Recap / Knightrider S 2 E 20 Let It Be Me

Series: Knight Rider
Episode: Season 2, Episode 20
Title: Let It Be Me
Previous: Mouth Of The Snake
Next: Big Iron
Recapper: Scooter007

Michael is called in to investigate the mysterious death of a rock singer. In order to avoid attracting attention to his mission, he does this by infiltrating the band as its new lead singer, and in the process uncovers a new-wave, high-tech drug-running operation — and becomes a target for assassination himself.

Oh, and did we mention the band's other lead singer? Why, it's none other than Stevie Mason, Michael's former fiancée from "White Bird"! So there's that complication as well.

Tropes peculiar to this episode:

• Alliterative Name: Barbara Bellingham, the band's video producer/director
• Artistic License – Film Production:
  • During the filming of a driving sequence for a music video, the car Michael and Stevie are in has its brake lines cut in a murder attempt. In reality, whenever actors are filmed "driving", it is either using Rear Projection/Chroma Key or, if "live", the car the actors are in will be towed by the camera lorry, in order to preserve camera focus and Depth of Field. This is actually given an unintentional Lampshade Hanging with An Inserted reverse-angle shot of the camera truck, which shot is bouncing wildly.
  • Additionally, the video shoots shown in the episode are ludicrously brief, featuring a single take through one verse of the song in question; no reshoots, no alternate angles, no multiple camera setups. Likely this was a concession to fit the process into the show's running time, but they might at least have considered a montage.
• British Stuffiness: Well, "Bostonian Stuffiness" at any rate; but KITT tends to turn his figurative nose up at the notion of rock music.
• Call-Back: Stevie's goodbye wave to Michael (through the back window of a car, her finger and thumb in an "L" posture) mirrors a similar gesture in "White Bird".
• Chekhov's Gunman: Greg Noble's bodyguard appears early on to cast about a few suspicions; he shows up again at the climax to save Michael and Stevie from Barbara's hitman.
• Depth of Field: In order to preserve the depth of field, the driving scenes of the music video are shot with the car the actors are in being towed by the camera truck.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In-Universe example: The villains transmit drug-smuggling information to their cohorts by imbedding a binary-coded message into a single frame of the band's music videos (the original singer was killed when he discovered this) which is then broadcast, videotaped by the cohorts and the frame decoded.
• Invisible Backup Band: Probably unintentional, but other than Michael and Stevie (and the body of the former male singer), we never meet any of the other band members. Downplayed in that they are there, but they remain in the background.
• Lampshade Hanging: When they discover the Freeze-Frame Bonus method the bad guys use to communicate their nefarious intentions, Devon notes that this is a highly risky system due to how easily the message could be intercepted^* which, you just might notice, is precisely what has happened. The point is totally glossed over.
• Leitmotif: "White Bird", natch. Even more directly than in Stevie's previous appearance, as this episode features a new version of the song, sung by David Hasselhoff and Catherine Hickland (Stevie's actress).
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Michael and Stevie are driving a car on a mountain road as part of their video shoot; the brake lines are cut in a murder attempt. See Artistic License, above, for why this would never work.
• Posthumous Character: Despite being killed in the episode teaser, the band's original male singer Greg Noble casts a Love Triangle-shaped shadow over the episode; besides being the one to uncover the Evil Plot, Stevie was romantically involved with him just before he was killed, causing Michael much Angst.
• Pulling the Thread: As part of his cover, Michael claims to have performed recently in Australia. The villains try to trap him out by mentioning a specific venue he supposedly played at, but deliberately misstate its location; Michael catches the "error" and corrects them. However, the villains catch on later when they learn that this specific venue had burned down years ago.
• Red Herring: The roadie and the bodyguard. Downplayed in that Michael's investigation never really points in their respective directions, but their presence is obviously intended to make the audience suspicious, however briefly.
• Small Steps Hero: During a car chase, Michael is forced to allow the bad guy to escape in order to rescue victims of an incidental crash.