‘CHiPs’ Retro Recap: ‘Fallout’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Thus far, our journey through the sixth and final season of CHiPs has brought forth a lot of sour moments and glaring mistakes. The kind that leaves this reviewer shaking his head at times, as we inch toward the end. Simply because everything that once made this series great and compelling is missing from these final 22 episodes (or 23 if you count the CHiPs '99 reunion TV movie) and that also makes this journey tough to slog through. Because it really does make one long for the good old days of this series. When the characters were king, and the stories were filled with meaning. But while this final season has offered up shocking contrast and tone, it hasn’t been a complete and total loss.

Because from time to time, season six of CHiPs has managed to offer up some decent and engrossing stories. The kind that feel reminiscent of the days when Ponch and Jon rode the highways together. But the next episode in this storied franchise, well it definitely takes the viewer by surprise, simply because this is the first episode in year six that actually FEELS as though it was an unused script from days gone by. Because ‘Fallout’ not only features everything we love about the series, but it also offers up some intimate and fascinating insight into the family life of one of the characters and it also features another storytelling standard for this show. But before we dig too deeply into that, let’s talk about the family related storyline. Since it provided us with fresh insight on the family dynamic of one Sergeant Joesph Getraer.

Which is something the series hasn’t explored since seasons four and five. When we were able to meet and spend time with his wife Betty and his son Timmy and as it turns out, this particular story was apt to ponder upon what family life is like when the daughter of a police sergeant doesn’t believe in what her father does. A plot twist that saw family man Joe, struggle to make peace with his estranged daughter, Ellen, and this really was quite the fascinating plot thread. One that offered up a fine reminder that sometimes, family can drift apart, when we let communication between one another fail and this is a story that also spoke to the divide that sometimes occurs between generations. Since Ellen and Joe had genuinely unique and polarizing views in regard to the world and how it should function. 

Granted, they eventually settle their differences because they are family, but it was nice to see a sense of realism be injected into this story and speaking of realism, let’s get into that other plot thread that was mentioned a moment ago. Because this episode’s Creep of the Week was a man named Hal, who was trying to make nice with a young man’s mother, in the hopes of marrying her. And the problem at hand, was that he straight up, beat this poor kid with a massive cane on a regular basis and well, that revelation made for some powerful storytelling. Largely because it motivated Ponch and Bobby to catch this jerk in a thrilling manner, but also because it offered up a frank presentation of abuse. And it was brave of the series to not shy away from such a polarizing real-world topic. One that we sadly have not solved all these years later and it was also genuinely surprising and refreshing, to see a classic element from the Ponch and Jon era, be resurrected here.

Plus, this episode also took the time to try and grow Harlan as a character as well, by giving us insight into why he works at the California Highway Patrol. And it turns out that he’s in the garage because he didn’t meet the physical requirements to be a CHP officer. Something that sadly came to back to haunt him here, since that also kept him from joining the Los Angeles Police Department and it was just downright fascinating to learn how much law enforcement and his position at the CHP means to Harlan. But more importantly, it was just wonderful to enjoy a classic CHiPs tale. One that offered depth at every turn and also provided us with some compelling storylines and hopefully this seeming ‘hot streak’ of quality episodes continues along. Because this really is a nice change of pace. Until next time.

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