The Mexican Connection
SUMMARY
Pilot Dan Mason and his sister Lori are members of the flight crew for Mexican drug dealer Frank Bartone’s private airline until they are seriously injured in a fiery plane crash and heroin is found on Lori’s body.
Before you can say Nacho Bel Grande, the Angels are off to Mexico going undercover to infiltrate Bartone’s operation. Sabrina is guised as a replacement stewardess who has something going on the side with pilot Jim; Kelly as a vacationing school teacher, and Jill as the new American swim coach for Bartone’s teenage daughter, Maria.
Frank Bartone takes an instant shine to sexy school marm Kelly, who catches the Mazatlan rays poolside in a lacy bikini, while Jill enters the scene in a one-piece for a few competitive laps around the pool. St
ewardess Sabrina, with Jim in tow, stops by and shares a glass of champagne with Kelly as they watch their fellow Angel go for the gold.
Later follows a gratuitous skin sequence when we’re treated to a view of Jill showering in her hotel room. Kelly stops by to swap information, and so does Nick, a beefy 70′s henchman, who’s hoping to teach Jill a few new strokes.
It is soon discovered that the main bad guy to watch is a mysterious drug lord named Escobar who is a rival of Bartone’s for title of Biggest Drug Dealer in the Universe. Sabrina and Jim trail the beefy henchman to a dark alley where he performs a secret knock on a bolted door labeled “PROHIBIDA LA ENTRADA”, and is then admitted. Bri talks her way inside, only to discover that it’s a heroin lab and that Bartone’s scam is the smuggling of drugs inside of wine bottles. (See Hitchcock’s “Notorious” for a better use of this ploy) The scientist at the lab pulls a gun on Bri, but Jim comes to the rescue by knocking him unconscious.
Jill, who’s been staying as a guest in Bartone’s mansion, snoops around her host’s office with a flashlight and bumps into her pupil Maria along the way. While hiding behind a sofa with Jill, Maria confides that she’s worried her father’s cellar might have more in it than just wine.
Maria: “Jill, thanks for everything – you’re an angel.”
When all three Angels are invited to a cocktail party at Bartone’s compound, Jill picks the lock on Bartone’s desk and swipes the key to the wine cellar. Jim gets Sabrina to sneak down to the vault, too, so they can look for bottles of a certain vintage which contain the heroin crystals they’d discovered at the lab. Kelly keeps Mazatlan’s police chief Colonel Morales busy dancing for most of the night while the other two are poking around and breaking wine bottles. Frank Bartone himself discovers Jill with a bottle of smack in her hand and after some fast talking, manages to convince her host that she is actually working for the infamous Escobar, who is scheduled to rendezvous in the LA marina the following day. They buy the cover, and Jill makes out with the henchman to allow the lurking Sabrina to escape the cellar undetected. Upstairs at the party, the corpse of the lab scientist is delivered in a crate decorated as a giant gift for Bartone. (Most would prefer strippers jumping out of boxes at parties, but to each his own.)
Everyone jets back to Los Angeles, and Jill leads Bartone and his men into a trap set by the feds, who see all the action as Kelly, Jill and Bos look on in relative safety. In the end, Jim (duh) is shockingly revealed to be Escobar and gets knocked in the gut with a rowboat oar and thrown into the ocean by Jill for his deception.
ACTION
The Angels spend the majority of this episode flirting with bad guys, hiding behind couches and breaking into wine cellars and heroin labs. Besides a yawn inducing swim competition, the only other action occurs at the end – first with the feds shooting it out with Bartone’s men on a boat, and finally with the Angels giving Jim Escobar a swimming lesson, net and all.
CONVENIENT ANGEL SKILL #6
Jill shows off her athletic abilities in the swimming pool and Sabrina earns her rep as the Bi(lingual) Angel by speaking one sentence in Spanish.
FASHION
Sabrina spends most of the episode in a stewardess uniform except for when she changes into a white two-piece dress/pantsuit thing that looks like something Dorothy from The Golden Girls would have worn when she was in her twenties. Jill and Kelly can’t help but look smashing while vacationing south of the border, be it chilling by the pool in flattering bathing suits or dazzling bad guys at Escobar’s party in formal wear.
