21 Jump Street: S1E7: "Gotta Finish the Riff"

Written by Patrick Harsburgh & Bill Nuss

Directed by Kim Manners

Airdate: May 17, 1987

New Main Cast Member: Steven Williams (Captain Adam Fuller)

Guest Star: Blair Underwood (Reginald Brooks)

"Gotta Finish the Riff" begins with the tragic news that Captain Jenko was killed by a drunk driver. The Jump Street Unit is heartbroken as they gather to pay their final respects. For the following month the unit was temporarily disbanded and assigned to other departments. Called back to the chapel, they're informed the mayor wants to keep the program going. Captain Adam Fuller is assigned to take over the unit, a transfer from New York with 11 years of undercover experience.

Captain Fuller makes it known he'll be running a tighter ship, expecting professionalism from everyone. Everyone's taken aback at Fuller's stern demeanor. The chapel will also become a fully staffed precinct, no longer a private clubhouse. Hobbs and Hanson are assigned to a High School where the new principal is receiving death threats. 

Audition for Revenge of the Nerds

Hanson amusingly acts like a computer nerd, while Hoffs assumes an identity as a student with major attitude. Just hours into their first day, "bloods" gang leader Reginald Brooks and his crew are taking over the school. They have locked all the entrances and are making demands, an eerie foreshadowing of school shootings. Hanson blows his cover in an attempt to stop the hostage takers, while Hoffs attempts to charm Reginald to lower his defenses.

Hoffs maintains composure

Fuller leads the hostage negotiations, while sending in Ioki and Penhall (playing a clueless pizza delivery guy). Reginald holds a mock assembly to antagonize the school administration, but his motives are unclear. He eventually demands a Trans Am (very 1987) to make his escape while leaving his buddies out to dry. With Reginald heading off with Hoffs, a brawl breaks out, and the Jump Street Crew subdue the gang. Meanwhile, Reginald discovers he was duped into driving a car with a bad engine, Hoffs, cool as a cucumber, makes the arrest. Fuller invites everyone out for pizza.

Like in the pilot, the villains are stereotypical young black men. Blair Underwood would go on to have a great career in film and television; he even befriended a young Barack Obama at Harvard to research playing a young lawyer on L.A. Law. Neither did Reginald have objectives at all, except to, in his words, escape to Indiana. The idea of students taking a school felt a bit overblown, playing into cultural anxieties about violent High Schools. 

An episode of shifting tones, from the loss of Jenko, the introduction of Fuller, and a hostage situation that went from super intense to ridiculous, "Gotta Finish the Riff" was entertaining.

Final Report: B+