04-23-2006
Review tvdvdreview.com
“That’s what I love about you, Laura. You keep narrowing this case down
to include everyone.” – Pierce Brosnan as Remington Steele
Remington Steele: Season Three DVD Review
By
Jonathan Boudreaux
The
first season of Remington Steele introduced us to Laura Holt
(Stephanie Zimbalist), a private detective who became successful only after
creating an imaginary male boss – Remington Steele – to “run” her struggling
company. Much to her surprise, a mysterious conman (Pierce Brosnan) stepped in
and assumed the place of her fictitious boss, often helping to solve cases by
recounting old movies he’d once seen. Laura wasn’t sure she could trust him,
but the presence of a flesh-and-blood Mr. Steele did bring in more business to
the agency. That first season was funny and charming, but the series stumbled
in season two. Aside from the introduction of Doris Roberts (Everybody
Loves Raymond) as Remington Steele Investigations’ secretary and resident
computer whiz Mildred Krebs, the second season often felt like a fuzzy Xerox
copy of the first. Happily, Remington Steele rebounds in its third
season with a string of fun, exciting, and engaging episodes.
Steele
and Laura become true globetrotters in season three, with episodes set in a
wide variety of exotic locales, including Cannes (“Steele At It”), Malta
(“Maltese Steele,” “Puzzled Steele”), England (“Blue Blooded Steele”), Ireland
(“Steele Your Heart Away”), Las Vegas (“Diced Steele”), San Francisco (“Steele
Trying”), and Mexico (“Steele of Approval”). Some of these are simply faked in
and around L.A., but many of the episodes were shot on location, giving the
season a vivid authenticity.
Not
all of the episodes find the duo straying so far from home. Steele tries to
help a streetwise teenage pickpocket in whom he sees more than a little of
himself (“A Pocketful of Steele”). Laura tries to prove that the actor who
played her childhood hero, Atomic Man, is not a killer (“Stronger Than
Steele”).
The
series’ obsession with Hollywood and old films is used to great advantage in
“Cast in Steele,” a mystery involving three members of Tinseltown royalty –
guest stars Virginia Mayo, Lloyd Nolan, and Dorothy Lamour. Watching Steele
unsuccessfully interact with his idols leads to quite a few laughs. In “Steele
Your Heart Away,” Steele wakes up at a murder scene in Ireland and realizes
that he has amnesia. It’s up to Laura to figure out why he was there in the
first place. This episode cleverly uses Steele’s love for old films to carry
the plot forward. What little he can remember seems to come from movies, but
these remembrances turn out to be actual clues.
In
season three, the characters grow in sometimes subtle ways. Mildred is not
quite as naïve as she previously was. Instead, she is given more
responsibility, becoming just as much of a junior agent as a secretary. The
will-they-or-won’t-they romance between Steele and Laura isn’t quite as
heavy-handed as it was in the previous two seasons. We now know the characters
well enough that we don’t have to be reminded of the possibility of romance
every few minutes – it’s obvious that they care for each other strongly even if
they aren’t quite ready to act on their feelings. This builds up to an
emotional cliffhanger at the end of the season (“Steele of Approval”).
Zimbalist
is given ample opportunity to show off her physical comedy skills in several
season three episodes. When Laura needs to create a distraction so that Steele
can escape from the cabin of a luxury yacht, she allows herself to be ravaged
by the yacht’s owner. Her full body spasms as she contorts herself to give
Steele the all-clear is guffaw-inducing (“Steele At It”). Her vain attempt to
prove that she has been mistakenly institutionalized is also hysterical (“Lofty
Steele”). We also learn that Laura is a member of the Stanford University
Alumni Glee Club, a wonderfully daffy idea.
Each
episode in Remington Steele’s third season begins with the season’s
new title sequence, the series’ third in as many years. This opening features a
new arrangement of the series’ Henry Mancini-penned theme song and a
fingerprint that morphs into Stephanie Zimbalist.
[Source: tvdvdreview.com]
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