwhile, Marty is being interrogated by some police officers.
the cop of color is, as you an see, a very classy dresser
The white cop is Dickerson, and I don't think we ever get a name for the black cop. They seem to believe that Marty has been doing some "creative bookkeeping" for his employer, an outfit called Falcon Enterprises, and they would like his help in busting his boss for moving stolen goods. They need him to bring the books in to make a case, and offer to cut Marty a deal if he does it.
Marty denies knowing anything, and they eventually let him go. The cops converse a bit after he's gone, noting that if Marty doesn't fold and give them the books, they'll never get the case to the grand jury "on time." This reference makes no sense to me, as the case does not appear to be anywhere near the statute of limitations and grand juries are not on an arbitrary schedule.
That evening, Michael and KITT pull up to the Harbor View House, which is apparently the apartment building to which the call from the bar was made.
Michael inadvertently insults KITT and must soothe him
Michael enters the building and goes to Marty's apartment, where he is immediately intercepted by the two cops, who are lurking about in the hallway. They take him down to the station to ask him some questions.
what was going through the set-dressers' minds when they put that aquarium there?
Michael explains the simple truth, that he needs Marty to provide an alibi for his friend in Albuquerque. Dickerson doesn't believe it, and also feels a need to engage in a bigger-dick competition. After warning Michael to not interfere with their investigation, he releases Michael.
The next morning, Marty initiates a conversation with his boss, Al Farlan, at the warehouse where he apparently works. Marty mentions that he's been working there for a while and thinks he's done a good job at "making this operation look legit." Farlan agrees and, unsolicited, offers Marty a 10% raise. Marty appreciates his generosity, but really he wants out. Farlan resists this, but not violently; he instead responds to Marty's anxiety by promising that once the current inventory is cleared out, he'll give Marty a paid vacation in Acapulco. He is confident and reassuring, but Marty does not seem reassured.
use the raise to buy some better suits, Marty
Michael, meanwhile, is staking out Falcon Enterprises.
looks like Michael's been careless with the curling iron again
Since Dickerson mentioned the company the night before, Michael is sure there is a connection here with Marty. KITT is initially skeptical, but soon spots Marty coming out the side door. Marty gets into his car, and they follow him to what turns out to be a gym.
"coed classes"? seriously?
Michael follows him inside, and it turns out to be a pretty stylish place.
I think more people would go to the gym if all gyms looked like this
After smiling creepily at some women in leotards and (hilariously) leg warmers doing an aerobics class, Michael walks over to Marty and tries to introduce himself. Marty assumes that Michael is another cop and hustles away, and Michael is intercepted by one of the actual cops and pulled into a back room to be hassled again.
you don't have any drugs, do you son? all drugs belong to me
There he is warned that he needs to back off of Marty or he'll be arrested.
Needless to say, Michael is not prepared to do that, and his next move is to play around with some high-voltage equipment outside Falcon enterprises.
Michael Knight, Electrician
KITT wonders why they just don't go to the local DA and arrange for Marty to be extradited. Michael doesn't think this would be a good idea. For one thing, it would take too long, and for another Lt. Cockwaver would probably find a way to overrule any such effort. Nope, petty vandalism is the only option. They use KITT's microwave jammer to short out the high-voltage equipment.
PAUX
Within Falcon Enterprises the lights go out, and Farlan assigns a lackey to call the power company.
wait, what?
KITT intercepts the outgoing call, and Michael pretends to be the power company, promising to send someone right out to check on the problem. Michael then prepares to go into the building, telling KITT to keep his jammer going and don't blow any fuses. KITT declares that "the sensation is quite intoxicating," apparently getting off on using the jammer. ??? Michael tells him, in that case, to just stay sober.
At Falcon Enterprises, Michael wanders around the not-very-dark warehouse, and eventually goes into the office area. This is witnessed by Farlan.
Michael gets into a room alone with Marty, who soon recognizes him from the gym confrontation and becomes alarmed. Michael tries to calm him down and reminds him about his conversation with Cheryl in Albuquerque. While they talk, Farlan activates some kind of listening bug on his phone in another office to eavesdrop.
seriously, WHAT
Marty says that he'd like to help but Farlan probably wouldn't let him go, which leads to Michael asking about what Falcon Enterprises does and what Marty does for them. Marty does not respond, but Michael draws the (correct) conclusion that this is why the local cops are so hot on Marty. Farlan, listening, and the lackey (Jake) to decide to "take care of them" while they still have the chance.
