Steele Obsessed With You: Remington Steele Rewatch (Episode 3)

The sophomore episode of Remington Steele has always annoyed me, and perhaps played into the initial balking at a proper re-watch of the series (along with some scheduling conflicts with my watch buddy, Bad Wolf). So, a bit older and wiser, let's all jump to one of my long-time favorite episodes of the first season.

Season 1 Episode 3: Steele Waters Run Deep 

Rigged up with a shaky grasp of technobabble ... this episode dips its toe into the dangerous world of gaming--arcade gaming, that is. While Laura waits in the office for Remington to come and "close" a security deal with the owner of a franchise of 30 or 40 supermarkets (George D. Wallace) ...

Remington reluctantly leaves his posh apartment (already decked out in those mounted 1940s posters my 16 year old self would have sold her soul for). 

Though no real human eats that many grapes for breakfast unless he is a Roman emperor

But outside the complex, Remington is snatched by some part-time hooligans in partially destroyed denim and driven to an underground warehouse. There he meets his real abductor, a squirrelly inventor and programmer of immensely popular video game consuls (Peter Scolari). Apparently one of his company's founding partners has up and disappeared with the new prototype (which is a huge Atari-ish arcade, so no small feat). Now, if only Laura could be persuaded to see the high romance in missing motherboards. 

Actual quote and I agree. Most comforting. First thing I visit in a new city. 

Feminist Rating: Season 1 Episode 3 

3.75/5

Laura holds her own, but with a shrewish demeanor almost as rough as her march of tweed skirts. Still, she has good reason to be irritable, as Remington is hardly more than an untamed manchild this early in season 1. 

And as usual, she's juggling about 15 more real-life problems (THAT WE KNOW OF*) than Remington, so once again, I'm inclined to forgive the sour attitude. And excellent if confusing menswear was premiered. 

I auditioned as Marion for Raiders and all I got was this crummy Prime Time TV show

Fashion Flashback

Pay no attention to the Laura photo bomb. These folks are sporting some serious geek CHIC. I mean, one of them is probably evil but I think we can all appreciate the dedication to Silicon Valley haute-couture. 

Creeper of the Week

Blind sound designer who asks Laura, "May I touch your face?" when he she sets off the alarm in the warehouse at night. Face also means neck now, FYI. 

Laura acquiescing to get information may or may not affect her feminist point average. (What do you think? Ballsy, methinks.)

Relics!

Video game companies as run through the Groucho Marx Quote Generator.

Classic Movie Reference of the Week

"I make it about two miles off shore, North by Northwest."

Wittiest Response

Between ...

"I sit behind a computer all day, I'm not programmed for that kind of trouble!"

And everything these two dish up. (Spin OFF! spin OFF!)

Relationship Road

Laura moves from stern disapproval of Remington to "let's pretend to be lovers as we wait for someone to start shooting" as soon as they find themselves "alone" on the docks. Practically third base where Laura is concerned. So far, my theory that Laura is mostly turned on by five things ...

1. Stakeouts

2. Wind

3. The Outdoors

4. Lying
5. Ugly carpeting

... is firmly supported by this episode. 

Final Questions

I think this might be the episode that inspired the addition of Mildred in season 2. I mean, the ending with Mr. Arnok (spoiler), refusing to get on that plane at the end because he thinks he's found his calling in private detective work?! The perfect formula, just missing the right raw data. [Don't hate on the metaphor, I have no coding or maths skills.]

*Theoretically, at any time Remington "might" be dealing with a number of mundane problems or past demons that we aren't allowed to see because it would spoil the allure. I hear there was to be a book on the subject, The Remington Mystique, but traditional second-wave-ian Betty Friedan was offended, and in the end, it wasn't greenlit. For the best, I'm sure. As the conversation goes in this very episode:

Laura: Ah yes, the mysterious past. Never to be revealed. 

Remington: What for? The one you've created for me is perfect. Why puncture it with something tedious, like the truth? 

Steele Obsessed With You: Remington Steele Re-watch (Episode 1)

We are two steele-hearted females from the American Midwest ... Miranda and Bad Wolf, 80's & 90's kids respectively ... collaborating to honor our most sacred and "ancient" common ground. Here's to making the relic of Remington Steele REAL again to another generation (or just like five potential readers).

Season 1: Episode 1. License to Steele 

(see here for summary)

No one in this first episode is who they seem to be. Everyone is pretending  to be (and/or being mistaken for) someone they're not.

This ambitious dedication to different versions of the long-con ultimately brings international man of mystery Richard Blaine/Remington Steele (Pierce Brosnan) and detective Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) together in a common quest to maintain public image status-quo; while they secretly indulge in their mutual addiction to excitement and deception.

Also, we learn that sexism is as ugly as the 80's day-player characters who thrive on it.

Feminism Rating: Episode 1

                                        Feminist Points Awarded: 5/5                                           

Laura as the backseat driver. Brilliant visual metaphor. 

1. In an episode with murder and international crime and rampant deception from all sides, it is sexism and that annoying "good-old-boy" mindset which receive the blackest ethical marks. 

2. In a merciless fashion, this episode sets up Laura Holt's central (feminist) problem: that she is a genius entrepreneurial private eye going completely unrecognized and unsought-after just because she is a woman. Unrecognized, that is, until she creates a fake, perfect boss called Remington Steele. Then her cases come rolling in. What she doesn't expect is having to deal with a real life person "impersonating" the perfect Mr. Steele . . . an imposter that gets (and will continue to get) all the credit and glory (while she does most of the work). Note: this first episode paints such a frustrating picture of Laura's situation that we found it a hard re-watch. 

3. This show did "socially conscious female detective" way, way before Veronica Mars. Even from this first episode, it manages to mix the wit and wisdom of fast-talking dames from the screwball era, the noir tropes of Raymond Chandler & and his ilk, AND the "new" awareness of women's struggles in the workplace. We'll talk a lot about HOW the show does all this in future episode posts.

Fashion Flashback

Laura won in this episode, fashion-wise. Nobody else could hold a candle to her style, especially when she was wearing the red-number at the car-unveiling/Remington Steele unmasking party.

Sorry for the blurriness, but this is one of the only full-length moments we get of this fabulous, gravity-defying (how DOES Laura's chest stay up?) dress. 

Also, this smart, Lauren Bacall-reminiscent suit from the beginning of the episode:

Ok, Ok. There was this, too. 

Relics! 

Steele/Pearson's car. The blue Mercedes.

We don't think it shows up again after this episode (it was probably stolen anyway), but we love it. Not as much as LATER cars that we will document ad nauseum, but a fine beginning nonetheless. [Miranda: My SUV is jealous anyway. . . ]

Also, a makeshift developing room. How quaint.

Classic movie reference of the week: 

Wittiest Response

Corporate ass to Remington: I thought you'd be older . . .

Remington: Oh, I can age on demand.

Relationship Road 

Ok, so if you've seen this show, you know that it's about feminism, neo-noir, throwback 1930's comedy, and the will-they-won't-they/power struggle-oriented relationship between Remington and Laura.

And this was really a "set-up" episode in every sense of the word. Laura and Remington's future struggles were accurately foreshadowed in a couple of lines like this one:

And this one directed at poor, brotherly Murphy:

Yay for a constant barrage of double entendres! Also, for a pilot episode, the dialogue is first class.

Final Questions

"Is it just me, or were people uglier in the 80's? Or maybe it was just a nationwide Burt Reynolds hangover."
~Miranda

"What the heck is a Magnum?"
~Bad Wolf