"BOOMTOWN" Sleepless in SF March 27, 1999

by
Gordon Hom

Nash doesn't get to sleep in this episode; we had to fight off falling asleep, too, at the corporate intrigue plot of a brilliant employee cheated out of his due. It's as if NASH BRIDGES put it's best foot forward for the February sweeps, and then we must suffer the doldrums afterwards. After the highs, come the lows. With Nash disarming bombs and fooling around with techno gizmos, the contrived suspense of Nash disarming the big one at the end (with Harvey's hand conveniently injured) lacks a certain authenticity. The bombs are just gadgets one turns off. Nash doesn't leave it to the bomb experts - he's gotta do it himself. He's gotta get hands-on with the bomb, and there in lies the fault.

The plot set-up with Nash going sleepless gets a hilarious boost as Nash falls asleep during Cassidy's play. Cassidy's avant-garde play wasn't so out there - the character she plays, "Gaia", is from Greek mythology - specifically Hesiod's Theogony which explains the origin of the gods and the world. (Gaia is mother earth) Hah! Chalk this one up to my webmaster's quality education in Classics at Berkeley. And how big of a deal is seeing lovely Cassidy topless? We've already seen Cassidy having sex with Evan in a shower, and she was nude in a safe sex poster awhile back. Cassidy shedding her clothes is like the sun rising.

Nash gets new neighbors downstairs, but just exactly what is the deal with his building? We've noted before that people just seem to walk in and out of Nash's apartment with little regard for such trivialities like locks and doors. (Did you ever see Nash use a key?) Maybe because it's a condemned building, doors aren't locked so one can get out quickly. In "Boomtown" in traipses (into Nash's bedroom no less) a lovely young woman followed by two identical copies. The exoticness of this suggests a PLAYBOY pictorial - we're expecting to see the Parks sisters (Kelly, Rebecca and Wende) to appear in the magazine (if they haven't already). Nash's apartment is getting to be like the Playboy Mansion, as Nick plays cards with the lovelies amid loud rock music. But does this get a rise out of the virtuous Nash? Nah, he's trying to get some sleep.

For more, see synopsis for Episode 72

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