Michael attempts to smuggle Marty out of the building. They are attacked by some falling boxes (courtesy of Farlan) and then by security. Farlan and Jake, driving forklifts, chase them through the warehouse, and Michael calls for KITT.
After Michael and Marty get separated and Michael is trapped by Farlan, KITT comes to the rescue, crashing in through a closed door and then moving to guard Michael from the forklifts.
KITT's about to be chewed out for not being able to teleport
Annoyed that KITT took more than 5 seconds to arrive, Michael hops in. They've misplaced Marty so they simply leave.
Farlan vows to get to Marty before Marty gets to the cops. The act ends.
The final act opens back at the station, where Dickerson is ranting on the phone about Marty and Michael disappearing on him.
meanwhile, his partner attempts to feed an apparently imaginary fish
He orders the unlucky person on the other end of the line to ensure that neither Marty nor Michael crosses the state line. Then, hanging up, he takes his partner to find Marty.
Michael has returned to the gym, where he is looking for Marty. He talks with one of the instructors, who covers for Marty by claiming that he left (although in reality he is still there). Michael leaves.
On the road, he calls Devon.
looking good there, KITT, as always
His two days are up but he needs more time. Devon is actually okay with giving him more time, but unfortunately Cheryl's lawyer was unable to move the trial back and her court date is tomorrow.
That night, Jake and Farlan are at Marty's apartment, but they don't find him. Farlan expresses feelings of betrayal from Marty's behavior, and they leave. Marty turns out to be across the street, pretending to be asleep on a park bench and watching the traffic going through his apartment. The next people to arrive are Dickerson and his partner. They go in.
Meanwhile, Michael decides to also pay a visit to Marty's apartment. KITT thinks it would be stupid for Marty to go there, and that's exactly why Michael thinks he might be there: because nobody will look for him in his own place. Except for Farlan, Jake, Dickerson and his partner, and now Michael and KITT.
The two cops leave Marty's apartment, so Marty feels safe going in now. Michael arrives at the back of the building, and has KITT eject him to reach the fire escape. This time, he does say thank-you to KITT for the help, which warms my soul. After a slight misdirection involving almost climbing into some strangers' bedroom, he enters Marty's apartment through the window and surprises Marty in the kitchen.
There they converse.
"you see, when a man and a car love each other very much ..."
Marty reveals that he took the job from Farlan because he had debts to pay (probably gambling debts) and didn't know anything illegal was going on until it was too late. Michael promises to get him out of this fix if he testifies for Cheryl. Marty is hip to that, and Michael says it's now time to steal the accounting books from Falcon Enterprises.
To this, Marty is not so hip. He argues that it's illegal, and Michael says that's exactly why the police can't do it, so they have to.
They head to the warehouse, where Michael instructs KITT to call the police if they are not back in an hour. KITT tells him to be careful. Marty is confused by the exchange, but Michael promises to explain the talking car later.
They break into Falcon Enterprises by going over the fence.
Michael has a Thriller audition later
Michael hops right over, but Marty has a much more difficult time. He winds up falling on Michael, and breaking Michael's comlink.
KITT is spotted by a guard and attempts to contact Michael for instruction, but because of the broken comlink he can't get through. He must fend for himself. Somewhat foolishly, he evades the guard's attempt to open his door by starting his engine and pulling away; the sight of a car driving itself prompts the guard to call Farlan.
Inside the building, Marty has a panic attack, and Michael calms him down with some quick visualization therapy. Meanwhile, KITT breaks into the building by jamming the gate control box to open the gate.
you will obey me. you will obey me
Michael and Marty retrieve the books and then leave. It is now suddenly daylight.
this is literally 30 seconds after that last cap
They walk around the building and run straight into both KITT and Farlan, and two of Farlan's lackeys. It looks to me like Farlan was investigating the car and this ambush is just a fortunate happenstance.
Farlan and Jake pull guns on Michael and Marty, but when they threaten to kill Michael KITT intervenes. He broadcasts what sounds like a police warning, that they are surrounded and need to drop their weapons. Farlan and his lackeys totally buy it and drop their weapons, upon which KITT pulls forward and opens his doors so that Michael and Marty can get in.
this time KITT is both the problem and the solution
They peel out, and Farlan and his lackeys run to another car to give chase. Michael notices, and bizarrely puts KITT on Auto so that he can buckle Marty's seat belt for him. This enables Marty to have another minor panic attack because he can't figure out who's driving the car while Michael is treating him like a five-year-old. Michael explains KITT using few words: KITT is a computer, the end.
