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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ClassyCo" data-source="post: 186042" data-attributes="member: 7">I've watched the first disc of my Season Four of Charlie's Angels set, which includes the season's first four episodes, depending on how you judge the opener. The season opener, "Love Boat Angels", obviously employed its gimmicky title for the ratings they wished it could generate. (The episode ended up placing first in the weekly Nielsen's.) The first five minutes or so of the episode concerns the movement and stealing of museum antiques, with almost no dialogue whatsoever. When the camera does its traditional transfer to the Townsend Agency, we learn from Charlie that Sabrina (season three exiter Kate Jackson) has married and is expecting a baby. Charlie informs remaining Angels Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) and Kris (Cheryl Ladd) that they should be expecting the arrival of their new partner, Boston police academy graduate Tiffany Welles (Shelley Hack), although the girls apparently thought their partnership had dwindled to a trio consisting of them and their sidekick Bosley (David Doyle). Within moments, Bosley's entered the office with Tiffany at his side, and so goes the introduction of Charlie's newest Angel. Fast forward a little: The Angels are given their assignment and aboard the Love Boat to solve it. Kris masquerades as a decoy for a thief (Bert Convy), while Kelly and Tiffany cater to their client (Dick Sargent), and Bosley stays on shore to stir up any information he can with the leads available there. From the outside, this would appear as a ploy to simply get Bosley out of the way so Kelly and Kris and the audience can get use to Tiffany being the third side of the Angelic triangle. It doesn't quite execute that way, however. This two-parter (shown here in its separated syndicated version) focuses predominantly on Kris and her relationship with a good-turned-bad guy that she can't seem not to have feelings for. The episode plays out well, and the conclusion is to be expected. Following is "Angels Go Truckin", one episode I clearly remember watching when I originally got this set. The Angels are hired to solve the crime of a stolen load belonging to Venus Trucking, which is ran by a woman and only uses female drivers. Charlie orders to Kris and Tiffany to take a truck driving course to prepare them to handle their big rig cover, while Kelly gets a job (perhaps thankful to 'gifted' Southern accent?) at a diner where a fight that broke out was presumably a diversion so the load before could be stolen. In the end, we learn that Venus' owner, Maggie, has been stealing her own loads hoping to "bring home the gold", but says she has proven women can do anything because a man wouldn't have so easily saw her scam. I liked this episode back when, and I still like it. It's a throwback to those earlier seasons and the episodes therein; Tiffany's edged into the group a little bit, but shares most of screen time here with Kris. The last episode on the disc is "Avenging Angel", which is probably the most well thought out of the batch here. In an attempt to draw back to a never-before-heard-of case, Kelly is crossfire of a man she aided into prison some years ago. This a Kelly-centered outing here, and the other Angels basically take up the background to find where Kelly's been taken. Naturally, we know she's going to be found in time for them all to return and give their farewell to Charlie before the end credits roll. Anyone that knows my Amazon screen name and taken the time to read my reviews for this season of Charlie's Angels knows that I wasn't initially a fan of Shelley Hack or her addition as Tiffany Welles. I had watched the first three seasons almost exclusively, and I didn't want to accept anyone else stepping into this well-oiled machine. But...My view has shifted. While I can't say that Tiffany's introduction necessarily evokes a breath of fresh air, it does bring a different wind. And that wind isn't overtly bad. She photographs superbly, and there is some early promise that she's going to fit in with the Angels that didn't register in previous viewings of these first batch of episodes. On the face of it, however, she isn't given a whole lot to do in the opener, and she's just a part of the big rig ploy in the trucking episode. However, in watching "Avenging Angel", I saw some minor attempts by the writers and producers trying to possibly push Tiffany as the trio's new 'leader', taking over from Sabrina. The way she instructs Kris how the order of execution, the need to call Bosley, etc. evoke similarities to the role Sabrina held on the show. Yes, I know the Angels have all taken charge in different situations, but here it seems as if they leave most of that leadership nudging for Tiffany to pick up. And I can't say I mind that. Kelly's too vulnerable to be the head and Kris is too quirky, so Tiffany's the only possible option left. This episode, to me at least, seemed to show that good things were possibly in store for Tiffany if the writers keep edging her to the forefront of the trio. I'm going to keep up with these disc-by-disc reviews of this season so the information and my thoughts will be fresher in my head. [ATTACH=full]18303[/ATTACH]    </blockquote>

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