"MOVING TARGET" Boy or Girl? April 11, 1997

by
Gordon Hom

This week's NASH is a violent mob war with big explosions and shoot-outs. The teaser is almost indistinguishable from MIAMI VICE, being set on the waterfront aboard a yacht - it might as well have been Miami instead of San Francisco. Roving bands of assassins abound - there's so many killers in this one that it takes on the surreal quality of a Hong Kong action movie. The killers get dropped by Nash and Joe like bowling pins. The return of second rate SIU cop Rick Bettina adds to the schlocky deadly atmosphere, with people dying yet still with witty putdown repartee. The power struggle involving mobster Frank Dwyer and number two man Ray Getz is a familiar one. Ray Getz is a returning character (also played by Louis Mandylor) from "Road Work" (Episode 21). In "Road Work" Getz bought off a judge and sent killers after a witness Nash was protecting. Apparently the case against Getz didn't stick, because he's back in "Moving Target."

What brings "Moving Target" down to earth (as much as NASH BRIDGES can be down to earth) is Joe's predicament with pregnant wife Inger. Joe's self-induced crisis is brought on when a waitress makes a blatant pass at Nash in a restaurant. Joe refers to his wedding ring as "chick repellent." Joe confesses to Inger that he lied as part of a "guy-ological experiment" about the wedding ring. The contrast between his married monogamous life and Nash's freewheeling bachelorhood is also brought to a point by Inger's pregnant condition. Joe hopes for a boy, while Inger wants a girl. The title "Moving Target" perhaps refers as much to the gender of the baby that is at contention than the criminal story. The episode appropriately ends on the baby waking up and moving in the womb, gender still unknown. Amongst all the guy action, the explosions and killers, we get that weird NASH BRIDGES combination of sensitive family life.

Notably missing in "Moving Target" is Nash's family characters. In this episode, it's Nash the swinging bachelor without daughter Cassidy, ex-wife Lisa, or dad Nick to remind us of Nash the family man. Also not in this episode is SIU detective Bryn Carson, keeping the focus on "the guy thing." The main relationship is between the guys Nash and Joe, and all others characters (Evan and Harvey) recede into the background. There's no doubt that the star of NASH BRIDGES is Don Johnson, and that's been the secret to the show's success. Another star-oriented cop show, WALKER, TEXAS RANGER has also been doing well with Chuck Norris, though we dare say without the flair and style of NASH BRIDGES.

For more, see synopsis for Episode 29

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