Stacy disappears while posing as a TV aerobics dance instructor to help crack a series of murders and thefts.Stacy disappears while posing as a TV aerobics dance instructor to help crack a series of murders and thefts.Stacy disappears while posing as a TV aerobics dance instructor to help crack a series of murders and thefts.
- Carlos Mendez
- (as Carlos Cervantes)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaGuest star Judson Scott worked with William Shatner before. Judson Scott co-starred with William Shatner in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) in the uncredited role of Joachim. William Shatner plays Admiral James T. Kirk in the movie.
- Quotes
Sgt. T.J. Hooker: I ordered him to drop out his weapon. Then he jumped out...
I.A. Investigator: But you couldn't... see that it was a kid?
Sgt. T.J. Hooker: The, eh... shadows... m-magnified his size. And, eh, when he jumped out, I, eh, I thought what he had in his hand was a... gun.
I.A. Investigator: But you weren't sure?
Sgt. T.J. Hooker: We were in hot pursuit.
I.A. Investigator: So you just blew the little sucker away?
The Special Investigations Unit is ready to make Hooker's life difficult if the little boy's mother doesn't. Hooker, visibly shaken by the incident, comes to doubt himself in that contrived moment when a hero becomes haunted by his own finiteness. The opportunity for redemption is generally soon to arrive in the form of cartoonish baddies and a suitably tense confrontation.
Meanwhile Hooker's colleague Jim Corrigan (James Darren) is locked in a relationship with (Tracy Scoggins) a young aerobics instructor. It is nearing the point where things could get serious. In on those uncanny TV show coincidences it just so happens that she was involved in the heist to the point of being an integral successory via a surprising associate (Judson Earney Scott).
T.J.Hooker was another of the guilty pleasure TV shows I grew up with. It illustrated the difference between 'police procedural' and a simple cop show by very much being the latter rather than the former. But comparing it with 'Hunter' which was on the air at the same time made the Shatner series appear sophisticated.
It was far from a pleasant sight to see Hooker shoot a little boy then go through all the grief that came with that. But it was refreshing to see a cop show where the drawbacks of being trigger-happy were at very least explored however briefly even in a superficial way.
As for the aspect of a love interest blatantly using a hero cop whilst engaged in criminal enterprise there is no cliché like a tired one. This show had all of the most melodramatic cop show clichés at one time or another and handled them reasonably well. If the series ever broke any new ground I never saw it.
Shatner's weight noticeably fluctuated not only during the series but individual episodes. Wardrobe and camera angles could only go so far in hiding it when he was bloated. His natural chunk and absurd hair-pieces made the character seem more human to me somehow.
This episode is chiefly of interest for its superior list of guest-stars which included Robert Davi, Greg Morris, Tracy Scoggins and Judson Earney Scott.
- JasonDanielBaker
- Apr 1, 2014