Slow-moving sub-standard actioner – just right for American TV graveyard slots. Leon Rippy overacts horribly most of the time.

The idea of secretly re-arming a decommissioned battleship is a nice one (a Tom Clancy story?) apart from overlooking the fact that the guns would have been 'capped' with concrete.

I really can't think of anything of note to say about this episode. The best scene is with Malone posing as the President. I suppose the final shoot-out is mildly entertaining, too.

And not even in this final segment does Backus get a chance to do anything worthwhile. Once again she's in LASAGNE mode. I wonder if Lexa was glad when the series was over?

At the end we are told – in another embarrassingly cliched line – that CI5 will live to fight another day: if this ep is anything to go by, I hope not. Clearly this was intended to signal the end of the season but they really couldn’t have chosen a worse episode to go out on. Maybe some countries will reschedule this ep as a mid-seasoner.

Anyway, I'm off to watch 'Stakeout'.

This episode is action-packed, well paced and enjoyable, with an unusual setting. Malone, who (thankfully) gets to throw his weight about (and being quite funny at that), is very good overall, as is the efficient and swift Backus.

Curtis and Keel work very well as a team here with nice moves throughout. Keel (with a cutest little smile every now and then plus that arched eyebrow) in particular seems to be in quite a joking mood, and some of his small remarks are just too funny! (Hmm, I wonder if he came up with any of them on the spot?)

The opening scene with Malone is interesting, with a little reference to Cowley thrown in as well. The accompanying tune matches the scenery well. Also much enjoyable are all the scenes involving Ms Watson (well played by Reid), one of the White House staff.

The action scenes (and there are plenty of them) are overall very good and include lots of gunfights and explosions (the first being my particular favourite). There's only one part in one gunfight that's a bit abruptly edited, as the shift in camera angle is somewhat confusing. The ending is, well, surprising! :-)

So, with this episode closing this round of thirteen (in terms of the Swedish tx order), will the guys (and girl) indeed live to fight another day? While that's for time to tell, at least I, for one, hope so! Whatever else one can say about this gang, they do grow on ya! ;-)

New Zealand Tx date: January 6, 2002

Another New Professionals script with more holes than a Taliban training base. The premise is highly unlikely and inserting a tired storyline with the Russian Mafia doesn't make it any more appealing. Nor does a mere mention of George Cowley in the pre-title sequence as Malone's predecessor.

Where are fans like Stephen Lister ('The Purging of CI5') when you need him? Let's face it, some of us out here in TV viewerland can cook up better stories.

The US locations aren't bad this time, thanks to the east coast civic surroundings that give it an (Americanized) taste of the originals but the whole product is far too forced to be enjoyable. Apart from the final scene of the team having a nice stroll in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, almost none of it "felt" like Washington, DC.

Finally we see the end of the lads' Matlockmobile, the Mercury Grand Marquis (this time in black) – which we discover CI5 rents anyway – thanks to the efforts of the Russians (thank you!), to be replaced by a far more suitable 1998 Ford Mustang. It mightn't be the 'car you've always promised yourself' but if it weren't for the original Mustang's success, Ford of Europe mightn't have had the guts to do the Capri.

However, are we to believe that one Secret Service agent would give himself sole responsibility of checking out an entire decommissioned naval ship? The gunfights with Curtis and Keel, while acted well by the lads, are a little too incredible. The finalι, which I won't go in to here, was predictable. And the guest stars' acting, from Leon Rippy to John Shearin as the captain, is pretty awful.

There are interesting points: a visit by Harry Malone to the President is sufficient for Mr Clinton to conclude he and the First Lady would be in danger, while assurances from Watson and his own people aren't enough. How did Malone get to have this power? Why does his own Minister ignore him when the President holds his advice in such high regard? Who internationalized CI5: Cowley or Malone, given that the latter succeeded the former directly?

These issues would have made an interesting story to explore in a future episode, had I had been happier with the way the series worked this time around. What Wickes and co. didn't realize is that fans didn't just compare TNP to the originals (and it fared poorly, even against the 1977 season when The Professionals was finding its feet), but The Paradise Club and Bodyguards. Possibly, Malone studied alongside the Vietnam-era Rhodes Scholar at Oxford!

'Glory Days' was the last New Professionals to air in New Zealand. I'm going to watch Bodyguards again. It all begs another question: was the aim of The New Professionals to bury the CI5 franchise for good?

Rating: 2/10

CI5 cars: Mercury Grand Marquis; Ford Mustang