This episode was out there, man. I mean really disjointed, beyond the realm of reality, beyond the realm of Hartality, Just wack. This one is a prop for more stunt location shooting, this time in Greece. Jonathan Hart Industries is sponsoring a stockcar rally -- in the mountains of Greece -- where there are no phones, but there are construction sites, dead ends, fake maps, and weddings out of nowhere where no one understands the sign for "I need a phone" but lots of people wanting the Hart's to dance even though they are complete strangers. I watched this sucker TWICE to try to figure it out, but the details of just how the bad guys' plan could possibly have gotten to this never gelled. What I know is the bad guys want to take over Jonathan Hart Industries. But the insanity that surrounds all that is not worth this episode. The Greek scenery is beautiful, though, especially the Greek ruins, which Stefanie & RJ got to partake in quite a bit. The locals have no clue who these people are, so that's a plus. There have been worse episodes. But this one's a stinker.
3 Reviews
Wow. Just wow.
nancywisdom30 September 2020
This episode is indicative of the show's weakness
aramis-112-80488028 January 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This episode highlights all the weaknesses of "Har to Hart."
First, a disclaimer: This episode is about cross-country racing. I know nothing about racing, especially cross-country rallies. So I can't speak to that.
John Standing has an amusing role as a man who races with his St. Bernard and talks to him like the dog knows what's going on. And Burt Kwouk plays another racer, but not for long enough. He's barely there.
While Jonathan ( Robert Wagner) is gallivanting around, a Greek tycoon is trying to take over Hart industries.
Hart Industries are amazingly diversified. In one episode it's toys, in another it's (sub-contacted) components for military aircraft.
But Jonathan doesn't pay enough attention to business. He's out playing golf or croquet or polo or driving race cars, and he's so good at everything he must spend lots of the daylight hours at them.
But most of the time he blunders into murders or is the target of potential murderers (as in this episode). Or his wife is. Perhaps it's because he lives and moves and has his being in far different company than I do, but I've never blundered over even one murder, nor has anyone I know. I've never been targeted for murder (that I know of, but I'm still among the living). I've known a few people who have been stalked (male and female) but not regularly. Either Jonathan or Jennifer is stalked twice or thrice a year.
Remington Steele and Laura Holt trip over murders all the time, but they're professional detectives. Same for Scarecrow and Mrs. King, who are in espionage. But the Harts are just normal rich people who find murdered people then do the job of the police better than professional cops. They ought to open a detective agency as part of Hart Industries, like Maddie and David. Then they'd have an excuse to involve themselves in murders rather than simply seeming like busy bodies and nosy parkers.
Then there's the humor. The three shows mentioned above are comedy/thrillers and none of them take dead people too seriously. It was one of the great advances of the 1980s. But the Harts lurch from comedy to drama like going through a revolving door. It's an uneasy balance.
Rather than seeming like the thin man, they should have stolen a page from Tommy and Tuppence Beresford in Agatha Christie and taken over a detective agency as part of Hart industries. But for whatever reason the show doesn't go that way. They're just dilettantes who are good at everything. And the writers don't know whether to accent the comedy or the drama.
I'll leave it as teachers used to write on my report cards: could do better.
First, a disclaimer: This episode is about cross-country racing. I know nothing about racing, especially cross-country rallies. So I can't speak to that.
John Standing has an amusing role as a man who races with his St. Bernard and talks to him like the dog knows what's going on. And Burt Kwouk plays another racer, but not for long enough. He's barely there.
While Jonathan ( Robert Wagner) is gallivanting around, a Greek tycoon is trying to take over Hart industries.
Hart Industries are amazingly diversified. In one episode it's toys, in another it's (sub-contacted) components for military aircraft.
But Jonathan doesn't pay enough attention to business. He's out playing golf or croquet or polo or driving race cars, and he's so good at everything he must spend lots of the daylight hours at them.
But most of the time he blunders into murders or is the target of potential murderers (as in this episode). Or his wife is. Perhaps it's because he lives and moves and has his being in far different company than I do, but I've never blundered over even one murder, nor has anyone I know. I've never been targeted for murder (that I know of, but I'm still among the living). I've known a few people who have been stalked (male and female) but not regularly. Either Jonathan or Jennifer is stalked twice or thrice a year.
Remington Steele and Laura Holt trip over murders all the time, but they're professional detectives. Same for Scarecrow and Mrs. King, who are in espionage. But the Harts are just normal rich people who find murdered people then do the job of the police better than professional cops. They ought to open a detective agency as part of Hart Industries, like Maddie and David. Then they'd have an excuse to involve themselves in murders rather than simply seeming like busy bodies and nosy parkers.
Then there's the humor. The three shows mentioned above are comedy/thrillers and none of them take dead people too seriously. It was one of the great advances of the 1980s. But the Harts lurch from comedy to drama like going through a revolving door. It's an uneasy balance.
Rather than seeming like the thin man, they should have stolen a page from Tommy and Tuppence Beresford in Agatha Christie and taken over a detective agency as part of Hart industries. But for whatever reason the show doesn't go that way. They're just dilettantes who are good at everything. And the writers don't know whether to accent the comedy or the drama.
I'll leave it as teachers used to write on my report cards: could do better.
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