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| "The Man Who Could Not Die" | ||||
| Season 3, Episode 22 | ||||
| Air date | August 28, 1979 | |||
| Written by | Anne Collins | |||
| Director | John Newland | |||
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On her first day in Los Angeles, Diana encounters an indestructible chimpanzee. This leads her to a scientist who through a combination of chemicals and radiation has also made a man, Bryce Candall, indestructible. Bryce and Wonder Woman join forces to foil the scientist's plan to create an army of indestructible men to take over the country.
Plot[]
Diana is moving into her new house in LA when she finds a chimp outside the moving truck. The movers try to catch him, and he runs out into the road to be hit by a van. Although he goes flying from the impact, he gets up, completely unharmed.
Diana's new boss, Dale Hawthorn, laughs at her. Based on her looks, he believes she was hired to play a prank on him. Annoyed, she shows him her ID badge. He leaves in a huff as Dr. Akers arrives to claim the chimp, whose collar tag named Akers as Tobias's owner. Diana questions him about his field of research, saying that Tobias does not need food, water, or rest. She demonstrates his invulnerability by stabbing him with a pencil, which breaks without leaving a mark.
Akers explains to Diana and Dale that he was working with Joseph Reichman, believing they would be researching anti-aging. Akers specializes in molecular biochemistry while Reichman specializes in radioactivity. However, Akers quit when he came to understand that Reichman was actually obsessed with creating an army of invulnerable men to take over the country. Akers admits that he stupidly left behind 3 syringes of his secret chemical formula. Clearly, Reichman tested one on the chimp, and he's certain the next step would be human trials.
In a local university gym, ex-football player Bryce Candle has been working out for half an hour, but shows no signs of it. He's not sweating or tired, and his heart rate is only 50 BPM. Candle admits to his colleague that he volunteered for a research project for extra money. He says Dr. Reichman is doing government-funded anti-aging research. He adds that he has not eaten, drunk, or slept in two days. He climbs a rope to the ceiling, but the rope breaks and he falls two stories to the ground. He gets up, unharmed.
Back at the IADC field office, T. Burton Phipps III ("T. for short") walks into Diana's office. He's wearing a fedora and trench coat and has funky 70s theme music. He smoothly comments that if this is what agents look like in Washington nowadays, he needs to call his travel agent. Coming around Diana's desk, he asks her if she's had dinner yet. He appears to be about 10 years old. When Diana admits that she has not, he opens his trench coat to reveal... a variety of snacks clipped to the inside, ready for sale. Diana buys an apple for the outrageous price of 50 cents (three times what it costs at the grocery store), but T smooth talks away her concerns. Hawthorn shows up to shoo him away (for, by T's count, the 32nd time). T takes a moment to suavely kiss Diana's hand before Hawthorn grabs him the coat and shoves him out the door.
Hawthorn tells Diana that Reichman has disappeared. Diana already had an appointment to see Akers at Reichman's lab. At that moment, Dupris is in the lab. He knows the combination to open the safe, and he plants a bomb inside. Soon after he leaves, Bryce, frustrated that Reichman hasn't been picking up the phone, comes to the lab just as Akers arrives, also looking for Reichman. Akers goes to open the safe, which explodes just as he opens it. Diana arrives outside just in time to see the explosion. Wonder Woman jumps in the window to find Akers trapped under the remains of the safe and Bryce unsuccessfully trying to lift it off him. Wonder Woman notes that Bryce is, in fact, on fire, but he's unconcerned. She lifts the safe, gets Akers out, and then watches as Bryce calmly jumps out the third floor window, lands on the street, rolls over to put out the flames engulfing his clothing, and stands up. She turns to check on Akers, and when she looks up again, Bryce is gone.
Reichman tells Dupris he'll have to kill Diana. He also has a lion, whom he keeps as both pet and guard. He's determined to get his hands on Akers's notes, without which his plans will be stalled for years or more.
A scrap of paper with a list of names (presumably of potential test subjects) was found in Reichman's lab. Akers doesn't know anything about it, but says Reichman would likely have tried recruiting from the university. Just as the admissions clerk explains to Diana how unlikely it is that she'll find what she's looking for with so little to go on, Diana spots a framed picture of Bryce in his football uniform hanging on the wall. He's now a professor of computer science.
Bryce asks Hawthorn when the treatment will wear off. He wants to be alive and human, not some immortal freak. Hawthorn tells him the treatment won't wear off, but it can be reversed... if Bryce agrees to follow his orders. Bryce reluctantly agrees. Hawthorn tells him to retrieve Akers's notes, but that if he ever makes contact with the IADC Bryce will never see Hawthorn again and will thus lose any chance of being normal.
Bryce returns home to find Diana in his apartment. She explains that she found his spare key. But as soon as she identifies herself as an IADC agent, he jumps out the window of the high-rise. Wonder Woman catches him, but he turns out to be immune to her lasso. He still agrees to talk to her truthfully, but he insists that he wants to work alone.
Bryce easily fights off Akers's bodyguards. Akers calls him a fool, but hands over his briefcase.
Diana returns home to find Dupris waiting for her. He takes her at gunpoint to the garage, where he ties her up. She gets him to give her Reichman's address, but he doesn't care because she's about to die. He turns on the car engine and leaves her to suffocate. She manages to untie herself, but passes out before she can transform. Bryce finds her and rescues her. Too late, he realizes his mistake in trusting Hawthorn. The two leave for Reichman's house. While Diana goes to "round up some help," Bryce shorts out the electric fence and climbs in, but the barking of the guard dogs alerts Reichman to make a run for it.
Wonder Woman uses Bryce as a shield while she lassos a bodyguard, who identifies Reichman's second floor window. Wonder Woman throws Bryce through it while she decides to go around back. Reichman's lion knocks Bryce down, but retreats when Bryce turns out to be inedible. Downstairs, Wonder Woman calms the lion with her animal telepathy. Cornered, Reichman destroys the notes, blows up the lab, and uses the chaos to cover his escape.
Later, Diana promises Bryce that she'll help him find Reichman. He can't live a normal life as things are. She jokes that he could join the circus as "The Man Of Steel," which causes him to laugh at the image of himself "in tights and a cape." She proposes that he join her at the IADC.
Hawthorn tells Diana that Bryce has vanished. He tacitly admits he was wrong about her when he thanks her for her work on the case and formally welcomes her. Unfortunately, Tobias the chimp is still there, since there isn't a safer place to keep him. Diana can't take care of him, and Hawthorn won't. But Diana introduces Bret Cassiday, their new computer technician. Diana vouched for him and cooked up some credentials. Hawthorn, never having met Bryce, does not recognize him, but he's all too happy to hand off the chimp. "Bret" asks to borrow 75 cents to buy a newspaper. When Diana balks at the price, T walks in, newspaper in hand. "Doesn't he ever go to school?" Diana asks. Everyone smiles.
Cast[]
- Lynda Carter as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman
- John Durren as Dale Hawthorn
- Robert Sampson as Dr. Akers
- Bob Seagren as Bryce Candle / Bret Cassiday
- John Aprea as Dupris
- Hal Frederick as The Professor
- Brian Davies as Joseph Reichman
- James Bond III as T. Burton Phipps III
- Sherry Miles as Admissions Clerk
- Douglas Broyles as Mover
- Neal as Lion (uncredited)
Notes[]
- With new location, sets, and supporting cast, this may have been intended to be the first episode of a fourth season.
- The following two-part episode takes place prior to Diana's transfer to LA, announced at the end of the previous episode. So this is chronologically the last episode.
- The only episode of the series in which Steve Trevor does not appear at all. He isn't even referenced by name.