‘CHiPs’ Retro Recap: ‘Disaster Squad’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

When we are young, there is one important lesson that is consistently driven home by our parents in that, we need to learn to keep our emotions in check. Because, if we let them get the better of us, bad things can and will happen, and while that particular lesson does indeed take root with all of us, there are moments where those words are forgotten by all of us. For sometimes, our anger gets the better of us, and we say and do things that we utterly regret. But for the most part, when that happens, lives aren’t endangered, and we are usually able to ask for forgiveness because we all understand how emotions work. But for some people, giving into their anger leads to dangerous and terrifying moments, and those are the moments that humble us and reinforce what our parents were trying to tell us when we see the aftermath of fury on the six o’clock news.
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Yet while we tend to watch those kinds of events from afar, it’s important to pay close attention to the details when it comes to why someone felt the need to go that route emotionally and thankfully, fiction can help us explore the root cause of why some people just give in to fury and it just so happens that this next episode of CHiPs saw a grand opportunity to explore this element of the human condition in fascinating fashion. Because ‘Disaster Squad’ basically took the time to look at every single cause and consequence of giving into one’s more negative emotions at just about any age and it wasted no time in getting down to this since the opening sequence saw a destitute man named Hilmer take out his frustrations on well, just about everyone since he went rogue in his car and even threatened to harm himself over losing his job and well, this is the stuff that felt familiar since we’ve seen that in the news more often than not and this plot thread was designed to ease us into a more complex analysis of the subject matter.

That was accomplished by introducing us to a man named Lee, and this ‘gent’ just so happened to be a reporter/producer for a news segment known as the Disaster Squad, and his wonderful ratings and desire to scoop every other outlet in the market, brought out the worst in him. Because this guy simply had a chip on his shoulder, and he used that as motivation to do whatever it takes to get the story and if that meant hurting others to score in the ratings, well so be it, and he straight up hurt people in his quest for glory since a cameraman caught on fire when he staged a disaster and he even went so far as to doctor footage of Ponch to make it look like Frank committed an act of police brutality and well, the lesson here is that some people feed off of their anger and their darkness, or at the very least find it supremely intoxicating and that made Lee one of the most chilling Creeps of the Week to ever appear on this series and it was just fascinating to see a character like this appear in a show that keeps things in the ‘fun zone’ as often as possible.

Which, oddly enough, brings us to the lighthearted part of the story, because that too examined the theme hanging over this episode since Ponch and Jon found themselves spending a lot of time with a little kid named Chris Roberts. Because this little guy didn’t have a dad around, and loved bikes and charmed his way into the CHP office in order to hang out around motorcycles, and while that should be innocuous in its own right, Chris definitely had his moments where a lack of understanding forced his young mind to boil over in fury and that got him in a heap of trouble at the end of our tale wherein Ponch and Jon were forced to save him from some raging waters and while this episode ended happy like so many before it, since Chris was saved and Lee finally got his just desserts from a crew he pushed too far, this episode definitely felt different when all is said and done.

If anything, this is the first time that CHiPs felt like a genuine drama and you know what? I rather dug it. Because season two is clearly the genuine experiment ground for the series since this episode was unlike anything I’ve ever seen from the show before and really, Max Hodge’s script deserves some serious credit for diving this deep into the nature of anger, and all of the dangers that come with it and well, I’m quite curious to see if this season is going to continue to dabble in this realm or return to its roots and honestly, I’m fine with either one. Because the classic format is a tried and true crowd pleaser and episodes such as this, are just an outright surprise and well, the only way to see what else awaits me is to push ahead with season two, which means it’s that time again where I must bid you farewell, so I can enjoy a little sunshine and bask in the gentle hint of motor oil on the California highways alongside Ponch and Jon. Until next time. 

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