LCPD cop Sgt. T.J.Hooker (William Shatner) and his colleagues raid a porn theater where Oscar (Jason Ross) an informant is trying to trap mobster Frank Dio (Alex Rocco). The informant is found seated during a screening dead by Dio's hand and Hooker gives chase collaring Dio but not before the murder weapon is discarded into a city trash truck. Officer Jim Corrigan (James Darren) - Hooker's colleague, had promised Oscar safety.
Hooker's old war buddy Phil Parker (Tom Atkins), an assistant district attorney tells him murder charges won't stick without the gun and without the testimony on other criminal matters of the dead informant Dio will have to be released within 72 hours. Hooker decides to find Dio's prostitute ex-girlfriend Angie Quine (Shanna Reed). Dio's henchmen look to find her first. She is diabetic and has a child with her - facts which unexpectedly come to make for tense moments.
Ultimately a pretty ordinary episode full of standard cop show stuff with the exception of the aspect of there being a mole in law enforcement. Few cop shows go in to proper detail about that kind of thing. The way it is done here is far from original. With the solid guest stars in the cast they probably figured the acting and screen presence of each would make up for more than it did.
You could say Tom Atkins was typecast as a cop from early on in his career. For that reason he was the perfect guest star for any network cop show. By the time he appeared in this episode of T.J.Hooker it didn't matter what he played. Just his presence in the episode brought with it that subconscious deja vu credibility from previous cop show roles. He needn't have actually played a cop to add appropriate texture.
Alex Rocco was also the perfect guest star for any network cop show having played hoods and cops with near equal frequency to the point where he would play one of each on separate episodes of this series. He and Atkins had each done multiple feature films as well giving the respective teleplays they were in a feature film quality.
