#plz let me hug kitt

[stars-over-new-jersey]

Knight Rider 2x11: "Knightmares"

Um, wow.

KITT is really not having a good time of it this season.

Stuffed into an undignified costume, ripped out of his body, then dumped into a swamp full of mud and gator traps... and then after all of that, Michael forgets about him, runs away from him, and then worst of all, tries to SHOOT KITT!

I mean, the bullets are going to do sweet diddly squat to KITT. But having his driver, best friend, and constant companion fear him to the point that he treats KITT as a threat and uses deadly force against him had to really hurt for KITT. Hell, it was heartbreaking for me.

Then when April's programming kicks in and KITT traps Michael it got worse. Didn't they think about what would happen if Michael objected and tried to leave? Michael was hitting KITT in anger. Poor KITT.

And then after that, KITT is following him like a puppy, trying desperately to get his friend to remember him.

"You used to call me KITT."

Oh ouch ow ow ow my heart

And then there was that happy little "Finally!" from KITT when Michael called for him again.

Must... suppress... urge... to... hug... the... talking... car....

This was supposed to be the fun little adventure show from my childhood. It was NOT supposed to spend an entire episode ripping my heart out and stomping on it!

Ratings (out of 5):

Cheese Level: 🧀 Cringe Level: 😬 Michael Knight Hotness: 🔥🔥🔥 Vehicular Shenanigans: 🚘🚘🚘🚘 Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

* my Knight Rider episode reviews

[stars-over-new-jersey]

Knight Rider 4x13: "Killer K.I.T.T."

It's a bad sign for the season when I'm surprised by a GOOD episode. And this was.

The action and plot were solid, and the means by which KITT was compromised, while convoluted, was entirely believable. Swapping components would definitely provide a direct route into KITT's processing.

They also didn't leave a plot hole for why KITT left Michael alive after being ordered to kill him, which I appreciated. At this point in the series everyone knows that KITT can read Michael's vital signs. About the only thing I would wonder is why Michael thought playing dead would work; I just assumed he got knocked out.

There were also some of the best stunts we've gotten in a long time with Michael climbing around on top of and hanging onto KITT.

Also, I realize that the ending was drawn out for the drama, but still, Michael took his sweet time swapping in the memory module in KITT.

I'm definitely tired of the sitcom "everybody laughs" episode endings, though.

Ratings (out of 5):

Cheese Level: 🧀 Cringe Level: 😬 Michael Knight Hotness: 🔥🔥🔥 Vehicular Shenanigans: 🚘🚘🚘🚘 Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

* my Knight Rider episode reviews

[stars-over-new-jersey]

Knight Rider: 4x04: "Sky Knight"

Oh brother. Did they feel obligated to crap out an episode that makes last episode look like a mildly flawed masterpiece?

Let's see:

The villains' actual motive is never really explained other than that he's mad about losing his job, which makes his whole plan seem like a severe overreaction.

Nor is it explained what he wants all of the criminals released for, other than "because terrorism."

Bonnie gets creepily hit on by a teenager. Repeatedly. Ew.

The writers seem to be under the impression that Bonnie and Michael are a couple, which is just weird after season 3.

KITT feuding with the sheriff issuing fraudulent parking tickets is treated as wacky shenanigans where in the past Michael and Devon would have been up in his business.

The worst part is that in the one episode where Bonnie's skills could conceivably save the day, they have Michael swoop in at the last second anyway. Having Bonnie save the day with her hacking skills would have been the one thing that would have really helped redeem this episode, but NOPE.

It also doesn't help that terrorist plots from the 80's instantly became dated after 9/11 so watching this episode now is an exercise in "you should really have zerg-rushed those assholes back on the plane" and generally being annoyed with the entire plot.

Add in the fact that they tormented poor KITT some more by having Michael drive him onto a cargo plane and then parachute back down when he's afraid of heights and, well, I don't like this episode very much at all.

Michael has dug up a slutty BLUE shirt for this episode, but even that can't save this disaster.

Ratings (out of 5):

Cheese Level: 🧀 Cringe Level: 😬😬😬😬 Michael Knight Hotness: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Vehicular Shenanigans: 🚘🚘🚘 Overall Rating: ⭐

* my Knight Rider episode reviews

[stars-over-new-jersey]

Knight Rider 3x14: "Junk Yard Dog"

OH NO.

nope nope nope nope

I mean, we've seen KITT get pretty bunged up before, with Goliath and when he got hit with the missile, but both times he was still there. Hurt, damaged, but still there.

Seeing KITT completely dissolved like that is just NO.

I mean, my rational brain knows this is a mid-season, mid-series episode on a show with a firm status quo; it knows KITT will be fine.

The part of me that's attached to the characters wanted to start crying in the corner when KITT didn't respond to Michael and Bonnie.

