‘CHiPs’ Retro Recap: ‘The Matchmakers’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

When one takes the time to think about it, season two of CHiPs has turned out to be a fascinating course in psychology. Because so many of the Creeps of the Week in year two, and anyone else that we can consider to be the ‘heavy’ for that matter, have helped to bring light to some incredibly complex issues when it comes to mental health, allowing for the audience to gain insight into what causes people to commit crimes or drift toward darker places. But while all of that has been fascinating, it’s clear that the series doesn’t want to lose sight of what made it great in the first place, and we’ve seen the psychology take a bit of a backseat in more recent episodes. But when a show is onto something great, it’s difficult for the Writer’s Room to stay away from ideas that make for engrossing and intelligent storytelling, meaning that once again, psychology returned to the forefront of this series in its next episode, ‘The Matchmakers’.
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Which quite frankly, had my attention from the get go, since it was clear that this particular tale was going to hone in on something that’s quite taboo on television, even in the modern era; suicide. And I sincerely thought that the care and thoughtfulness that went into exploring, say, PTSD on this series was going to be present for this topic as well. But alas, as it turns out, this examination and this episode ended up being a bit of a disappointment when is all is said and done, for several reasons. The first one being, that this episode really went all out in reinforcing the stigma surrounding mental illness. Sure, there’s been courtesy for vets and others who have suffered loss on this series, but Cora didn’t receive that, and she was someone who was seriously in the midst of a major breakdown, and seeing as to how she tried to take her life on two separate occasions, there should have been more concern from Ponch and Jon.

But instead, they made it clear that she either needed to suck it up or head off to the psych ward, and well, that just didn’t settle well with me. Because her life was falling to pieces, she needed counseling and being told to tough it out was just off putting to say the least, but we will dive into the why in regard to that, later on. Because, the series wasn’t quite done with providing us with some wild, out of place notions since it actually found a way to make Cora’s situation a little more infuriating and ridiculous. For the only solution to her problem, was for her to hook her up with a retiring police officer named Derk. Because his land and his need for someone special would somehow heal her and well, this was the silliest part of this episode. I mean come on, you honestly mean to tell me, the only way for an independent woman to survive a life changing crisis is to find salvation in the arms of a man?

However, while it seems as though I’m about to tear this episode a new one, allow for me to put the brakes on this because, in many ways this episode is the one that I’ve been waiting for. Because when I originally set out to do these Retro Recaps, I was expecting to spend a lot of time examining how well the zeitgeist of the late 70s and early 80s held up in this series after all these years, but so many episodes have steered clear of misogyny and dated notions, making it easy to celebrate the series, until this one came along. Because this one really embodies the ideals of the era since female characters were often written in this manner in film and television back in the day, and mental illness really was the kiss of death socially, back then as well. For if one was in need of mental care, they were labeled as crazy and shunned and well, while both of these issues still persist in modern America, there is at least progress to cite, making these elements truly seem out of place when watching them in 2019.

So, if anything, the best way to describe this episode, is to call it a moment in time, and that’s a shame because this progressive series could have done wonders with this one. But I get the feeling, injecting suicide into the mix, spooked the producers, which in turn motivated the Writer’s Room to do something a little more traditional to satisfy the big wigs. But all hammering aside, it did still have its traditional moments since the whole plot thread involving the Creep of the Week, a P.I. who kidnapped a little girl to solve a custody battle for her rich daddy, was a delight to watch, in the end. Since Ponch and Jon and Derk were able to capture this jerk before he ran off with the little girl, and well, if anything, I guess it is best to just write this one off and move along, in the hopes that the smart scripts make a quick comeback before season two closes out. Until next time.

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