L.A. Heat: Season 02 (2000)

Those intrepid LAPD detectives Chase McDonald (Wolf Larson)--the white, reckless one--and Austin Brooks (Steven Williams)--the black, sensible one--continue to dodge bullets, embark upon hectic car chases, and narrowly escape being blown to smithereens as the 60-minute action series L.A. Heat enters its second season. The two protagonists also try really, REALLY hard to avoid imitating Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, the stars of the series' blatant "role model", the Lethal Weapon films. This season's crop of 22 episodes begins with "Fangs", a Night Stalker derivation wherein McDonald and Brooks track down what appears to be a genuine vampire. The obligatory "hero is accused of murder" plotline is the basis of the season's second entry, "F is for Framed"; while another reliable plot hook, a vicious Neo-Nazi organization, figures prominently in Episode Three, "Burning Sanctuary." And of course, no cop show of the 1990s would be complete without the occasional drop-in of a bevy of nearly naked exotic dancers--as witness the season's fourth and fifth episodes, "Strip Show" and "Eyewitness". This last-named episode also serves to introduce Gary Hudson in the role of ruthless, "untouchable" criminal mastermind Bobby Cole, who would remain the detectives' most deadly adversary throughout the rest of the year. Arguably the season's most poignant episode is "Little Saigon", which probes deeply--perhaps too deeply--into the troubled past of Detective August Brooks. And one of the most harrowing installments is "Call of the Wild", in which a desperate Chase must hunt down and neutralize a serial killer before the felon is able to bump off both August and his wife Kendra. Other episodes worth noting include "Faces of Fear", with Chase taking a page out of Miami Vice by going undercover as infamous drug lord Jake Rheams; "In Harm's Way", featuring Tina Louise, of all people, as a homicidal bank robber; and "Legacy of a Buffalo Soldier", an elaborate flashback to the Old West in which Steven Williams plays the dual role of August Brooks and his namesake great-great-grandfather. The series comes to a rousing conclusion with "Vengeance", as McDonald and Brooks defy orders from their police superiors--and the FBI--to take down the elusive Bobby Cole for keeps! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi