Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing Crime Story, which ran on NBC from 1986 to 1988. The entire show can be found on Tubi!
This week, Julie returns.
Episode 2.2 “Blast From The Past”
(Dir by Eugene Corr, originally aired on September 29th, 1987)
Torello’s ex-wife, Julie (Darlanne Fluegel), is in Las Vegas with her new husband, Dr. John Newhouse (David Soul). While Julie waits outside, John steps into a bank to withdraw some money. He ends up walking straight into a bank robbery. When one of the four robbers is shot and wounded by a security guard, Newhouse tries to stanch the young criminal’s bleeding. Newhouse explains that he’s a doctor. The leader of the gang, Smilin’ Jack (James Remar), took a bullet to the hand during the robbery, so he abducts Newhouse so that he can take care of both his hand and the other robber.
Newhouse is held prisoner in a trailer park in the middle of the desert. Needing to launder the stolen money, Smilin’ Jack calls his old friend, Frank Holman. Holman, who has moved on from his singing career and now wants to shoot stag films, comes out to the trailer park. He brings his movie camera. Soon, the trailer park is full of aspiring actresses.
Meanwhile, Julie goes to Torello and asks for his help. Torello puts the investigation into Las Vegas organized crime on hold so that he can find Dr. Newhouse. The other members of the Task Force have no problem with this because they all worship the ground that Torello walks on. And, of course, Torello ends up sleeping with Julie before eventually tracking down Smilin’ Jack and rescuing Dr. Newhouse.
This episode was pretty boring. Holman trying to become a filmmaker provided some amusing moments, but otherwise this was a fairly standard crime melodrama. James Remar brought a certain demented energy to the character of Smilin’ Jack, but the character was still obviously just a one-off villain from the minute he first appeared.
This was the second episode to not feature Luca and Pauli, both of whom are presumed dead despite the fact that Tony Denison and John Santucci are still listed in the opening credits. Crime Story’s narrative momentum really slows down when it’s just Torello’s story. He needs a worthy adversary and, without Luca around, he doesn’t have one.
Hopefully, next week’s episode will be a bit more interesting.
