Episode no. Season 1
Episode 1 Written by Michael Gleason Editing by Philip Neel | Directed by Robert Butler Produced by Gareth Davies Production code 2704 | |
"License to Steele" is the premiere episode of the television series Remington Steele. This episode introduces and sets all the central elements of the series; the truth about Laura's fictional boss, the mysterious character posing as Steele, the romantic tension, Steele's love of old movies, et cetera.
Plot
Gordon Hunter (Joseph Hacker) is preparing a media event to introduce a new car of his own design; during this event, over two million dollars' worth of rare gems will be on display, so he hires the Remington Steele Detective Agency to protect them. A man (Pierce Brosnan) claiming to be Ben Pearson, a special agent from South Africa, informs the members of the Steele agency that the gems were smuggled out of his country illegally, and that his government wants them returned. This man is actually a thief who's after the stolen gems, planning to return them to South Africa for a fee, and he's being pursued by two killers named Kessler (Robert Darnell) and Neff (John Francis), who also want the gems and who had murdered the original thief.
To avoid the killers, "Pearson" answers a page to the hotel phone for Remington Steele; Hunter meets him at this point, and the mysterious thief is stuck playing Steele for the duration, especially when the real Ben Pearson (Philip Casnoff) arrives. Examining the penthouse apartment that had been rented in Steele's name by agency detective Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist), the thief deduces that there is no Remington Steele; he was concocted by Holt because nobody wanted to hire a female detective. This is confirmed by Laura later, when "Steele" confronts her with his findings.
While examining "Steele's" belongings in his original hotel room to learn what they can about him, Laura and her colleague Murphy Michaels (James Read) discover the real Pearson's murdered body hanging on a hook in the closet. When they confront "Steele", he insists that Kessler and Neff had killed Pearson, and he asks for Laura's help to prove it. "Steele" allows the killers to find him, and he tells them that he has information that can help them break into the safe where the gems are being kept. He takes them to the penthouse, where they find Pearson's body (which Murphy had moved there); shocked, Neff says that he and Kessler had left Pearson in the other apartment, and the police come in and arrest the killers.
"Steele" tells Laura that he'll follow the gems to their next destination, and that he won't try to steal them until they're out of Laura's jurisdiction. Hunter, however, made desperate by the failure of his car's debut, steals the gems himself and makes a run to the airport. Laura and "Steele" chase him through a storage area in a golf cart and capture him.
The next day, Laura discovers "Steele" at the agency offices; he's apparently decided to continue playing the part.