A computer genius whose defence bid was refused is using teenage game freaks to help him pilot missiles past the Pentagon's defence grid, and Frank must shut him down.
One thing that should be pointed out early on here is that this is actually a really good idea for a plot. It has the destruction we've come to expect, some bad guys, and an attractive girl caught up in the middle. However, although all the ideas are there, none of them are very well used.
Ace computer gamer Red is decidedly insignificant and easily beaten at the end. Larry, the man with the masterplan, seems very easy to track down and his program appears to be copyable to the Backstep computers with no hitches at all. Surely he'd have some kind of destructive virus built in so that the wrong people couldn't use it? Nancy, the girl, is also badly underdeveloped. She keeps getting flashbacks to abuse at the hands of her parents, but halfway through the episode she seems to get miraculously cured and becomes a normal teenager again. Her apparent feelings for Frank come across as a last-minute addition that really isn't needed.
The biggest problem is with the pacing. After the initial set-up of the idea, things progress in an extremely obvious way until the obvious ending, but very slowly. It's as if the writer lost interest after having his initial brainwave and decided to just let the script meander. With the resources of Backstep, Frank should have the case wrapped up in no time. Even the comedy sub-plot of Frank's expense account had a lot more mileage in it than this episode is willing to give it.
Oh, and why the title? Judging by the start, it refers to Frank, but nowhere do his amazing pinball skills have any effect on what's happening.The whole episode just feels like no one has thought it through.
**
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