Here we open on the docks where Smart encounters an agent hiding in a steamer trunk. He is shipping himself to Pittsburgh to get away from whoever it is that has been killing CONTROL agents. He sends Max to mail his alimony check-a short walk-and while Max is doing this, an unseen figure approaches and... Seconds later, Max returns to see his friend has been killed.
Back at CONTROL, we learn that he was the 6th agent killed by someone with almost superhuman strength. Each agent received a banana in the mail the morning of his murder and when his body was found, a banana peel was found at the scene.
Viewers see two KAOS agents, including a Dr. Rath who loves to experiment with animals and learn that he has surgically transformed an actual ape into someone who looks and acts totally human, until Rath contacts him-he has placed speakers behind his ears-rings a bell and orders him to do his bidding.
We then see former baseball star Maury Wills as a CONTROL agent, who just received a banana in the mail. He answers a knock on the door and welcomes in another agent, Armstrong, and is glad to have some protection. But then Dr. Rath calls "Chuckie" and orders him to kill the agent, "Then you can have your banana." Chuckie starts walking and acting like an ape and does his dirty work, making for the 7th agent to be killed.
As Max and the Chief are discussing it, 99 calls to warn Max that he just received a banana in the mail. Max wants to rush right home, but not before the Chief orders protection for him-Agent Armstrong, also identified as # 77.
This time, at Max's apartment, Chuckie isn't ordered to kill until much later at night, after they've all gone to bed. He happens to have been summoned while Max has gone down to his car for some forgotten baby formula-it's time for the 2 a.m. feeding of the twins. Chuckie goes ape and wanders about looking for Max.
99 sees him acting like a gorilla and, in a most un-99 way, feints. Chuckie carries her out the fire escape and up to the roof. Max returns and is phoned by the Chief and told that Armstrong is an ape. He drops the phone and hunts until he finds Chuckie and 99 on the roof. He gets into a fight with him, learning that he isn't just really strong like an ape, but virtually Superman-like invincible to any pain, reacting not at all to Max's attacks-or course he never tries his gun.
If you read the IMDB quotes, you know how this one ends. Otherwise-ending spoiler alert: Max gives Chuckie the banana to eat, which he does while on the ledge of the building. A moment later, going after Max to complete his mission, he slips on the banana peel and falls off the rooftop to his death. He tells 99, "T'was beauty who killed the beast." 99 thanks him. Max says, "Oh, I didn't mean you, 99. Beauty is the brand name of these bananas." Instead of a drum roll, we get the frequent Season 5 end of a scene where 99 looks right at the camera as if to say, "Can you believe that one?"
If you don't count scientific inventions that seem possible such as miniaturized items that weren't really possible in the 60s don't, in my opinion, count as things to make this series "science fiction." It's a wildy, crazy, satirical comedy about spies, but it's really just a comedy. This time we really dip into the science fiction category. They never even talk about how long it took Dr. Rath to teach this ape to walk and move like a human, and oh yes...speak English! And I guess CONTROL doesn't do much of a background check when they hire an agent.
OK, I'll accept this premise. But this show was just dreadful otherwise. The first agent we saw, just cowered like women in old movies used to when danger approached. He never even tried to get out his gun. As is pointed out in the "goofs" section for this episode. Armstrong must have been there "guarding" all 7 of the agents who were killed. You would certainly expect him to let his man get killed and go back to protect another agent, and another and another...Strangely enough, the Chief doesn't even seem to want to ask 77 what happened to agent Roberts, and nothing is said about all the others being killed on his watch.
Another thing that was unmentioned that made no sense. Dr. Rath could speak to his gorilla, ring the bell, command him to kill, then make a different noise to get him to go back to being human-like, but he had no way of knowing when to return him to human behavior. At the docks, Chuckie killed and quickly disappeared as Max returned less than a minute after he left the victim alone, yet there was no ape nor human in sight. We never saw the after-death part of the second killing. For the attempted murder at Max's, several minutes went by. If Chuck had found Max right away and killed him, 99 or possibly others could have seen the man behave like an ape and put a stop to him. Rath had no way of knowing who else was in the apartment guarding Max. He had no way of knowing when the job was completed in any of his cases.
What also was missing was humor. Almost nothing in this script seemed even designed to make us laugh. A couple of good exchanges with Larabee and Max were just about it. When Max and Chuck were about to go to the apartment, Max says he needs to go into the adjacent pharmacy for baby formula to take home. He leaves and the ringing of a bell makes Chuckie act like an ape. He walks around on the sidewalk and then starts beating up a parking meter for no reason in particular. Max returns, gets into his car and then calls for Chuck, who is now atop the car and due to another noise-a horn honking, has gone back to his human-like state. Max tells him to "Quit monkeying around up there and get in. They drive away and we see that Chuck has bent the parking meter down to where the top is almost on the ground. OK, he's really strong, but nothing there was the least bit funny.
For KAOS to have let the scientist put all the years of time and money into surgery and training this ape to walk and talk like a human, go to CONTROL training school, and more, just so he can strong-arm agents and kill them is just not believable. All it would take was one agent being guarded by two men for the plot to be foiled after, no more than, one killing. He was instructed to kill just one man, not every man around. I give this a 2-definitely one to skip when going through your DVDs.
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