‘CHiPs’ Retro Recap: ‘Crash Course’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Something that has become an outright foundation in the entertainment world, is adding a layer of humanity to the villain in any particular story. It doesn’t necessarily make them more human or better people in the slightest, but it does now offer audiences a fair understanding as to why this particular monster has turned their back upon humanity. And while this definitely has its merit storytelling wise since it does offer incredible depth, it’s always refreshing when you come across a story that doesn’t subscribe this trend in the slightest and it just so happens that CHiPs, a series that prides itself on offering up unique and thoughtful baddies, took the time change course and offer us a uniquely different kind of Creep of the Week.
 
For ‘Crash Course’ introduced us to a ‘gentleman’ named Sonny Matson and well, there’s no nice way to put it; Sonny was a piece of human garbage through and through. He didn’t think the rules applied to him and he was as cocky as they come since he was regarded as the finest getaway man out there and when we catch up with him in this tale, he’s escaped jail and is ready to get back to what he does best, causing trouble. Which hey sounds like a wonderful challenge for the CHP to handle, but Sonny had little regard for human life in any capacity and his consistent attempts to hurt CHP officers for the sheer fun of it hammered home his dangerous nature and well, it also allowed for him to elude capture multiple times.
 
Yet while Ponch and Jon and everyone at Central were dealing with this monster, the show also took the time to lighten the mood after a pair of bleak episodes. That was accomplished, by having Ponch deal with an odd little financial quirk. For his bank made a terrible mistake and handed him $4500 without giving it a second though, and unfortunately for Frank… honestly ended up being a chaotic policy. Because they reclaimed the money after he told them about their goof, and then they emptied his account out, citing fees and mistakes on his part. Which… wasn’t the case at all and despite Poncherello bringing them proof that they were messing up his account, they kept giving him the runaround without fixing it and well, this was just hilarious because we’ve all been in Ponch’s shoes. But the surprise that came with this plot line, is that it found a way to tie into Sonny’s journey.
 
Because Ponch’s bank was marked by Sonny and his associate for a robbery, and while Ponch and Jon were inside the manager’s office, wherein Frank was hard at work at fixing his problem, the robbery went down. Which gave our dynamic duo quite the unique opportunity, and thanks to their quick thinking and a touch of stealth, they were able to bring down the robber, and then they turned their attention to Sonny. Which of course led to a magnificent chase scene, one that was truly worthy of the series and one that ended in disaster for Sonny. Because an attempt at a flashy escape failed, finally allowing for his ego to be bruised and for his reign of terror to come to an end, and in the end, this really was quite the wonderful episode for certain. Simply because, it told a beautifully woven story.
 
After all, the surprise twist of having Ponch’s bank become ground zero for our final showdown was just smooth and Sonny really was one of the nastiest villains that our heroes have faced off against in a long time. Because this dude was a straight up sociopath, and it takes a set of brass ones to smile at a peace officer before working to hurt them and his nasty nature only added to the atmosphere of the story. If anything, there’s really only one major problem with this episode in that, why the heck didn’t Frank switch banks? Because these clerks and managers were downright incompetent and the easy fix, would have been to walk away. But all snark aside, this was a great one, and it really seems as though season four is finding its stride and it should be fascinating to see what other storytelling surprises await us down the line. Until next time.

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