21 Jump Street - Revisited and I Don't Mean the Movie!

                                            
Yes Dennis Booker (Richard Greico) was misunderstood by his Jump Street colleagues.  But also by fans and others who couldn't see why he was actually added to the show.  There's the saying 'don't fix it if it ain't broke,' but there were reasons to the addition of his character and quite frankly it amazes me how blinkered teens could be at that age (many adults too, even now!)  Yes they're teens but I wasn't like that, not to sound condescending.

There comes a time when you need to let go and actually enjoy something for what it is, entertainment.  Perhaps somebody should tell me that now, that I'VE GROWN UP, ha.  Yes I criticize and all the rest of it whilst watching, or writing reviews but I don't go OTT, hopefully, though no one's told me that I do.  Maybe they're too afraid ha.  My friends this means you more than anyone else!!

                                               

ANYWAY not to get off point here, the main gist of this post is how Booker was misunderstood.  Of course he was from day one.  It didn't help the case they were investigating in Fun With Animals involved several areas of controversy: rape and race.  It all boiled down to the Vic not actually coming out and correcting her statement.  Added to all this was Tom Hanson's (Johnny Depp) immediate dislike at having to work with the newbie.  So he wanted to court not only controversy where there was none but also going along with so called witness statements who claimed they saw Booker with the Vic, Tracey at the lockers and also he saw her later with a "coloured girl" in the bushes.   Some could be seen as a way of not having to work with him, but he was pre-judging, knowing nothing about him.  Said girl turned out to be Judy Hoffs (Holly Robinson). Okay we can spout the sayings, 'first impressions,' 'don't judge a book by its cover' and all the rest of it, which in this case could be true, but then we were in the same boat as Hanson since this was the first time we met Booker.

                                           

Another reason for Hanson's reaction was that Judy didn't hold the same pre-conceptions or misconceptions as Hanson since she was willing to accept Booker and give him a go.  That was just in her nature.  They went to a movie together and besides it really wasn't anyone's business and she didn't need to offer any explanation to anyone.  The other area of controversy was the confrontation, of sorts between Hanson and Booker when he told Hanson he's just as 'rasicst' as him and that he won't admit he's glad he was "born white."  Not having to face the hardships that minorities endure.

What was amusing was how Hanson bagged Booker out any chance he got, that he was seen with her and yet he really believes Booker is the one behind the rape and that he is his one and only suspect, especially when Booker mentions the cigarette stubs in the shower where Tracey was found.  Since no one else knew about those.  Oh and it didn't help when they found out Booker was really IA, cos no one likes IA!  But it was okay for Hanson to break into his apartment and steal a confidential file, cos you're a cop and that's what you do, right.  How did that justify having a badge and being loyal to it?

This was followed up by Doug Penhall (Peter DeLuise) hating having being partnered with Booker in Coach of the Year where they played brothers who were more like enemies and their rivalry was matched on and off the field.
Seems like Booker had to prove himself with everyone including Harry Ioki (Dustin Nguyen) this time round when the police go on strike in The Blu Flu.  Everyone was worried by their jobs being on the line and job security and when Booker tried to put his point across about not crossing the picket line, he was berated by Ioki who didn't want to lose out on his pay.  Even when he was called a scab he still had the intentions of returning to work and crossing the picket line.

Thought Booker redeemed himself in this ep not only in the eyes of Ioki but also Capt Adam Fuller (Steven Williams) (not that he needed to with him).  When he found out how unions really operate and took responsibility for slashing Fuller's tyres even when all concerned knew it was Stubbs and Booker didn't want him losing out on his pension.  As well as the rousing pep talk he gave fellow strikers to not throw in the towel by the city's threats of being fired.
But then Hanson asks where he is in one scene, Penhall, "he gets nervous in a room full of cops."  Funny line would that be cos of IA?

                                                           

Nemesis was the episode which proved Booker as a character in his own right.  The first time he's sent undercover without any back-up and this case has a huge impact on him both personally and professionally.  His undercover life on this assignment overlaps into his personal life.  He has a girlfriend whom he can't admit his feelings to, yet when he's undercover he has to do the same to a possible murder suspect.  Okay she wasn't a suspect she was the killer (knew that all along).  He's forced to 'act out' with the teens as well as to take drugs and become one of the crowd.  Yet he can't come to terms with one of them being killed cos he's suspected of being a "narc" when in fact the actual one is him.  Smashing the windows must have been a welcome relief to letting out his pent up anger and repressed feelings at the entire futility of the life and strife people get into.  Lots of personal conflict here to give Booker a well rounded character and story he deserved.

