Freedom's Last Stand

So much going on. Highest on the list is Furillo's efforts to protect a cop who has beyond repair by keeping him on the payroll so he can get full retirement benefits (which, of course, is against everything). But remember, this is part of his character and love of his fellow cops and the guy is doing no harm. Belker and the gang are working in a bar to entrap a series of shakedowns, but things get more complicated. There is a great scene where Larue tries to hit on a woman in a store with hilarious results. We also have Lucy playing in a high stakes poker game. And, finally, Captain Freedom returns during a shootout. Don't miss this episode.

I just caught this again recently. There is just something so funny and touching about the whole episode, from Captain Freedom himself, to the really funny freak-out of the shoplifter girl!

Hill Street Blues made even the smallest parts mean something, while not slighting the beloved regulars.

Dennis Dugan (Captain Freedom) has mostly gone on to direct, but I sure enjoyed him as an actor.

If anybody has caught any non-IMDb mentions of him acting in recent years, how was he?

The whole series was pretty amazing, and now that I am catching random ones again, I get reminded of favorite characters:

--the guy from NYPD blue and the loud jacket salesman...a buddy team...I can't remember his name.

Anybody know?

Anybody else remember that shoplifter scene? THe guys were doing a stakeout in a drug store and to pass the time, they started flirting with a girl in the store.

She starts freaking out and pulls out of her bag a hair dryer, and a bunch of other junk and begs them not to arrest her, 'cuz she's seeing a shrink.

HILL STREET BLUES was one of those shows that grabbed you the moment it came on the air: that absolutely beautiful opening theme, over a montage of memorable characters- superb. The one and only problem I had with the Captain Freedom episodes was a tendency on the part of the writers and the directors to undercut arguably some of the most DRAMATIC moments in the history of the show with almost senseless tongue-in-cheek humor. This humor served as a kind of disclaimer, a "wink and a nudge," if you will, between the filmmakers and the audience. One can't help but be moved by Freedom's reasons for wanting to go out in costume and "make a difference;" it's one of the best throwaway speeches ever written for the show- but is a THROWAWAY speech because it's followed for no good reason by Freedom's reference to messages from aliens from outer space. Yuck-yuck-yuck... FREEDOM'S LAST STAND is STILL one of the highlights of the series and one of my favorite episodes- but it could've been greater still.