Der Equalizer The Lock Box (1985–1989) Online

Here is a real creepy episode of The Equalizer where a family of three from Duluth arrives into New York City, becoming the victim of a child snatching "lock box" prostitution ring. Practically this whole episode will either make your skin crawl or possibly titillate you if you are a perverse deviant. Adam Ant (who successfully carries out his duty as a repellent cretin with a handsome boyish look and satanic grin) portrays a "vendor" for The Agency, setting up Governmental figures of importance and prominence with abducted hookers or "white slaves", to possibly service their sexually devious needs or to blackmail them with polarizing snapshots. McCall is called upon by father Sam and mother Eleanor (the late, great JT Walsh and Maureen Anderman) to help them find their kidnapped teen daughter, Edie (Paige Lyn Price), abducted by Ant's Francis DeGraumont. Ray Baker is Ant's American counterpart, Dana, who loves his life as a vendor, a pro who knows all about the twisted, warped sexual underbelly of New York City; McCall calls on him to provide information that will get him to DeGraumont, and preferably to Edie. This episode implies that maybe Edie was raped or worse. This does not speak highly of New York City and gives us a taste of what a lock box looks like. DeGraumont is a character after Satan's own heart; pure evil. Those scenes where Walsh is asking people if they had seen his daughter, sitting on a sidewalk crying, and coldly awash in agony are extremely difficult to watch. Walsh's night chat with Woodward is definitely the highlight. To propose that such places exist where kids are taken and used as sexual playthings is disturbing on multiple levels.

Minnesotan family of three takes a vacation in the Big Apple. They get their luggage stolen, find out their hotel reservations are no good and, worst of all the teen daughter is kidnapped and sold into white slavery. This episode of The Equalizer NOT brought to you by the New York Tourism Board!

The deceptively polite demeanour of the most vile form of criminals depicted here contrasts with the rudeness of the locals very much including those whose jobs should logically have customer service skills as an integral aspect. Some will be led to exclaim "This City's Falling Apart!" and they won't all be tourists.

The girl's mother (Maureen Anderman - An actress half the audience probably mistook for Talia Shire), in a nearly hopeless moment at the police station waiting just for the chance to beg for help finding her daughter is handed a piece of crumpled up newspaper by a vagrant. It has a large cryptic advertisement on it which reads "Odds Against You?...Need help?...Call The Equalizer...212-555-4200" and she probably wonders why she has just been given the ad for a snow removal service or whatever the hell it is.

Turned away by the cops the mother and father call the number from the absurd ad and very conveniently a deadly former secret agent named Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) is ready exert all his resources including personal capital and simple brute force to retrieve the girl if she is even still alive.

We are reminded it was never the milieu of violence and espionage veteran covert operative McCall was uncomfortable with. He merely needed a less morally ambiguous pretext and employers that fit the wording of a more compelling human interest story. Here the baddies actually have a connection to McCall's former bosses which remind us of the multitude of reasons he got out and imply he feels a need for redemption.

New York City, like much of urban North America, was plagued with crime of every kind up until the early 1990's. It was an ugly kind of crime wave punctuated by near horrific violence of the most perverse kind very much including that which resulted from sexual servitude. The NYPD was understaffed and overwhelmed even on the most urgent major cases.

The notion of an old spy, dependable and level-headed with steely nerve who could rip out a bad guy's intestines before he had time to blink was an appealing one particularly for parents subjected to the horror of child abduction. It was especially appealing if all you had to do was phone the modern day Paladin up and convince him you were not only helpless but worth helping.

Why does McCall go on violent missions pitting himself against the forces of evil? Having been submerged in a moral sewer he had mistaken for utilitarian idealism for more than three decades it is not as big a deal for him to wade in to the covert waters every once in a while.

He likely has an abnormal adrenal gland as well as a weak gag reflex which are invaluable as he does a form of penance for having been in the service of an unnamed government agency which, seemingly by the episode appears to be more and more diabolical.

If McCall has lost a step it is one most other guys never had so he remains more than capable of causing bad people complications of the gravest severity. He is not merely deadly accurate with a gun and in hand to hand combat, he can also subject an adversary to a sanctimonious moral lecture which is both unforgettable and indescribably irritating.

This controversial episode is a famous one which helped put this series on the map. We are shown a reflection of a very murky world here that is so plausible as to make us uncomfortable. Certain restrictions upon network TV prevent a lot of what might have been staged here from being broadcast. But there were no rules about happy endings which meant the abducted girl could have been murdered among other things.

As it was she was more than likely the victim of repeated rape though we never see it happen or hear it described. We have seen this criminal ring characterize a tween boy as an "hors dóevres" to a potential client. You can judge for yourself whether or not the narrative is tasteful. Personally the hints at unspeakable perversion made my skin crawl as they would for most anyone.

Remember it is just a show. One reminder is the surreal way the parents get in contact with McCall. Another is the hokey end bit with the hawk in Central Park as a metaphor for our hero.

This episode also marked the screen debut of Lori Petty. If you happen to be keeping score she was a solid performer even back then.

Boy this was the trip to hell. A guy comes to New York on business and brings his family for a little vacation. First he gets ripped off at the airport in a scam with Luis Guzmán (Boogie Nights , Punch Drink Love, The Limey, Traffic).

Then the hotel rips him off, and while he is commiserating, his daughter disappears.

Turns out that our Government agencies use sleazebags to trap Congressmen and diplomats. One such sleazebag is Adam Ant (Adam and the Ants). He's got the girl, and Edward Woodward has to get her back. It requires a trip to the underbelly of new York City.

And, oh yes, Woodward has a girlfriend show up in this episode. Sara Botsford (Canadian Soap "E.N.G.") tries to tie him down. Good luck with that.