"ROAD WORK" 'Cuda Action January 3, 1997

by
Gordon Hom

In the previous episode - "25 Hours of Christmas," we were left with the closing scene of Nash kissing Whitney, his dad's nurse. This was no perfunctory holiday kiss, but a smoldering hot romantic lip lock. In this episode - "Road Work," no sign of Whitney or even Nash's dad, Nick. Nick was staying at Lisa's place temporarily, but in "Road Work" Lisa has moved into a new apartment. Things change quickly on NASH BRIDGES. Expect the Whitney romance to develop more, but all indications are that Whitney has a dark past (how does she know how to handle a gun? Oh my. And Whitney herself has said "There's so much you don't know about me." Oh my my.) which is sure to make Nash's private life even more complicated.

Whether it's because of the San Francisco location (with that tradition of the classic car chase from the 1968 Steve McQueen film BULLITT) or the nature of a police show, the car chases in NASH BRIDGES are dynamite and well-done. In BULLITT, it was a battle of the Muscle cars - McQueen's dark green Mustang versus the Bad Guy's black Charger. The Bad Guys' identities are almost unimportant as this episode of NASH BRIDGES is a vintage car showdown. Bad Guys are reduced to cars. Even as SFPD police cars chase the 'Cuda - we never see the cop's faces. In the smash up pre-title sequence, the 'Cuda wins hands down with the Bad Guy car crashing and burning. NASH BRIDGES makes a point of presenting cool cars in chases - a look back at previous episodes proves it.

All these cool cars almost run over a theme of major corruption in the legal system in "Road Work." There are corrupt federal agents (US Marshals) hiring themselves out as hitmen, a Superior Court judge on the payroll of a mobster, and two squad cars of SFPD police officers (in all fairness, the SFPD was maybe misinformed, not part of the conspiracy), all out to stop a witness from testifying. We are talking about major corruption at all levels of the legal system here, but NASH BRIDGES doesn't get into the nitty gritty of how this has come to be or how it's taken care of. The world of NASH BRIDGES is awash in corruption with Nash as its moral center. The PULP FICTION-like music in the pre-title sequence conveys the lawlessness of the NASH world.

We mentioned Whitney earlier - women are volatile in the NASH world. Nash's daughter Cassidy is a budding mankiller (see quote in the synopsis), but she's a sweet mankiller who lets boys down gently. Cassidy takes complete control of Joe's hapless son, JJ. When Nash and company arrive at the new apartment, Cassidy characteristically has JJ's pants in her arms, a symbol of her control. Because of the Cassidy/JJ relationship, the relationship between Joe and Nash gets rocky. Joe is the comic foil on NASH, but can he really mix (as Joe says "the Dominguez clan") with the Nash Harem? On NASH BRIDGES, women always come between men; women are the volatile elements which destabilize bonded male relationships. Let's see what happens with lovely Whitney.

For more, see synopsis for Episode 21

Copyright © 1996-2022 Gordon Hom. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy