The Equalizers

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 22: Suicide Squad Aired on CBS: August 24, 1989 Directed by: Marc Laub Written by : Jacqueline Zambrano Featuring: Ving Rhames, Adam Coleman Howard, Joe Morton Ladies and gentelmen, we have arrived. The 88th and final episode of the hit 80s show The Equalizer, and the 94th and final episode of our podcast The Equalizers. The episode itself doesn't provide any closure...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 21: Endgame Aired on CBS: August 10, 1989 Directed by: Alan Metzger Written by : Coleman Luck Featuring: Elizabeth Berridge, Amy Morton, Lewis Van Bergen, Josef Sommer, Nick Bakay Penultimate episode! We all remember the gaming mastermind Leon from the 1980 movie Midnight Madness who set off five teams on an epic scavenger hunt just for his own whimsy. Similarly in E...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 20: Race Traitors Aired on CBS: June 29, 1989 Directed by: Robert E. Warren Written by : Robert Sabaroff Featuring: Laurence Fishburne, David Andrews, Michael Cerveris, Verna Bloom, John Cale The antipenultimate Equalizer episode. This one is... woo boy. The Equalizer is going against a local chapter of neonazi skinheads including a childhood friend of Mickey's. Does...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 19: Heart of Justice Aired on CBS: May 11, 1989 Directed by: Bradford May Written by : Gail Morgan Hickman Featuring: John Shepherd, Paul Guilfoyle, Vincent Gallo (!), Philip Bosco, Patty Mullen New York City in 1989. When the wheels of justice can't convict obviously guilty criminals because of legal loopholes, those criminals run free and, once they get drugged up,...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 18: The Caper Aired on CBS: May 4, 1989 Directed by: Alan Metzger Written by : Tom Towler Featuring: Maureen Stapleton, Laura San Giacomo, Zach Grenier, Michael Wincott A lighter episode of The Equalizer. Yes there's still some grisly violence but this time that's paired up with a lighter mystery plot, a diamond heist, and a spunky new sidekick for Robert McCall. EQ...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 17: Prisoners of Conscience Aired on CBS: April 27, 1989 Directed by: Marc Laub Written by : Robert Eisele Featuring: Tony Plana, Pat Hingle, Dan O'Herlihy, Tim Woodward (Edward's son!) Another Equalizer episode with international intrigue. Whereas last week dealt with Bulgarian ambassadors, this time we got a team of torturers in town working for the Chilean governm...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 16: Time Present, Time Past Aired on CBS: April 20, 1989 Directed by: Gordon Hessler Written by : Tom Towler Featuring: William Zabka, Shirley Knight, Brian Bedford, Dennis Boutsikaris A big episode for the larger Equalizer through-story: First, the second appearance of Kay: Equalizer's ex-wife and Scott's mother. Shirley Knight got a Best Guest Actress Emmy nominati...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 15: Starfire Aired on CBS: April 13, 1989 Directed by: Bradford May Written by : Robert Eisele Featuring: Michael Moriarty, George Plimpton, Wendell Pierce, Angela "you're what the french call les incompetents" Goethals Equalizer episode or early precursor to the X-Files? Another superlative episode, the most sci-fi episode to date. This one reinforces once again tha...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 14: 17 Zebra Aired on CBS: April 6, 1989 Directed by: Alan Metzger Written by : Jacqueline Zambrano Featuring: William Atherton, Cordelia González, Joe Seneca, Robert Joy Just like other epic shows like The Sopranos or Breaking Bad, we at this Equalizer podcast have a different schedule for the second half of our final season. In our case, what has usually been a wee...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 13: Lullaby of Darkness Aired on CBS: March 30, 1989 Directed by: David Jackson Written by : Coleman Luck Featuring: Stephen Lang, Ellen Latzen, Mary-Joan Negro, Vivian Nathan, Jacqueline Brookes Stephen Lang - the villainous Colonel Miles Quaritch in Avatar - is similarly evil in this one, though his victims aren't the Na'vis but rather his character's own wife and...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 12: Silent Fury Aired on CBS: March 8, 1989 Directed by: Russ Mayberry Written by : Donna Powers & Wayne Powers Featuring: Cynthia Nixon, Howie Seago, Jon Polito, Paul McCrane, Mark Boone Junior, Beth Ann Bull Another Equalizer special episode. This time he is helping the victims of a band of burglars who target deaf people. Among them, a young Cynthia Nixon in a...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 11: Trial By Ordeal Aired on CBS: March 1, 1989 Directed by: Marc Laub Written by : Coleman Luck Featuring: Roy Dotrice, Sylvia Sidney Equalizer clip show! Control is on trial by an Agency Tribunal, with a judge and prosecutor and big agency flag and everything. The agency thinks that all the help Control has given The Equalizer could be considered treason, so they r...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 10: Past Imperfect Aired on CBS: February 15, 1989 Directed by: Russ Mayberry Written by : Gail Morgan Hickman Featuring: Mark Margolis, Hector Elizondo, Katherine Cortez, Jose Edwin Soto A bittersweet episode, given the recent passing of Mark Margolis. It's his last episode as lovable Jimmy on The Equalizer and packs the most emotional punch. Jimmy acts as Big Broth...

