Season 1, Episode 4: Reseda Rose

Season 1, Episode 4: Reseda Rose

Original airdate: April 15, 1981

This episode didn't grab me. Maybe because it's the second one in a row involving Russian bad guys. But I guess it makes sense: the aliens did want Ralph and Bill to save the world, and in the 80's, that meant fighting the Russians and/or avoiding nuclear war.

There's a Russian submarine hiding 3 miles off the California coast. It's in radio contact with two people who work at Technitron Incorporated, where some kind of top secret laser research is being done. The man operating the radio has an 80's porn mustache. The other man, Eric Simpson, finds an earring in a drawer of his desk. That same drawer contains top-secret files, so there's been a security breach. (Another one, in addition to the two Russian spies, that is. The original security breach has itself been breached.)

It doesn't take long for the Russians to figure out that the earring belongs to Rose, mother of Rhonda, one of Ralph's students. The Russians grab Rose as soon as she steps out of the house on the way to her night job.

The next morning, we see the various sides of Ralph's life collide. His ex-wife Alicia shows up to take their son Kevin for the weekend, including a trip to Marineland. (Hey, it's been a while since we've been reminded that Kevin exists!) Immediately upon arrival, she gets a phone call from her agent--she's an aspiring actress--and can't pass up the chance for an important gig. Ralph and Pam agree to take Kevin
to Marineland, and Alicia is out the door again. Then Bill drives up to remind Ralph about some FBI business he already promised to help with, leaving Pam to take Kevin out herself. And THEN Rhonda drives up to tell Ralph that her mother is missing. Ralph agrees to check the cocktail lounge where Rose works while he's out with Bill.

Bill's assignment seems strangely relevant to the NSA controversy going on today. He has a list of people in the city whom the FBI has deemed security risks. He's supposed to make sure their addresses are all current, which means visiting each of them personally, but Bill wants to use Ralph's vision-powers to spy on each person while parked nearby. That way, they never have to leave the car, and Bill can quit early and go fishing. Ralph is critical when he finds out some of the reasons people end up on the list. "This government actually has a guy under surveillance because he went to the [Bolshoi] ballet?" "Well Ralph, there is a Red spy network in this country. We're almost positive."

Bill and Ralph visit the lounge, whose owner tells them Rose never showed up for work last night. He also tells them that he was beaten up by two thugs who believed that Rose stole a letter they were looking for, and that she also works part-time as a file clerk at Technitron.

Ralph and Bill catch up with the thugs at Technitron, catching them red-handed as they're breaking in. Ralph, in the suit, flies one of the thugs to a high window ledge on the outside of the building; the thug is afraid of heights, and is easily intimidated into spilling everything, including their employer's name and address. They were hired by Eric Simpson to kidnap Rose and retrieve Simpson's documents. Bill knows that Technitron makes top secret weapon components for the government, so now he's just as interested in finding Rose as Ralph is.

Ralph flies to Simpson's house, finds Rose there, and incapacitates mustache guy (named John Smith, apparently) before Bill and the cops arrive. But Smith turns on the porch light, warning Simpson to stay away from the house. Ralph leaves to avoid the cops.

Everyone meets back at Ralph's house: Pam and Kevin are waiting there, Ralph brings Rhonda, and Bill brings Rose. Alicia also shows up to finally take Kevin off Ralph's hands for a while, and to criticize Pam and Ralph's parenting skills. "This is why I think this custody case is so important: no one seems to be spending any time with the child!"

Bill's still upset that he hasn't caught Simpson, so he, Ralph, and Pam return to the scene of the crime. Literally: there's police "Crime Scene" tape across the door of Simpson's house, and they break it. So much for Bill's by-the-book ethos. Sure, he's always gotten a kick out of being able to using Ralph's powers as a short cut, but maybe last week's lie-detector incident is making him care a bit less about the rules? Ralph can't get any holographic "vibes" about Simpson, but Pam finds a stack of programs from ballet shows, which reminds Bill of the guy on the FBI security risk list, whom he and Ralph were talking about at the beginning of the episode. On a hunch, they visit that guy's home and follow him to the beach, where all the Russian spies in the area have gathered to rendezvous with the sub.

With no time to call for backup, it's up to Bill and Ralph--but mostly Ralph--to scare away the sub and catch 13 spies. Ralph crashes and pounds on the sub's hull, then flies back to shore to punch everybody at super-speed. It's over so quickly, it's surprisingly anticlimactic. The episode focussed so much on introducing new characters and making them bounce off each other to comic effect, the superhero stuff felt like an afterthought. Meh. Meh, I say!

-In a brief coda, the main trio are having drinks at the lounge with Rose and Rhonda. Rose has no trouble spilling details about the top-secret project that even Bill isn't allowed to talk about. So she's a security risk! Is she on the list now?