The Top 5 Knight Rider Season 2 Episodes

The Top 5 Knight Rider Season 2 Episodes

After doing the Top 5 best episodes of Knight Rider season 1 I figured I would, at some point, do the other three seasons of the classic TV show. Since I really don’t have any other Top 5 ideas at the moment, now is a good a time as any to continue this look at the best Knight Rider episodes and do season 2 this time and then, over the following next two weeks, do seasons 3 and 4. So that’s something to look forward to, right?

Here’s the link to the season 1 list, just in case you missed it.

Season 2 of Knight Rider is probably best known for three things. The first, the replacement of Patricia McPherson, who played Foundation techie and KITT programmer/keeper Bonnie, with Rebecca Holden, who played April. April did all of the things Bonnie did in the first season (basically, take care of KITT), but she wasn’t as “nerdy” as Bonnie, so it altered the show’s tone a bit (the chemistry of the three main characters wasn’t the same). Most of the things I’ve read about the cast change on the internets say that the producers made the switch to add more “sex appeal” to the show, but they brought Bonnie back for season 3 because star David Hasselhoff wanted Bonnie back. I thought the April character was interesting but, again, she changed the show’s tone and the chemistry just wasn’t the same.

The second thing season 2 is known for is the extensive use of miniatures for all of the big stunt/special effects sequences. I never noticed the miniatures when I was a kid but, as an adult, I notice them big time. I wonder if any of those miniatures still exist in a vault somewhere. I mean, who wouldn’t want one of the KITTs used for those sequences?

And the third thing is David Hasselhoff playing double parts in four episodes. Hasselhoff’s second part is that of Garthe Knight, the estranged, evil son of Foundation founder/creator Wilton Knight (you know Garthe is evil because he has a little mustache and beard and he speaks with a gravelly voice) who wants to destroy the Foundation and pretty much everything his father built. Garthe appears in the two part season opener, “Goliath,” and then shows up again in episodes 18 and 19, “Goliath Returns.”

And what is Goliath? A giant tractor trailer truck that Garthe uses to try to kill Michael and KITT and engage in insane, international crime.

And so, without any further what have you, what are the Top 5 Knight Rider Season 2 episodes?

Honorable Mentions

–”Return to Cadiz”- Episode 6: This episode has Michael Knight and KITT taking on treasure seekers on the sea and features a sequence where KITT “drives” on the water. Insane? Absolutely. Cool as hell? You fucking know it. And the “driving on water” sequence more than delivers.

5- “Let It Be Me”- Episode 23 : This episode has Michael Knight going undercover in Class Action, a famous rock band, after the band’s lead singer dies under mysterious circumstances. The band features Michael’s great love Stevie (Catherine Hickland), who we saw in episode 19 of season 1, “White Bird.” Hasselhoff and Hickland, who were married at the time the episode was filmed, have undeniable chemistry, and it’s fun to see them interact. The big mystery as to why the lead singer was killed in pretty cool, too (it’s a complicated scheme involving drug running). But the big draw for this episode? Hasselhoff gets to sing and rock out as the band’s new lead singer, and it’s just as epic and ridiculous (in a good way) as you expect it to be. And everyone involved takes the singing deadly serious, which is what makes it so damn awesome. Stevie wouldn’t come back to the show until season 4.

4-. “Soul Survivor”- Episode 9 : This episode has Michael Knight tricked by the devious criminal Adrianne Margeaux (not her real name) played by Ann Turkel, and Adrianne steals KITT (well, she steals most of KITT. KITT’s artificial intelligence/operating system/whatever you want to call it, is removed from the car). Adrianne is working with Randy Merritt (Brian Robbins), a dipshit computer nerd she seduces into helping her. When Michael regains his composure and figures out what the hell happened he pursues Adrianne to try to get the KITT car back. Michael also carries around KITT’s operating system inside a portable TV, which is hilarious. Turkel’s Adrianne is the big draw for this episode because she is such a gigantic scumbag but, at the same time, sexy as hell, so you can see why Randy fell for her (Michael fell for her sexy hooey, too). This episode also sets up a later two part episode where she teams up with Garthe Knight, which makes this episode even more important. Turkel would show up again in the fourth season as a totally different character (she isn’t the only actor to play different characters in different seasons of the show).