(It got worse when I looked up the episode info later and found out that the original script called for KITT's voice box to disintegrate when Michael touched it!)

It did help a little bit that you can see Michael and Bonnie's love for KITT during the rebuilding scenes. And the way KITT leans on Michael for strength is lovely. But both parts somehow manage to both give me the warm fuzzies and rip my heart out at the same time.

The worst was Michael's reaction when KITT first came back online and was cold with him.

You know what, on this one, we're not going to even discuss Michael's fashion choices. I haven't got the heart for it.

Ratings (out of 5):

Cheese Level: 🧀 Cringe Level: 😬 Michael Knight Hotness: 🔥🔥🔥 Vehicular Shenanigans: 🚘🚘🚘 Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

* my Knight Rider episode reviews

[stars-over-new-jersey]

Knight Rider 3x04: "Knights of the Fast Lane"

This was one of the best plots in the series so far. Straightforward on the surface, just twisty enough to keep it going without needing filler. The acting and writing on this one is actually really well done; you can tell exactly when Jim figures out who Michael actually is and immediately starts trusting him.

I do find it interesting that episodes about Michael's past seem to be clustering right here at the end of Season 2 and beginning of Season 3. It feels like we're overdue for an episode about Bonnie or Devon.

Unfortunately, the lack of filler deprived KITT of his own subplot in this episode.

Worse yet, Michael is treating KITT badly again. Communication is key, Michael. You really need to let KITT know the plan, especially if you're going to send him undercover. You don't just LOSE KITT IN A RACE!

Poor KITT. That sad/indignant "Michael, you lost me!" just got me right in the heart (again).

(I'm with Bonnie on the statement: "MICHAEL! HOW COULD YOU!")

Ratings (out of 5):

Cheese Level: 🧀 Cringe Level: 😬 Michael Knight Hotness: 🔥🔥🔥 Vehicular Shenanigans: 🚘🚘🚘 Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

* my Knight Rider episode reviews

[stars-over-new-jersey]

Knight Rider 4x03: "KITTnap"

Hey, for once a villain who learns from experience and is smart enough to separate Michael from KITT.

I mean, it's still not going to work, especially since Michael is still extremely capable, and now he's got RC for backup to go rescue KITT. But still, more brains than we usually get out of a villain. The last one with anything approaching that level of brains was Byrock.

It is good to have a reminder that Michael is a badass in his own right. Even I'm guilty of thinking of him as an extension of KITT sometimes rather than a full partner in his own right.

But they made me feel bad for KITT again. The panic in KITT's voice when he couldn't get out of the shipping container just got me. Let him have a few episodes to recover, for crying out loud!

On the other hand, in this episode we have Michael clearly getting it on with the grad student studying KITT, which is pretty firmly in "really not appropriate" territory. She's pinned her thesis on KITT, and now his driver is hitting on her? Yeesh.

This is another instance of Michael only getting away with it because he looks like David Hasselhoff. I mean, I wouldn't have turned down Michael, but that's because, you know, David Hasselhoff.

Worse, she's a complete damsel in distress again. Her entire purpose in the episode was just to give Michael someone to rescue.

While the episode might have some problematic points, it's at least entertaining.

Ratings (out of 5):

Cheese Level: 🧀 Cringe Level: 😬😬😬 Michael Knight Hotness: 🔥🔥🔥 Vehicular Shenanigans: 🚘🚘🚘🚘 Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[stars-over-new-jersey]

Knight Rider 4x01 & 4x02: "Knight of the Juggernaut"

Welp, I think I've found Knight Rider's shark-jump moment, unfortunately. I knew that it was canceled without an ending, so I was kind of hoping to go out on a high point but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

"Super Pursuit Mode" is, most definitely, the most ridiculous thing I've seen on this show. And worse, it looks cheap and janky. Before, KITT looked better than he had any right to, given the budget of the show. But with Super Pursuit Mode engaged, it just makes KITT look cheap and silly.

RC3 is cool though. His introduction might have been a little bit over the top, but I like the way he works together with the rest of the characters a lot.

Frankly, they should have just stuck to adding in RC3 and the convertible mode and called it a day on spicing things up.

I really only had one problem with the actual plot, and that was how the villains went about neutralizing KITT's shell. They were able to cook up a solvent to destroy it way too quickly after getting the information from Devon. Also, I would expect a chemical strong enough to destroy KITT's shell to be caustic and/or smelly - either of which I would expect KITT or Michael to notice.

(I think too hard about dumb stuff.)

The rest of the plot was pretty good. I really appreciated the scene where Michael got left on his own to defend the existence of the Foundation against Jennifer. Hasselhoff put in a really good performance on that scene. The part where Michael finally recognizes the Devon impostor by his willingness to write off KITT for dead and tests him to be sure was also a high point of the episode.

