‘CHiPs’ Retro Recap: ‘Anything but the Truth’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​The truth is definitely something that people should offer up as often as possible. Because being honest with everyone makes you trustworthy and it informs people that you are someone of the highest integrity and most importantly, it allows for you go about your day with a clean conscience and mind. But alas, for some folks out there, the truth is their enemy, and there’s a grand thrill to be found in telling lies and seeing how often they can get away with deceit. And for those folks, life can be quite difficult since it’s tough for them to keep their story straight and connect with people since everything they say is fiction and it just so happens that the importance of the truth and the power of the lie, served as focal points in the next episode of CHiPs, ‘Anything but the Truth’.
 
Now in this particular tale we are introduced to a pathological liar named Marcie Pendelton and well, her life is an outright mess. Because she’s been fired from job after job thanks to her inability to stick to the truth and to make matters worse, her dedication to deception is also putting her life in danger. For Marcie is a big fan of hitching a ride, and she secures them by offering up a sob story to anyone that will listen, and it doesn’t take long for that tactic to backfire when she hops into the car of an outright maniac named Wally Bartel. Because dear Wally is out to strike it rich by robbing innocent motorists. A feat he accomplishes by ramming into the back of cars, so that he can assault the driver and take their money when both parties have stopped on the side of the road and thankfully, Marcie is able to escape his grasp and get back to her everyday life after watching him conduct such a heinous act.
 
Yet while that harrowing opening should be enough to convince people to not hitchhike or lie, the story had more explore in regard to deception. Something that was handled by way of her budding relationship with Jon Baker. Because a hitchhiking citation and a surprise encounter at a self-defense class, allowed for Jon to learn that perhaps this relationship was not what he expected it to be, since Marcie’s lies were quickly put on display. But despite seeing some red flags, Jon pressed ahead with the romance since they had such incredible chemistry. But what truly put this duo to the test, was the sheer fact that Marcie wanted to help in the investigation involving Wally and sadly, her continued lying, forced Jon to question the future of this relationship and it made her an unreliable witness.
 
But what’s worse, is that the dismissal of her testimony, allowed for Wally to walk free shortly after Jon and Steve arrested him. Which meant that it was up to Jon to try and get the truth out of her and it took every ounce of effort on her part to finally come clean about her encounter with Wally and thanks to her testimony and Jon and Steve’s dangerous pursuit of him a second time around, this Creep of the Week finally went to jail. But sadly, despite this happy ending, Marcie’s lies did irreparable damage when it comes to her relationship with Jon and seeing this tale end with the two them going their separate ways was quite powerful, since it was clear that Jon really cared for Marcie and had she stuck to the truth, who knows where this relationship could have gone.
 
If anything, this was actually quite the wonderful episode since it told a far more intimate tale than anyone expected and it featured one terrifying Creep of the Week since Wally was a loose cannon for certain, one that oddly had a Ted Bundy vibe about him, something that was reinforced by his murderous tendencies since he tried to kill Steve and Jon. But what’s truly impressive about this tale, is that it was actually watchable without Ponch in the mix, and that’s quite a feat for certain and hopefully these other McLeish themed episodes can maintain this level of quality since this one really did suck you in with a quality story. But truth be told, its best we don’t hold our breath going forward, since season five has already been filled with ups and down and we are only six episodes in. So, it’s best we just enjoy the ride and celebrate the wins until this season stabilizes. Until next time.

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