3- “Goliath Returns”- Episode 18/19 : This is the sequel story to season premiere two-parter “Goliath,” and has the imprisoned Garthe Knight breaking out of prison with the help of a repaired Goliath mega truck and Adrianne, who goes by the name Adrianne St. Clair, which is her “real” name. When Michael Knight finds out about Garthe’s prison break he makes it his personal mission to stop whatever the hell Garthe is up to now. And what are Garthe and Adrianne up to? They kidnap Devon and April from the Foundation’s headquarters, they spring a trap for Michael and KITT, and they kidnap a famous scientist (Dr. Klaus Bergstrom, played by Peter Mark Richman) and replace him with a guy that looks exactly like him after expensive plastic surgery. With the way the episode ends, I suspect that the producers maybe wanted to do another story with Garthe and Adrianne (Hasselhoff apparently didn’t like playing two different characters at the same time because it was too taxing on him or something. That’s what I read) in a later season, but Garthe didn’t show up again and Turkel played a different character in a season 4 episode. Perhaps if season 5 had happened we would have had another Garthe appearance? Hasselhoff, again, didn’t like playing two different characters at the same time, but I’m sure, if the show wanted to do a Garthe story again they would have found a way to get Hasselhoff to do it.

2-. “Goliath”- Episodes 1 and 2 : This is the two part season premiere that introduced us to April, to the dastardly Garthe, to Wilton Knight’s evil wife and Garthe’s mother Elizabeth (Barbara Rush), and to the Goliath truck. The story for this two-parter has Garthe arriving in the U.S. from Africa to help a corrupt African general steal missiles from a secret U.S. military base using Goliath to do it. Garthe also unleashes his scheme to kill Michael Knight, kill KITT, and destroy the Foundation. Hasselhoff rocks as Garthe, chewing the scenery as a complete asshole, and it’s fun watching Hasselhoff act against himself. The big fight between the two at the end of the episode (you knew it was going to happen because why wouldn’t you have it happen?) should have been longer, but it’s still cool to see. And the big missile theft sequence is pretty elaborate for a 1980’s TV show. And how about the whole “Michael has to try to repair KITT on his own after getting hurt by Goliath” thing? Awesome shit. And the quick sequences we see before each commercial break, where we see KITT driving right at Goliath, are the shit. They really help build the tension for the eventual KITT vs. Goliath sequences.

1- “A Good Knight’s Work”- Episode 20 : This episode has Michael and KITT investigating a case of possible intellectual property theft when a toy designer claims that her talking teddy bear design was stolen. In the course of the investigation, Knight has to go up against international criminal mastermind Cameron Zachery (the immortal John Vernon), the guy who ordered the hit on Knight when he was a cop named Michael Long (this story goes back to the “Knight of the Phoenix” pilot two-parter). And when Zachery finds out that Michael Knight is Michael Long, he decides that he wants his henchmen to steal KITT for him because KITT is a big hooha technological achievement. Zachery’s main henchman, played by, I think, Robert O’Reilly, is a real bastard as he helps steal KITT. The episode ends with Michael activating a fail-safe mechanism that allows him to reactivate KITT after he shuts him down when he gives Zachery’s team the car, Michael sword fighting Zachery in Zachery’s apartment (why does Zachery have an uber interest in Japanese culture and swords and whatnot? Who cares? It allows John Vernon to go fucking apeshit with a samurai sword, which is just an awesome image), and then Michael taking KITT to the roof of the parking garage across the street from Zachery’s apartment and jumping off so he can drive KITT into Zachery’s apartment, which is like thirty floors up. It’s an insane sequence that works because the show goes for it even if it is ridiculous. Zachery’s dazed expression when he sees what Michael has done is incredibly appropriate. Amazing stuff.

**

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