Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Hunter, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1991.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!

This week, Hunter goes to jail!

Episode 1.7 “Pen Pals”

(Dir by Larry Stewart, originally aired on November 16th, 1984)

Rick Hunter, murderer!

Well, not quite.  It is true that someone used Hunter’s gun to assassinate a drug dealer but, at the time of the shooting, Hunter was helping a woman who came by his apartment and said that her car had broken down.  It’s a set up!  But, because Hunter  threatened to kill the drug dealer earlier and he’s killed around 20 0ther people since the pilot, everyone assumes that he’s guilty.  He’s sent to jail for 72 hours.  McCall, forced to partner up with the charming but incompetent Detective Glascow (Tim Thomerson),  attempts to prove that Hunter was framed.  Meanwhile, Hunter befriends one prisoner (Tracey Walter) and is targeted by another (Jack O’Halloran).

There were a few odd things about this episode.  First off, why wasn’t Hunter put in protective custody?  Everyone in the jail knew that he was a cop.  He hadn’t actually been convicted of anything.  So, what was he doing in general population?

Secondly, what happened to Hunter’s mob connections?  Previous episodes have hinted that Hunter’s father is one of the most powerful gangsters in California.  Wouldn’t that give him some sort of protection in prison?  Couldn’t the Hunter crime family have asked around and discovered who set Rick Hunter up?

Oh well, no matter.  This was a fun episode!  Tim Thomerson was wonderfully smarmy as McCall’s new partner.  Jack O’Halloran was properly psychotic as the scary prisoner looking to take down Hunter.  If any actor was born to be filmed beating up people in a prison cafeteria, it was Fred Dryer.

Luckily,  Hunter got out of jail at the end of the episode.  Now, he and McCall can get back to falling in love.