Thomas Raymond, a noted geophysicist, is killed by members of the Takishi (oriental mercenaries). The Takishi steal a piece of black crystal from his belt, but the other half is missing. Michael tracks one of the mercenaries to a local Buddhist temple, where he has to defend himself in an attack. Since the man will admit nothing, Michael heads to the local gym where he works under Mack Gifford. Michael gets the better of Gifford, who tries to use a knife-throwing "test of nerve" to dispose of Michael before he can investigate further. In fact, Gifford is working for a geophysicist named Vanessa Sutton, who was the one who orchestrated the theft of the crystal from Raymond - to power a "split-particle beam," a laser of such high energy that it could destroy KITT in seconds. Elliott Sykes, a nerdy Foundation wanna-be, visits with Alley Raymond (Thomas' daughter) but they are both kidnapped and in the pursuit, one of KITT's tires is destroyed. Alley has the other half of the crystal as a necklace, and now that Sutton has the full crystal, she plans to use her laser to steal diamonds at a local exchange. She also uses Elliott and Alley as bait to try and kill Michael. With Michael visiting Bonnie to develop a new layer of shielding for KITT, Elliott and Alley manage to break out of their captivity and warn Michael about the diamond heist. Once there, Sutton targets KITT with the laser but KITT is able to withstand the blast long enough to destroy the laser and stop Sutton and Gifford for good. Elliott is hailed as a hero, and gets a leather jacket and a "KNERD" setup for his moped in return for his bravery.
THOUGHTS: -At first I was going to list this episode as a "Worst" on my list, but if you can look past the corny parts with Elliott, this is a decent show. Remember, we already had an episode with a dork before, and it wasn't that bad either (see "The Final Verdict" form season 1).
New feature on KITT: +Therman Absorbtion Layer (10 seconds of heat-laser protection)
FAVORITE QUOTE: "Relieving tension." -Michael, after Gifford walks back into the spa room and sees that Michael has taken over as Vanessa Sutton's masseuse.
NITS: -The shot of KITT exiting the semi has been used a few times before, starting with "KITT vs KARR."
-When Devon talks to Michael from inside the FLAG semi, the camera angle shows Michael looking down when it should show him looking directly into the camera.