"INTERNAL AFFAIRS" Familiar Police Theme with Nash Touches September 16, 1996

by
Gordon Hom

This new episode is the one left over from last season which has finally aired one week before the "official" second season premiere of NASH BRIDGES next week. After a long summer, NASH BRIDGES just picks up as if nothing happened in the intervening three months of re-runs - such is series television.

Nash's beautifully dangerous adolescent daughter develops a crush on the young rookie Evan much to the potential detriment of his career. Wooing the bosses' daughter is always risky business. As if to emphasize her budding sexuality as dangerous yet innocent, as Cassidy looks out from inside the surveillance van, Evan and Harvey take down a notorious car thief. The two cops mash his face against the van window, finally slamming his head into the window as a fascinated and thrilled Cassidy looks on.

The other source of NASH BRIDGES humor is, of course, Cheech Marin as Joe Dominguez. The storyline from previous episodes is that Joe, having accidentally acquired a gay bar in an backfired investment scheme, now has a chance to unload the bar at 20 percent profit. But Joe decides to keep the bar. The bar is a place of male bonding gone amok - the men really like each other here. More importantly though, the gay bar is a positive place where Nash and his work buddies gather. In a hilarious twist, Nash forces Evan to dance with Joe in repentance for his attraction to his daughter.

The other storyline to "Internal Affairs" is the frame-up of Nash, bringing up the familiar police theme of the rogue cop. The concept of Internal Affairs (that there are bad cops out there), and the existence of an Internal Affairs division is a contradiction to cop as hero and Good Guy. It is therefore presented as a much despised police activity, and NASH BRIDGES is no exception here. NASH BRIDGES even borrows an action sequence from the well known rogue cop themed movie MAGNUM FORCE. In MAGNUM FORCE, Clint Eastwood takes a rough ride on the front hood of a car going full speed, only to crash and decapitate the driver. In NASH BRIDGES, Don Johnson takes a ride on the front hood and the car comes to a halt with the driver mashed by a cargo container. Similar themes beget similar action sequences. This NASH BRIDGES action sequence is well done, as is a rooftop chase sequence at the start of the this episode. The foot chase with stunt men jumping across narrow rooftops uses the distinct architecture of San Francisco skyline to great advantage.

For more, see synopsis for Episode 9

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