Bluff the Imposter: Either involving someone from McCall's spy past trying to get him to reveal or betray a still-relevant secret, or involving McCall trying to earn the confidence of a wary high-profile target.Robert McCall's services at the very least, help make NYC safer for individuals who ask his help. The Big Rotten Apple: Just like in real life at the time, New York City was certainly NOT the safest place in the world in the 1980's.Berserk Button: Rape and hurting or exploiting children will send McCall into a rage that may overcome his usual iron control over how far he will go to punish or see that the perpetrator(s) don't ever do anything of the like again.Like I always say, why break a dude's kneecaps when you can mess with his mind? Comes under the category of diversion and psychological warfare.īump: You've come to the right man. The Atoner: McCall helps people partly to expunge his guilt over the amoral things he did as part of The Firm.One shot of Control's New York office shows an out of focus plaque that is still recognisable as being the CIA seal. Not actually calling it the CIA gets around the issue of how the mysterious Agency can legally operate inside the United States. Anonymous Ringer: McCall's former employer is only referred to as "The Agency" or "The Company", both well-known nicknames for the CIA.I thought I was the only one who called you the Equalizer." Appropriated Appellation: In the first episode an associate of McCall says "I saw your ad.Spoofed on the Late Show when David Letterman rang the number and ends up talking to a woman in Information. The phone number on the Equalizer's newspaper advertisement. The episode ends on McCall picking up the phone to offer his services. Then a sobbing woman is heard begging for help on his answering machine. 10-Minute Retirement: After one case ends badly, McCall decides to give up his We Help the Helpless gig.Since 2021, CBS has aired a modern reboot of the show starring Queen Latifah as a gender flipped McCall. However, the US release has many of the songs, and some of the score removed, or replaced (copyright stuff).Ī film of the series, with Denzel Washington starring as McCall, was released in 2014, and had a sequel in 2018, with a third film in development. McCall also reluctantly does assignments for his former boss, known only as Control (Robert Lansing), who in payment turns a blind eye to this wholesale 'borrowing' of Agency personnel.Īs of 2016, all 4 seasons have been released on DVD in both US and Europe. Notable among these - more so in later years, when health problems forced actor Woodward to slow down - is recurring sidekick Mickey Kostmayer ( Keith Szarabajka), a junior agent who doesn't quite understand what drives McCall's crusade but is ferociously loyal anyway (it's stated in one episode that Mickey had been convicted of fragging his superior officer, and McCall proved his innocence). He is helped in his investigations by contacts acquired during his intelligence years, ranging from scientists to mercenaries. There is not a lot in the way of redemption, on this series, and what there is has been hard-earned. His fees are nominal and frequently waived altogether, while his services inevitably go far beyond simple bodyguarding.Ī standard episode generally begins with the Equalizer convincing his reluctant client that hiring what appears to be a Brit-accented Charles Bronson is a good idea - or, occasionally, explaining why 'just shooting them all' is not the answer - and ends with the execution of a complex (and often cruelly ironic) extended mindgame that leaves his opponents so crazed that they're either sobbing for mercy or forcing McCall to shoot them in self-defense. In keeping with this dedication to the grey areas, the Equalizer's clients are usually average New York City citizens seeking protection from stalkers, neighborhood hoodlums, abusive husbands, corrupt politicians, crooked businessmen and other largely untouchable villains. (Well, that and the cool Stewart Copeland soundtrack - check out the intro ) The series' expert juxtaposition of all of these elements - and the flat refusal to apologise for or justify any of them - is what has made it a cult classic. He is a ruthless and pragmatic man, a killer many times over - but also a sensitive and honorable man, whose humanity has somehow survived years of terrible disillusionment. The character's past is never fully revealed to the audience, but is implied to be full of amoral shadows and secrets. It starred British actor Edward Woodward as Robert McCall aka 'The Equalizer', a retired spy who assists people in need by way of atoning for his past actions as a premier agent of the. An action-adventure television series originally broadcast on the CBS Network between 19.
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