Airwolf (TV Series) Inn at the End of the Road (1985) User Reviews

Airwolf - Inn at the End of the Road

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 19 August 2018]

"Inn at the End of the Road" is all about the breathtaking location and a strong guest performance from Nicholas Campbell (a David Cronenberg vet, starring in such films as "The Brood", the underrated "Fast Company", and as the serial killer in the masterpiece, "The Dead Zone") as "working doc" and "just an ole bush pilot", Jason "Doc" Gifford. Doc makes his home in a small, tight-knit mountains village, located within a National Forest where thieves of a "central nervous system" device, LOKI, stolen in an office high up a highrise, taken in an effective operation posing as window washers, have relocated for a "special meeting". LOKI "takes over" aerial planes/choppers/jets, operating them essentially on its own without much support from a human pilot, seeing that its host is protected, serving as a type of AI guidance system, including using weapons available. The presentation of the LOKI in the board meeting to a number of wealthy "fat cats" (so named by Santini) was quite a blunder, so ArchAngel requests String and Santini's use of the Airwolf to either find it or destroy it before it can serve terrorists or other criminals. The trip to the mountains where the inn of the title is located (and the eventual abandoned federal radio station later occupied as a meeting place) gives us a chance to spend time away from the desert at least, so that's a plus. Gifford's heroism (he must outwit and outfly String-not an easy feat-in a chopper while being tailed by Airwolf, while also fleeing one of the gunmen ordered to assassinate him during an escape into a river) is a highlight, while some good (if brief) suspense is developed at the inn when assassins from Europe hold Gifford and his friends hostage at the inn. Hugh Gillin (often a sheriff in 80s film and television; fans will recognize him from "Psycho II" & "Psycho III") has a supporting part as the sheriff who attempts to keep one of the assassins/thieves from placing them in a meat locker, with limited air, getting shot and killed in the process. Randi Brooks is Doc's love interest (operating the inn), Elena, while Lynnanne Zager and Robert Wightman are a mother and son who live at the inn, one a cook while the other a handicapped artist. Ian Abercrombie is seen on television as Lord Killebrew, hoping to make it to a peace summit, important in Middle East peace talks, targeted by assassins led by Craig Littler and Caroline Smith. This episode includes Doc put in charge of piloting Airwolf when String passes out from a shoulder injury attained while trying to break the lock on the meat locker, while a pilot in the chopper programmed with LOKI actually also goes unconscious seemingly due to elevation extremes (his hand actually, conveniently, falling into the controls of the device!). The assassins up in a chopper recording LOKI's activities for future clients is just the means to get them in the sky so Airwolf can be responsible for their demise. The plot can get a bit far-fetched at times-why would the assassins allow Gifford to remain alive so long after arriving to the federal radio station, their destination, and that time in the meat locker seemed like forever yet those inside seem just fine with little fatigue despite the lack air?-but the mountainous environs sure help to compensate. Caitlin's absent again, and it is probably because the creative idea was to get Doc in Airwolf as a pilot instead. Airwolf's communications malfunction and some aerodynamic difficulties force String and Santini to land, suffering a rare defeat when in pursuit of a chopper; this built on the idea that Doc is a hell of a talented pilot, the writers involved in the episode really putting him over. The villains of the episode are old school sociopaths, designed as sophisticated hitmen (and hitwoman) willing to work for the highest bidder...that they just don't waste all witnesses (including those who saw them during their initial escape from the highrise) is a surprise, though. Doc is built as more than a pilot and sometimes-medic...he even tends to the bullet wound on an assassin, punches out another assassin, and even delivers a child for a couple newly moved to the area, who live off the land and occupy their own cabin.

T V ish!

[mm-39 · 5/10 · 4 February 2020]

T V ish formulated episode with an edge. Inn at the End of the Road has a strong beginning with good back ground development. Small town, steamy romance, jokes, stories, and small town characters create Inn at the End of the Road's back ground. The middle part has the formulated heist with the typecast evil characters. Events lead up to the bad guys being holed up in a small town while Airwolf searches for a stolen super wiz device which turns any aircraft in to a terminator drone. There is a plot twist and a few sad moments and the comic book stand final. The final is Airwolf vs the terminator chopper. Watchable, but forgettable. 5 stars.

Inn at the End of the Road

[Prismark10 · 4/10 · 14 November 2023]

Loki is an advanced in flight computer system that can turn any aircraft into a combat one. It can take human interaction out of the equation when the computer is locked on.

Only Loki is stolen by terrorists who plan to sell it to the highest bidder. A system that can give Airwolf a run for its money. One of the baddies is shot by a guard while making a getaway,

Briggs sends Hawke to look for Loki and retrieve it. The baddies arrive in a small town. Only Jason 'Doc' Gifford has some medical training and he can fly an aircraft.

Doc is forced to treat the gunshot victim while the rest of his friends are locked in an airtight meat locker.

Doc needs to escape from the baddies while Hawke gets injured.

At time this felt like a Hawke light episode. More time was spent setting up the story and the characters. The baddies were very two dimensional and the plot was hackneyed.

I wonder if the character of Doc was seen as a potential replacement for Hawke due to Jan-Michael Vincent's issues.