Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Hunter, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1991. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!
This week, Hunter and McCall are in South America.
Episode 2.7 “Rape and Revenge: Part Two”
(Dir by Richard A. Colla and Gary Winter, originally aired on November 9th, 1985)
Picking up where last week’s episode ended, Hunter, with the help of an orphaned street urchin named Iggy (Dan Ponce), has managed to track down where Raoul Mariano lives in Curaguay. He’s also learned that the country is controlled by the brutal secret police and that Mariano is the son of a feared general (Michael Ansara). Hunter has also arranged for a burned-out American named Jimmy Crackin (Larry Hankin) to fly him over the border to the safety of Bolivia. Of course, Hunter won’t be leaving until after he’s killed Mariano….
What Hunter did not count on was McCall suddenly showing up and asking him not to assassinate Mariano on her behalf. Even after Hunter points out that Mariano is going to get away with all of his crimes otherwise, McCall argues that Hunter should not put his life in danger to kill him.
Hunter disagrees. However, he doesn’t assassinate Mariano. Instead, when he confronts Mariano, Hunter gives Mariano a gun to keep things fair. When Mariano opens fire, Hunter shoots back in self-defense and kills him. Essentially, this was all so Hunter could avoid being portrayed as a cold-blooded killer. If this episode were made today, Hunter would have no hesitation about shooting Mariano, whether he had a gun or not.
Mariano is killed early on in the episode. The rest of the running time is taken up with Hunter, McCall, and Iggy trying to get to the helicopter in time to make their escape. Fortunately, it turns out that the Curaguayan army is no match for a determined Los Angeles homicide detective in a big car. The episode ends with the helicopter flying towards Bolivia, taking Hunter, McCall, and even little Iggy to freedom.
(To be honest, it still seems like this would all lead to an international incident of some sort but whatever.)
Compared to Part One, the second part of “Rape and Revenge” is pretty much just a straight-out action story. It was satisfying to watch Mariano meet his fate. That said, I could have done without Iggy the talkative urchin. I think he was mostly included to soften the fact that this episode was basically about Hunter trying to murder someone.
Next week, Hunter and McCall will be back in Los Angeles!
