H.E.A.T. BEAT

[Sandy Sandfort <sandfort@crl.com>]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                         SANDY SANDFORT
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

H.E.A.T. seeking C'punks,

                      "Code Name: Assassin"

In this episode, we see the return of H.E.A.T. archnememis, Neil
Strake.  (For those who haven't seen Acapulco H.E.A.T., Strake is
played by James Healing who does an extremely bad imitation of
bad (French?) actor, Louis Jordan.)

Anyway, forget the plot, it is even more Byzantine and illogical
than usual.  Suffice it to say that Strake shoots Mike--on Mike's
birthday--in an attempts to kill him.  Mike is in a coma through
most of the show.  The special cartridge has "Happy Birthday"
written on it; the bullet is inscribed, "Mike." (Wow, talk about
a bullet having your name on it.)

This episode was unique in the number of flashbacks and fantasies
it offers:

(1)   Mike goes into cardiac arrest on the operating table.
      Instead of having the currently popular NDE (near
      death experience; dark tunnel, white light, life
      review, etc.), Mike has a fantasy dream of fighting in
      a boxing match.  (He gets knocked out.)

(2)   When the Team fingers Strake, Ashley has a flashback
      to the previous Strake episode, thus practicing the
      parsimony of recycling.

(3)   Later at Mike's bedside, Ashley has another flashback
      about the two of them.  She then sweet talks him in
      his coma and tells him not to die.

(4)   After Ashley talks to him, Mike has another fantasy
      dream boxing match in which he KOs his opponent.

(5)   Finally, Strake goes to a disco for no apparent
      reason.  There he first dances with a beautiful
      quadroon.  He drops her for an Anglo-looking woman.
      During his dance with the Anglo, he fantasized that
      she is Ashley (he has an obsession with Ashley).  The
      dance is meant to be erotic, but it's just silly, even
      when they virtually fornicate on the dance floor.

Here are the crypto/techno elements:

(1)   The cartridge is a ".223 nitro express," which is made
      by only one man, a guy named Sabross.

(2)   Krissie uses the H.E.A.T. computers headquarters to
      "patch" into the surveillance camera system of the
      prison in which Strake is supposedly incarcerated.
      This takes her all of 10 seconds.

(3)   The person in prison is not Strake, but an imposter
      whose appearance has been altered by plastic surgery
      to look, sound and act just like Strake.

(4)   Strake plants a radio controlled bomb at Mike's
      "funeral" (don't ask), which the Team discovers in a
      sweep of the chapel.

There were several good lines in this episode.  In a face-to-face
encounter between Ashley and Strake, he says something about how
he sees the world and Ashley says, "Don't they call that
schizophrenia?"  To which he replies, "Only the people who get
paid to put a name on it, then get paid even more to cure it.

While Strake is putting his bomb together he opines, "I love the
smell of C4 in the morning."

During the funeral, Strake pulls out the radio detonator and
says, "One flick of my finger and you're all taco meat."  (Don't
laugh, have you ever eaten a taco in Mexico?)

There were tons of bikinis in the beech scenes (strangely, there
were only beautiful women on the beach).  The disco people looked
hot, and there was no Fabio!

Tune in next week--same H.E.A.T. channel, same H.E.A.T. time--for
the further adventures of Acapulco H.E.A.T.


 S a n d y

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~