Season 3

1997 · 22 episodes

Episodes

1Inside StraightWhile off-duty, T.C. confronts a man carrying a gun in a parking lot. The man whirls and fires at T.C., T.C. returns fire, killing him, but the man turns out to be an undercover police officer with a spotless record. When an investigation reveals that T.C. didn't identify himself as a police officer when he approached the man, T.C.'s left with suspension and the possibility he's killed a completely innocent man. T.C.'s brother, TEDDY, has a gambling problem which comes to light when he's accused of masterminding the hold-up of a high-stakes poker game. Chris' building is going condo at the end of the month. She reluctantly accepts Cory's offer to be roommates, remembering that their first roommate experience almost ended in a double homicide... each other.
2Ties That BindA reformed murderer, CONWAY HEINRIKSEN, struggles to rebuild his life after many years in a mental institution, but his past victims are bent on seeing that the killer will never have peace in his life. Cory's friend, BILLIE, finds compassion towards Conway, but her life is in danger when the psychological warfare by the victims takes its toll. Chris' biological father returns to her life after a thirty-year absence, and she struggles with her anger toward him as well as her parents, who told Chris he was dead. A thief steals Jeff Pierce's valuable pink jersey and T.C. and Victor take road racing lessons from the master to catch the thief.
3Rave OnTwo young, overprivileged business school grads are holding raves at a Santa Monica warehouse where underage kids have access to drugs and alcohol. Firm in his belief that these kids are the product of irresponsible parents, Palermo questions his own parenting skills when he finds out his daughter JESSIE attends the raves with her best friend. Meanwhile, Victor gets in trouble trying to protect Jessie from getting found out; Chris is slipped a ""roofie"" by a rave organizer; and T.C.'s declared too ""uncool"" to work undercover.
4Blood for BloodVictor's girlfriend, LINDA, is witness to a murder by a notorious local drug lord who has been arrested several times, but manages to get rid of any witnesses before each trial. Realizing that he'll lose Linda if she goes into witness protection, Victor proposes marriage, even though it would mean saying good-bye to his career, friends and family forever. Ultimately, Victor goes after the drug lord, forcing a final confrontation. A star rapper is gunned down after a concert where T.C. and Chris are providing security. With the help of Detective BEN ""WISHBONE"" COLLINS, T.C. and Chris search for the shooter, who turns out to be a psychopath determined to kill one person for each violation of the Ten Commandments. During the investigation, Chris forms a tentative friendship with the rapper's cynical teenage daughter.
5Excessive ForceA trio of heavily-armed and heavily-armored bank robbers holds up a Santa Monica bank. In the resulting shootout, a security officer is killed and Victor is shot. Victor's injury isn't life-threatening, but it makes him the ""butt"" of jokes at the Firehouse as he confronts the idea of his own mortality. Chris is targeted for death by one of the robbers seeking vengeance for his gunshot wound. After the failed assassination attempt, Chris spends the night at T.C.'s house, rekindling their buried romance as they try to decide how to deal with those feelings. Palermo intervenes when he discovers his ex-wife, HELEN, is being physically abused by her current husband, a police officer. Palermo offers Helen the shelter of his home, but that night Jessie catches them making love. When she demands to know if her parents are getting back together, Palermo has to confess the truth -- he doesn't know.
6SandmanT.C. is outraged when ""The Sandman"", a hitman responsible for the murders of a police informant and an innocent bystander, is released from prison.Against the orders of DEA agent INSPECTOR ENRIGHT (from the episode ""Black Pearl""), T.C. trails the Sandman on his own, hoping to catch him committing another crime. Enright finally arrests T.C. for obstruction of justice. Neither knows that Sandman plans to use T.C. in exacting revenge on the three drug runners who made him take the fall for the informant's murder, and in such a way that he -- the Sandman -- won't even have to pull the trigger...
7Repeat OffenderThe truth about Chris' navy career is revealed. Five years ago, Chris trained under a chauvinistic flight instructor CAPTAIN FRANK HAWKINS, whose intentional misinformation caused her to crash her jet. Chris accepted an honorable discharge on the condition that Hawkins never be a flight instructor again. However, Hawkins still is, and a female pilot has just had the same experience as Chris -- except, this time, her co-pilot died. The woman asks Chris to testify on her behalf, bringing up painful memories and fresh anger for Chris as she returns to the Navy base to bring closure to that period of her life. T.C. and Victor investigate a boardwalk robbery ring in which an attractive woman offers assistance to foreign tourists who are then robbed by the woman's partners. When the robberies turn into murders, T.C. and Palermo go undercover as wealthy -- and outrageously dressed -- foreigners to catch the suspects.
8Matters of the HeartFollowing a violent robbery at a cafe, the Bike Squad discovers an abandoned baby. In searching for the mother, they find that the child was part of a black market baby-selling scheme. Cory goes undercover as a pregnant woman to find the baby seller, unprepared for the rush of maternal feelings the case will uncover for her. The cafe robber is arrested, but dies of a heart attack while in lockup. When it's learned that the robber was also a bike racer taking a powerful ""performance-enhancing"" drug, T.C. goes undercover to find the sellers, who operate out of a local bike shop, and befriends a guy hooked on the drug.
