‘CHiPs’ Retro Recap: ‘Career Day’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

​After enjoying a pair of lovely episodes that quite frankly, broke the mold when it comes to the police serial CHiPs, I have to admit that I was quite curious as to what wonders I would find as I settled in to watch the next episode of the series, ‘Career Day’. Because at this point, the saga could go in any direction it wanted to. It could provide me with more powerful human moments akin to when Jon was forced to deliver bad news during an accident call. Or it could have continued to let loose and have some fun such as when Ponch and Jon inadvertently adopted a dog. I was honestly fine with any of the above, but what surprised me in this tale, is the sheer fact that this episode instead went right back to the by-the-numbers format that we know and love when it comes to this series.
 
That’s not a bad thing by any means, I just expected the show to toy with different concepts for a little longer since the first season had so many episodes to work with. But the back to basics approach worked here, and by turning back to what flows best for this series, we were introduced to one fascinating Creep of the Week, or Creeps of the Week rather, since a duo made up of a man and woman pulled off a pretty bold and intelligent string of crimes. In essence, the lady in question would scout neighborhoods near the highway to see which houses were vacant via vacation and once she found the right type of house, she’d radio her counterpart who would in turn, park his van behind the house, make it look as though the Highway Patrol had tagged it for removal before breaking into and cleaning out the targeted home, allowing for him to leave without anyone being the wiser.
 
In fact, their plan was so ingenious that Ponch and Jon actually managed to drive by the van at least once, but eventually, once the CHP was onto this scheme, Ponch was able to spot the couple doing their thing while on helicopter patrol and that led to some good old fashioned action and adventure as Ponch and Jon worked to bring these thieves down, and of course, they did, because I’m not sure this duo ever let the bad guys get away, but I digress. Because what matters here is that once again, the baddies were just thieving forces of nature, and their eventual capture was a lot of fun to watch, specifically the chase sequence that brought them down since it was taken to a whole new level by having Ponch up above in the chopper while Jon followed down below.
 
Yet, this episode had plenty more to offer outside of some good old-fashioned machismo car chases, for it also took the time to explore quite a bit about Ponch’s past. For a citation led to a reunion between Ponch and his old principal from Poly Tech High and I really didn’t have a clue that Francis Llewelyn Ponchellero came from a checkered past until this tale, since Principal Singleton was happy to inform us that Ponch was quite the troublemaker back in the day and well, it is quite cool to see that his character pulled himself out of the trouble he was always in to make something of himself when all is said and done. Plus, this exploration of Frank’s past, also led to some wonderfully lighthearted moments as well, especially at the Career Day Frank was invited to attend at his old high school, when his ego took control of the wheel. 
 
If anything, I suppose my only complaint when it comes to this tale is that it did slip into that uncomfortable 70s mode if only for a moment when Ponch and Jon were called out to loosen up a traffic jam that came into existence from a bikini photoshoot on the highway. And my goodness, this was just ridiculously over the top since every dude on the road, Ponch included, just had to get a look at or get near the bikini models and well, product of the time or no, it really didn’t advance the story in the slightest and didn’t need to be there. But, outside of that, this was still a fun tale, and you can never go wrong with seeing a COTW get their just desserts and well, I’m a sucker for character growth in any show. Either way, it’s clear now that season one of this series is either going to go with the formula or drop a surprise, and I cannot wait to see which one awaits me in the next episode. Until next time. 

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