KITT points out that they could lose their pursuers pretty easily, but Michael wants Farlan to think he can catch them. He has KITT put him through to Dickerson, who is cruising around in a car driven by his partner. Michael offers to "deliver" Marty and the books to wherever Dickerson prefers. Dickerson thinks about it, and then sets up a rendezvous.
Michael and KITT lead Farlan on a merry chase, at one point taking KITT airborne over a hill, just because they can.
sure, why not
oh yeah, this is why not
am I crazy, or does it look like one of KITT's taillights is out?
Predictably, they eventually encounter an obstruction across the road, in the form of a flatbed truck straddling the roadway for unspecified reasons. They jump it, because, y'know, duh.
born to fly
Farlan and co. have to go around the flatbed, so Michael takes a switchback so they can catch back up.
At this point, Marty threatens to become carsick, which alarms KITT.
They continue what is, for KITT, a fairly low-speed car chase.
catch me if you can
don't worry, I'll do a few donuts and wait up for you
They finally reach the rendezvous with the cops, where a roadblock has been set up. Michael jumps the roadblock.
where the rubber meets the wind
The pursuing car somehow gets halfway up in the air and crashes through a panel of plate glass that is present on the scene for no good reason at all.
if you're playing Eighties Tropes Bingo, this is the center square
The car crunches a police car and winds up on its roof. Miraculously, nobody seems to be hurt, and Dickerson places Farlan under arrest. Michael and Marty hand over the account books.
Dickerson is now quite friendly and thanks Michael for helping him. He wants to take Marty in, too, but Michael and Marty have an appointment in Albuquerque. Dickerson agrees to let them go on the promise that Marty will come back.
The epilogue takes place in the Bent Arm bar, where Michael and Cheryl and Marty are apparently on a date.
see if you can guess who is on the date and who is the third wheel based on their seating arrangement
It is revealed that the real murderer of Cheryl's boss has been found, which kind of renders Marty's assistance moot I think. Cheryl thanks Michael.
yes, thanks
Marty also gets a little peck of a kiss when he bothers Cheryl for one.
The dude that Michael arm wrestled the last time he was in the bar strolls by and demands a rematch. Michael is manhandled over to the arm wrestling table and immediately defeated.
The gender regime in this episode is one of the more interesting ones thus far, and Marty is the epicenter for part of it.
Marty is kind of nerdy, and I mean that in the modern sense, not the 80's sense; Knight Rider will later give us an absolutely agonizing portrayal of the 80's "nerd" stereotype and this isn't it. However, the gender regime here is not dissimilar to the one in the later nerd episode, and it goes like this.
Note that Marty has none of the common "hero" attributes. He is a self-professed coward. He wears glasses. He chews gum. He gets motion sickness. He has panic attacks. He wears really ugly suits. He is not athletic and it takes him 5x as long to get over a fence as it takes Michael Knight. He's intelligent, but in a bookish way.
Yet on two occasions he is helped by women, for no explained reason other than they seem to like him. The bartender in Albuquerque shields him by refusing to tell Michael anything about him, and calls Marty to warn him that someone is asking about him. Later the instructor in the gym shields him by telling Michael he isn't there, and only after Michael is gone does she bring Marty out of his hiding place. In fact, I think the bartender was made female specifically to play this role.
These two women essentially have no part in the script other than to assist Marty. Let's remember that Marty is kind of a nerd. Nerdy guys, this says, can still expect the assistance of women. It's not just the good-looking, dashing, heroic guys like Michael - any guy can expect women to be helpmeets for him. That's pretty empowering for nerdy guys, but not so much for women.
Bonnie barely appears in this episode, so I'm not going to talk about her. Instead, I'm going to talk about Cheryl. She also barely appears, but in her two brief scenes she manages to pack in some important messaging.
Cheryl is the damsel in distress. It may appear at first glance that she is the driver of the plot, since she is the one who calls Michael and gets him on the case. However, further analysis reveals that she is as much a victim of the plot as everyone else. It's not Cheryl who starts the ball rolling; it is Cheryl's predicament, which is caused by some unidentified "real murderer." The actual driver of the plot - the person who murdered Cheryl's boss in such a way as to get Cheryl framed for murder - never appears, is never named, and is not even given identifying features of any kind.
On this analysis, Cheryl is not an actor but a reactor. She reacts to her frame-up by calling on a resource: her friend Michael Knight. Nothing wrong in that inherently, but this makes her a sort of pass-through character. One actor, the real murderer, pulls Cheryl's string, and Cheryl in turn pulls Michael's; she serves to simply pass along the plot impetus.
