Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Pacific Blue, a cop show that aired from 1996 to 2000 on the USA Network!  It’s currently streaming everywhere, though I’m watching it on Tubi.

This week, Chris has a crisis.

Episode 3.19 “Heat of the Moment”

(Dir by Terrence H. Winkless, originally aired on March 22nd, 1989)

Chris and TC respond to reports of a robbery occurring at a jewelry store.  One of the robbers, carrying a shotgun, makes a run for it.  TC goes after him.  The other robber is easily captured and handcuffed by Chris.  Chris calls for backup and then leaves the store to help TC, despite the owner of the store begging her to stay.  As soon as Chris leaves, it is revealed that a third robber was hiding in the backroom.  He proceeds to beat up the owner and then free his partner.  Meanwhile, the other robber manages to escape from Chris and TC.  When Chris returns to the store, she is shocked to learn about the third robber.

Chris is also shocked that anyone could think that she made the wrong decision.  She didn’t know there was another robber in the store.  As she explains it, TC was out there, chasing a guy with a shotgun.  She made the right decision!  Not everyone agrees and soon, Chris starts to wonder if maybe her relationship with TC clouded her judgment.

Uhmm …. yeah, Chris, that’s pretty much what happened.  I mean, Chris basically abandoned an innocent woman to two psychotic criminals just because she was worried about TC.  It would have taken Chris just a few seconds to check the backroom.  Add to that, the owner was obviously terrified and begged Chris not to leave.  Chris’s response was to be rude.  Even if there hadn’t been a third robber, Chris still left the owner alone with the second robber and didn’t bother to secure the crime scene.

This is another episode of Pacific Blue where the viewer is expected to not dwell on the fact that Chris is terrible at her job.  Chris being bad at her job has pretty much been her defining characteristic.  Even before she started sleeping with TC, Chris was regularly rude to crime victims and frequently violated the constitutional rights of the people she arrested.  She also spent a lot of time complaining nonstop about going from being a Navy pilot to being a bicycle cop.  By any standard, Chris should have been fired a long time ago.  She certainly should have been fired for not checking the backroom of that jewelry store.

But this is Pacific Blue.  And, on Pacific Blue, no one with a badge is ever held accountable for screwing up.  The bike patrol captures the main robber and his girlfriend.  Chris shoots and kills the other robbers.  And she decides that maybe she and TC should just be honest about their relationship.

“I know this week has been tough on you,” Chris tells TC.

Actually, you know who this week was hard on?  The poor jewelry store owner who got beaten up because Chris is terrible at her job!

Ugh.  Bicyclists just think the world revolves around them.