And on another positive note, Hasselhoff got a mulletectomy between season 3 and season 4. I think I might prefer his season 2 hair, but overall it's a pretty good look. Plus, Michael's slutty black shirt put in an appearance in this episode.

I just want to know how the writers managed to make each time that KITT gets destroyed worse than the last. This time it was the last glow of the scanner fading out that really got me. JUST RUB IT IN A LITTLE HARDER, WHY DON'T YOU.

Sort of makes me fear what they might have cooked up for season 5 if that had happened...

Ratings (out of 5):

Cheese Level: 🧀🧀🧀 Cringe Level: 😬 Michael Knight Hotness: 🔥🔥🔥 Vehicular Shenanigans: 🚘🚘🚘🚘 Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[stars-over-new-jersey]

Knight Rider 3x10: "Lost Knight"

The basic premise of this episode was pretty good; it's a counterpart to "Knightmares" with the roles flipped.

The main problem is that I'm a software developer; if that board that Michael swapped in contained a backup of all of KITT's memory, swapping it should have removed KITT's memory of Doug unless that's only some sort of cold storage like a hard drive and there's working RAM elsewhere. But shouldn't that have been damaged too?

(I think about things like that too hard. Usually I can turn off the software developer when I watch Knight Rider and just accept KITT.)

I'm not sure what even is going on with that shirt that Michael is wearing, but it's heinous. It doesn't flatter Hasselhoff's looks in any way, shape or form, which is a complete waste.

Overall, good concept, decent execution, tripped up by me knowing too much about software and not being able to shut it off.

Ratings (out of 5):

Cheese Level: 🧀 Cringe Level: 😬 Michael Knight Hotness: 🔥 Vehicular Shenanigans: 🚘🚘🚘 Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

* my Knight Rider episode reviews

[stars-over-new-jersey]

Knight Rider 3x06: "K.I.T.T. vs. K.A.R.R."

Hey, look, tonight it's KITT's evil twin who's back. I suppose that's fitting after Michael's rematch with Garthe.

And oof, oh boy he's gone full unhinged. I mean you can't blame him; last time he got activated, the Foundation tried to destroy him and everyone else manipulated him.

I did like the touch that KARR was clever enough to fake his death after KITT and Michael forced him off that cliff.

I also loved KARR turbo-boost-ing right up into the back of the semi - that was a nice twist. While Michael and KITT were out patrolling the other places KARR could have gotten parts, he was busy outwitting them and getting the upper hand on KITT.

There weren't as many car stunts in this one as some of the others, but they made up for that in quality again. Between the turbo boost into the back of the semi and the head-to-head confrontation between KITT and KARR at the end, there was plenty of great action.

The lasers were hokey though. Again. This time it was actually worse though - at least last time the laser turned out to be useless due to the need for such absolute accuracy. And then this time, Michael manages to reflect KARR's laser accurately enough to do severe damage not just to the laser but also to KARR's shell? That's testing my limit again.

I did feel bad for KITT again in this one, especially in the head-to-head confrontation with KARR. That's the only other being like him, they should be able to be friends, but KARR has been warped too far for that to happen.

And of course, they don't clean up the bits left over after blowing KARR up, so now that CPU is just sitting out there for somebody to find. If somebody hooks that up to the internet, it's going to make Ultron look like small potatoes.

You'd think the Foundation or Knight Industries would want to clean up the evidence of their screw-up.

Ratings (out of 5):

Cheese Level: 🧀 Cringe Level: 😬 Michael Knight Hotness: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Vehicular Shenanigans: 🚘🚘🚘🚘🚘 Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

* my Knight Rider episode reviews

[stars-over-new-jersey]

Knight Rider 3x01 & 3x02: "Knight of the Drones"

The beginning of this episode seems to be designed for maximum shock value, I have to say. Between having another (apparently) self driving car show up for a jailbreak and then finding out that the escaping guy had murdered the previous candidate for Michael's job was a bit of a shocker.

I did appreciate that they wrote Bonnie back in instead of just dropping her in and pretending that nothing happened. That being said, the way they did it was brutal. Having to find out that the guy that she respected so much was responsible for blowing up KITT (among other misdeeds) had to be awful.

Halston was an especially good villain. He's just so damn petty about everything. Not enough credit for his work? Steal it. Better looking guy hanging around his grad student? Go full Bene Gesserit and gom jabbar his ass. It's all so petty.

KITT ejecting Michael to save him from the missile strike got me straight in the heart though - did they really have to have him say "I'm sorry, pal" before ejecting Michael? At least they showed that he wasn't completely gone by having him talk to Bonnie while they loaded him into the truck.

It did bother me a bit that in KITT's second go-round with the drone cars he was easily able to dodge the missile by going into ski mode. It just seems like something that should have occurred to him or Michael the first time.

