"KEY WITNESS" Smuggling Computer Chips in the Dead Bodies of Young Women? May 20, 1996

by
Gordon Hom

Let's take a step back and examine this week's storyline - an arrogant doctor smuggles super conductor chips in the dead bodies of young women. Does it need further comment that this is an outlandish and preposterous storyline? Of course not, it's NASH BRIDGES! We didn't question such plottings before (say for example, the idea of a mad bomber being a woman in episode 4, inspite of the fact that there has been no known profile of female serial bombers ever in human history so far). NASH BRIDGES has put its best foot forward at the start of its season, and now with fall renewal certain, this episode strains even the true believers. Even the humor seems forced, with Joe Dominguez fretting about his accidentally acquired bar as Nash and Lisa giggle at Joe's troubles.

A sure sign of plot troubles is the reliance on spy themes, such as the doctor belonging to a rogue DEA splinter group known as "Black Man." Nash continually refers to a nebulous "buddy in the CIA" - who is he? Steven Seagal? Any rabbit can be pulled out of this hat to explain away plot holes, that is, anything within the parameters of the police genre short of alien abduction. That lies in the territory of THE X-FILES, but let's not forget that Scully and Mulder are also law enforcement types, like NASH BRIDGES.

But let's not dismiss this episode entirely - there are interesting goings-on in this episode. There is an obvious theatricality in this episode especially in the Lisa character - Annette O'Toole creates a highly strung, almost over-the-top Lisa. Lisa wants to play Nancy Drew with Nash and tag along on this case, but she's not so helpful. Lisa faints when she and Nash find the missing dead woman's body (what a "womanly" thing to do). And Lisa accidentally bashes Nash on the head while assassins are trying to kill her. But when Lisa is helpful in the investigation, for example discovering the dead girl's bracelet, it's a goofy accident. Lisa slams a drawer on her fingers, and she goes to the ice maker to cool her swollen fingers, resulting in the discovery.

The dysfunctional family gathering of Nash, Lisa of "I never thought I'd be staying under this roof with you [Nash] again.", and Cassidy in his broken-down apartment once again is made funny with yet another of Cassidy's boyfriends. This latest boyfriend is another parental nightmare - a horny Sid Vicious look-alike with tattoos running down both arms. Wait a few years more, and you have an overexposed Pamela Anderson and her parental nightmare. On the talk shows, Don Johnson has joked about his own six year old daughter in the same kind of humor speculating about boyfriends when his daughter comes of dating age, with comments like "Slash, I'd like to show you my gun cabinet."

During the half hour break, an extremely ironic commercial ran during NASH BRIDGES. Did the commercial only run here in San Francisco or was it nationwide? It was a Revlon commercial with Melanie Griffith pushing "Age Defying Make-Up." It seems just a few days ago it was revealed on ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT that Griffith and that Banderas guy announced that they just got secretly married. Ouch! Don dealt with these issues in his interview with Tom Snyder, but man, the timing of this.....

For more, see synopsis for Episode 8

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