‘CHiPs’ Retro Recap: ‘Highway Robbery’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

​If there’s one thing I truly enjoy about watching a brand-new television series in its freshman season, it’s being able to experience the moment when everything comes together storytelling wise. Because in that moment, you know that the episodes that follow are going to celebrate the best parts of the series, and bring the audience great joy, and I’m hoping that’s what audiences experienced back in December of 1977 when the CHiPs episode, ‘Highway Robbery’, aired. For this really was an important moment for the series since it offered up the perfect blend of character development, action and adventure and outright fun that you found in later seasons on a consistent basis, and the wonder of this story was definitely a refreshing treat for me, and really, of the elements I just made mention of, it’s that all-important character development that continues to stick out in my mind.
 
For this is really the first episode of the series to give the Creep of the Week some depth since our baddie was actually given a name in this tale, Leo Norrison, and he was even given an important backstory since he used to be high school teammates with Jon, and it was just supremely fascinating to learn more about Jon and see how his moral compass operates when he realized who he was dealing with and it was equally as amazing to see the depth the Writer’s Room provided Leo with. Because Leo, really had stumbled upon some hard times, to the point where he no longer gave a damn about anything or anyone, as was evident from the fact that he didn’t learn a single lesson after being arrested early on in the episode, since he went right back to his stealing ways and that was the other element that impressed me about this part of the story, in that Leo’s journey is bittersweet at best. Because this young man faces an uncertain future and is seemingly lost, and you just don’t see that on lighthearted T.V. shows all that often.
 
As for the action and adventure I made mention of, well that was definitely entertaining and worth my while. After all, the whole plotline involving a broken down circus caravan provided some delightful levity in this tale since Ponch and Jon came face to face with a well-trained pachyderm that put on a show for the poor folks stuck in the resulting traffic jam that the caravan caused, and it used Barizca’s cruiser as a couch for a brief moment. And there was the hilarious tire changing scene with the little old lady that took the time to break the fourth wall, and to top it off, there was an element of danger to be found in this episode as well. The kind that allowed for Ponch and Jon to jump into action and play the heroes after a brief high-speed chase with a bunch of irresponsible teens came to an end. For it turns out that these idiot kids put their good friends in the trunk of a car with a faulty exhaust line and had it not been for our heroes and their CPR training, those kids might not have made it.
 
But truly, the fun in this episode came about from the fact that this is the second story in a row where traditional 70s tropes, and Ponch’s Ego, elements that this series sometimes relied upon storytelling wise were both beautifully deconstructed by way of a grand crush that Ponch had on a girl that was predominantly featured in suntan lotion ads featured around Los Angeles. Because Ponch found out that the Sarge was friends with the young lady’s family and well, he went right into action in trying to score a date with her, something Getrear seemed hesitant to let happen. But you know Ponch, and he worked every angle and made every promise imaginable to the Sarge, who finally acquiesced and that’s when the big payoff came about. For it turned out that Janey, the model in question, was fifteen years old, and Joe made a point to reveal her age in front of Ponch’s fellow officers as well, giving him a fine lesson in the power of advertising and this really was a hilarious twist that spoke to the need for Ponch to cool his jets with the ladies, and ironically it worked to remind us how silly and weird the sexualization of women was in that particular decade.
 
But before we wrap up this particular Retro Recap, we do need to take a moment and highlight the fact that this is also an important episode when it comes to canon for the series as well. For this particular tale saw the official introduction of Officer Artie Grossman, who will be a staple on this series from this point on, and he even appeared in the 1999 sequel to this series that premiered on TNT and well, it’s just a joy to see the exact moment when he arrived on this series since he is a fan favorite that brought so much to this show. If anything, this episode really was a true delight to watch. It felt like an episode from the other seasons that I watched back in the day and that comfortability is what I’m hoping to find from here on out since this one, immediately brought me back to those wonderful summer mornings when I would kick back with a bowl of cereal and enjoy Seven-Mary-Three and Four’s awesome adventures. Until next time. 

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