"Dispatch. We have a 9-11. Armed robbery in progress. See surplus store, corner People's Drive, 124th Street." - Dispatch operator in "Hill Street Blues" opening credits
Hill Street Blues: Season Two DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
The second season of any critically acclaimed TV series can cause a bit of trepidation in diehard TV fans. Will the creative team be able to conjure up more magic for their sophomore year, or was the show a flash in the pan? Chalk it up to sophomore slump, but series sometimes flame out in their second seasons, as when fans complained that Twin Peaks got too weird or, more recently, when Desperate Housewives became flabby and listless. It only takes one look at the harrowing first five minutes of Hill Street Blues: Season Two to know that we're still in good hands and that season two will be just as exemplary as season one.
The first episode begins as almost every episode does, with Sergeant Phil Esterhaus (Michael Conrad) leading the morning's roll call. After chiding the officers for using the precinct's phone for semi-illicit purposes, he warns them to be on the lookout for the Lasky Avenue purse snatcher who has been described as "three feet eight inches tall, very long arms, hirsute in the extremis, and uncommonly fleet of foot." Yep, the series still has its tongue planted firmly in cheek. Things snap back to reality when the officers head upstairs to begin their day on the beat. A couple has been brought in on domestic violence charges, and as they yell at each other from across the room, the officers continue their various conversations. Officers Lucy Bates (Betty Thomas) and Joe Coffey (Ed Marinaro) want to head back onto the streets now that Joe has recovered from the gunshot wound he received at the end of season one. Partners Bobby Hill (Michael Warren) and Andy Renko (Charles Haid) just want a little peace and quiet. The room is louder than usual - disconcertingly loud - because of the continued argument between the couple. The camera cuts to the couple only a few times, but we constantly hear their escalating fight. Finally, the precinct reaches a boiling point, and a jolting act of violence starts the workday off with a bang. This entire sequence is tight, suspenseful, and ultimately breathtaking .and it all happens before the opening credits.
Yes, it's going to be another tough year in a crime infested neighborhood in an unnamed metropolitan area for Frank Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti), the tough but soft spoken captain of Hill Street Precinct. Frank is dealing with the return of Black Arrow gang leader Jesse James Hudson (an electric Danny Glover, Lonesome Dove) upon his release from jail after serving thirteen years for beating a rival to death. The supposedly rehabilitated Hudson claims that he is returning to help lift the neighborhood out of poverty, but Frank doubts his sincerity. A crusading assistant attorney general has started a muckraking grand jury investigation of police corruption that threatens to taint Frank's impeccable reputation. The captain's personal life is just as tumultuous. He is dating Joyce Davenport (Veronica Hamel), an ambitious public defender who insists that they keep their affair a secret so as to avoid accusations of favoritism or conflict of interest. Frank risks losing Joyce when he makes an ultimatum: he wants to take their relationship to the next level by going public.
Complicating matters is Frank's ex-wife, Fay (Barbara Bosson), who just can't seem to get her life together.or to leave Frank's. She's so lonely that she offers herself to her former husband as a fortieth birthday gift. Within a week she is engaged to a local politician she's just met. The couple never makes it to the altar, and a despondent Fay is soon morosely lecturing the officers on all of the cancer-causing agents found around the precinct. She then decides to join a militant human rights group and participates in a sit-in that takes over the office of Chief Fletcher Daniels (Cinderella's John Cypher). At least by the end of the season she seems to have found a sympathetic friend in kindhearted officer Henry Goldblume (Joe Spano).
All of the officers struggle through both personal and professional problems this season. Renko's gruff, distant father is hospitalized with a fatal disease, leaving Renko guilt-ridden about their lack of a close father/son relationship. Bobby doesn't provide much support because he's distracted by being elected president of the city's union of black police officers. Detective J.D. LaRue (Kiel Martin) starts out the season sober, but is soon reporting to major busts drunk. His partner, Neal Washington (Taurean Blacque), nearly loses his girlfriend.
