2.03: Play It Again, Sledge
Technical Information
![[Sledge and stranger in bar]](../../images/sh/season2/pias03.jpg)
First Broadcast: Thursday, October 1, 1987, 8:00 PM
Production Code:
Number of bullets fired by Sledge: 6
Critical Info
TV Guide summary: In this spoof of '40s detective movies, a trench-coated stranger -- visible only to Hammer -- becomes Hammer's constant companion after he's suspended from the force and opens his own detective agency.
Ph episode rating on the Hammer scale (1 to 6 bullets):
1.
Hammer wasn't himself in this episode, as he just listened to Bogart and did whatever he said.
Episode references:
Act One
With Doreau posing as an old lady, Hammer apprehends a purse snatcher. Despite Doreau's warnings, ...
![[Sledge and Doreau in car]](../../images/sh/season2/pias01.jpg)
... Hammer handcuffs the criminal to the left car window post/separator.
![[crook handcuffed to moving car]](../../images/sh/season2/pias02.jpg)
Later, Trunk suspends both Hammer and Doreau for six months for "assault, battery, mayhem, brutality."
Trunk: You were two blocks away from the station house. Did you have to drag the man all over the freeway system?
Hammer: I wanted to give him time to reflect.
At a bar, Hammer and Doreau sulk. There, a Humphrey Bogart look-alike appears only to Hammer. He offers Hammer some advice, more specifically, "career counseling".
Back at Hammer's apartment, the stranger re-appears and suggests that Hammer becomes a private investigator. Following the idea, Hammer and Doreau then set up their own office.
![[Sledge and stranger in new office]](../../images/sh/season2/pias04.jpg)
Their first client is Mrs. Carstairs, whose husband had been found dead washed up on the beach, lying there for a week, strangled with seaweed. Also, a man from a business deal gone bad has been calling her demanding $100,000 or he'll kill her. He will be around at 9 tonight to collect. Sledge agrees to protect her for $1000.
![[Mrs. Carstairs standing by the door]](../../images/sh/season2/pias05.jpg)
Just as Sledge assures that he is no longer in danger, a sniper fires a snot through the office window. As Mrs. Carstairs screams, Sledge tackles her to protect her.
Act Two
Hammer knocks out the rest of the office window and fires six rounds.
Doreau: Sledge, you hit the ERA sign across the street.
Hammer: Good, then I didn't waste any bullets.
Hammer then orders that Mrs. Carstairs take him to her place.
The stranger and Hammer admire the lavishness of her "guest house". She serves him a drink, a root beer. Hammer has a sudden stomach pain and collapses on the couch.
![[Sledge wincing in pain]](../../images/sh/season2/pias06.jpg)
At 9, Sledge awakens to find Mrs. Carstairs arguing with a her husband's attorney. In the heat of the moment, she shoots and kills him. When Trunk arrives on the scene, Sledge claims to have closed the case, saying she shot him in self-defense.
At a bar, the stranger chastises Hammer, pointing out the coincidence of him passing out just when she shoots the only suspect. He suggests Hammer go back to Mrs. Carstairs to find out what really happened.
Hammer tells Mrs. Carstairs he suspects her of killing her husband and planning to have Hammer see her "defend herself". Just when she challenges Hammer asking who shot at her in the office, Rosa, Mrs. Carstairs' maid, shoots Mrs. Carstairs in the back. Rosa, the accomplice, was going to split the money with Mrs. Carstairs but decided to take it all.
![[Rosa pointing gun]](../../images/sh/season2/pias07.jpg)
Rosa takes Hammer to a dock and chains him to a heavy weight. She begins to pull a rope that will dump Hammer into the water. Sledge appeals to the stranger, who takes the rope from Rosa and kisses her, putting her into a trance.
![[Rosa in the arms of the stranger]](../../images/sh/season2/pias08.jpg)
Tag
As Rosa is led away in handcuffs, Trunk returns badges to Hammer and Doreau, saying Hammer is more dangerous as a private eye than on the force.
