- Title: Scarecrow and Mrs. King – Always Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth
- IMDb: link
Wayback Wednesday takes us to 80s Washington, D.C. and the unusual partnership between a housewife and a spy. When the American wife (Jane Kaczmarek) of a Middle Eastern Prince (Andres Aybar) returns to the United States on a tour with her husband, and needs someone local to show her around, the Agency taps Amanda (Kate Jackson) while Lee (Bruce Boxleitner), in head of security for the couple, works on uncovering who is behind the recent assassination attempts. The truth that oil baron, and longtime friend of the prince’s father, Bo Johnson (Morgan Woodward), who dislikes the modern thinking Penelope is filling her husband’s mind with, is the target of the attacks comes out at his ranch that weekend.
There are quite few stunt sequences in “Always Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth” including an explosion meant to take out Lee and several stunts on the ranch involving horses along with a brawl in the cowboy quarters. The stuntmen in some of the sequences are hard to miss, and the stunt involving a cliff and death trap left by Johnson is also a bit awkwardly pieced together given the technological limitations of the time.
All that said, the episode is quite enjoyable with the down-to-earth princess looking for a friend, Amanda’s anxiousness at spying on her, and Penelope making the wrong conclusion of Lee’s interest in Amanda (coming to believe the pair are having an affair). Along the way we also get a kids’ play, Lee going out a second-story window, and Francine (Martha Smith) once again commenting on being wasted at the office while Amanda runs into danger in the field (something Amanda remarks keeps happening and maybe, just maybe, it’s time for a little training for the Agency’s unofficial agent?).
