I've always thought the best episodes in this series are where there is a good mix of drama and comedy.
Here the drama is straightforward with almost no twists. Sam is a New York city cabbie named Max who is perhaps one day away from completing a year-long contest to win a "medallion"-what cabbies need to have their own cab-if he can earn enough money to complete the year-long total needed in this contest arranged by the owner of the company he works for. But Al tells him that tomorrow night he will be shot in a robbery and left comatose. His mission is simply to avoid letting his own character get shot at the time and place indicated by Al. Other than a tense scene after that time when, obviously, Sam isn't shot, that's pretty much it for the drama.
As for the comedy-there's more than on most episodes. It begins almost as soon as the show as Sam appears to run right over someone who runs in front of his cab. But the woman, lying beneath the car, is somehow unhurt. She says it's a miracle. Angela mentions something about being on 34th Street. She explains almost immediately, that she is an angel sent to help him. Her name, she says, is Angela (Spanish for lady angel). She was played by Liz Torres and if it were up to me, she would have walked away with an Emmy for this performance as she stole the show.
She and Sam drive a while with Al in the car. Al seems annoyed with her, but she only talks to Sam. A while later she admits to being able to see Al. When Sam asks why she didn't tell him that before, she says, "I thought if I ignored him, he'd go away." Angela and Al exchange much lively banter throughout the episode. Angela calls him "the devil." Angela keeps coming up with things she knows about Sam (Max) and later on we learn she knows more than we thought.
Another funny scene involves Sam driving a man and his son and telling them about what a great investment real estate can be. The kid seems particularly interested in what Sam says. As he let's his fare out, the man says, "Come on Donald." A second later an unseen man outside greeting the pair welcomes "Mr. Trump."
This episode to me was the best in Season 4 and one of the very best in the series. There were no stupid, nonsensical parts to the drama and it was loads of fun all the way through. A "10" for sure.
Here the drama is straightforward with almost no twists. Sam is a New York city cabbie named Max who is perhaps one day away from completing a year-long contest to win a "medallion"-what cabbies need to have their own cab-if he can earn enough money to complete the year-long total needed in this contest arranged by the owner of the company he works for. But Al tells him that tomorrow night he will be shot in a robbery and left comatose. His mission is simply to avoid letting his own character get shot at the time and place indicated by Al. Other than a tense scene after that time when, obviously, Sam isn't shot, that's pretty much it for the drama.
As for the comedy-there's more than on most episodes. It begins almost as soon as the show as Sam appears to run right over someone who runs in front of his cab. But the woman, lying beneath the car, is somehow unhurt. She says it's a miracle. Angela mentions something about being on 34th Street. She explains almost immediately, that she is an angel sent to help him. Her name, she says, is Angela (Spanish for lady angel). She was played by Liz Torres and if it were up to me, she would have walked away with an Emmy for this performance as she stole the show.
She and Sam drive a while with Al in the car. Al seems annoyed with her, but she only talks to Sam. A while later she admits to being able to see Al. When Sam asks why she didn't tell him that before, she says, "I thought if I ignored him, he'd go away." Angela and Al exchange much lively banter throughout the episode. Angela calls him "the devil." Angela keeps coming up with things she knows about Sam (Max) and later on we learn she knows more than we thought.
Another funny scene involves Sam driving a man and his son and telling them about what a great investment real estate can be. The kid seems particularly interested in what Sam says. As he let's his fare out, the man says, "Come on Donald." A second later an unseen man outside greeting the pair welcomes "Mr. Trump."
This episode to me was the best in Season 4 and one of the very best in the series. There were no stupid, nonsensical parts to the drama and it was loads of fun all the way through. A "10" for sure.
