The Checklist: L.A. Heat (S2 Ep15) “In Harm’s Way”
PM Entertainment has been a big part of Bulletproof Action since its inception in 2014, so there was no way I could not include some PM content in the month where we celebrate our 9th Actionversary! And since it has been quite some time since I put an episode of the PM Entertainment produced L.A. Heat to The Checklist test, this seemed like the perfect time to do it.
I turned to Alexa to randomly select an episode from L.A. Heat‘s second season and she gave me Episode 15, titled “In Harm’s Way”, which originally aired on May 10, 1999…
#1. Was the cold open hot?
The episode begins with Detectives Chase McDonald (Wolf Larson, Crash & Byrnes) and August Brooks (Steven Williams, Missing in Action 2) enjoying some down time on the beach when a drunken dune buggy driver disrupts everything. This leads to Chase and August commandeering some dune buggies of their own and that means a dune buggy chase to kick things off! 1/1
#2. Was there a montage?
It’s more fun in the sun as Chase and Gus make the best out of their second shift assignment by playing some beach volleyball before work with Gus’ wife Kendra and Kendra’s friend and professional volleyball player, Wendy (played by Josie Davis of Charles in Charge fame). More importantly, this friendly game of volleyball is done montage style! 2/2
#3. Were there any notable guest stars?
Later that night while on duty, Chase and Gus investigate an armored car robbery/murder… to make things more personal it was their co-worker Annie’s fiancé that was murdered AND Annie is in harm’s way (DING!) because she saw the face of one of the armed robbers, who foolishly removed his Abraham Lincoln mask!
That fool in question was Johnny Claringer Jr., who is following in the footsteps of his now deceased bank robbing father and partnering up with his mother, Patricia (played by Tina Louise of Gilligan’s Island fame). After the not so perfect armored car heist, Johnny and Patricia spend the rest of the episode trying to eliminate Annie and trying to avoid Chase and August. If you ever wanted to see Ginger from Gilligan’s Island fire a shotgun, then this is the episode for you!
But the real notable guest star from an action movie perspective came in the form of Billy Barty. That’s right Gwildor himself played Morty Feinberg, an employee of the armored car company who was sweet talked by Patricia into giving her the inside info on routes, pickups and deliveries… all for a piece of the action of course. 3/3
#4. Did the episode use any recycled PM Entertainment footage?
The minute I saw the bad guys wearing Abraham Lincoln masks, I knew they would be recycling footage from 1997’s The Underground and they certainly did. An interesting bit of trivia, The Underground was directed by stunt legend Cole McKay, who also was the director for this episode! 4/4
#5. Did the show end on a light hearted note?
Let’s get back to Wendy the professional volleyball player… Chase was rather smitten with her, so following the volleyball game early on the episode he does not hesitate to volunteer to help Wendy with a big charity event she is putting on… what he doesn’t know is it is an auction of eligible bachelors. Now August and even Captain Jensen (Kenneth Tigar, Riot) have some fun at Chase’s expense through out the episode… but at the end just when Chase thinks he’s had the last laugh, he finds out who really bid on him in the auction. 5/5
- Final Score = 5/5 (100%) “In Harm’s Way” did way more good than harm… dune buggies, a van going through flaming cop cars and one of my favorite notable guest stars in Checklist history, plus all the usual L.A. Heat fun… it doesn’t get much better than that.