Lucy especially has to face some tough decisions this season. She shoots a suspect in self defense and then feels guilty when he turns out to be a fourteen year-old boy - albeit one who murdered a ten year-old girl. She looks away so that a drug-addled hooker can shoot up before hauling the woman in, but then has to face the consequences when the woman nearly dies of an overdose. Plus Lucy finds herself attracted to her partner, Joe, despite the fact that the lothario pursues every woman who crosses his path.
Detective Mick Belker (Bruce Weitz), who often growls like a dog and spends much of his time (barely) suppressing the urge to bite the perps he arrests, shows a slightly more human side in season two. One of Belker's favorite put-downs is "hairball," a name that he freely applies to an orangutan named Baby - AKA the Lasky Avenue purse snatcher - when the creature is put into his care upon its capture. This storyline is incredibly funny, especially since Baby is often better behaved than Belker. In a touching storyline, he also befriends Captain Freedom (Dennis Dugan, The Rockford Files), a costumed vigilante who runs around fighting crime using his "super powers." Captain Freedom means well, but he's obviously a crackpot, and it's only a matter of time before his "super powers" fail and he is exposed to real danger. Belker also finds a short-lived friend in a mouse named Mickey that he carries around in his shirt pocket. It's terrific to see this character develop friendships, even if two of them involve the animal kingdom and one is with a certifiable lunatic.
Season two also finds several of the characters questioning their beliefs and their professions. Frank resents being manipulated by Chief Daniels in his attempt to appease the special grand jury. Idealistic Frank is so angry at the mere suggestion that he has been involved with impropriety that he even tries to turn in his badge. When Joyce's colleague is brutally murdered and the killer is set free on a technicality, she begins to question why she participates in a system that allows killers to return to the streets to commit more crimes. She also begins to carry a gun.
Hill Street Blues isn't perfect. Several of the plotlines simply peter out with no real conclusion, and the season ends with several stories left unresolved. The emphasis is often on talk rather than action, and the sometimes leisurely-paced storylines will require patience from audiences accustomed to the full-throttle action of modern police dramas. Still, the series is rich and engrossing.
Familiar faces in season two include Nathan Cook (Hotel), Barbara Babcock (Dallas), Lupe Ontiveros (Desperate Housewives), CCH Pounder (The Shield), Stephen McHattie (Cold Squad), Lynn Whitfield (Equal Justice), Dori Brenner (Ned & Stacey), John Diehl (Miami Vice), Daphne Maxwell Reid (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air), Charles Robinson (Night Court), Pamela Hayden (The Simpsons), John Karlen (Cagney & Lacey), Janet DeMay (Remington Steele), Troy Evans (China Beach), Edward James Olmos (Miami Vice), Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Eric Laneuville (St. Elsewhere), Alley Mills (The Wonder Years), Dennis Lipscomb (Wiseguy), Talia Balsam (Without a Trace), Meg Tilly (Cagney & Lacey), John Ratzenberger (Cheers), and George Murdock (Barney Miller).
The eighteen episodes that make up the second season are divided onto three double-sided discs. The discs are housed in two slim, black keepcases, one of which holds a pair of discs. The front of each case features the same photo of a police car barreling through city streets. The back of each case features a listing of episode titles, airdates, and brief synopses. The cases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve which features the same police car photo.
The full motion DVD menus are both elegant and dynamic. On the main menu, clips from the series scroll across the screen, and viewers can access the "Episode Selection" menu, the "Special Features" menu, and the "Play All" feature. Choosing the "Episode Selection" menu leads to a list of the episodes found on the disc. Viewers can choose an individual episode or again choose to play all of the episodes. From the individual episode menus, viewers can preview the episode they are about to watch, play the entire episode, view the scene selection menu, and preview the following episode. The biggest flaw here is that there is no way to jump from one individual episode menu to another.
