21 Jump Street: S4E18: "Awomp-Bomp-Aloobomb, Aloop Bamboom"

Written by Glen Morgan & James Wong

Directed by Jorge Montesi

Airdate: February 19, 1990

Guest Stars: Shawn Levy (Lance); John Waters (Mr. Bean); Jensen Daggett (Ashley)

One could argue the original premise of 21 Jump Street was a joke (undercover High School cops), but the show played everything straight. By season four, 21 Jump Street no longer resisted its own absurdity, it leaned into it. Many consider the fourth season to be the final one proper since it was the last with the principal cast. This episode would be the last carefree pairing of Hanson and Penhall, one last, strange road trip before the show leaves them behind. 

Everyone's uncharacteristically grumpy at the chapel, the squad pesters Fuller for more vacation time. Hanson and Penhall are investigating an explosion near a "radical" college newspaper run by student communists. They follow the editor Lance who hops on a bus to Florida for Spring Break, we learn he's chasing his ex-girlfriend Ashley - a swimsuit model. 

The bus is chartered by an esoteric self-help cult led by none other than cult filmmaker John Waters as "Mr. Bean." Depp had just worked with Waters on Cry Baby, making the cameo feel like an inside joke. They get kicked off the bus and hitch a ride to Florida. The spectacle of college students converging on Florida became a defining image of 1990s pop culture, and 21 Jump Street gets there early.

Spring Break Adventure

Penhall keeps an eye on Lance as they get caught up in a beer pong game. Hanson locates Ashley and they really hit it off, but she eventually reunited with Lance. And Sal shows up at one point - he's also partying at Spring Break? Wasn't he married with two kids, as we saw in earlier episodes. Sal appears almost as a specter, not unlike the way Depp exited the series. 

Morgan and Wong's script joyfully disrupted structure. We get random detours, Hanson and Penhall are drifting more than investigating. Scenes feel incidental, even disposable. The plot is more about movement than narrative. 

Shawn Levy would go on to a big directing career. Jensen Daggett as Ashley also exuded star power here, her claim to fame would be starring in Jason Takes Manhattan. 

Despite all the drift and absurdity, the episode ends on a serious note. Penhall plans on going to El Salvador to track down his estranged wife, a reminder the show still centered seriousness. 

21 Jump Street: S4E17: "Hi Mom"

Written by Bill Nuss

Directed by James Whitmore, Jr.

Airdate: February 12, 1990

Guest Stars: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Wesley Williams); David Raynr (Kip Fuller)

"Hi Mom" deals with drugs and corruption in college basketball. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar guest stars as the beleaguered athletic director at a university reeling from the drug-related death of a star player. 

Hanson poses as a tutor, Penhall joins the wrestling squad, and Fuller assumes the cover of an African American studies professor. They discover widespread drug use among the athletes, including evidence of point shaving for cocaine money. There's a real "ripped from the headlines" style to the episode.

The script recalls earlier seasons of 21 Jump Street when the series was more of a procedural. There's definitely a getting long in the tooth feel as well, everything seems routine. Real "senior year" vibes to this episode. 

21 Jump Street: S4E16: "2245"

Written by Michelle Ashford, Glen Morgan, and James Wong

Directed by Kim Manners

Airdate: February 5, 1990

Guest Stars: Josh Rickman (Ronnie); Rosie Perez (Rosie); Troy Mallory (Reggie)

In one of its bleakest episodes, 21 Jump Street focused on the death penalty. Young criminal Ronnie is on death row for murdering a cop (and member of the Jump Street Unit - Reggie). The character of Ronnie appeared in the two-part season 2 episode "Besieged" as an aspiring gangster. Since his imprisonment, Hanson regularly visits Ronnie who requests that he attend his execution.

We get flashbacks to the crime spree Ronnie and his girlfriend Rosie embarked on. We get scenes of his interactions with the prison chaplain - and his hopes of getting a reprieve. The actual sequence depicting the lethal injection is about as bleak as it gets. The episode ends with a visibly shaken Hanson staring into the camera. 

The script avoided being overtly for or against the death penalty, but one walks away feeling the entire process is barbaric and ghastly. Debates raged about the death penalty when I was in school, but it seems most American are fine with it these days. A bold episode at this late juncture in the series. 

21 Jump Street: S4E15: "Back From the Future"

Written by David Stenn

Directed by Peter DeLuise

Airdate: January 29, 1990

Guest Star: Michael Bays (Officer John Cogan)

21 Jump Street went Sci-Fi with "Back from the Future." Set in 2037, an archivist with the police department interviews former members of the Jump Street unit who are now in advanced age. 

The episode is a blend of highlights from previous episodes and reflections from the main cast in bad old age makeup. It's lovely to think everyone stayed close in the future -and to hear the characters talk about each other, something we rarely got in the series. All speak of Hanson as guarded and secretive, ironically, he was the only one who stayed with the department his entire career. Hoffs became a Senator, Penhall a preacher (?), and Ioki a martial arts teacher/immigration advocate.

"Back from the Future" works as a goofy entry in the series, it even leans into some of the mythology developed over four seasons. 

I was never a fan of the film reboots released in the 2010s, they just leaned into a one-joke premise. A true reboot of Jump Street in the 2020s, would be more in tone with shows like Adolescence, a grim interrogation of youth, technology, and nihilism.  

(As a bonus, the closing credits contain rare outtakes from the series)

21 Jump Street: S4E14: "A Change of Heart"

Written by Michelle Ashford

Directed by Jan Eliasberg

Airdate: January 15, 1990

Guest Star: Katy Boyer (Megan)

Fuller and Hoffs go undercover at a High School to investigate the murder of a popular teacher who was a lesbian. 21 Jump Street rarely explored sexuality, so this episode is a rare exception.

Hoffs befriends Megan, who she suspects of having a crush on the teacher who was murdered. In one scene, Megan kisses Hoffs, who reacts with guarded compassion. Megan's struggling with her sexuality, but the investigation leads to her mom.

TV would evolve a lot in the 90s and beyond in its handling of gay themes and characters. While the episode treats Megan's character with sympathy it does lean to its lesbian coded crime as taboo. To Fuller's credit he does express a progressive view for its time and avoids the obvious homophobic jokes that was common for TV of that era. 

A subplot involves Fuller considering a relationship with a younger teacher he meets at the school - even shaving off his beard for a mustache. When Fuller awkwardly asks Hoffs if she would date a guy like him, she's like "why is everyone trying to date me." 

"A Change of Heart" is more of a drama than a crime story, indicative of the series searching for new avenues in what would be its final season as a network show. 

21 Jump Street: S4E13: "Research and Destroy"

Written by Gary Rosen

Directed by Jefferson Kibbee

Airdate: January 8, 1990

Guest Star: Ping Wu (Sangwa); Grant Heslov (Elliot)

The Jump Street unit investigates synthetic drug production at a high-tech university in this fourth season episode. The cold open shows how the university is producing potent drugs that are hitting the streets, more common than you think.

Hanson's struggling to be convincing as a science whiz, Ioki uncovers a Chinese spy ring, while Hoffs must fend off nerdy students. Penhall must've been on vacation. 

The campus setting worked well for the episode. Hanson gets the attention of a CIA recruiter who lurks around campus. Meanwhile, Ioki helps a Chinese student avoid trouble for speaking out against the Tiananmen Square crackdown the year before. He threatens a female Chinese student with arrest for espionage if she refuses to leave the country - harsh. Meanwhile, the synthetic drug plot moves in a predictable path.

Despite the serious moments, the comedic turns are the highlight of the episode. By this point, Depp was probably counting the days until he could be freed of the series.

21 Jump Street: S4E12: "Things We Said Today"

Written by Glen Morgan & James Wong

Directed by Tucker Gates

Airdate: December 18, 1989

Guest Star: Keith Coogan (Kyle DeGray); Shannon Doherty (Janine DeGray); Lisa Cutter (Cheryl)

On "Things We Said Today" 21 Jump Street seemed to anticipate LOST by 15 years! Of course, I write in jest. The episode uses a flashback structure to provide more of Ioki's backstory, specifically his early days on the Jump Street squad.

The cold open has Ioki getting help up at a gas station by a young man demanding, "Do you remember me?" The young man is Kyle, who a few years before, explicitly dated as 1986, had his life derailed after Ioki befriended him while working a High School drug case. Kyle and his sister Janine were suspected of dealing drugs, but as it turned out, their parents were the masterminds. Kyle turned his parents in, then he and his Janine were put under foster care. He felt manipulated by the justice system as his entire family unraveled

Fuller demands Ioki close one of his early cases during a flashback. 

Three years later, Ioki manages to fight off Kyle who holds him at gunpoint. Afterwards, Kyle is convicted of assaulting a cop. Ioki feels guilty and responsible for Kyle's dilemma, tries to help, but nothing gets resolved. We learn that in 1986, Ioki was in a serious relationship with Cheryl, but he ended it due to his own insecurities. Now in 1989, he attempts to contact Cheryl only to learn she's now married and expecting a child. There's even a bizarro dream sequence with imagery of street violence, Reagan, the Challenger explosion, and the Vietnam War. 

"Things We Said Today" resembles the third season episode "Swallowed Alive" when Hanson and Penhall had to reckon with the consequences of undercover work. It was good to see Nguyen get a strong storyline, a tale full of resigned remorse. Glen Morgan and James Wong consistently delivered strong scripts for all the characters. 

Fans of the series nitpick this episode because it skewed the series timeline, suggesting Fuller took over the program in 1986, a year before the series debuted on air in 1987, although Captain Jenko (Fredrick Forrest) is also referenced. I attribute this to writer's laziness, TV in this era was less concerned with canons and making sure timelines squared up correctly.