‘CHiPs’ Retro Recap: ‘Hot Date’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

It is definitely safe to say, that the police serial, CHiPs was perhaps one of the most lighthearted and uplifting police shows to ever grace the airwaves. Because week in and week out, Ponch and Jon (and later on Ponch and Bobby) worked hard to serve their community and fight crime and go above and beyond as necessary. Because they’re good people trying to make the world a better place. And keeping everything in a positive light on a consistent basis, even allowed for heavier topics to be addressed and resolved in a palatable and satisfying manner since our intrepid heroes would still find a way to bring everything home in the most positive way imaginable.
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But once in a while, this series made an attempt to go to gritty or dark places, with mixed results of course. Because this show did such a fine job of establishing itself as a beacon of light, that anything dark more or less felt out of place and was quickly forgotten by its fanbase. But when the show figured out how to properly balance a little grit with the lighthearted stuff, the end result was pretty darn amazing and it just so happens that the next episode in this storied franchise, actually offered up that flawless balance. For ‘Hot Date’ saw Officer Frank Poncherello deal with a dangerous blast from his past, one that put him in a lot of serious danger, but it sure didn’t seem like that was going to be the case early on.

For this particular tale opened up in fluffy fashion, with Ponch working desperately to get the day off so he could spend it with a beautiful flight attendant that caught his fancy, all while Central was preparing for inspection from the captain and well, it doesn’t get much fluffier than that. Because this led to all kinds of comedic moments, since Ponch was forced to give up all kinds of days off in order to spend the day with his lady, and even Grossman got in on the comedy. Since his botched attempts to offer up the perfect uniform pissed off the captain to no end. But the instant that Ponch got home to prepare for the day with his lady, is precisely when this episode took quite the gritty turn.

Because a creep named Jake Carr, who Ponch busted a while back, was waiting with his brother Charlie; inside Ponch’s apartment building. And they were quick to take our hero hostage in the hopes of settling the score and unfortunately for Jake and Charlie, things didn’t quite go as planned. Because Ponch was rightfully defiant in dealing with them, and his honey and his cleaning lady showed up, complicating the plan further, and all of this allowed for some tense moments to take place. Since there was a genuine sense of danger hanging over this segment of the story, and it also allowed for Ponch to play the hero. Because he was hell bent on getting everyone out of this mess in one piece and that allowed for him to wear down his captors and eventually overtake them in an epic and awesome manner.

If anything, this really was quite the quality tale when all said and done. Simply because it really did do a fine job of fooling us by transforming into a gritty hostage drama, and those darker moments really did allow for Erik Estrada to do his thing as an actor and remind us why we love him so. Plus, the comedy was indeed top notch and it really allowed for Paul Linke, who plays Artie Grossman, to show off his comedic chops like never before and well, it is nice to know that the storytelling pendulum has flipped back to the good side in season six. Because this was entertaining from beginning to end, and it really keeps you on the edge of your seat once the ugly stuff happens and hopefully this good episode streak lasts beyond two. Because clearly season six is capable of fine storytelling and it would be nice to enjoy a long stretch of quality tales as we enter the back half of the sixth and final season of this storied series. Until next time.  

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