9Cop in a BoxA drug dealer T.C. arrested years ago breaks out of jail and kidnaps T.C., dumping him in a trailer buried in the sand underneath a beach. The convict demands ransom from T.C.'s father (ETHAN) and brother (TEDDY), or else T.C. will die in twelve hours. As the Pacific Blue squad searches frantically for T.C.'s location, T.C. tries to find his own way out of his underground prison before time runs out.
10Only in AmericaThe wild ass son of a Romanian ambassador commits crimes on the boardwalk, causing a huge headache for the Pacific Blue team because the father's diplomatic immunity extends to his son. The government refuses to help because the ambassador is taking part in a secret sting operation to uncover illegal arms trading. When the son's crimes become serious, Palermo risks defying the government handlers to keep his beach safe. Palermo befriends a young black guy on the basketball court whom he believes to be an honest, hard-working kid; but discovers his new friend is a former college basketball player who was illiterate, and involved with drugs and point-shaving. When a local college coach asks for Palermo's help in recruiting the guy, Palermo must decide whether the kid's efforts to ""turn over a new leaf"" and re-enter college with a new identity in order to get a real education are genuine.
11Soul MateAll the victims of a recent series of murders had earlier placed personal ads in a local paper. Chris and Cory enter the dating pool undercover, and in the course of the investigation, each meets the ""perfect"" man. When Cory's dream man attacks her (and escapes), Chris assumes her date is safe to pursue a relationship with -- unaware that it is the same man Cory dated, but with a different disguise. T.C. goes undercover in a wheelchair with ED TARLOW (from ""Wheels of Fire""), hoping to catch a thief who is stealing expensive wheelchairs for resale. During his assignment, he discovers the difficulties of the disabled, and meets a ""wheelchair groupie"" -- a woman who likes T.C. because she thinks he's disabled. Victor prepares for an upcoming ""bachelor auction"", secretly concerned that T.C. might receive a higher bid. At the auction, his fears prove unfounded when a third man unexpectedly proves more popular than both of them... Tony Palermo!
12SistersCory goes undercover to investigate a Hollywood madam's operation after one of her call girls -- who was blackmailing clients -- washes up on the beach. A Hollywood actress whose estranged sister is also a callgirl demands that Pacific Blue help tear her sister from the madam's clutches. T.C. and Victor wonder why three kids in succession would try to steal a very ugly brooch from a pawn shop, then discover that the boys are brothers. The father of the boys finally admits he mistakenly pawned his shrewish wife's brooch and sent his kids to steal it when he couldn't afford to buy it back. T.C. and Chris consummate their romance, but Chris has ""morning after"" regrets and pushes T.C. away, fearing she will lose her best friend. Eventually, both decide to take the risk and be in love, though secretly.
13Avenging AngelsAfter a nightmare in which her dead mother shoots her in the course of arresting a suspect, Cory is injured in a car accident. As she works to rehabilitate her knee, Cory tries to decipher her mother's warning in the dream: ""Beware the simple things."" She decides it could be a message to quit the force and become a more well-rounded person. Two Korean twins use their flashy martial arts expertise to dispense vigilante justice along the boardwalk, attracting press attention and creating a headache for Pacific Blue. When the bike squad finally catches the twins, the duo reveals they were hoping to attract attention leading to a movie deal. Unfortunately, they've also attracted the attention of a criminal whose plan to distribute counterfeit money on the boardwalk has been scuttled as a result.
14With This RingA man is shot point-blank through the heart on the beach. In questioning the man's wife, Pacific Blue learns she hired two women to investigate her husband's suspected infidelities. Believing that the wife ordered her husband killed, Cory and Victor go undercover as a married couple to investigate the private investigators, and find that the women in charge lure men into compromising situations which they then videotape for the wives. T.C. and his brother TEDDY are shocked when their parents, ETHAN and CATHERINE CALLAWAY, decide to separate after thirty-five years of marriage.
15HeartbeatPalermo and Baywatch lifeguard LANI McKENSIE launch M.E.R.I.T. -- a new program putting Paramedic-level care and advanced life-support equipment on the boardwalk alongside the Pacific Blue patrols. One of the paramedics, ALEXA CHOLAK, is Palermo's ex-girlfriend. During a triage situation at a bombed-out building, Alexa violates protocol and performs CPR on Palermo after he's electrocuted. When another woman dies at the scene from internal injuries, both Alexa's career and the MERIT program are threatened. T.C. and Chris investigate the president of a radical environmental organization called GreenEarth, whom they suspect in the explosion of an office building which kills the executive of an oil company. Further investigation reveals that a ""security officer"" at the oil company planted the bomb to frame GreenEarth and get rid of the executive, who was feeding company secrets to GreenEarth personnel.
