In which we meet a man who owes the A-Team nothing and Hannibal uses his loaf.

Pulling up outside a fancy restaurant, the team disembark while BA tells the valet he’ll feed him his socks if he touches the van. We’re there at Face’s request as he thinks he’s found a friendly chef from their old prisoner of war camp from Vietnam. Lin Duk Coo used to help prisoners by keeping them well fed, saving lives and even helped some escape the Vietcong.

When BA shouts over to the chef, he runs and the team chase after him. As they reach the carpark, LDC gets kidnapped by a gun-toting goon who drives away with the team jumping in the van to pursue him. They follow the car to a compound and quickly gather their guns to head in and rescue him.

After a short gunfight, the boys grab LDC back and make their escape in a stolen bakery van with Amy driving the team’s van. They reconvene at Face’s new penthouse apartment, scammed by impersonating an interior designer. 

As everyone enjoys a tray of tea prepared by Amy, LDC shares his story since he last saw the team. His old General Chow sent him to the US to give Thomas Angel, a former prisoner of war and the son of a drug lord, a message. Realising who Angel was, LDC ran away and took a job as a chef to make ends meet. Now Chang wants revenge on the peaceful chef for betraying him.

The team are more than familiar with Angel, despising him for cutting deals with their captors and living a high life while his fellow soldiers starved. Realising he is the best route to capturing Chow, Hannibal disguises himself as a caddy and partners Angel at his next round.  

After separating off his bodyguards, Hannibal turns a gun on Angel and in a dark turn makes him stand in a shallow grave. Angel offers a $1 million for LDC and the bakery van but Hannibal says the only reason he’s alive is that he wants General Chow more. The team leave Angel four hours to bring Chow to them.

Back in the basement carpark at Face’s apartment, the team dismantle the van to find out why Angel was willing to pay so much for its return. By chance, Amy sits on a baguette and finds it stuffed with heroin.  Hannibal phones Angel to gloat and remind him of the deal but the plan backfires when Angel tricks the operator into revealing where they call came from.

Unaware of the upcoming attack, the team montage their way through armouring the bakery van with panels from the inside of the lifts. Back in the penthouse, the team are shot at from a helicopter that lands on the roof with General Chow inside. Hannibal, Face and BA are soon captured and taken down to the basement for the van.

Meanwhile, Murdock, Amy and LDC make their way to the roof and managed to steal the chopper from Chow and the pilot. Downstairs, threatened at gunpoint to give up the heroin, Hannibal reaches inside a baguette and pulls out a shotgun! The team jump inside the van and chase the villains out into the street where Murdock helps push them off the road into a classic car flip. 

As we wrap things up, Face has to wave goodbye to his apartment as he reveals to his neighbours that they’ll find a Vietnamese General on the rook and a drug pusher locked in a van outside. Amy uses her connections at the paper to get Lin Duk Coo immunity and a visa. In celebration, LDC bakes a batch of fortune cookies which Hannibal opens to reveal his favourite: “I love it when a plan comes together”.

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Let’s wrap up with a few key questions.

Does Hannibal wear a disguise?

Yes. He plays an old caddy so well that his former prison mate Angel doesn’t realise even stood next to him.

Does BA get on a plane?

No – everything is set in LA.

Should someone be dead?

Yes – the car flip, as usual, should have caused at least one fatality.

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Recipe for Heavy Bread is a quick return to form for The A-Team after a shaky first episode of the second season. I always enjoy it when we get a character from the team’s past, especially their Vietnam days. Lin Duk Coo is a fun character to find out more about, a hero from the Vietnamese side rather than the American soldiers we’ve met before.

Thomas Angel makes a great villain for Hannibal to work with, bringing out his more vicious side with the grave scene. We also get some good comedy with the whole team ruining Face’s apartment and his scam in the process. Murdock has a sideline about liberating golf balls which also provides some welcome laughs.

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