‘CHiPs’ Retro Recap: ‘Head Over Heels’

If there is one inherent truth about storytelling that everyone can agree upon, it would have to be that a vast majority of stories out there, are eager to provide their audience with a lesson of some sort. Simply because stories in any medium are the perfect place to teach us something about ourselves and our world and that’s why we recommend and share certain stories with our friends and family. Because they taught us a powerful lesson, the kind that clearly took root with us. But while it is wonderful to know that stories can teach us something about the society and life, it is important to note, that the lesson in question has to be handled in a subtle and intelligent manner. Otherwise the end result feels silly and forced and no one listens to it, and for proof that this is the case, then look no further than the next episode of CHiPs.

For ‘Head Over Heels’ is a story that was designed to teach the audience that drinking, and driving is a bad, bad idea. Which in and of itself is indeed a wonderful and wholesome message to send the audience’s way. For the impact that a drunk driver can have when they get behind the wheel is far reaching and devastating for certain and truly, embedding that message within a popular television show about a group of police officers that try to do good in the world is the perfect way to get that message out. But alas, this episode completely bungled the message by way of a manipulative tale, one that quite frankly used Frank Poncherello as a pawn to get said message across, and that led to one messy and silly episode, one that hasn’t aged well and one that outright disappoints.

Partly because, it isn’t an episode of CHiPs in the slightest. Instead, this feels akin to something Lifetime would air since it features a grandiose love story, one where Ponch falls in love with a woman named Vanessa, who also just so happens to work as an advocate for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Which means we spend a great deal of this episode, enjoying soft and romantic music and montages as they fall for one another and begin to plan a life together as husband and wife and all of this… feels so out of place. Because this is a series about catching criminals and what drives criminals to commit said crimes, and trying to offer up a romance story is cringe inducing to say the least, as is the episode’s downright awful ending. 

Because in the blink of an eye, Vanessa is run down by a drunk driver and dies in Ponch’s arms before the show delivers a voiceover pointing out the horrors that accompany drunk driving. And while the show is correct in regard to the dangers of driving under the influence and the lives it can impact, how it gets there is eye-roll inducing to say the least. Because such a move is cheesy and obviously manipulative and to make matters worse, it gives Vanessa’s character zero value. Because she’s in and out in a single tale, and we’re not able to learn anything about her or what makes her tick. Which means her death has zero impact on the audience, and to make matters worse, the lack of value in her death is compounded by the fact that Frank Poncherello will be just fine in the next episode of this series. For 80s shows NEVER took the time to examine the fallout of major storylines such as this one and that’s a shame.

Because her death could have had a fundamental change on Frank and set the stage for the series finale of this saga. But it didn't, and that makes this episode a hollow pursuit for certain, one that could have been something powerful if it honestly had shifted the focus away from Frank and had a lesser character or a guest character go through this. Because then Frank and Bobby could have offered up some fine and objective commentary on the matter and seeing the character impacted by her death, disappear because of it, would have given the whole mess, meaning. But alas, what’s done is done and once again, we are left with one awful episode for certain, one that once again reminds us that the series was directionless at this point and grasping at straws to stay relevant and that’s unfortunate. Because it really missed a golden opportunity to do something quite special here. Until next time.   

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