‘CHiPs’ Retro Recap: ‘Day of the Robot’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

It wasn’t all that long ago, that we took a little time to discuss the interesting pattern emerging in season six of CHiPs. One where a couple of solid episodes, are followed up immediately by a rotten or goofy one and really, that particular surprise is relevant to our discussion today… simply because that pattern is once again coming into play. Because the prior two episodes were in fact, quite solid, to the point where it felt as though we were back in the glory days of this particular series. But the next chapter in this final season, opted to ruin all of that goodwill by offering up an episode that once again neglected a brilliant storyline. 

For ‘Day of the Robot’ opted to have a powerful subplot about vigilantism, share screen time with a goofy, secondary plot line and well… that’s a damn shame. Because having Ponch and Bobby and the CHP be forced to content with a group of pseudo vigilantes that called themselves the Freeway Angels was far more interesting than that secondary plot (which we will get to in just a moment). Because the leader of the Angels, a woman named Emily, decided that she needed to step in and bring about justice on the highways because of her sorted past. For her brother was killed in a collision ages ago, one that she believed could have been prevented with better patrolling by law enforcement, and that's why she and Angels now patrolled the highways. In the hopes that no one else had to experience the pain that she did. 

But while her intentions were in fact, quite noble in this tale, and rooted in some fascinating motivations, the series rushed through this particular plot line. Which made important and reflective moments that happened to Emily seem quite hollow for certain. Because there is zero time for her character to properly ponder upon how she could have been badly hurt by two criminals that she ticked off, by stopping them on the highway illegally, and the same applies to an incident where she almost caused a diabetic driver, in diabetic shock, great harm by assuming he was drunk. Instead, the series just moves onto the next scene and eventually uses her motivations for doing this in the first place to turn her into a CHP Cadet, and that’s just cheap and silly and irritating. Because this plot line really could have provided us with some powerful and moving moments.

But alas, precious screen time that could have solved that particular problem, was instead dedicated to that secondary plot line we made mention of a moment ago, one that involved a robot. Yes, a robot. For a 'bot known as M.E.R.V. (Maximum Efficiency Robotization Vector, Series 1) dropped by CHP Central Division on a brief loan from its parent company, to show the Highway Patrol just how efficient law enforcement could be with a fast-thinking robot on the staff before moving onto its next destination, a children's hospital. But there was just one problem when it comes to this sassy ‘bot, in that… a car accident damaged its power cell, making it a ticking time bomb. The kind that our heroes diffused at the last possible second and well, this sub-plot really did drag on for far too long and it offered up far too many cheesy moments. Especially in the final act.

Since somehow, Sgt. Getraer knew exactly how to disarm the robot and Ponch somehow knew exactly which panel and which wire scheme to cut to keep M.E.R.V. from blowing up the aforementioned hospital, and this part of the story was just plain bad, and it overshadows the better plot line with its goofiness and well, this is just another case of ‘here we go again’ with series. Because once more, the show chased a fad, since robots were the hot thing to put on screen in the early 80s, and it once again relied upon cliché to create conflict, since the ‘bot just had to be dangerous and that allowed for another missed opportunity to take place here and well, at this point… it’s probably best we just get used to this up and down ride. Because this is clearly how season six is going to roll so it’s best, we just write this one off as another misstep in a season full of them and hope that the next episode swings us back to the other side of this odd pattern. Until next time.   

---