"GET BANANAS" Under Suspicion November 20, 1999

by
Gordon Hom

You know you're watching quality television when you tune in to NASH BRIDGES and see a chimpanzee with his ass up in the air blasting out a noisy fart. Don Johnson proves himself fearless as he develops this loving relationship with a monkey and the jokes abound: "You're not getting your hands on my monkey!" The appearance of wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin was not so special this time, but still funny as the monkey outwits Jake and keeps turning off his motorcycle.

But with all the monkey business aside, an uncharacteristic case goes down for the SIU. This is a MIAMI VICE-style drug case, with a drug lord, informant and dirty cop. The ambiguity of Evan's guilt is maintained for now - but how did Evan know Baptiste got away when he took his drug money? Evan didn't know Baptiste got away because he was in a different part of the house - in other words, Evan did go bad. How Evan vindicates himself or not makes for an interesting season. This is good cop stuff (NASH BRIDGES is supposed to be a cop show, right?) dealing with integrity, honor, and duty. It's not like last season when we were all wondering when Nash was going to claim Caitlin.

When a cop falls, this is not lightweight stuff. On MIAMI VICE, the central questions of integrity always loomed large. On NASH BRIDGES, it looms large but briefly, then goes away like the lightweight entertainment it purports to be. The central issues of what it means to be a police officer are unfortunately paired with monkey business, as NASH BRIDGES almost always hides from the seriousness of the police drama.

For more, see synopsis for Episode 86

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