There is a difference here, I think, between Cheryl's activation of Michael versus Robin Ladd's in the Deadly Maneuvers episode. Robin was not forced to call on Michael's help, nor was she acted upon directly by the villains in her plot. The main villainous act was not aimed at Robin, and her decision to ask Michael for assistance came out of a real choice: she could, reasonably, have chosen to leave well enough alone. Robin originates her own action, in response (but not reaction) to the actions of others. Cheryl's request to Michael is not a choice in the same sense. If she leaves well enough alone she is probably going to prison. Her "choice" is coerced in a way that Robin's is not.
This is perhaps reinforced by Cheryl's hysterics when Michael first arrives. Robin is never hysterical, but Cheryl is really firmly in the stereotype hole on this one. Note that she is also a victim of workplace sexual harassment, just to make sure we have the stereotype blanket wrapped around her nice and tight.
I'm glad that it was established prior to Cheryl's appearance that she is a "good friend" of Michael's. I think we are meant to assume that "good friend" means "lover" and I'm actually happy about that, because otherwise the way Michael puts his hands all over Cheryl would have been extremely creepy. It's only in the context of them being lovers that his eagerness to touch her face, hands, arms and any other part of her that he can reach seems like anything other than a gross violation. Even in this context, it is still potentially violative (past consent to sex does not constitute perpetual consent to any and all contact desired) but also potentially not. We can plausibly choose to interpret the touching as desired and not boundary-breaking, in a way that would not be possible had they just met yesterday.
In the epilogue, Cheryl thanks Michael. I mentioned earlier that I'm not sure that his help was actually all that, because "finding the real murderer" is a way better legal defense than "finding some dude who says you were in a bar that night," but okay, whatever. Note that she "thanks him" mainly by sucking face with him. I don't have much of a problem with that, given that I think they are at least sometimes-lovers - again, this is something that particular context renders much less offensive.
I do, however, have a big ol' problem with the fact that she "thanks" Marty the same way, by giving him a kiss ... a much shallower kiss, with no tongue, but a kiss on the lips nevertheless. Marty even prompts her for it. He expects to be kissed in thanks, and he feels put-upon by having to watch Cheryl mack on Michael without getting a piece of the action for himself. Really, Marty? Saying "thank you" isn't enough for you? You need a kiss, or you just don't feel properly thanked?
I'm put in mind here of the Robert Heinlein book I Will Fear No Evil. The book really makes this particular misogynist trope explicit by declaring (in as many words) that the best way for a woman to thank a man is by sleeping with him, implying that just saying "thank you" like a normal human being isn't enough when the grateful party is female.
Finally, on this note, I will point out that there is something bizarrely offensive about Michael's method of calming Marty down in the warehouse. Marty starts to think about all the ways this can go wrong and loses his nerve, so Michael sits him down and has him imagine himself on a boat with a woman he loves, oiling her down, and with her saying she loves him. This brings down Marty's panic and enables him to go through with the theft. The woman he pictures isn't present in reality, and is invoked simply to soothe Marty's nerves. She is described as being beautiful and available, and exists only for Marty.
KITT is unexpectedly out of contact with Michael for a couple of minutes in this episode, and as a result he causes a problem that later requires resolution. A guard spots him, comes over and tries the door handle, and KITT does not open his door. Good enough, right? Problem averted. The door is locked and nothing short of a nuclear device could get it open against KITT's will. So why does he feel a need to also move away?
It's pretty clear to me that KITT thinks being driven is violative if the driver is not Michael (which is why I keep analogizing it to sex - that's not just a running joke), but does he think being touched is an intrusion as well? This, along with a few other odds and ends, seems to say that yes, KITT thinks being touched is intrusive and to be avoided unless it comes from select individuals.
If true, this is a far deeper degree of bodily autonomy than one might expect from an AI. It's certainly greater than that which the women in the series typically exhibit.
One final thing, and this has nothing to do with women or with KITT, but with the fish tank in Dickerson's office. There is clearly no fish in that tank. I watched closely: there is something that is orange-colored but stationary near the bottom, and no motion appears in the water at any point. Even when Dickerson's partner is "feeding" the "fish," nothing moves in the water.
I created a little story for myself in my head, in which Dickerson thinks there is a fish in the tank. When he works late, he sometimes talks to the fish. In his imagination, it is friendly and loves him, and it doesn't come out when fed because it's shy - it will eat the food later. His partner knows the fish doesn't exist, but hasn't the heart to tell Dickerson; this is the only pet that Dickerson has ever had and the only other creature in the world that he loves and which he thinks loves him. The imaginary fish makes Dickerson happy in a way that a real fish never could.
That's all I got. 'Til next time!