The A-Team is hired on by members of the Society of Man, an Amish-esque commune of people sworn to non-violence. Despite posing no threat, the Society is being threatened by a gang of local thugs led by one Kale Sykes, who views them as "freaks" and wants them out of the area. The A-Team is put into the difficult situation of trying to fend off the bullies while also dealing with the demands of the Society's leader, Karl Peerson, a devoted pacifist who will not allow them to use violence to solve the problem.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Actual Pacifist: The Society of Man is sworn not to use any form of violence, not even to defend themselves. Karl won't even accept the team behaving like Technical Pacifists.
- All for Nothing: Sykes and his goons are all arrested in the end, but Peerson makes clear as he tells Hannibal to go away that he will take the Society of Man to another town (where they may get bullied again) because he refuses to settle down in a place that he believes was "tainted with violence" (that is, the A-Team preventing Sykes from killing the Society).
- The Bad Guy Wins: Even though Sykes and his men end up in prison, they still get what they want because Peerson is too closed-minded about his pacifistic beliefs to accept a victory obtained through "violence".
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: After Karl finally has enough of the A-Team and fires them, the team are shown driving away. They comment on the fact that they hate leaving it like this, with the bad guys sure to win, and so they go back intent on finishing the job even knowing they won't get paid and will only receive another chewing out from Karl.
- Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: Kale Sykes absolutely can not stand the idea of the Society of Man existing. It's never made clear why Sykes hates the Society so much, except that he thinks they're "freaks" and are "dirtying up our country air."
- Fish out of Water: When asked to help the Society build their meeting hall, the team mention that they're not carpenters. Face in particular is absolutely terrible at it, and struggles to drive in even a single nail.
- Gunboat Diplomacy: It's basically the Central Theme of the episode: some people really do only respond to violence, and force is necessary to uphold peace.Karl: (Seeing a crate full of assault rifles in the Team's van.) Are these the tools of logic, Colonel?
Hannibal: In some circles, yes, they are. - He Who Fights Monsters: Karl Peerson insists that the A-Team are this, telling them throughout the episode that their violent ways make them just as bad as the villains they fight. Of course, the audience knows he's wrong.
- Irrational Hatred: Sykes really doesn't seems to have a reason to hate the Society of Man other than the fact it exists, and he's willing to act out on that hatred with extreme prejudice.
- Lame Comeback: Kale Sykes isn't the wittiest fellow in the world. Face and Hannibal both call him out on it.Hannibal: Well you see, that's what comes when you build to close to the road. Anything can crawl in.
Sykes: Who the Hell are you?
Face: Pretty snappy comeback!
Sykes: I asked you a question, boy!
Hannibal: ...Face, did he call me "boy"?
Face: Yeah. No doubt about it. This is definitely a force to be reckoned with. - Pacifism Backfire: The Society of Man's policy of non-violence has apparently seen them run out of every community they've ever tried to settle in. In the episode itself, the A-Team tries to use less violent means themselves to beat the villains at first, in keeping with the Society's request. They even manage to drive the villains away once... but all that happens is the villains wait for half of the team to leave and then come back and burn down the Society's meeting hall. In the end, the only thing that works is violence.
- Principles Zealot: Karl Peerson, who is utterly devoted to pacifism to the point where he won't even defend himself, and protests to the idea of allowing anyone else to defend him either, and would rather force his people to live their lives constantly on the run rather than compromise his ideals even once. The episode ends with the people who want to hurt and/or kill the Society behind bars thanks to the A-Team's actions, and Peerson making clear that he will pull stakes and move to another town, where this whole mess will probably continue rather than allow the Society to live on a land that has been "tainted with violence".
- Shut Up, Kirk!:
- A rare hero-on-hero example. At the end of the episode, Hannibal gives a big speech on the importance of freedom and how soldiers pay the price for others to live free. Face, who thinks it's foolish to wait around and risk a run-in with the cops, keeps interrupting him.
- Hannibal gets it twice. In the final scene, he gives Peerson an Armor-Piercing Question that points out the Team and their violence were a necessary evil. Peerson's answer is a blunt "goodbye, Colonel".
- Stupid Good: Karl Peerson, the leader of the Society of Man, falls into this. He runs an Amish-esque commune which is sworn to non-violence, but his community is threatened by a gang of local thugs who view them as "freaks." Karl fully intends to give in to the bullies and even openly insults the A-Team when his son calls them in, claiming their violent ways make them just as bad as the villains. He then asks them to protect his people while figuratively tying both hands behind their backs and calling them murderers and villains the whole time. Even at the end, when the actual villains have been defeated, he holds to his stance and makes it clear that he intends to leave town anyway, feeling that he can't possibly stay in his new home knowing that it was won by violence.Hannibal: You can build your meeting house now. You don't need us.
Karl: Here? After this?
Hannibal: Why not? Sykes and his buddies will be in jail for a long time. You're safe, and you earned it.
Karl: Earned it? With all the anger and destruction and injury around us? Not even you can believe we earned it with that... Are you expecting me to thank you?
Hannibal: No...no, even though you're one of the most narrow-minded men I've ever met in your own way, I admire you for one thing, Karl. You don't change your tune when you win. Most people do. Did it ever occur to you where people like you would be without people like us?
Karl: Goodbye, Colonel. - Suicidal Pacifism: After being run out of every town by good ol' boys that think their pacifism is incentive to bully them and run into a guy who wants the Society of Man dead, you would think Peerson would either make a stand or make plans to get out of Dodge ASAP, but Peerson staunchly refuses to do the former in any way, shape or form and only thinks of the latter when his own young son is put in the hospital. The episode does not even tries to refute that the Society's worst enemy is probably its leader.
- Technical Pacifist: How the A-Team tries to fend off the bullies at first. They act only in self-defense, trick the enemies into hurting themselves (for example, goading a villain into walking onto a weak platform over a mud pit), and so on. It ultimately doesn't work.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Karl Peerson does nothing but act like a pompous jerk to the A-Team throughout the episode. He fires them, only for them to come back on their own and work for free just because they don't like the idea of the bad guy winning. At the end he still refuses to thank them for anything they did and makes it clear that he intends to squander all their work by moving out of town anyway.
- Violence Really Is the Answer: Sykes makes clear that he will only be satisfied with the Society of Man run out of town or six feet under — preferably both — and when the A-Team manages to humiliate and scare them off through slapstick traps, they just come back a few hours later and burn the construction to the ground. And they put Peerson's pre-teen son in the hospital, to boot. So the only thing that will put a stop to them is the typical explosion-laden, car-crashing and mad shooting mayhem the A-Team does.
- Would Hurt a Child: The third act begins with Sykes' men putting Peerson's pre-teen son in the hospital.