Ratings (out of 5):

Cheese Level: 🧀 Cringe Level: 😬 Michael Knight Hotness: 🔥🔥🔥 Vehicular Shenanigans: 🚘🚘🚘🚘 Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

* my Knight Rider episode reviews

[stars-over-new-jersey]

Knight Rider 2x23: "Let It Be Me"

I was really hoping for a good one after "Mouth of the Snake" but fate is not that kind to me, so I got the Musical Episode.

I suppose in retrospect I should have expected something of that sort, but frankly I had no idea about the timeline of Hasselhoff's singing career and simply assumed that it happened later.

NOPE.

So I'm sitting there, thinking that this can't actually be a song from one of his albums, can it? It's so bad.

HAHA NOPE. IT IS.

(At least the 2nd and 3rd musical numbers were better - "Our First Night Together" is ok, and "Let It Be Me" isn't bad but doesn't really stick the emotional landing in the episode context.)

Stevie is back and being a damsel in distress again. Ugh. I hate the fact that they made Michael's One True Love one of the weakest female characters in the series. And unlike "White Bird" last season, their scenes together didn't really sell them as being romantically close nearly as well this time, so the emotional impact of the episode was pretty much nothing.

And worse, once Michael decided that he was going to become a rock star, all fashion sense departed his body. Every time they had him do another performance, he shows up with another "wtf even is that" outfit. So there wasn't even any good eye candy.

Worse yet, because they spent so much time on the musical numbers, there was next to no KITT content in this episode. The chases were short and not very satisfying and there was next to nothing else involving KITT that couldn't have been done with a computer on a desk somewhere.

And then after all of that, at the end of the episode, Michael offers to quit working for the Foundation to go with Stevie and does it right in front of KITT! Poor KITT. The minute Stevie shows up, Michael wants to throw him away for her and does it where he can hear it!

I am not happy with Michael in this episode. Not at all.

(also, "Our First Night Together is stuck in my head now and it won't go away)

Ratings (out of 5):

Cheese Level: 🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀 (+🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀) Cringe Level: 😬😬 Michael Knight Hotness: 🔥 Vehicular Shenanigans: 🚘 Overall Rating: ⭐⭐

* my Knight Rider episode reviews

[stars-over-new-jersey]

There's a reason that Michael doesn't trust KITT in this episode, though. LaSalle had full access to all of the Foundation's computer systems, which includes KITT.

Michael and Devon had to cut KITT out of the loop because even though he wasn't aware of it, KITT was a mole for the villain. They couldn't ever break character in front of KITT without LaSalle finding out what they were up to.

That definitely could have been clearer - I had to watch it twice to pick that up, and that's where you're right in that it could have used more time to clarify that. Cutting out the subplot about Linda and her daughter would have been my first choice. It was superfluous to the overall plot - we already knew that LaSalle was rotten without it, but not having a damsel in distress would probably have violated the standard episode formula too much.

Obviously the writers were going for the big reveal right before the climax of the story, but the problem is that from there on out it's a sprint to the final confrontation, which doesn't leave any time for character-driven moments.

For Michael, this is probably the nastiest out of all of the episodes where KITT is subverted/hijacked/reprogrammed - in the others it was obvious that KITT had been hijacked and was not in control of himself. This time, KITT is his normal self - but everything he sees or does could be being actively monitored by the villains. And Michael can't react to any of that or try to fix KITT without blowing his cover. Even using KITT's capabilities to try to help Linda was a big risk.

As for the harm to KITT, it's more insidious than it looks on the surface - he failed the Foundation, and especially Michael. From his perspective, he was unable to fulfill the purpose for which he was created and in fact was working against the very person he was created to protect. And unlike previously, he doesn't even have the excuse of not being in his right mind.

Is all of that enough to put a permanent crack in KITT and Michael's relationship? Possibly.

Knight Rider 3x08: "Knight in Disgrace"

I definitely don't remember this one from when I watched the show as a kid, because I'm pretty sure Michael turning bad and leading KITT into crime would have blown my mind.

As a an adult, I know very well that something like that wouldn't happen during a mid-season episode, so I can just sit back, enjoy the ride and wait for the twist.

And while I love that KITT will follow Michael anywhere, even into a life of crime, I did not appreciate that they left KITT out of the loop on the plan. I realize why they did it, with how deeply LaSalle had gotten into their computers, KITT could have been compromised as well.

But that doesn't mean that I have to like it, especially after the episodes earlier this season where KITT doesn't really get treated like a member of the team.

Overall, this was one of the best episodes so far. It's always a good sign when I'm so focused on the plot that I don't have time to ogle Michael.

Ratings (out of 5):

Cheese Level: 🧀 Cringe Level: 😬 Michael Knight Hotness: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Vehicular Shenanigans: 🚘🚘🚘🚘 Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

* my Knight Rider episode reviews