Wardrobe Repeat
An extra at the marina wears the same blue jogging suit worn by Bosley in Marathon Angels and Angels on Skates, and apparently Inga in The Killing Kind. Sabrina wears the same white thing again in Lady Killer.
 The Mexican Connection |
 Marathon Angels |
 Angels on Skates |
 The Killing Kind |
 The Mexican Connection |
 Lady Killer |
OVER-USED ANGEL CHIME
Like so many other early Season 1 episodes, the Angel chime sounds any time an Angel enters a room or has an idea. This time we hear it when Jill figures out her next line about Escobar, which was actually the smartest idea she had while still in early Season 1 dumb blonde mode.
BIMBO REPORT
Some babe in ski-esque attire (because they’re supposed to be in Aspen) drapes herself over Charlie. His leg is in a cast for some reason that is made to sound pervy. Later he’s laid out and the same babe comes and starts making out with him.
TIMEFRAME
Case solved in 4 days
Day 1 – Case introduced
Day 2 – Sabrina/Dan Mason makeout – Sabrina in heroin lab
Day 3 – Jill and Maria swim – dead guy in the box
Day 4 – Jill delivers heroin at the hotel pool – takedown
Day 5 – Office wrap-up
CURIOSITIES
• Sped up film is used when Jill is swimming the race against Maria’s coach.
• Jill’s still stuck in early Season 1 Chrissy Snow mode with lines like: “My goose bumps are so big I can’t tell which ones are the real me.” She doesn’t redeem herself any with her clumsy handling of the wine bottle asking Sabrina, “What are we going to do?” after SHE drops the heroin-filled bottle. Hey, Jill how about start with ‘don’t drop bottles” and go from there.
• Jill starts her trend of making bizarre, slightly offensive ethnic jokes by saying to a Spanish man “You bet your burrito” instead of simply saying “yes”.
• Is Sabrina insinuating that Jill is a druggie? “You’ll like these bottles – they’re filled with heroin.”
• Watch the General turn Kelly away when the corpse box is opened, whereas Sabrina comes over with the men to take a look and no one does anything to prevent it.
• After disarming and beating Jim Escobar with a rowboat oar and throwing him into the water, Sabrina insists that Kelly throw a net over him for absolutely no logical reason.
REPEAT OFFENDERS
Cesare Danova (Bartone) later played Franco in Terror on Skis.
Edward Power (Jim/Escobar) later played Murdock in Hours of Desperation.
Dante D’Andre (the butler) later played Eric in Angel in Love.
Allen Baron directed The Mexican Connection, Angels at Sea, Circus of Terror, Unidentified Flying Angels, Angels Ahoy, Teen Angels, Angels in Waiting, Love Boat Angels, Avenging Angel, Fallen Angel, One of Our Angels is Missing, and Homes $weet Homes.
Jack V. Fogarty also wrote Angels on Wheels.
ANGEL STATS
| Locks Picked: | 1 (Jill) |
| Turtlenecks: | 1 (Sabrina) |
| Bikinis: | 1 (Kelly) |
| Shots fired by Angels: | 0 |
| Shots fired at Angels: | 0 |
| Bad guys beat down: | 1 (Sabrina, Jill) |
| Bad guys kissed: | 2 (Sabrina, Jill) |
| Criminal Charges: | Breaking and entering/burglary (Jill) Searching without a warrant (Jill) |
TOWNSEND AGENCY COMMENTARY
KENNY
Episode Rating: 
I love the location of this episode set in sunny Mexico. The Angels look beautiful. This is the only episode where Jill appears in a bathing suit; she plays a swimming coach to a girl whose father is smuggling heroin, Kelly plays a vacationing teacher for an all girls school and Sabrina plays a stewardess. Great covers for the Angels and a twist at the end. Fun stuff!
HOLLY
Episode Rating:
Jetting off to a remote location is always exciting, and this one is done exceptionally well – it’s fun, slightly mysterious and intriguing; plus the takedown at the end is a well-formed group effort.
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Pnyc1969
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