The Chase
 (original air date  4/15/95)
Storyline:  Mick and Joey go to Australia for Joey to attend a surfing competition and get involved in protecting a kid from being kidnapped.

Guest Stars: Bill Harman, Suzanne Herrara, Mike Steel (Woods), Tony Presland (Stone), Roger Gibbons (Hammer), Tuebbe Bruin (Steel), Paul Owen Lowe (Customs Officer), Norman Forsey (Grandfather), Nicholas McCullough (Boy) 
Note: Suzanne Herrara also guest stars in La Bamba. 
The screen says, "Surfers Paradise, Australia." Mick's voice over is narrating that Joey has received a slot in the Australian Surfing Invitational and that he is of course tagging along. They talked Gordon into paying for first class tickets for them. Scenery of Sydney is being shown. 

Mick and Joey are in the customs line at the airport in Brisbane. Joey is loudly complaining about having to wait, and the customs agents are making it obvious they can hear him. They arrest the man directly in front of them and Joey starts singing a happier tune. Too late, a strip search is demanded for Joey when he indicates upon his turn that he is a surfer. Mick is then asked if he is traveling with Joey. Mick replies, "Not anymore." The customs agent welcomes Mick to Australia and has him taken away to be strip searched as well. 

As they are leaving the airport, Mick sarcastically thanking Joey all the way -a man recognizes them. He calls out to the Barrett brothers, and asks them if they are there for the invite. Mick recognizes him as Chubby Ferguson and suspiciously asks if Gordon sent him. He believes it was too coincidental for them to run into him at the airport. He explains he is working for Gordon, but his job is to deliver a woman and her son (and he points them out) to the airport and make sure they get on a plane for the U.S. Suddenly the woman starts screaming and men a grabbing her and the boy. Mick, Joey & Chubby give chase, the boy gets away and runs in another direction. The men stuff the woman in a car and drive off. They are shown talking to someone on the phone and stating that they have the Mother, but that Gordon's men have Tommy. (who must be the son, eh?)

Chubby, Mick & Joey manage to round up Tommy and are now driving in Chubby's beat up jalopy. Chubby explains to Tommy that Mick and Joey are private detectives just like he is. Tommy tells them his Grandfather Albert Parkinson, is after him. Chubby explains that Parkinson is the most powerful man in Australia. Gordon had hired Chubby to find Tommy and his mother (Ginger) after no one had heard from them in a month. Joey asks what he wants with a 10 year old. Tommy says, "What's wrong with a 10 year old?" Joey says, "I used to be one myself, but I got over it." Tommy explains that his Grandfather wants him to stay and live with him in Australia. Tommy's father, Albert's son died in an accident and ever since he has been trying to get him away from his mother. 

The guys catch up to the car with Ginger and follow closely behind. Mick calls Gordon to tell him what has transpired. Gordon and Fritz tell Mick they cannot call the local police as Parkinson is connected with them. As they continue to follow the car, Mick becomes more suspicious. He tells Chubby to stop the car and turn around, as they have what those men want and they're being lead into a trap. 

Ginger is brought in to Albert, who tells her he already lost one son to her and will not lose another. Ginger explains that Tommy is his grandson while she is being dragged away.
Mick, Joey, Chubby & Tommy check into a cheap motel to try to buy some time to figure out what to do. Mick calls Parkinson to find out if Ginger is okay. Parkinson tells Mick to mind his own business, threatens to kill him if he gets in the way, and hangs up on him. Mick says he's going over there to talk to him face to face. Tommy whines, "You're leaving me here with them?" The 4 guys decide that Joey & Chubby will go check out what's going on over at the Parkinson estate while Mick & Tommy wait. After they leave, Mick looks out the window and sees two goons show up. Mick talks Tommy into playing "commando" (Reviewer is so chuckling at that term thinking that seeing Rick commando would be something LOL) and they climb out the bathroom window, hotwire the goons car and get away. Tommy is very excited -but suddenly yells out, "Mick, you're on the wrong side of the road!" They swerve narrowly avoiding an accident. Mick apologizes and Tommy tells him he'll remind him if he does it again.

Chubby & Joey pull up outside of the estate and scale a stone wall. They walk up towards the house and see Ginger being loaded into a car. As they start to retreat, they hear dogs barking and Chubby says, "Oh no, I forgot about the dogs!" They comically scramble back over the wall. Mick pulls up just as they make it over and Joey tells him that Ginger was taken away in a white sedan. They screech away, while Tommy yells, "Wrong side!" once again. They catch up to the sedan and a chase ensues.

