When the device that controls America's nuclear weapons goes missing, a nuclear attack is the result, and Frank Parker is sent back in time to stop the disaster before it happens.
This is, without a doubt, the most stupid episode of anything I have ever seen. The even more stupid thing is that it's actually hugely enjoyable, and I have no real idea why.
The first thing you have to get past is the set-up. Why the President's entire entourage, including the man himself, would leave without the football (which is handcuffed to a man visiting the toilets) is impossible to explain. Still, if you think that's bad, you wait until the ludicrous ending involving an ape. You have to admire the bravado of the plotting here, as the football goes from person to increasingly more unlikely person by surprisingly convincing means. If there's any criticism, it's that there is a point about halfway through where you just wish Parker and Olga (also on the trail) would just get the damn case back.
The only reason this comes off is because it's a virtual two-hander featuring Frank and Olga. Getting to know each other a little better and exchanging barbed comments, Justina Vail and Jonathan LaPaglia have never been better, as Olga tries to show she's no stuck-up prudish scientist and Frank attempts to show he's more than a man running on animal instinct and failing miserably. Taking Olga out of the base gives Vail free rein and she's a revelation, especially when forced to strip for the good of the world.
Overall then, as long as you can ignore the sheer ridiculousness of the storyline, this episode is not a bad 45 minutes of pure entertainment.
***
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