"BLOOD BOTS" Death Comes Knocking March 30, 2001

by
Gordon Hom

One of the deepest and most universal life events the aging baby boom generation faces is the death of a parent. Few other human beings know another human being as long and as on a profound level as a child to his parents. We've seen Don Johnson as a brash young man on MIAMI VICE, and now as a more seasoned man in NASH BRIDGES. It is almost as if we know Don Johnson personally in these characters, and the loss we would feel is like the loss of a close friend.

NASH BRIDGES seems to be preparing us for the death of Nick, possibly at the end of the season. There are also indications that this might be the last season of NASH BRIDGES. We know that Nash will survive (there's Angel to look after him). Nash has faced this situation before when he thought Cassidy was killed in a car accident. And Death has come knocking at the SIU before - the death of SIU squad members Michelle Chan and Evan Cortez was sad, but the series continued on with barely any acknowledgement. There was sadness, but no funerals or grieving. NASH world does not linger on death.

And NASH BRIDGES is centered around Nash, and not the supporting characters. But if you see a character for five or six years, and then they die - some words need to be said, some acknowledgement made. When long time characters die, we need a sense of closure. That's what's different about a TV series - we get to know characters like close friends, but when they're gone, something else takes its place. Characters are resurrected, the actors are seen elsewhere (Michelle Chan died, but actress Kelly Hu just switched series to the now-cancelled MARTIAL LAW), it's like death is not real. We feel the loss, but the pain is only momentary.

After the previous episode's groin attack on Harvey, Harvey is absent in this episode. In "Blood Bots," we learn that Harvey is on vacation in Cabo, where he is presumably recovering from his encounter with the dog. While this dog attack was presented as comedy, dog attacks aren't taken so lightly anymore. The death of a woman (viciously mauled by dogs) here in San Francisco recently drew national attention. And as for the Heist of the Week performed by a robot, the storyline is so trivial that it can be summed up in the sweep of a broom - you just tip the damn thing over and they're like a useless vacuum cleaner.

For more, see synopsis for Episode 117

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