Recap: Two black vans charge up to a warehouse labelled California Cavaliers and crash through the doors. A group of masked men spill out...and the ring leader, who's wearing a gorilla mask, warns the Cavalier warehouse guys, "This operation is closed" then orders them to load up their drugs in the delivery truck so they can abscond with them. When one of the men protests, Gorilla Guy smacks him down and chides the warehouse guys for being "minor league punks trying to play in the majors". The Cavalier warehouse guys give up on showing any further signs of resistance and meekly load the cargo as ordered, then watch helplessly as Gorilla Guy and his thugs squeal off with their stash. Aboard the Riptide, Nick is reminiscing to Cody about his high school pals and how they all played football on the California Cavaliers team, then says he can't wait to see them at the reunion. As he puts his tie on, he wonders if he should even be wearing a tie, 'cause he's assuming that his pals are pumping gas for a living and therefore doesn't want to "come on too strong" about his enviable success of being a PI who works out of a houseboat. Cody and Murray, for some God-only-know-why-reason, express an interest in accompanying him to the reunion, and Nick's like 'sure, why the hell not?' While en route to the reunion, Nick blushingly tells Cody and Murray that back in high school, the girls used to call him Dream Machine...and Cody tries not to laugh and asks him if that was 'cause he was always falling asleep in class. Nick indignantly points out that they were referring to his dreamy-ness - and I'm going to have to side with Nick on that, 'cause, yep, his '80s dreamy-ness is definitely off the charts. The Riptide trio arrives at the reunion venue: a luxury estate owned by one of Nick's old buddies, Clark Cranston. Nick looks around confusedly and says this has to be a mistake, considering what a dumb tool Clark was in high school. A former classmate named Mary spots Nick and excitedly shrieks, "Dream Machine!" before rushing over and throwing herself in his arms. Nick asks her if it's really true that Clark owns this estate, and she says he does, and that the interior of the mansion is even more awesome than the grounds. Another of Nick's old pals, Flybag, arrives in a limo and brags to Nick about how he's had a personal chauffeur for the last four years and looooves being ferried around to his various appointments. He then asks Nick what he's been up to for the last fifteen years and says he heard from someone that he was eking out a living pumping gas - LOL - and Nick just does that TV tropey thing of mutely staring at him until the camera cuts away.
As the reunion party gets underway, Nick is increasingly puzzled and dismayed to learn that everyone who played on the California Cavaliers football team (sans him) has somehow gotten crazy wealthy. He meets up with his best friend, Deke the Beek, who he introduces to Cody and Murray. After the obligatory reminiscing of all the hijinks they got into as teenagers, Deke tells him that they've stayed in touch with Sid Glover, their chemistry teacher, and expects to see him at the reunion. Another Cavalier, Rick Beeber, wanders over and irritably informs Deke that they have important business to discuss and barely acknowledges Nick, who bewilderedly asks whassup with the snub. Janice Simpkins, a spacey woman who's somehow still stuck in the '60s, introduces her husband Walter to the partygoers before he takes the stage to recite some Vietnam War era type poetry. A few seconds later, the masked men who stormed the warehouse earlier interrupt the party, spray bullets everywhere without actually injuring anyone, and announce to probably way more people than is necessary that they've shut the warehouse down and warn the Cavaliers that if they don't stop their operation they'll start killing. They spray a few more rounds of bullets before driving off, at which point Nick says they should probably call the police - but Clark breezily says he really doesn't mind his estate being shot up [or, I guess, his party guests facing machine-gunfire] and that he considers this a harmless prank from alumni at a rival high school. He implores Nick to not make a big deal out of the disturbing incident, as Cody glances around the estate and scoops up one of the bullets in case it can help lead them to who in blazes just dropped by to shoot at everyone unprovoked. Back at the Riptide, Murray uses his computer to access annual income reports on Nick's high school buddies, 'cause yeah I'm sure that kind of personal financial information was published online in 1984. They all list real estate as their main source of income and each has a declared income of around 50K a year...which makes it pretty stupid of them to be brazenly buying mansions, jets, and hiring chauffeurs. Nick says he has no idea what they could be into, refrains from wondering aloud if the IRS has twigged onto the fact that they're clearly filing bogus tax returns, and decides that he should maybe get in touch with Sid Glover. As Nick stakes out Sid Glover's estate from his Corvette, Rick gets into a limo with Sid...and the two pull out of the driveway with