3.16 High High was another episode where Booker encountered this same futility and meaningless to lives along with the rest of the team whilst undercover in a performing arts school.  Where it appeared even the teachers turned a blind eye to what was happening around them.  Students needing drugs to achieve and to get through.  Booker had to face up to another student who would get high and the rush helped with playing basketball.  Once again he was 'forced' to take drugs but was able to 'fake it.'  Showing he played ball without the euphoria of being on drugs.  He got a good ending here when he returns and finds that the kid on drugs was still doing the same.  SO really nothing changed at that school.  They left and things went back to as they were.  Some case.  Also Booker got to smash some TVs!

Next Victim was one of my fave Booker eps of Jump Street.  It was like they took Fun With Animals and added a post script to it, since here once again Booker goes undercover as a racist radio shock jock DJ.  This time the conflict is with Judy as she thinks he really believes in the controversy he's creating on air, reinforcing a "white America" but believes it personally too, resulting in disgust from her and a showdown at the end.  Once again Booker redeems himself when he refuses to kow tie with radio station policy and really reveals his true feelings about what happened here and generally on air.  Cue phonecall from Judy in approval and by way of apology.

Well if Booker made any headway with becoming some sort of a member of the Jump Street team it all went out the window with the second of two-part episode Loc'd Out.  Not only cos Hanson ends up in jail for shooting a cop, after breaking into the dead cop Tower's house, the second time he's done that (he broke into Booker's in the first ep) but no bullet is found in the house.  The thing about this ep was that I always suspected Buddy's partner, Frank anyway.  Since he made the boo-boo at trial of saying he was sitting waiting for his partner outside, wouldn't he have gone inside with him, or at least made his presence aware.  Since he was his partner and first at the scene, he could have easily removed the bullet anyway!  Glad I was proven right next season.

Anyway Booker is labelled the bad guy here again cos he's made to work with Frank and this time round it's Booker's purview to believe Hanson might be dirty.  As he tells Penhall, "doesn't matter if the cop was dirty cos Hanson's dirtier."  Oh take that back! ha.  So in a way it's ironic that it's Booker who finds the clue to break the case next season and is the one who actually helps Hanson get out of prison, but doesn't even get so much as a thank you.  Not like he was the one who put him behind bars and threw away the key.   In fact in 4.1 Draw the Line Penhall won't even entertain his theory, let alone listen to him, so much for wanting his best friend out of that hell hole!  So he gets punched for his troubles by Hanson when Booker does come to get him out to attend Ioki's funeral (not that he was dead) who had always wanted to do that since season 3.1!

                                                        

As said he didn't get a thank you but got relegated to a uniformed officer to the ,library!! So he gave his badge up instead of putting it to that sort of a shame.  Fuller didn't blame him for that but not much input from his colleagues as said before.  In fact he goes out of his way to help Hanson when he realizes Frank lied about Tower's shooting.  Funny, as in ironically, Booker was a stickler for the rules which Hanson broke as an officer and then Booker comes round full circle doing the same when trying to clear him.
Fuller: " you work with young people, I don't suppose you consider yourself young, ...because you stopped asking yourself the one question young people want answered, 'what's going to happen to me?'  Just because they're young doesn't mean it's a foolish question."

SO he went all out to get Hanson released, lost his badge and fought for justice, but a policeman's lot is a difficult one and resigning was the only option available.  That or he'd never have got his own spin-off show in Booker.  Yet his addition to 21 Jump Street provided season 3 (which remains one of my fave seasons) with the fresh injection the show needed especially since Johnny Depp wanted to leave and some of the storylines were becoming a little deja vu-y.  Yes I make up words, it's my prerogative as a writer, ha. Richard was/is enigmatic, handsome, charismatic and funny, not to mention having killer-long, perfect eyelashes which were to die for and made the character of Booker the same.

Booker even said as much in the season 4 two-parter Wheels and Deals, that he wanted to get Raymond Crane since he was responsible for murder, getting Ioki shot, another partner in jail and for Booker losing his badge.  He was the only one determined to do so and tried.  But only called in his former colleagues as a last resort (cos it was written that way, ha).

I thought it all made for entertaining TV and some thought-provoking stuff along the way too. Booker's fate was that he was meant to be shot at the end of season 3 anyway!  But got Booker instead, short lived since as per the norm it was cancelled by Fox.  Which has a lot to answer for as FAR  as cancelling shows: Space Above and Beyond, Killer Instinct, Dark Angel.  To name but a few.

My disclaimer before I'm inundated by moans, comments and heckling, I liked Hanson too - honestly!