The Equalizer’s Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) is a blunt object. An educated, cultured blunt object, but blunt object all the same. That paradox is a part of what made. and for the most part, still makes it work He attends the Opera and then wallows in the gutter with the worst of the bad, beating them at their own game, so that you and I can attend the Opera the next night, rarely getting any on himself. He is so compartmentalized you can hear the doors creak. He is difficult to love but easy to respect and if the waste matter hits the oscillating cooling unit, he’s the one you want on your side. And therein is the premise.

“Got a problem? Odds against you?” His newspaper ad invites you to wield him like an enchanted sword in the Arthurian tales, as he works off his sins of the past by helping the weak (read you and me) instead of the nameless government agency that has employed him throughout his adult life.
With a pack of characters from ‘The Company’ lending a hand as needed. I do not use the term characters loosely, these are the most fleshed out peripherals I can recall. From Jimmy, who is going through a very ugly and expensive divorce to my favorite , Mickey Kostmeyer (Keith Szarabajka) maybe the best sidekick since Gabby Hayes.We meet Mickey in China Rain, the second episode fishing of a dock. He begins reeling in his line and McCall, who has not asked for help asks what he is doing. “I figured you needed some whack job to stick his finger in the fan.” Mickey will stick his finger in the fan. And the fan will lose. Regrettably, Mickey was never a regular (nor was anyone else) but any episode he appeared in was cause for celebration as far as I’m concerned. Also Robert Lansing as Control was first rate lending a world weary gravity to several stories
There are twenty-two episodes and commentary by the shows creator Michael Sloan and quite a parade of guest stars including Meatloaf, Kim Delaney later of NYPD Blue and credited here as Dana Delaney, Robert Davi, Gwen Verden, Melissa Joan Hart, Alberta Watson, and too many more to just list.
I was a fan in 1985 when it debuted and I still am. It’s stood up quite well all in all. Sure it is a little dated in some spots, dial telephones and downright laughable computers. There is also more humor than I would have recalled, mostly at the expense of McCalls somewhat stuffy self.
The Equalizer is unique in crime drama and I’d say well worth your time.