The A-Team season 5 episode 13 brought the show to an abrupt end – partially because it wasn’t designed as the actual finale. The A-Team is an iconic action series that debuted in 1983 and followed the titular gang, who are members of an elite Special Forces unit who are framed for a crime they didn’t commit. The show starred George Peppard, Dirk Benedict, Mr. T (Rocky III) and Dwight Schultz as Hannibal, Face, B.A. and Murdock respectively, and the standard formula saw the team being hired by civilians in need to take on gangsters or crooks. The A-Team became famous for its mix of action and comedy, and the fact that despite the amount of gunfire and explosions it portrayed, characters rarely died.
Like Miami Vice or Knight Rider, The A-Team is considered one of the defining shows of the 1980s. A planned movie adaptation spent years in development, with Boyz n The Hood director and star John Singleton and Ice Cube once signed on. Joe Carnahan would eventually take on the 2010 movie, with a cast that included Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton Jackson and Sharlto Copley (District 9) taking on the lead roles. While the movie was an enjoyable blockbuster it’s modest box-office take killed plans for a sequel.
Declining ratings saw The A-Team come to an end after the fifth season, which found the captured team forced to work for the government; if they carry out a certain amount of missions, they’ll be given pardons. The A-Team season 5 episode 13 “Without Reservations” aired in March 1987 and was the finale of the show, which sees Face badly wounded after being shot by a cop while Murdock is taken hostage by mobsters. Hannibal and B.A. eventually find a way to rescue their friends and save Face.
While The A-Team season 5 episode 13 may have been the final episode to air, it wasn’t intended to be the finale. That was supposed to be the previous episode “The Grey Team,” which aired in 1986. This found the team helping protect a woman from Russians looking to acquire a briefcase holding top-secret documents from her. In the end, they save the day with the aid of elderly residents from a retirement home, and the A-Team decides to walk away from the military and strike out on their own. Hannibal’s “plan” is for them to continue doing what they do best; helping the innocent and punching out bad guys.
While “The Grey Team” isn’t the best episode of the show, it feels like a more apt finale than The A-Team season 5 episode 13. In a way, the perfect ending for the team was for them to just continue on their mission, while “Without Reservations” lacked any real sense of closure.
