Oh man, so get this. I was meeting my wife and child in a cafe when BOOM there was a totally big explosion. Lucky for me my wife hates my guts, so they blew me off anyways and is totally safe and sound. Unlucky for me, the blast gave me an absolutely massive concussion, and I can’t remember a thing. Do you remember what happened in Collateral Damage?
Pop Quiz Hot Shot!
1) When Gordon Brewer goes to see his wife and child at a restaurant he meets El Lobo face-to-face. What disguise is El Lobo wearing?
2) Well, now Gordon really needs to get at El Lobo, who has killed his fambly. Where is El Lobo, what country?
3) Once Gordon gets there though he is immediately captured. He talked with Sean Armstrong, a Canadian national who works among the rebels. Gordon convinces Sean to give him a work permit so he can go behind enemy lines acting as a what?
4) Once back in the States Gordon is helping the CIA and FBI to foil the next major attack by El Lobo. Where do they think he is going to attack, and where is he going to attack really?
5) What form does the bomb intended to blow up the target take?
Bonus Question: Just as I’m leaving the showing of Collateral Damage I get a frantic phone call from my agent. What does he want?
Answers
1) El Lobo is disguised as a motorcycle cop specifically, and Gordon clocks him and says hello and thinks he is acting weirdly which is why he notices him in the first place.
2) He is down behind rebel lines in Colombia. That is going to be difficult to deal with since Peter Brandt really doesn’t want to let Gordon go behind enemy lines as a vigilante. I can’t imagine why.
3) He is pretending to be a mechanic. He instead is actually a mad bomber and immediately blows up a giant drug factory and gets his somewhat affable colleague murdered. Whoops!
4) They think he is going to blow up a train station (Union Station in Washington D.C. specifically), but in reality he really wants to blow up the State Department. Wait a second … that’s where Gordon is!
5) It takes the form of a stuffed dinosaur which the child who was with Selena (who is actually El Lobo) has been carrying around. ¡Traidora!
Bonus Answer: He wants me to write a pilot script for the Collateral Damage, toot sweet! “What a coincidence,” I say, “I was just … oh he hung up.” Anyways, it is time for the ultimate dad show, Collateral Damage on ABC starring Tom Selleck (remember this is 2002). In the pilot episode he just a fun loving firefighter dad, when tragedy strikes, the terrorist El Lobo strikes and a huge explosion occurs at a downtown building. Little does Gordon Brewer know that his wife and daughter were killed in the blast! Distraught Gordon resigns from the LAFD and becomes a recluse. In the second half of the pilot he approaches a LAPD officer, Peter Brandt, to tell him that he has information about a high profile murder that occurred in the area. While initially untrusting, Peter goes to Gordon’s cabin and sees the evidence he’s gathered on El Lobo. The murder investigation is incidental, but with Gordon’s help they locate the fugitive before he can strike again. Peter wants to publicize Gordon’s heroics, but Gordon doesn’t want any of it … he just wants a bit of help here and there to locate El Lobo and get vengeance if he can. Peter reluctantly agrees, on one condition: Gordon can’t exact vigilante justice. Gordon makes no promises beyond that he won’t hold it against him if some day Peter has to arrest him. The shake hands …
Collateral Damage! Coming to CBS (obviously) Fridays at 9PM. Now, obviously most of the series is just a regular police procedural (the cop-with-x formula, with x I guess being a distraught vigilante firefighter?), but every so often they do allow Gordon to get a little closer to El Lobo. He catches El Lobo at the end of season 1, but he escapes in the season 2 premiere. He catches him again in season 3, but a copycat (El Lobo’s daughter) takes the mantle in season 4, before El Lobo escapes again in season 5. In the series finale (season 9) El Lobo is finally killed (hooray). I have a whole series guide, I’ll let you read it some time.
Bad Movie Twins 