Memorial Day was aired as the fifth episode. It moved along quite
fast and was quite touching. It offered a keen look at veterans trying to give a third, deceased Navy buddy a decent burial.
Kudos to the writers for pulling another set of storylines that denoted excellent quality. The first of three solid plots centered on April Giminski (Kelly Packard), Skylar "Sky" Bergman (Marliece
Andrada), and Mitch Buchannon (David Hasselhoff). The three find a body with no identification after a fishing
boat had seen someone dump something into the ocean. And later, April and Sky find the dogtags that had belonged to the victim
to find his identity, leading to his two friends.
Even the over-acting by comics Dick Martin who portrays Ed and Howard
Morris, who portrays Jigger couldn't hurt this moving, sentimental plot. Strong performances here by Kelly Packard and
David Hasselhoff, newcomer Marliece Andrada is impressive as April's concerned, caring friend. She looks like a future winner
if she gets enough screen time, given the number of actors on the payroll.
The second was about Lani McKenzie (Carmen Electra) and Cody Madison
(David Chokachi). Lani is excited about an upcoming audition for a music video that she thinks will be her big break.
Lani hurts her ankle during a rescue. Cody tells her to stay off of it and offer elevation until it heals, but she ignores
the advice and goes on the audition anyway despite the pain. It goes fine until her ankle gives out. Lani strongly
believed that if she hadn't been hurt lifeguarding, she would have gotten the video job. Without thinking, Lani planned to
leave Baywatch. Cody doesn't want her to leave, as he is in love with her. The awaited "why did C.J. leave Baywatch"
question was finally explained here. Although I thought that Pamela Anderson, who gave the show such a lift during her time
shooting episodes, deserved a lot better than the cheap explaination written into the storyline. Cody told Lani that she went
on vacation to Mexico, met a rocker-the tatooed and nose ring type and got married. The impressive David Chokachi gave a very
strong performance here to support Carmen Electra.
The third storyline was very strong plot to compliment the other two with
equally strong performances. It centered on Mitch's son, Hobie Buchannon (Jeremy Jackson). Hobie had his lifeguarding
woes, thanks to the antics of "ex-surfing buddies," who continued to break the rules of the beach just to upstage
him. Like father, like son. Hobie came across as a very young Mitch with a mixture of Eddie Kramer (Billy Warlock)
and Matt Brody (David Charvet). Understandably, he picked up some of Eddie and Matt's behavior patterns while bonding
to "big brother types" and growing up over the years. Jeremy makes an impressive transition from the cute and adorable "little
boy, junior lifeguard" to the full fledged professional lifeguard. My
Score: 4 Rescue Cans
Next Review: Charlie
