The Blog Of No Return
Friday, May 13, 2005
One more post about hookers.
This morning I watched "Death Trip," a Hooker episode from May 14, 1986. What this means is that including the other episode on the Tivo, I only have three more episodes of Hooker. Khaaannn!!!
The episode was a clear example of how far the show had fallen by season 5. Sure, Zmed is but a distant, annoying memory, but that can't hide the fact that everyone on the show is tired, the writers most of all. The episode had no less than 4 fucking car chases. FOUR! Talk about a lazy way of keeping things "interesting." And we the audience know from the get-go that only the chase in the last 10 minutes will nab the suspect, because if the first three chases got him then the episode would be 15-25 minutes long.
Shatner's acting seems to have been getting a little sloppy too. The first few seasons were full of crackerjack line delivery from Will. You could feel his intensity coming across, along with his enthusiasm for the material. He WAS the law-devoted TJ Hooker, ready to buck the system if it meant taking down scum. Now the uniform seems like a costume, as he flaccidly delivers lines to female informants, lazily bantering with them with an easy smile Hooker never had before in the series. He kind of just looks at them and grins, then trips over his lines and kind of shrugs off their lame advances, instead of just buying them dinner like he did the first few years.
They've neutered the character, which goes right along with the fact that he and the other cops have just become paper dolls in a thin plot. It's always the same: every episode in season 5 has a car explosion and someone getting pulled out just in time, several car chases, young female witnesses who reluctantly accept police protection, and utterly boring villains. I can see why season five was truncated, consisting of just 18 episodes. Even the last episode, where partners James Darren and Heather Locklear hook up, pulled the rug out at the last minute by having them decide to just remain friends and maintain the show's status quo. So much for character development.
There was one good thing to come out of this latest episode. In the final scene, where Hooker once again meets with the female witness to deliver more reassuring platitudes, he wishes her luck in her quest to discover herself and her relationship with her dad. Pretty standard stuff, nothing special. Then he gets into his car and pauses for one moment. The old Hooker twinkle is in his eyes as he leans out the car window and says, "You know, it's a battle to live in peace...don't you ever surrender."
Don't you ever surrender either, Bill. It may not have survived its own fifth season, but the early Hookers remain good, dumb fun to this day. So long and thanks for all the fists.
The episode was a clear example of how far the show had fallen by season 5. Sure, Zmed is but a distant, annoying memory, but that can't hide the fact that everyone on the show is tired, the writers most of all. The episode had no less than 4 fucking car chases. FOUR! Talk about a lazy way of keeping things "interesting." And we the audience know from the get-go that only the chase in the last 10 minutes will nab the suspect, because if the first three chases got him then the episode would be 15-25 minutes long.
Shatner's acting seems to have been getting a little sloppy too. The first few seasons were full of crackerjack line delivery from Will. You could feel his intensity coming across, along with his enthusiasm for the material. He WAS the law-devoted TJ Hooker, ready to buck the system if it meant taking down scum. Now the uniform seems like a costume, as he flaccidly delivers lines to female informants, lazily bantering with them with an easy smile Hooker never had before in the series. He kind of just looks at them and grins, then trips over his lines and kind of shrugs off their lame advances, instead of just buying them dinner like he did the first few years.
They've neutered the character, which goes right along with the fact that he and the other cops have just become paper dolls in a thin plot. It's always the same: every episode in season 5 has a car explosion and someone getting pulled out just in time, several car chases, young female witnesses who reluctantly accept police protection, and utterly boring villains. I can see why season five was truncated, consisting of just 18 episodes. Even the last episode, where partners James Darren and Heather Locklear hook up, pulled the rug out at the last minute by having them decide to just remain friends and maintain the show's status quo. So much for character development.
There was one good thing to come out of this latest episode. In the final scene, where Hooker once again meets with the female witness to deliver more reassuring platitudes, he wishes her luck in her quest to discover herself and her relationship with her dad. Pretty standard stuff, nothing special. Then he gets into his car and pauses for one moment. The old Hooker twinkle is in his eyes as he leans out the car window and says, "You know, it's a battle to live in peace...don't you ever surrender."
Don't you ever surrender either, Bill. It may not have survived its own fifth season, but the early Hookers remain good, dumb fun to this day. So long and thanks for all the fists.
