‘CHiPs’ Retro Recap: ‘Crash Diet’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

While I am a huge fan of police serials as a whole, I do happen to have one chief complaint when it comes to them, in that, the bad guy or bad gal in their respective stories, tend to be a little too over the top at times. Think about it for a moment. Here and there, the murderer on some of these shows is slick and cool like Dexter Morgan, or happen to be a master thief that is happy to rob a bank simply because they’re a bored genius or looking to stick it to the system and well, all of that just gets a little silly after a while. Because when that happens, it’s obvious that the folks behind the scenes are just looking to entertain without substance, and that’s why I tend to gravitate toward police shows that feature criminals grounded in reality, the kind who break the law for reasons that give us pause, such as hopelessness or desperation or mental illness for that matter.
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Because those kinds of stories remind us that not everyone has it as easy as the rest of us and that’s precisely why I’ve been so appreciative of CHiPs, simply because it’s been making an effort to stay in that particular realm. After all, ‘Cry Wolf’ gave us a ‘villain’ who was suffering from mental illness due to the trauma he experienced as a child and it just so happens that the series wasn’t done exploring how an imbalance upstairs can sometimes push people to break the law since ‘Crash Diet’ once again featured a character who was wreaking havoc on the highways for reasons far deeper than a mere desire for mayhem. For this go round, a gentlemen dressed in his Army jacket was screaming at cars on the highway and throwing dirt at them, prompting Poncherello to take a different approach when it comes to this man.

For rather than send in the SWAT team or surround the area this man was operating out of with Chippies, Frank begged the Sarge for a little leeway and enlisted Baker’s help in an off-duty operation that allowed for the two men to come face to face with the man in question and well, it became inherently clear that he was definitely suffering from a form of mental illness and after their initial encounter went south, they were able to dig a little deeper and discover this dirt yielding stranger was named Leonard. And as it turns out, poor Leonard was a former Vietnam Veteran who lost his wife in a car accident and now believed he needed to damage or destroy every vehicle out there to set things right and sadly, despite our dynamic duo getting a little help from Leonard’s Doctor at the V.A., Leonard still refused to back down and eventually Ponch and Jon were forced to chase him on foot, through traffic in order to get him the help he desperately needed and this, made for one powerful episode.

After all, PTSD and its impact weren’t widely understood in 1978, yet it is portrayed here in stunningly accurate fashion and well, what makes this story so incredible, is the humanity that Ponch and Jon display toward Leonard. There’s no malice here, no insults or judgment, they just want to help the man get the care he needs and that was just refreshing to see, and a fine reminder of why this show is so vastly different than any police serial out there, years before they were a popular thing, and I really do appreciate the fact that the ‘bad guy’ here isn’t bad at all, just a person who has lost their way and if anything, this particular brand of humanity and realism is something that is desperately needed in police serials in this day and age, and I do hope that someone out there writing the next great one sees this episode and takes a page from it.

However, while all of this was fascinating to watch in its own right, the fun is always important when it comes to this show and that’s present here too by way of a delightful subplot involving weight loss, since the Sarge needed his squad to lose a thousand pounds to be a healthier unit and that led to some fine humor involving Officer Grossman. Because Artie was always a little heavier set as an officer and while he doesn’t reach his target weight here, it’s the journey and the prank at the end that make one smile. Plus, there’s a silly subplot involving some clothing optional volleyball and some big-time heroics on Jon’s part when a truck carrying dynamite catches on fire to entertain here as well. But really, it’s Leonard and his harrowing story that’s the true centerpiece of this story since it made for compelling and thoughtful drama, and I really am impressed with the depth present in this episode and it’s clear that this one really helped to build the foundation of the wonder and the magic that this series produced for five more years. Until next time. 

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