Nick in pursuit. Rick complains to Sid about Frank Moran sending his goons to threaten and shoot at them, then vows that tonight he's going to hit Moran's nightclub and get retribution. Sid admonishes Rick for so easily losing his temper over the slightest things...and when Rick snarks about tired he is of always being lectured as if they're still student and teacher, Sid reminds him that before he came along and offered his expertise, their drug operation was a joke. The limo arrives at a dock, as do the rest of the Cavaliers...and, unbeknownst to them, Nick is lurking behind a building to see if he can figure out what his ex-buddies are up to. The men amble over to a boat, where Deke is slumped over the steering wheel with a note attached to him that reads I should have listened. Nick eventually wanders over and asks them if they've gotten themselves caught up in the dangerous world of drugs, then looks aghast at the sight of his dead friend as Rick snarls, "You and your questions are the last things we need right now." After the commercial break, Nick asks who Deke's killer is, and Rick growls that he's not welcome here before lunging at him. Sid intervenes and confirms that, yep, he and the Cavaliers have been operating a very lucrative drug operation for the last several years...and that he educated the crew on how to go from trafficking weed from Tijuana to distributing drugs at Pablo Escobar levels and earning $100 million a year. Unfortunately for them, however, Frank Moran is no longer satisfied with a mere cut and wants to take over the entire operation. Nick angrily orders them to report Deke's murder to the police, so Sid pretends to agree that, yep, the jig is totally up now that one of their own has paid the ultimate price and that they'll definitely 'fess up to the authorities asap. Nick stares sadly into space and recalls that during high school, Deke had once told him he wanted to become a doctor...and that Mr. Glover had given him the confidence to believe he could achieve that goal. He glares at Sid and snaps, "Now he's dead", then storms off.
That evening, Cody tells a tearful Nick that people can change over the years...and Nick sadly laments how his besties have gone from playing football to smuggling drugs, a turn that had predictably tragic consequences for Deke. Cody tells him that his buddies' bad decisions aren't his responsibility, and Murray concurs and says that eventually everyone has to move on from high school, however painful that might be. Hours later, a group of masked gunmen - one wearing a gorilla mask - dock a small boat near the Riptide, sneak aboard, and start shooting it up. This gang really seems to like spraying bullets around willy-nilly. When Nick, Cody, and Murray scramble into the living area to see whassup with the flying bullets, the masked men order them above deck and into their boat. As they're forced to speed away from the Riptide, Cody motions at the fire extinguisher, then pretends to freak out so he can create enough of a diversion for Murray to spray the men with the extinguisher and for Nick to begin punching the bad guys before the three leap overboard and swim to shore. The masked men are like, "Where the heck did they go?" and shine their flashlights into the water, but don't have any luck and eventually motor back from whence they came. Cody pries one of the bullets from the Riptide so that Murray can compare it to the one that was picked up at the reunion party. Cody then calls the police department and pretends to be a reporter following up on Deke's murder, and has to tell a dismayed Nick that no one reported him murdered. The trio breaks into Clark Cranston's house to look around for clues that can help bring this mystery to its conclusion and learn that Clark had an appointment with Walter Simpkins to get his photo taken. They're all, "Why would he be getting his portrait done now?" ... but when they quickly research Walter's shop, they learn that one of the services he provides is taking passport photos. They make a beeline over to the Simpkins' shop, where they run into Janice, who greets them warmly and spacily mutters, "It's far out to see you guys again." When she tells them that Walter isn't home right now, Murray wanks Janice about how much he loooooves photography equipment and would looooove to see where all the magic happens, so she's like, "That sounds far out" and brings the three into Walter's darkroom so they can covertly figure out what the Cavaliers are up to. Murray "accidentally" knocks down a clothesline filled with developing photos, a diversion that Nick and Cody use to search around for something damning...and - voilà! - find a pile of passports for each of the Cavaliers. Walter happens to return to the shop at that moment...and when he sees that Nick and Cody are looking over the passports, he drops whatever he's holding and flees. The trio manages to catch him as he races through the nearby alleys...and when Nick grabs him by the collar and roughly demands that he admit what he's been up to, Walter confesses that the Cavaliers paid him $5,000 to create false passports - but swears that he doesn't know anything about their actual travel plans.
