2.04: Wild About Hammer
Technical Information
First Broadcast: Thursday, October 8, 1987, 8:00 PM
Production Code: B-87504
Number of bullets fired by Sledge: 6
Critical Info
TV Guide summary: Hammer's deft display of machismo gains him an instant admirer in a psychotic new officer, who sets her sights on him.
Ph episode rating on the Hammer scale (1 to 6 bullets):
4.
Hammer had some sharp lines, and it was fun watching him in a position of weakness. This episode reinforced the tight relationship between Hammer and his partner, his gun.
Episode references:
Act One
While Hammer is trying to enjoy a sushi dog from a sidewalk vendor, he and Doreau witness a shootout in the distance. The get-away car then heads down the street toward Hammer, who is walking to the middle of the street to face it. After firing five shots, the car runs into Hammer, who rides the hood for a few blocks.
The get-away car then crashes into a police car. While apprehending the crooks, a female officer in this police car eyes Hammer's.
Back in Trunk's office, Trunk tells Hammer and Doreau that another precinct has requested help is solving the murder of a Detective Ginsberg, who was stabbed 17 times in the back. In the hallway...
Doreau: Sledge, why don't we go to the other precinct tomorrow and conduct some interviews. Meet you here at 8 o'clock.
Hammer: Good masculine thinking, Doreau. You're losing more and more of your femininity every day -- very attractive.
About to board the elevator, Hammer and Doreau run into the female officer. She introduces herself as Elizabeth Jenkins, recently transferred to this precinct. She again looks admiringly at Hammer.
Doreau later kids Hammer that he has a groupie.
Hammer: (to Doreau) Go ahead. Try and belittle the fact that there's a few people on this force who appreciate me for the competency I project. (Sledge then runs into the elevator door.) Shut up.
Six-bullet moment: Back at his apartment, Hammer decides to look at some videos with this partner, his gun. The titles: On Golden Gun, Peggy Sue Got Murdered, The Way We Wounded, and Home Video Target Range. He pops in the last one, which consists of a black silhouette saying, "Shoot me, shoot me..."
After blasting his TV [gunshot 6], Hammer says to his gun...
Hammer: Remind me not to rent that one again. It's too expensive.
Hammer then answers the door. It's Officer Jenkins, who quickly enters with a bag of groceries intending to cook Hammer dinner. Hammer resists her advances.
Jenkins: Oh, give it up, Sledge. Don't fight it. You felt the same thing I did the time we first met.
Hammer: What? You mean whiplash?
Jenkins: I mean the excitement, the electricity, the sudden impact. Know what I'm talking about?
Hammer: Sorry, lady. I tend not to feel a lot from the neck up.
In the struggle to escort her out, she knocks over and breaks a lamp.
Hammer: Now you've gone and done it. You just broke a family heirloom. That lamp had great sentimental value. It accidentally electricuted my grandfather.
[111 KB WAV file]
Hammer still tries to get the crazed admirer out, his motto being "Make War, Not Love." She then pulls a .38 on Hammer. While Hammer tries to take the gun away from her, she shoots Hammer. He falls to the ground, nicked on the side of the head.
Act Two
At the precinct, Doreau waits for Hammer. It is 9:05, and Hammer is consistently a half hour late. She calls his apartment, and Jenkins answers saying Hammer is late because he's exhausted from the night they spent together. Doreau then says that Hammer told Doreau to get lost.
When Hammer finally gets to the precinct, Officer Mayjoy calls Hammer a degenerate, and Officer Daley slaps him in the face. Doreau, also angry at Hammer, says everyone has heard about what Sledge did last night. Hammer still has no idea what she is talking about.
When summoned into Trunk's office, Hammer finds Officer Jenkins. She has filed charges of sexual harassment against Hammer.
Hammer: What? That's crazy! The only thing I'm involved with is my gun, and it's stricly a monogamous relationship.
While Trunk continues to read the charges, Hammer continues to deny them.
Hammer: She ordered me to make love to her at gunpoint. That's not exactly what I call safe sex.
While Hammer points to his wound, Trunk says that she shot him in self-defense. Trunk calls this the most shameful incident ever to happen at his precinct. Hammer reminds Trunk that he once busted the Pope for loitering.
Hammer: Captain, for the first time in my life, I'm innocent.
Six-bullet momentTrunk asks for Hammer's badge, saying "You're never again going to cause me pain."
Sledge slaps down his badge, and the pin of the badge punctures Trunk's hand.
Everyone watches As Hammer exits the precinct. Doreau, however, notices that Officer Jenkins, standing behind Capt. Trunk is smiling broadly.
In the women's locker room, Doreau then challenges Jenkins.
Doreau: I've worked with Sledge Hammer a long time. Granted, Sledge is irresponsible, undependable, egotistical, insensitive, chauvinistic, sadistic and cruel, but other than that he's a terrific guy. And I think your grievances against him are bogus.
Jenkins angrily tells Doreau not to make her situation any worse, and warns her to stay away from her locker. After Jenkins exists, Doreau finds that Jenkins has taped articles of the Ginsberg death to her locker with darts through Ginsberg's pictures. While Doreau is shocked, Jenkins returns to knock her out from behind.
The maniacal Jenkins has taken the body back to her apartment. She has tied Doreau up to a chair. While Hammer is listening to the Tough Talk In French LP, Jenkins calls him to say that he must come over "to play or else," referring to the fate of Doreau.
Hammer barges into Jenkins' home to find a gagged Doreau. Trying to untie Doreau, Hammer is almost stabbed from behind by Jenkins. While they struggle on the floor...
Hammer: Geez, are you insane?
Jenkins: Yes!
Hammer: Ask a stupid question...
Hammer: Jenkins, you need to see a special kind psychiatrist.
Jenkins: What kind?
Hammer: The kind that's licensed to kill their patients!
Meanwhile, Doreau, still bound to her chair, finally gets up and kicks the knife out of Jenkins hand. After Jenkins and Hammer go to retrieve their weapons, Sledge calls for her surrender. She lets out a scream, charges Hammer, slips on a banana peal, crashes into a window, and falls out into the sea.
Tag
An announcer reads: "The following tag was shot in black and white, then artifically recolored...
... We promise you will not be able to see the difference."
Trunk and Doreau review how Jenkins became fixated with police shows at "a home" and then escaped. After falsifying records to become an officer, she became fixated with Ginsberg at the other precinct. After he rejected her advances, she killed him.
Hammer: Hold it. You two expect me to believe that somebody with serious mental problems was able to slip through our screening process and become a cop? How could something as obscene as that happen?
Trunk: That's not the question, Hammer. The question is: How could it have happened again?