Tale of the Tiger

Summary: When  the Simons are hired to discover a saboteur on a fishing boat, Rick decides to spend some time at sea with the crew. When he returns, one of  his shipmates, a Vietnamese man, is severely beaten before Rick and AJ can  put a stop to it. While in the hospital, he is killed by poison injected  into his IV.

At the funeral,  AJ is attracted to the man's sister, Ho Xuan, and offers his sympathies.  Rick, meanwhile, sees a beloved war buddy there that he hasn't seen in  years - Chen. Unbeknownst to Rick, Chen and Ho Xuan have had a love affair  gone very sour. Rick and Chen go out to dinner to celebrate their  reunion.

AJ starts  investigating the sabotage on his own and runs into Ho Xuan. She tells him that her brother was killed by a man known as 'the Tiger', who is the leader of organized crime in the area. She's afraid for her life, so AJ goes to Abigail for more information. She tells him that 'the Tiger' is  Chen.

AJ goes to Rick's boat to tell him what he's discovered, only to find Rick and Chen finishing dinner. When Chen leaves, AJ tells Rick about Chen's alleged crime syndicate. The Simons head to the station so Rick can get the story directly from Abby.

He doesn't want  to believe her, however. The man he'd known in Vietnam was incapable of such horrible things, and Rick defended him. He and AJ get in an argument  over it, and Rick storms out to get the real story from Chen.

Chen admits to being 'the Tiger', breaking Rick's heart. He accuses Chen of killing Ho Xuan's brother and doesn't believe his denials.

The one who did  kill him was Chen's right hand man, who's looking to take control of the  syndicate. He kidnaps Ho Xuan and holds her hostage, calling Rick and Chen to tell them to meet him at Chen's cannery. AJ discovers the girl is missing and heads for the cannery, too.

In a protracted  firefight, Chen dies saving Rick's life. When Rick asks him why, Chen says  "Because...once we were heroes."


Review

I really enjoyed this one. At the beginning and the end was the teasing between  brothers I've missed the last couple of episodes. I loved AJ's ribbing in the beginning - "Long John Simon got seasick??" and the easy camaraderie at the end - "AJ?" "You're welcome." Gotta love it.

Rick's loyalty was touching, if misplaced. Mac does such a good job of alternating  between love and horror towards Chen. Great performance.

Also an  interesting confrontation between brothers in the middle. I bet AJ's been  storing up his anger at Rick's declarations of "You can't understand"  regarding the war. Powerful stuff.

I've said it once, I'll say it again: Rick is adorable when he's 'eating crow'. He's  also pretty cute when he's given attitude to the folks holding him hostage  at the end.

I just have one  question - What in the world was Rick doing in a Polo shirt?? He must have  'borrowed' it from AJ, but still...

Good-natured teasing, deep conversations between the brothers, tough moral questions. I just can't help wondering what Rick would have done if Chen hadn't died - turn him in? Would've been interesting to find out, but still, a good  episode.

4  out of 5 Camaros


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