The Spa Who Loved Me
Encyclopedia
"The Spa Who Loved Me" is the 22nd episode of the television series Sledge Hammer!
Sledge Hammer!
Sledge Hammer! is an American satirical police sitcom produced by New World Television that ran for two seasons on ABC from 1986 to 1988. The series was created by Alan Spencer and stars David Rasche as Inspector Sledge Hammer, a preposterous caricature of the standard "cop on the edge" character,...

and the final episode of the show's first season. It originally aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 in the United States on April 28, 1987. The title is a parody of the 1977 James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 film The Spy Who Loved Me
The Spy Who Loved Me (film)
The Spy Who Loved Me is a spy film, the tenth film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Roger Moore as the fictional secret agent James Bond. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and the screenplay was written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum...

.

Plot summary

The episode begins with an introduction by Robin Leach
Robin Leach
Robin Douglas Leach is an English celebrity writer famous for hosting his first show, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, in the mid-1980s and into the mid-1990s, which focused on profiling well-known celebrities and their lavish homes, cars and other materialistic endeavors...

, who informs the viewers that the production staff is desperate for ratings in hopes for a second season. He promises sex, violence, rock and roll and a cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...

 ending before closing his speech with Hammer's famous line, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

An army truck carrying top-secret cargo is stopped by a roadblock in the form of women in bikinis playing a game of volleyball. When the soldiers tell the women to leave the premises, one woman throws the ball at them. The ball explodes, releasing gas that knocks out the soldiers as the women put on masks and steal the equipment.

Back in the precinct, Trunk congratulates Hammer for thwarting a bank robbery with poetry, to which he throws his gun out the window. Doreau then approaches him and kisses him, to which Hammer wakes up from the nightmare.

Upon arriving at the precinct, Hammer sees that Trunk's office is locked with a poster of the police captain and a "Do Not Disturb" sign pasted on the door. Wanting to know what is going on, he shoots the doorknob and storms in. He sees Trunk and Doreau with General Mills
General Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...

 (Lance LeGault
Lance LeGault
Lance LeGault , sometimes credited as W. L. LeGault, is an American film and television actor, best known as Colonel Roderick Decker in the 1980s American television series The A-Team.-Personal life:...

) and another soldier. Gen. Mills informs Hammer that a nuclear warhead has just been stolen by female terrorists and also points out that the soldier in the room is a traitor, having slept with one of the women in exchange for the warhead information. Not knowing who to trust, Gen. Mills went to Trunk for help. Using her skills in counter-terrorism, Doreau gets the description of the woman the soldier slept with and has a photograph of her printed. Upon seeing the photo description, Officer Daley (Patti Tippo) identifies the woman as a member of the Jill Taylor Fitness Center.

Hammer goes to the fitness center to directly question Jill (Mary Woronov
Mary Woronov
Mary Woronov is an American actress and writer. She is primarily known for her roles in independent and cult films. Woronov has appeared in over 80 movies, as well as numerous appearances in mainstream television series, such as Charlie's Angels and Knight Rider.-Early life:Woronov was born in the...

), who explains to him that the woman he is looking for is a client, but she has no further information on her. After exhausting him with her workouts, she hands him her files. Upon returning to the precinct, Hammer finds out that Jill gave him a false address. Doreau then goes undercover as a fitness client. Meanwhile, Gen. Mills receives a tape from the cloaked terrorist leader, who demands $1 billion in ransom. Gen. Mills tells Hammer and Trunk that the governor refuses to meet with the terrorists' demands. Doreau calls Hammer and tells him that the spa has closed early. Seeing that something has come up, Hammer heads for the spa while Doreau is caught by one of the instructors.

A news team arrives at the precinct, demanding answers from Trunk. Gen. Mills and Trunk attempt to cover up the story, but to no avail, as the terrorist leader appears on TV and announces that they will detonate the bomb in one hour unless they receive their ransom.

Upon arriving at the spa, Hammer is cornered by two female bodybuilders
Female bodybuilding
Female bodybuilding is the female component of competitive bodybuilding. It began in the late 1970s when women began to take part in bodybuilding competitions.-Beginnings:...

, who bend his gun and tie him up with Doreau over a boiling hot tub. The terrorist leader reveals herself to the duo as Jill Taylor and informs them that once the ransom is paid, she will continue to threaten to detonate the bomb for more money. She orders her henchwomen to lower the duo closer to the tub as she returns to the studio to broadcast additional demands such as more episodes of Moonlighting
Moonlighting (TV series)
Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...

. As Hammer and Doreau are being lowered, Trunk and his men barge in, ordering the henchwomen to free them. Hammer, Doreau and Trunk then storm into the studio to arrest Jill, who tells them that the bomb is set to explode in five minutes. The officers search desperately until they finally find the warhead inside the hot tub. With only seconds remaining, Hammer utters the words, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing," and makes an attempt to disarm the bomb.

The city is consumed by a mushroom cloud
Mushroom cloud
A mushroom cloud is a distinctive pyrocumulus mushroom-shaped cloud of condensed water vapor or debris resulting from a very large explosion. They are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect. They can be caused by...

.

The remains of the city are seen as Trunk yelling, "HAMMER!!!" can be heard. The episode ends with the words "To Be Continued...Next Season?".

Production notes

Creator Alan Spencer
Alan Spencer
Alan Spencer is an American television writer and producer, known for creating the 1980s satirical police series Sledge Hammer!. He was one of the youngest people ever to join the Writers Guild of America, writing for television at the age of fifteen...

 did not expect the series to be renewed for a second season and planned this episode as a going-out with a bang. He saw inspiration from the 1964 film Dr. Strangelove and the 1960s British TV series The Prisoner
The Prisoner
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...

.

In the scene where Hammer, Doreau and Trunk arrest Jill, Trunk says, "Your show's been canceled!" Hammer replies, "You talking to me?" This is an allusion to the episode possibly being the end of the series.

Despite replaying the final moments of this episode, the second season opener "A Clockwork Hammer
A Clockwork Hammer
"A Clockwork Hammer" is the 23rd episode of the television series Sledge Hammer! and the first episode of the series' second and final season. It originally aired on ABC in the United States on September 17, 1987...

" does not continue from that point on. Instead, a disclaimer reveals that season 2 takes place five years before the explosion, or so it claims, as continuity discrepancies would show this to be a joke.
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