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, cliffhangers are abandoned and emotions run wild.

Episode 4.2 “Treasure Hunt”

(Dir by Terence H. Winkless, originally aired on August 2nd, 1998)

When last we checked in with Pacific Blue, we had a bit of cliffhanger going on.  Bobby Cruz was still considering whether or not to become a bicycle cop.  Detective Monica Harper was preparing to go back to her usual department.  And TC had just announced to Strickland and Granger that he wasn’t sure whether or not they would be continuing as bike cops.

Well, apparently, that all got worked out between episodes.  Strickland and Graner are still bike cops and they no longer appear to be living in that funky loft they were occupying during the previous episode.  Bobby is now a bike cop.  And Monica is a bike cop too because apparently, she got transferred to Pacific Blue.  She explains to Bobby that she goes wherever she’s sent but she’s not real happy about being a bike cop.  Hey, Monica, we’ve already got a whiny character on this show.  We don’t need another.

That whiny character — and yes, it is Chris Kelly — wants to be a sergeant.  So does Cory.  Both Chris and Cory take the sergeant’s exam.  Chris scores higher, though only by five points.  However, TC offers the sergeant’s position to Cory.  Chris, of course, whines about his decision.  TC replies that Cory’s been with the department longer and, unlike Chris, she’s never been written up for having a bad attitude.  TC feels that Cory will be a better role model for the new recruits and he’s probably right.  I mean, one of the few consistent things about Pacific Blue has been that Chris is generally thin-skinned and fairly rude to the people that citizens that she’s supposed to be protecting.  Chris is the bike cop who always seemed to be annoyed whenever she actually has to talk to anyone who doesn’t ride a bicycle.

One reason that is not mentioned for TC not promoting Chris is that Chris and TC are now married and I have to wonder how it would look if TC’s first action as commander was to promote his wife.  Honestly, how are TC and Chris even working together now?  This seems like a textbook case of conflict of interest.

As for the rest of the show, Strickland killed her first bad guy.  Shaken after shooting a convenience store robber, Strickland goes to a bar and gets drugged!  It turns out that someone is slipping GHB into the drinks on the boardwalk.  Could it have something to do with two obnoxious radio hosts who are broadcasting from the pier?  Bobby Cruz is not happy when he discovers that his 15 year-old sister is apparently a fan of their program….

Yes, Bobby Cruz is a Mexican-American bicycle cop from a tough neighborhood who is very protective of his younger sister.  Wasn’t that Victor Del Toro’s character as well?  Being from Texas, I’ve always been very aware of how television has always stereotyped any character who happens to have a Spanish last name.  With Pacific Blue, it looks like they just crossed out Victor Del Toro’s name in their scripts and wrote in Bobby Cruz instead.

Finally, Monica is looking for a new apartment.  Cory tries to keep Monica from finding out that there’s an apartment available in her building because …. Cory’s a bitch, maybe?  I don’t know.  It’s very out-of-character for Cory.  How is Cory going to be a sergeant if she gets this upset and petty over a new person being assigned to Pacific Blue?

Oh!  Also, Cory’s pregnant!  So far, only Chris knows.  Why would anyone tell Chris anything?  Chris is like hella mean….

Wow, a lot happened in this episode!  In fact, I’d say almost too much happened in this episode.  One got the feeling that the show’s writers wanted to focus on the newer members of the squad but, at the same time, they knew they had to come up with something for Chris to whine about.  In the past, Pacific Blue often felt understuffed.  This episode was definitely overstuffed.

Something is going to have to give.