The Checklist: L.A. Heat (S1 Ep25) “National Security”
Confession time… despite being a huge PM Entertainment fan, I had never seen a single episode of the Richard Pepin and Joseph Merhi produced series, LA Heat, prior to randomly selecting an episode for this edition of The Checklist.
Now I knew going in that there were certain elements of PM Entertainment movies that were not going to be able to be a part of a series that aired on TNT. But I was still curious to know how PM Entertainment L.A. Heat was.
And I could think of no better way to find out the answer to that question then by putting an episode of the series to The Checklist test. The episode that was randomly selected is Episode 25 from Season 1 entitled “National Security”…
- Synopsis: After two scientists working for a company called Biotech are murdered, Detectives McDonald and Brooks find themselves recruited by the United States government to help prevent a deadly biological weapon from getting into the wrong hands.
#1. Did the show immediately grab my attention?
The episode had a cold open with Detective Chase McDonald (Wolf Larson, Picasso Trigger) and Detective August Brooks (Steven Williams, Crash & Brynes) casually chatting on the side of the road about Chase’s love life or lack thereof, when a car comes zooming by and rips the open door of their unmarked police car right off.
It appears that there is no one driving the car and both Chase and August wonder if it is a runaway vehicle… even after the car makes a right turn. The pursuit is on and as they get alongside the car in question they see a young kid is actually behind the wheel taking the car out for a joyride and refusing to stop.
Before you know it Chase is hanging off the side of the kid’s car and trying to reason with him, before Chase has to climb inside and take control of the car from the obstinate youth. You have my attention L.A. Heat. 1/1
#2. Did the the LA Heat theme song include a healthy dose of saxophone?
We then cut to the show open complete with shots of our stars, cars flipping and exploding, Los Angeles landmarks and other crazy stunts. And it is all accompanied by a theme song that is heavy on the sax! 2/2
#3. Were there any notable guest stars?
Joseph Campanella plays John Guidell, the head honcho at Biotech. When we first see Guidell he seems genuinely concerned that one of his top scientists, Dr. Abrams, had been murdered in cold blood… but it isn’t long before we learn that Guidell is the one who hired the team of mercenaries to off Dr. Abrams and eventually Abrams’ partner, Dr. Murdoch. Guidell’s plan is to shut down Biotech and then sell the X99 biological weapon that Abrams and Murdoch were working on for the United States government, to the highest bidder on the black market.
Campanella actually starred in PM Entertainment’s Hologram Man, but he’ll always be John Alexander from No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers to me. Still one of the greatest on screen deaths I have ever seen! 3/3
#4. Was there vehicular mayhem?
We got a little bit of vehicular mayhem at the start of the show, but this is PM Entertainment and there’s no such thing as too many car crashes, flips and chases so I am not going to give “National Security” the point because of one scene.
But Chase and August end up getting to be a part of the convoy that is moving the X99 to a secure location, but Guidell’s soldiers of fortune strike once again and we get vehicular mayhem galore on the highways of Los Angeles! 4/4
#5. Did a helicopter blow up?
The short is yes. The long answer is much more interesting, because the helicopter filled with Guidell’s mercenaries blows up after the car that August Brooks is driving launches into the air and jumps through the helicopter causing it to explode.
It ends up being a rough landing for August Brooks on the other side, but not only does August come out without a scratch after his car hits the street and rolls over multiple times leaving it a mess even Maaco couldn’t fix, upon exiting the vehicle August manages to shoot his gun with pinpoint accuracy. I will watch every episode of you now L.A. Heat! 5/5
- Final Score = 5/5 (100%) L.A. Heat was as PM Entertainment as you could get on basic cable in the late 1990’s. They even have PM vet Kenneth Tigar (Rage and Riot) as the police captain. The show doesn’t take itself too seriously and the chemistry between Wolf Larson and Steven Williams is undeniable. This series is must watch for PM Entertainment fans.
