Riptide detective agency partners Cody Allen (Perry King), Murray Bozinsky (Thom Bray), and Nick Ryder (Joe Penny) have a productive evening attending to the very serious matter of watching Brief Encounter (1945) on cable aboard their boat. Murray starts bawling and his two alpha male buddies get misty eyed at the ending. It just has to be the time for their nemesis uber-macho cop Lieutenant Quinlan (Jack Ging) to come aboard offering them a case.
American government agent Malcolm Sawyer (Michael MacRae), in concert with the local police wants the private investigators to retrieve federal witness Renee St.Claire (Cristina Raines) - ex-supermodel turned mob-wife turned state witness. She is hiding from her mafioso husband Sonny St.Claire (Stewart Moss) in Santa Perlita - a small town in Northern Mexico. He killed her brother and he has sent men after her to prevent her from testifying against him.
They find her almost immediately (a little too easily) and immediately enact a plan to expedite her transport. Their scheme to use a decoy to sneak her out fails and they are ambushed barely escaping in the Screaming Mimi - Nick's dilapidated military helicopter.
The Mimi crashes in the mountains and Nick and Renee hole up in a grow op cabin to await rescue by the American military. This should invite questions about why they were hired for the job when they could have just sent in the military in the first place. A goofy plot-twist gets thrown in which muddles things even more.
A real criminal mastermind with a vast organization and demonstrable ingenuity like Sonny St.Claire would logically have little trouble finding his wife and dealing with her if he knew where she was. Logically he would know where she was if the guy who showed the Riptide boys where to find her was revealed to be in Sonny's employ. Therefore what are Boz, Cody and Nick doing in Mexico at all? Each plot hole is at least as big as that space between Cristina Raines's teeth.
While ultimately incoherent when it comes to plot there are very least a few decent action sequences. But the chief difference (Other than its poor overall quality) which sets it apart from other episodes is that a love story plays out with some surprising passion and intensity.
The opening scene alluding to Brief Encounter and Nick's maudlin love story turned steamy sex romp with Renee again emphasizes the nature of the characters. These are sensitive guys and each adventure provided that essential backdrop for a potential romance.
The other pay-off for female viewers are the continuous shots of buff superhunk Perry King sweating through a tank top whilst wearing a shoulder-holster simultaneously accentuating his traps, pecs and biceps. Not a very subtle appeal to female viewers but probably appreciated nevertheless.
I have liked Cristina Raines in a lot of things she has done but this role really didn't allow for much. Other than some hot love scenes, through which she acquitted herself quite believably. By the end the realization is clear that they didn't give her enough screen time to properly define those aspects of the character that are essential.
Comic relief I guess is meant to be derived from Boz with wearing a dress to act as decoy for Renee. Cross-dressing isn't funny no matter what actor has ever done it.