The Equalizer 3 movie! Holy cow. How often does it happen on a podcast for a 35 year old show that a new movie in the franchise comes out? Not often at all. For Chris and Chuck, it's a lot of firsts - the first podcast field trip (to a Chicago suburb halfway between our respective suburbs), the first mid-season bonus episode, and the first time we've seen the character Robert McCall, whom we have...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 9: The Visitation Aired on CBS: February 1, 1989 Directed by: Bradford May Written by : Robert Eisele Featuring: Jenny Agutter, James Tolkan, Leonardo Cimino, Mike Starr, Mel Gorham The Equalizer has an Outbreak episode - EQ has to stop a deadly disease from spreading outside of New York City. You may think you know what to expect from an episode like this, but the c...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 8: The Sins of Our Fathers Aired on CBS: January 18, 1989 Directed by: Paul Krasny Written by : Tom Towler Featuring: J. Smith-Cameron, Al Shannon, Yvonne Wilder, Austin Pendleton, Joe Morton, Michael Sergio A mobster's son is kidnapped; EQ helps his wife extricate her son from the inevitability of a life in the mafia. On the whole this is a rather thin episode consi...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 7: Making of a Martyr Aired on CBS: January 11, 1989 Directed by: Bradford May Written by : Wayne Powers & Donna Powers Featuring: Tom Noonan, Barbara Williams, Sally Jessy Raphael (as herself) First episode of 1989. This is a very special episode that doesn't seem to know what to do with its very special topic. How is The Equalizer - who in the 3 1/3 seasons we'...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 6: Splinters Aired on CBS: December 14, 1988 Directed by: Paul Krasny Written by : Coleman Luck Featuring: Kevin Conway Richard Bright, Christopher Meloni (1st credit), David Brisbin The KGB tries to reprogram Mickey's mind to turn on the Equalizer. But there's one thing the KGB didn't plan on: Mickey's heart, filled with love you can only get when you loyally assist...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 3: Day of the Covenant Aired on CBS: December 7, 1988 Directed by: James A. Contner Written by : Robert Eisele Featuring: Kasi Lemmons, William Zabka, Theodore Bikel, Michael Genet, Tobin Bell There are two sides to this episode. On one hand is a relatively tight plot about a violent resistance movement to the Apartheid, including an opening segment of footage from S...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 4: Eighteen with a Bullet Aired on CBS: November 16, 1988 Directed by: Richard Compton Written by : Bruce A. Taylor Featuring: Bruce Payne, Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick (Vitamin C), Amy Morton, and Ken Obert (Remote Control!) The Equalizer dives into the hollow amoral music industry. A slimy agent, Greg Rivers, is trying to take advantage of a new young talent, Beverly He...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 3: Riding the Elephant Aired on CBS: November 9, 1988 Directed by: Donald Petrie Written by : M.K. Lorens Featuring: James Hong, Mako, Russell Wong, Elizabeth Sung The Equalizer dives deep into a great story set in the gritty side of Chinatown. Lots of action, a love story, father/son drama, importing heroin, a seedy club/massage parlor called The Rose of Bangkok, ex...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 2: Sea of Fire Aired on CBS: November 2, 1988 Directed by: Alan Metzger Story by : Peter McCabe, Teleplay by : Peter McCabe & Coleman Luck Featuring: Keith David, Reginald VelJohnson, David Strathairn (!), Seret Scott There is another street gang in the Equalizer universe, and just like the others, it has no apparent business plan or any kind of plan really outsi...

The Equalizer Season 4 Episode 1: The Last Campaign Aired on CBS: October 26, 1988 Directed by: Richard Compton Written by : Lee Batchler & Janet Scott Batchler Featuring: Stanley Tucci (!), Laila Robins, E.G. Marshall, Wendell Pierce We're back, baby! Season 4 of the Equalizers podcast is officially afoot, and the original Equalizer gives us another classic to start us off. Stanley Tucci as a...

The Equalizers Clip Show Celebration! Before kicking off season four, Chris and Chuck dust off their matching tuxes, rent out the closest thing the Chicagoland area has to the Acadamy Awards' Dolby Theater (the Hyatt O'Hare in Rosemont), and host the first ever Equalizers podcast clip show! For the special occasion, your humble hosts have picked out a few clips from the most recent podcast season:...

Bonus Episode: Review a DVD Featurette: The Story of The Equalizer Featuring: Keith Szarabajka, William Zabka, Coleman Luck, Robert Eisele We're between seasons now so it's a fun time to cover some different territory... but not that different. We watched a 45 minute featurette included in an Equalizer DVD set called The Story of The Equalizer. We all know the show deserves a sweeping documentary...