16Armed and DangerousWhen JESSIE PALERMO is shot at school, Palermo pulls out all the stops to find out who's dealing the guns to the students. He consults with local gun manufacturer CAVANAUGH, who is mystified that guns without serial numbers could leave his factory. T.C. goes undercover as a substitute teacher at the high school while Chris and Victor go undercover for a sting operation. The squad traces the guns back to the supplier -- KYLE CAVANAUGH, the factory owner's son... and the boyfriend of Jessie's best friend ERICA. After the shooting, Jessie returns to school but continues to suffer emotional turmoil. Her best friend, Erica, doesn't understand and becomes more involved with her boyfriend. Jessie does some investigating into the shooting on her own, but doesn't expect her assailant to be school geek JOSH TIMMONS, who had purchased the gun to ward off bullies.
17Double LivesA ""posse"" of overprivileged teenagers lures men from a gay bar, then beats them up. Pacific Blue investigates, but, despite the evidence, can't convict the kids because the victims -- closet homosexuals in high-level occupations -- refuse to testify. Victor goes undercover at the bar, hoping to be the posse's next victim. A federal drug case witness Chris helped guard two years ago -- and who she slept with, SEAN McGOVERN -- returns to town. The target of an assassin, he wants Chris' help getting into the Witness Protection Program, even though he skipped out of protective custody two years before and damaged her career as a result. As Chris wrestles with her decision whether or not to help him, she also must deal with T.C.'s jealousy. But the assassin catches up to McGovern... by taking Chris hostage. However, Pacific Blue defeats the assassin in the end, and McGovern's former associate is put behind bars. The Pacific Blue team participates in a golf tournament. Chris gets a hole-in-o
18CaretakersVictor and Cory investigate the murder of a drug company vice president who worked with local free clinics to get discounted medicine. They discover that a major pharmaceutical company is distributing inferior imported drugs to local clinics and drugstores that minister to the poor. As part of the murder investigation, Chris is forced to question BO NYBY, a conspiracy nutcase who claims to have witnessed the murder. Chris writes off his rantings as delusional, but when Bo is subsequently shot, she feels guilty and undergoes hypnosis to re-examine Bo's statement for telling clues. Victor's concerned when he learns his mother, ROSA, is consulting DR. JAIME SERRANO for a health problem that she won't tell him about. Jaime is a childhood nemesis of Victor's, and Victor still holds a grudge. He's able to overcome it and is with Rosa when Jaime tells her she has cancer.
19House PartyWhen Chris and Cory apprehend one of the F.B.I.'s Ten Most Wanted, his accomplices seize the Firehouse, taking Chris hostage along with her father BROLIN JORGENSON and civilians. Outside, Palermo, T.C. and Cory plot to free the hostages as Victor, trapped inside during the takedown, secretly works to catch the criminals.
20Heat of the MomentChris is plagued with guilt and self-doubt after failing to apprehend a trio of vicious drug-infested jewelry store robbers. She left what she assumed to be a secure crime scene to give T.C. backup as he pursued a fleeing suspect. But a third robber was hiding, and all three criminals escaped. After a store manager is killed in a subsequent hold-up, Chris wonders if her affair with T.C. is affecting her decision-making skills. In the end, Chris makes a snap decision to stay behind and provide back-up for Palermo when their fellow officers rush to a what they believe is a robbery-in-progress, but which is actually a decoy. The decision saves Palermo's life, renewing Chris' faith in her instincts.
21Till Death Do Us PartPacific Blue tries to figure out why two robbers are holding up a chain of upscale clothing stores since the shops don't carry much cash. In actuality, the store robberies are a cover for FRANK KOVAC, the bodyguard of a prominent businessman (RUDY RIGAS) who has ordered Frank to get back his soon-to-be-ex wife's diamond jewelry. Frank steals the necklace while the wife is shopping at the shop. But Rudy does not know that Frank and his wife plan to double-cross him so that they can run away together. When LINDA DOMINGUEZ, Victor's fiancee, is killed during one of the store robberies, Victor defies department orders and pursues the killers himself. Though the killers are arrested as a result, Victor is suspended and Internal Affairs considers taking away his badge.
22Best Laid PlansThe squad investigates the ""Letterhead Beatings"" in which several people have been assaulted, tied to their beds, and the first letter of their last names is carved into their foreheads. Palermo is certain there is a message here, but his inability to solve it in time to prevent further victims compounds his burn-out. When the letters add up to spell A-L-E-R-M-O, the solution appears. Palermo realizes the attacks are personal. Chris and T.C. discover she's pregnant. T.C. proposes marriage, but Chris refuses to ""get married at the end of a shotgun."" Each fantasizes about impending parenthood, but just as they're settling into the idea, they learn that Chris is not pregnant after all. Palermo hosts the daughter of his high school sweetheart, a young aspiring actress. A night of dinner and wine lead to lovemaking... and serious morning-after regrets from Palermo, who is already suffering from a mid-life crisis. This and the Letterhead Beatings make him question his current path in life. A