FinaleWatch: 'Knight Rider' takes on the Hulk

The entire season of Knight Rider came down to one last episode (they usually do), and it was an episode on steroids. Literally. Steroids were involved, or really, super steroids, super duper extra-high tech steroids.

As it happens, there was this "Human Potentiality Project" which developed a serum that could make people super strong (think about what Barry Bonds could have done with that). The government would have loved that stuff, which was good because they were paying for it, but it had been stolen, which is where the nice folks from FLAG came in (that would be the Foundation for Law and Government, aka "that group of people from Knight Industries that do good deeds with that cool car").

Michael went to check it out, question the lab assistant, the doc in charge, that kind of thing. That plan went perfectly, right up until masked gunmen came in, killed the doc, stole the rest of the serum, and nearly got Michael arrested (the army thought he had something to do with it, what with the blood on his hands from putting pressure on the doc's GSW).

Not to worry, Michael got free and clear with some help from Billy and tracked the thieves to a pretty swell club. While Michael did get caught at the club and was fed copious amounts of liquid, he still managed to escape and put an evil lady in his trunk on his way out. Thank goodness KITT can drive himself, because Michael was in no condition to drive. He was however in a condition to stop off for burgers. Which he did (I hope he went to In-n-Out, I've been hankering for a double-double, animal style, whole grilled onions, extra toast for so long).

While sobering up is usually a good thing, in Michael's case it didn't work out so well. His BAC was back to normal just in time to track the serum to a sale, a sale that didn't go as planned and led our head baddy, Galt, to take some of the serum himself in order to effect his escape. It was an impressive changeover, Galt became five times stronger than an average human, and got all violent. In other words, he went Hulk (minus the green and ripped clothes). Bill Bixby would have been proud by the inner transformation.

Of course, if you've been paying attention, and who isn't riveted by every last plot detail the show has to offer, that only explained the second set of drugs that got stolen, not the first. Those were stolen by Matheson, the now dead doc in charge of the lab. Yes, the serum wasn't stolen as much as it was used by the doc on himself. That's all well and good, it explained where all the vials went, but it didn't amuse Hulk who still wanted to complete the sale he'd organized. It also didn't take care of Hulk himself, who kind of kidnapped the lab tech so that she could synthesize more serum. There was a moment or two when I was so expecting him to say "Galt mad!" but it never happened. Definitely an opportunity missed.

As we careened towards the finale, I thought the show was going to start micropipetting on us. I should have known better. Michael pretended like he had more serum and arranged a transfer of the "serum" and his hostage for Hulk's. With the added knowledge Billy had, that sound waves would hurt Hulk, it was pretty much a done deal. Yes, things looked bad for a minute or two during the final battle, but Billy showed up to save his lab tech/would-be paramour and it all worked out for FLAG in the end.

Some final bits, pieces, and thoughts:

• At one point tonight, Zoe accessed the government databases using Alex Torres' hidden password. How did she know the password? Good question. Well, as she explained it, she has "perfect pitch" and each key on a keyboard makes a distinctive sound, so she just sort of happened to memorize the password. Logic... so full of holes... hurts... brain... must... let it go...
• You know, I'll actually be sad to see this show disappear (there's nothing official yet), I really feel like it hits stride during the second half of the season. Michael and KITT's repartee has become fun, and the show itself has managed to find the right mix of action and goofy. Great it wasn't, but it certainly was heading in the right direction.
• The final question of the Knight - would you, could you, have changed one thing about this season of Knight Rider, what would it have been? Me, I'm saying it needed more high-speed car action.

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