"CROSSFIRE" The IQ Level is Dropping, But It's Not Necessarily a Bad Thing January 10, 1998

by
Gordon Hom

The storyline for "Crossfire" is complete balderdash (a killing bounty offered up on a Web site which attracts ultimate fighters), but before we begin trashing it, let me just say this episode is outrageously funny with lots of good bits. NASH BRIDGES has dipped into the world of extreme sports before (remember "Ripcord" involving the illegal sport of base jumping?). This episode features the semi-legal sport of ultimate fighting involving the barbaric, sadistic and bloody spectacle of two men pummeling each other senseless (wait - this sounds like wrestling, only it's for real). The ultimate fighters look like wrestlers - oversized and snarling, welding weaponry of all sorts. Their excessiveness is associated with the indulgence of the 'Cuda. In the opening sequence, a monster truck attacks the 'Cuda (WHAT? We won't even try to make sense of it.) The suddenly undersized 'Cuda runs and hides in a warehouse. Then the 'Cuda is tampered with from below by Asian ultimate fighter Happy Ching (What for? I thought these fighters like to tear their victims apart tete-a-tete). Later, an ax-welding ultimate fighter buries an ax into the hood of the 'Cuda (That's more like it - a senseless attack on a machine). The poor 'Cuda gets beat upon by the ultimate fighters.

The really funny backstory involving Michelle's hunt for a rapist sounds serious (and it is), but it turns into a hunt for a suitable man for Michelle. With Evan and Harvey providing hilarious commentary over her earpiece as they size up each suspect - a sour and suicidal guy prompts Harvey to retort "Lend him your gun, Michelle." Loser after loser tries to date Michelle, and the editing just makes it funnier. Just the motion of a guy picking his nose cuts to another guy, as we get more and more critical of the parade of men.

The Nash swagger and repartee really works in these improbable situations. After watching two of the fighters duking it out in his apartment, Nash pulls out his pistol. They don't seem to stop - prompting Nash to say "Whaddaya crazy? This is a gun." They're all crazy, caught up in a crazy, mindless episode as Nash must repeatedly shoot another fighter to death after Joe yells "Ground Hog Day." It's non-sensical, violent and outrageous.

We're always interested in how TV shows present computer nerds. In this case, it's Adam Miller, a geeky kid sitting in his room with headphones blaring, pepper spray at the ready. Nash calls him "Little Billy Gates" and later "Little Bubba." Nash forces the kid to shut down the site offering the bounty on his head - we can't help but feel that Nash is encountering us - talking to us, geeking out at the terminal.

To complete the senselessness of "Crossfire," the Bad Guy of the Week attacks Nash with a flame thrower. Hey, it makes about as much sense as a monster truck chasing the 'Cuda or Nash suspecting Cassidy's latest boyfriend is gay. Cassidy with two men completes the excessiveness of this episode.

For more, see synopsis for Episode 44

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