Slay Ride

Cop Sgt. T.J.Hooker (William Shatner) and his colleagues are set to nab career criminal Moreno (Marjoe Gortner) but are inadvertently obstructed by a young couple with a baby in a car and Moreno gets away. Officer Stacy Sheridan (Heather Locklear) later encounters the young couple at a convenience store but does not recognize them until after they have robbed it and shot the proprietor. She and Hooker determine that Moreno and the couple are linked.

Moreno and the couple go on a crime wave after deserting the baby in church near a nativity scene. Stacy takes care of the child until it can be put up for adoption. But the biological parents and Moreno return to the church to claim what they left behind. Stacy and the baby just happen to be there. This silly Christmas-themed episode which features series regulars dressed as Santa and a light-weight plot is one of the more slipshod of the series.

A cliché which became noticeable in the series (beyond Hooker jumping on the hood of a moving vehicle or jumping out of the way of one) is the car chase in which Hooker causes the baddie's vehicle to flip over. In this episode it happens twice with the same baddie.

Another occurrence which happened often was this continual coincidence of cops running in to the criminals they happen to be tracking. In this entry we see Stacy bump in to the couple while shopping. How small of a town is this where something like that happens? How bad is the crime? Conversely how good of a cop can Hooker be if it is so widespread? It seems like Hooker and his colleagues can't leave their apartments without tripping over a violent thug.