(extra points if you recognize where the title of this review came from)
I find "Caper" an endlessly entertaining and rewatchable episode. Primarily because it's like 90% of Dungeons & Dragons and similar RPG scenarios I've ever been in. The players come up with ideal super-perfect plan and never anticipate anything going wrong. Then they get into the adventure, and just a few failed die rolls, or a few things they didn't anticipate, get thrown in and their entire plan goes out the window.
"Caper" is like that. The first ten minutes are dedicated to Ray describing his perfect plan. Nothing goes wrong, everything goes right, and the plan goes without a hitch. In... his imagination. Then his plan hits reality and things blow up in spectacular style. The expert thief is stuck in prison and palms off an idiot as his substitute. The fake captain that Ray has brought along isn't half as convincing as he thinks, and the plan to replace the real captain goes awry when it turns out he has papers that Ray didn't anticipate. And the femme fatale's efforts to seduce a male guard never pan out, either because he isn't interested or (implied) is homosexual.
The plan manages to work in the end, but more through luck and Ray working up a contingency plan before he ever started.
The episode also skewers all of those "Mission Impossible-" and "Leverage"- type shows where the team plan goes as clockwork, no one screws up, and they easily overcome any contrivances that come their way.
Todd Susman as the idiot thief, Frankie Doyle, is the MVP of the episode. He's so stupid that you wonder how Frankie ever survived prior to this episode. Or you wonder how Frankie survived this episode, since Ray (Nick Mancuso) is on the verge of strangling Frankie half the time. Whether he's dealing with a malfunctioning winch on the side of an ocean liner, or using a little too much explosive, or Ray going on about dominoes falling and Frankie cheerfully asking "How many of those dominoes are there?", Susman's Frankie is gloriously stupid.
It's also nice to see Mancuso playing Ray as a less than perfect mystery man. He's usually calm, collected, and mysterious. Here he plays a real-life Jim Phelps as everything conspires to thwart his plan and he all but has a nervous breakdown. Chapman and Mandan as the other incompetents on the team are also good, but Susman is the standout.
"Caper" is also a relatively rare turn at comedy for the series. One of the virtues of 'Stingray' was that Stephen Cannell & Co. could do anything. Comedy, drama, supernatural, serial killers, crime dramas, and in the case of "Caper", comedy/parody/satire of other shows.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
I find "Caper" an endlessly entertaining and rewatchable episode. Primarily because it's like 90% of Dungeons & Dragons and similar RPG scenarios I've ever been in. The players come up with ideal super-perfect plan and never anticipate anything going wrong. Then they get into the adventure, and just a few failed die rolls, or a few things they didn't anticipate, get thrown in and their entire plan goes out the window.
"Caper" is like that. The first ten minutes are dedicated to Ray describing his perfect plan. Nothing goes wrong, everything goes right, and the plan goes without a hitch. In... his imagination. Then his plan hits reality and things blow up in spectacular style. The expert thief is stuck in prison and palms off an idiot as his substitute. The fake captain that Ray has brought along isn't half as convincing as he thinks, and the plan to replace the real captain goes awry when it turns out he has papers that Ray didn't anticipate. And the femme fatale's efforts to seduce a male guard never pan out, either because he isn't interested or (implied) is homosexual.
The plan manages to work in the end, but more through luck and Ray working up a contingency plan before he ever started.
The episode also skewers all of those "Mission Impossible-" and "Leverage"- type shows where the team plan goes as clockwork, no one screws up, and they easily overcome any contrivances that come their way.
Todd Susman as the idiot thief, Frankie Doyle, is the MVP of the episode. He's so stupid that you wonder how Frankie ever survived prior to this episode. Or you wonder how Frankie survived this episode, since Ray (Nick Mancuso) is on the verge of strangling Frankie half the time. Whether he's dealing with a malfunctioning winch on the side of an ocean liner, or using a little too much explosive, or Ray going on about dominoes falling and Frankie cheerfully asking "How many of those dominoes are there?", Susman's Frankie is gloriously stupid.
It's also nice to see Mancuso playing Ray as a less than perfect mystery man. He's usually calm, collected, and mysterious. Here he plays a real-life Jim Phelps as everything conspires to thwart his plan and he all but has a nervous breakdown. Chapman and Mandan as the other incompetents on the team are also good, but Susman is the standout.
"Caper" is also a relatively rare turn at comedy for the series. One of the virtues of 'Stingray' was that Stephen Cannell & Co. could do anything. Comedy, drama, supernatural, serial killers, crime dramas, and in the case of "Caper", comedy/parody/satire of other shows.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?