TV-Reviewed

The opening of this episode shows Nash Bridges just about to go to sleep when he receives a phone call alerting him of a home invasion. I think this is an idea that a lot of people have of police inspectors/detectives and it’s a fairly accurate one. You never know when you’re going to get called in for a new case.

The style of home invasion here surprised even Nash. A Chinese family was burglarized by another group of Asians. Nash noted that it’s odd for Vietnamese to steal from the Chinese; Asians apparently tend to steal from their own apparently. This made Nash and company look in a different direction. They would eventually learn that the new gang responsible for the home invasions was a group of guys who were kicked out of other gangs.

Joe (Cheech Marin) tries to make sure Cassidy doesn’t fool around with her boyfriend

Nash, Joe, and Evan put a little pressure on the Terry Wong to give up the identities of those involved but he declined Nash’s original request. Terry is a great character, portrayed by the terrific actor James Hong who’s been in a lot of TV and film projects. Terry would eventually come around when Nash made a deal with him to save face among his own people. This was something Terry was most concerned with; he didn’t like the fact that he looked soft by not getting the thieves, but Nash took care of that problem.

Joe was in some unusual problems. With this the second episode, Nash Bridges hasn’t had a whole lot of time to go into Joe’s history a whole lot, just Nash’s. But it seems Joe is having some issues with his wife, Inger, due to some sharing problems.

The show is a lot of fun to watch. It’s not just the action that keeps me interested but some of the hysterical stuff that goes on sometimes. That scene where Joe tried to keep Cassidy away from her date was a little tough to watch, but I give Joe credit for doing his job when Nash wasn’t around. I know Nash would appreciate it.

I have very few complaints about this episode, but if I had to be picky, I’d have to point to Lisa’s reaction to the shooting and then the final chase scene. Nash didn’t have a whole lot of time to safely hide Cassidy from the burglars, so I was surprised at Lisa’s “I can’t believe you would put our daughter in danger” reaction. What was Nash supposed to do? Put on his Superman cape and fly her to safety?!

The last chase scene was good, but I couldn’t help but wonder about that ramp. If the earthquake took out a portion of it, wouldn’t you shut down the entire thing? If so, why were there still cars coming in Nash’s direction? It may have made for a more exciting chase scene, but I still say it looked a little strange.

Rating: 8.5

Buy Nash Bridges – The First Season on DVD