"I think someone is shooting at us. Because we're kissing. Someone's always shooting at us when we're kissing." - Pierce Brosnan as Remington Steele
Remington Steele: Season Two DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
When Remington Steele returned to NBC for its second season on September 20, 1983, viewers would have noticed a number of changes - both superficial and substantial - to the series. Gone was the exposition-heavy opening credit sequence in which private investigator Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) explains how the firm she opened failed because clients preferred dealing with male P.I.s. She solved the problem by creating a "decidedly masculine superior" Remington Steele. The ruse was a success, until a mysterious conman (Pierce Brosnan) stepped in and assumed the place of her imaginary boss. In its place was a new sequence featuring Laura and Steele watching clips from the series in a grand movie theatre while listening to an orchestral version of the show's theme song. In the season's second episode, "Red Holt Steele," Laura's cottage is blown up and she moves into a converted industrial loft. The spatial difference is quite considerable. Her bungalow barely had room for her cat, but Laura's new loft can even accommodate a trapeze when the duo goes undercover at a carnival ("High Flying Steele").
However, these changes are merely window dressing. The season also features a major cast shakeup. Steele's friendly rival for Laura's affections, her fellow P.I. and business partner Murphy Michaels (North & South's James Read) is off to Denver running his own firm. Receptionist Bernice Foxe (Janet DeMay), now married to a musician, has run off. Into her place steps Mildred Krebs (Everybody Loves Raymond's Emmy magnet Doris Roberts), a no-nonsense IRS agent sent to audit Steele. She can't resist his charms, though, and is soon a member of the Remington Steele Investigations team as secretary, computer whiz, and junior agent.
Mildred is a welcome addition to the show. Roberts is charming, and the character adds a new dynamic to the series. Murphy and Bernice knew that Steele was a fake, placing all of the characters on the exact same level. Mildred, however, thinks that he is the real deal. She loves the glamour of the job and practically follows Steele like a puppy tagging along after its master. Better yet is her relationship with Laura. Since Steele is, in Mildred's eyes, the boss, she is barely even willing to share the slightest bits of information and research with Laura.
Since the dawn of TV, writers have been trying to figure out ways to prolong sexual tension between characters. Often they fail by relieving the tension too soon (see Moonlighting). The producers of Remington Steele go in a slightly different direction, although not an entirely successful one. Their solution is simply to have Laura equivocate. She can run hot and cold, often in the same episode. At the start of "Steele Away," she practically throws herself at Steele. By the midpoint of the episode, she's back to all business. Many episodes rely on similar techniques, a storyline that too often feels farfetched rather than romantic.
In "Steele Framed," Guy Boyd makes his first appearance as Major Descoine, a master of disguise out to frame Steele for murder. This episode has an intriguing premise, especially as Laura and Steele search for clues in the wrong Steele's past. It seems that he is out for revenge after Laura (or, in his mind, Steele), solved a case that led to the suicide of his wife. As Laura says, "He's not after your Remington Steele, he's after mine!" Descoine returns later in the season for "Elegy in Steele." In this episode, he vows that Laura and Steele will be dead in one hour. "Elegy" is so senseless as it lurches from set piece to set piece that it's almost fun. A country club across the street from a downtown L.A. high rise? TNT blasting on an operating golf course? A country club that also engraves headstones? Talk about full service. This episode is redeemed thanks to a wily performance by Quinn Cummings (Family).
In keeping with Steele's obsession with old movies, many of the episodes in season one of Remington Steele were based - loosely - on classic Hollywood films. Some of the episodes in season two, however, seem to be based on episodes from season one. The duo investigate a 1936 Auburn in "Love Among the Steele," the mystery of a necklace missing since the '30s and the reappearance of the Auburn that might contain the key to the case. Straddling old Hollywood and modern-day L.A., this episode is a bit too reminiscent of season one's "Steeling the Show." In season two's "Scene Steelers," Laura and Steele investigate murder and rivalry on the set of a Chef Gaston frozen dinner commercial, which smacks of season one's far superior "Steele in the News."
Guest stars in season two include Chloe Webb (Tales of the City), Jack Blessing (Moonlighting), David Warner (Marple), Barbara Cason (It's Garry Shandling's Show), Delta Burke (Designing Women), Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), Jeffrey Jones, Clive Revill, Bibi Besch, Faith Prince, Bert Remsen, Roy Dotrice (Beauty and the Beast), A Martinez (Santa Barbara), Maryedith Burrell (Fridays), Judith Light (Who's the Boss?), Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: The Next Generation), J.D. Cannon (McCloud), and David Garrison (Married...with Children).
The twenty-one episodes that make up the second season are divided onto four double-sided discs. Two slim, black keepcases hold two discs apiece. The front of each case features the same publicity photo of Brosnan and Zimbalist. The back of each case features a listing of episode titles, airdates, and brief synopses, as well as a small set of publicity and production photos. The cases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve which features the same photo of Brosnan and Zimbalist.
The menus are simple and functional. There is no "play all" feature.