The trio head back to the Riptide, where they look over the passports and decide on their next move. Dooley drops by to pass along an envelop that someone just paid him $50 to hand deliver to Nick...and when he opens it, he finds a letter from Sid, urging him to meet with him and the Cavaliers aboard their boat in the middle of the ocean. Nick's like 'what could possibly go wrong with doing that?' ... and in the next scene he's taking the Ebb Tide out to where Sid's boat is anchored, climbs aboard, and nods hello to the grim-faced Cavaliers. Sid explains to Nick that they couldn't/wouldn't/refused to report Deke's murder to the police 'cause they got too skeered when Frank Moran started threatening their families. Nick asks him why Moran would want to murder him and his Riptide pals, and Sid's like, "I dunno", looks confused by the question, then changes the subject and tells Nick that he and the Cavaliers are boating to Mexico...and that if he's willing to keep his mouth shut about Deke and their drug running operation, his cut will be $4 million. Nick refuses the bribe and vows to bring them all down, then heads above deck and re-boards the Ebb Tide. As he motors away, the boat he was just on suddenly blows up...and a horrified Nick is all, "Noooooo!!" In the aftermath, Nick tells the marine investigator that the blown up boat was filled with his ex football buddies - but doesn't mention the drug running 'cause he didn't want the mens' parents to ever find out about the shameful illegal activities they were into...even though it had to have been obvious to their parents that they were up to no good, given that they claimed annual incomes of 50K but yet were somehow able to afford chauffeured limos and grand estates. He tells Cody and Murray that Frank Moran is the likeliest culprit to have planted the bomb and vows to deal with him personally. The Riptide trio is staking out the Print Zebra restaurant as they wait for Frank Moran to finish dining and drive off. They follow him and his men to a pier, where they board a boat with Rick, who Nick is startled to learn isn't actually dead. Cody tells him it stands to reason that none of the Cavaliers are actually dead, and that they deliberately blew up Sid's boat so that Nick could witness the explosion and declare them dead to the world. As Moran et. al. speed off on the boat, Nick suggests renting a non-decrepit chopper (aka not Mimi) to pursue them by air...and in the next scene they're flying across the water and following the boat that's heading towards a remote island. Nick lands the chopper at the other end of the island, and the armed trio stealthily follows the men and overhear Rick's treacherous plot to lay out an ambush for the other Cavaliers. Rick finds the Cavaliers hiding out at a campsite and tells them it's time to board the boat and cruise to Mexico...but then a few seconds later, Moran's men leap from behind trees and start shooting at them. Cody, Nick, and Murray open counter-fire on Moran's men, and Nick quickly heads back to the chopper and flies above the bad guys' boat and shoots it up until it explodes to make extra sure that none of them can get away. After calling the Coast Guard to blow the whistle on everyone, he lands the chopper so he can confront Rick...and the two wrestle around while everyone uselessly watches. When a concerned Murray suggests to Cody that Nick might need some help, Cody solemnly replies, "It's Nick's fight" ... and after Nick repeatedly punches Rick in the face, he says, "Sorry Beeb. It's a tough business" and glares at him with disgust.
Nick is wearing his high school football sweater as he wanders around the stadium and stares sadly into space. He reminisces about past football plays and the cheering crowd, then takes off his sweater and contemplatively drapes it across his shoulder while the final credits roll. Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!
1 Comment
Agil
2/8/2023 10:34:58 pm
This is the only episode of Riptide that I still remember after watching it more than 30 years ago. It's the best episode of Riptide, in my opinion Leave a Reply. |
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