Knight Rider Official Site
The Time: Wednesdays, 8:00 PM, NBC
The Show:
In
this update to the 1982 show of the same name, Mike Traceur (Bruening),
the estranged son of the original Michael Knight and an Iraqi War vet,
becomes the new Michael Knight: the driver of the next generation of
KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand), a souped-up Shelby Mustang GT
500 KR with the brain of a sophisticated artificial intelligence. KITT
utilizes nanotech and other advanced technology to morph into several
different modes of vehicle in order to aid Michael. Together with
former flame and computer expert, Sarah (Russo), daughter of Charles
Graiman (Davison), the creator of this version of KITT as well as the
original, Michael and KITT and their support team fight threats to
America on behalf of Knight Industries, a government intelligence and
law enforcement contractor.
The Stars:
• Justin Bruening – Michael Knight
• Deanna Russo – Sarah Graiman
• Sydney Tamiia Porter – FBI Agent Carrie Rivai
• Bruce Davison – Charles Graiman
• Smith Cho – Zoe Chae
• Paul Campbell – Billy Morgan
• Yancey Arias – Alex Torres
• Val Kilmer – K.I.T.T.
The Episode: “Knight of the Zodiac”
Michael and Billy journey to Vegas when Michael has to impersonate a thief who’s part of a criminal organization called The Zodiac. The Zodiac are planning to rob a casino, but have never seen each other in person and can only identify each other by rings that they wear, which gives Michael his in. Meanwhile, the B-story is that Billy helps a girl he meets who needs a $100,000 to cover her student loans that she blew in gambling. The C-story is the SSC is undergoing an eco-audit from an old flame of Charles’.
The Lowdown
Okay, I’m trying here. I really am. I’ve seen every episode of this show (except where Michael gets poisoned). Few of the problems plaguing Knight Rider have yet to be solved. The issue this episode is that the focus is completely not where it should be. Billy’s story is a time filler at best. And Graiman and his eco-auditer (eco-auditer? Really? Really?) ex-flame is…hell I don’t know what it is. A waste of time mostly. Michael’s mission is fine. It’s what the Hoff used to do: infiltrate criminal organizations and bust them from the inside with KITT’s help. Fine. Billy was brought on as technical backup. Only he does nothing technical. Any of the supporting characters could have gone with Michael. I’m surprised they didn’t have Sarah do it. I guess they’re looking to build Billy’s character more for the reboot of the show when it returns from hiatus. But Billy’s basically there to save Michael’s ass at the end and get dating tips from Zoe.
The action back at HQ is…hell I still don’t know what it is. Graiman had an ex-flame. She’s some kind of government eco-auditer, and also has a pHD in engineering. She’s running around the SSC saying that they need to go more green and there’s major heat from the Pentagon if they don’t, or something to that effect. *scratches head* After assessing their carbon status, she says it would really help their cause if she could get a look at KITT and his technical specs to assess his green operating status. Meanwhile, she’s throwing Graiman the eye that she’s still interested in recycling with him if you get the drift. But she’s also really interested in seeing KITT. As a former rival of Graiman’s he’s a little suspicious. So he fakes her out with phony specs and a bogus Mustang, claiming it’s KITT. If I get even a scinitilla of how this is in any way dramatic or important, I’ll let you know.
What these two stories succeeded in doing was taking away face time for Michael and KITT. The casino job that Zodiac was putting together was almost laughable. If it was as easy to pull off a job as they made it look, the crime rate in Vegas would be roughly that of Gotham City when Batman’s not around. In the end, Michael, KITT and Billy do get the main bad guy, but everyone seems to have forgotten that the bulk of the Zodiac crew got away. Must not have been worth mentioning.
Oh, and KITT can also now transform into a Ford Flex. I don’t know why Ford is in Washington asking for bailout money when they’re getting so much friggin’ press via Knight Rider. I can now almost name their entire line of cars just from what I’ve seen on this show.