Anne Bobby as Off. Vicki Quinn
Barbara Bosson as Mayor Louise Plank
Vondie Curtis-Hall as Det. Warren Osborne
Ronny Cox as Chief Roger Kendrick
David Gianopoulos as Off. Andy Campo
Larry Joshua as Capt. John Hollander
James McDaniel as Off. Franklin Rose
Ron McLarty as Ralph Ruskin
Mick Murray as Det. Joseph Gaines
Peter Onorati as Det. Vincent LaRusso
Written by: William M. Finkelstein and Stephen Bochco and John Romano
Directed by: Charles Haid
It’s weird how quickly things have died down here on “Cop Rock”; the first episode crammed about three hundred plot points into a brief 48-minute episode, but many of them seem to have fallen by the wayside. There are still eight episodes left (really, that many?!) so I suppose they might be saving some for a rainy day, but I have to be perfectly honest here: my interest is waning. I literally feel like each episode is an entire season…it’s just getting too much to slog through.
Anyway, the writers made it simple on us (and themselves) by focusing on only two plot points for this entire episode: the ludicrous investigation by Captain Hollander into the shooting of a known cop-killer by Detective LaRusso, and a random side story about the mayor running for a Senate seat that has to be seen to be believed.
To recap for those just joining me on this headache-inducing adventure, Tyrone Powers was an African-American male who was arrested on drug charges, but was let go due to overcrowding in prisons. Right after being released back into the general population, he shot and killed a cop named Gilbert Braden. For this reason alone, he would be a wanted man, with a bounty put on his head. Sure enough, cops discover his whereabouts and go to grab him, only there’s one little problem: they don’t have a warrant. LaRusso realizes the situation, and that a known cop killer would be released back onto the streets, and so he shoots him dead, making the whole scene look like an act of self-defense.
But Hollander inexplicably thinks something is up right from the outset, and has spent the last two episodes trying to prove that LaRusso acted in the wrong. Well, he might finally get the chance to prove it here, as he makes an offer to Officer Potter, LaRusso’s partner at the time and witness to the whole event in question: Hollander will grant him immunity in exchange for coming clean.
Meanwhile, the mayor, a homely old woman whose name escapes me (edit: Mayor Louise Plank), is approached by some political types who suggest that she run for a Senate seat. They think she can get her elected, only there’s one problem: focus groups have declared that she is one of the ugliest women they’ve ever seen. So she sees a plastic surgeon to try to fix some of her most glaring flaws. As stupid as this plot point is, it’s the best one we’ve seen so far, as my wife and I have despised her character since day one, so hearing people rip into her appearance was a welcome surprise (and it’s bizarrely a situation that’s played for laughs.)
Some of the episode also focuses on LaRusso, as he does what any cop who’s being investigated by his captain would do: hang out in seedy locations as an undercover cop, just under his own accord. Oh, and we also learn that he’s dating a mud-wrestler (!). He nearly blows one undercover sting when the subject holds his girlfriend hostage--after pretending not to care about her, the man lets her go and accepts his arrest. If only all hostage negotiations were this easy!
The songs in this episode are all trash. There’s typically been at least one song per episode that’s been kinda good, but that streak comes to an end here. The opening number finds the police chief singing a country song while riding through the rough streets on a horse--it’s actually a pretty catchy song, but the accompanying images only succeed in making it irredeemably cheesy, which is an exact 180 from what they were going for. The next one belongs to LaRusso’s stripper girlfriend, whom he treats like trash. In it, she wonders why she continues to put up with his attitudes toward her. She might have legitimate claims, but, like many of the songs featured here, it never rises above third-rate melodramatic junk.
Then there’s the gag-inducing number between an African-American couple who had the police called on them during one of their loud arguments. After the man steals the cop’s gun and threatens everyone in the room with it, he is eventually calmed down, which leads to a “tear jerking” song about how they still do truly love each other underneath all the pain. Then, in the worst one yet, the surgeon assigned to fix the senator’s face breaks out in a song all about how he strives for “perfection”. Oh, and there’s a final one between the cops and all the “low-lifes” that come in and out of the station. Sigh.
I’ve got to be honest here: I’m having a hard time even feigning interest in, and building up the courage to, continue watching this series. Just when it seems like it has hit a new low, it somehow manages to find a way to dig itself in deeper. Even discounting the song and dance numbers--which of course is the entire point of the show--the plotlines are just absolutely terrible, giving the viewer nothing positive to even latch on to, making it an all-around failure.
RATING: 2/10
FULL EPISODE
No comments:
Post a Comment