They follow the car onto the Parkinson Recycling Plant property. The sedan stops inside a warehouse, and the boys follow in. As everyone is getting out of the car, they are surrounded by men with guns. They end up all locked inside a room. Joey asks Mick to tell them "The Plan." Mick states he doesn't have one. Tommy tells his mother that Mick and he are partners now. Mick then devises a plan for Tommy to scale up a pipe, out a window and down the side to steal a car to cause a distraction. Ginger feels it is too dangerous, but Tommy assures her he will be fine as he and Mick stole a car earlier. We then see Tommy execute Mick's plan, sneak into one of the cars, peel out and drive through a huge pile of aluminum cans. As all the men's attentions are diverted Mick & Joey break out of the room. A fight ensues. (Of course!) Mick takes two men out with one kick. Albert shows up with a gun. Everyone stops fighting and puts their hands up, and Tommy runs away. As Mick is explaining that Albert will not get away with anything, a Hi-Lo drives up. Tommy has hijacked it, and traps his grandfather against the wall.

The show ends with Mick & Joey sitting sadly on the beach. Mick is sorry Joey missed the Invitational. He tries to cheer him up by telling him he was probably better than the guy who won. They decide to not waste anymore time sitting around and race into the water for some surfing - Michelle P.

This is one of my least favorite episodes of High Tide from season one, but I actually like the first season the best because of the comical nature between Mick and Joey. At times the humor is corny, but it's still cute to me. It's very reminiscent of how TV used to be in the early 90's. The Chase has some good parts here and there, but overall it kind of bores me. I think it's because of the constant car scenes and back and forth banter within the car. Apparently I need a change of scenery to keep me interested. LOL If the cars had been nicer, say…fast hot-rod cars or sports cars, I might have enjoyed the chase scenes a bit more. But then it wouldn't have been "realistic" to the story if that were the case.

I would have to say my favorite scene is the opening one where Mick and Joey arrive in Oz for their surfing competition. And after seeing many episodes of High Tide, the viewer just KNOWS that will never happen. They rarely get the leisure they seek. Gordon always has something up his sleeve for these guys. Eventually they DO get a "vacation" of some sort, but it's always a hard road before they get to relax. Joey cracks me up at the airport, shooting off his mouth with his loud and sarcastic remarks. His carrying on gets them in trouble and he is taken back for a strip search. I like how Mick finds it funny until he TOO gets hauled back to be stripped down. Hmmm….any volunteers on strip searching Mick?! Lol 

For the life of me, I cannot understand HOW Rick didn't spit out some Aussie while shooting this one! With all those actors speaking his native tongue, I imagine he had to work hard to keep his accent under wraps! Chubby, their Australian detective friend is quite the character. They run up on him at the airport, and Mick suspects that Gordon and Chubby have "cooked up" a plan. He wants no part of it…he is there to surf! Chubby points out Ginger Parkinson and her son Tommy. He explains that he needs to get them on a plane when suddenly the mother and child are attacked within the airport. A fight breaks out as the men try to save the two. The "bad guys" capture Ginger, but accidentally leave Tommy behind. Tommy was hiding from the men. The men run from the airport and force Ginger into a car. Chubby, the brothers and Tommy are not far behind. They too grab a car and take off after them. This is where the "chase" begins. The man behind the kidnapping is Tommy's grandfather, the richest most powerful man in Australia. Chubby tells the guys that there is a nasty custody battle going on between Ginger and Tommy's granddad, her father-in-law. I couldn't help but laugh at Chubby calling Mick a "yank" when he asked if he could drive Chubby's car. During the chase I noticed an interesting road sign. The yield sign in Oz says, "give way." Much more to the point actually than a sign that says, "yield."
Cute line when Mick talks to Fritz on the phone and she tells him to watch out for Albert Parkinson because he's a dangerous guy. Mick says, "hey push my buttons and so can I." He is obviously not intimidated by Mr. Parkinson. {side note: WOW…that flowery patterned shirt Mick had on was LOUD! I mean, YIKES. Who was in charge of wardrobe for High Tide anyway?! Lol And are those "high-water" blue jeans they dressed him in? I am quite sure Rick had no say-so in what he wore for the show. He has a great sense of taste, I think. Amazing though, how I can easily overlook the gaudy wardrobe. It must be due to the actor who`s filling out those clothes!!!}

The guys find an Inn to stay at, where they can hide out with the boy until they can work a deal with Parkinson. Mick infuriates Parkinson when he calls him to try and sort it out. There is another cute line here: Joey claims he has a silver tongue and will try to talk to Parkinson. Mick says, "your silver tongue? The one that usually gets us into trouble? That silver tongue?" LOL Right! The one that got them stripped searched at the airport because it was spouting off. I thought the scene with Mick and Tommy was cute, when they are left alone at the Inn. Tommy wants to talk to Mick and asks him if he knows anything about girls. Mick replies with a chuckle, smiling at the little guy, "not nearly enough." (hmm….did RICK ad-lib there?! ) Tommy also asks Mick, "ever kiss any girls?" Mick tells him, "ah girls are yucky." Now I don't think that was a "Rick line!" 

In the end after much chasing and tearing down fences along the way, Mick and Joey end up catching the bad guys, as they always do on this show. They are heroes once again as Tommy is returned safely to his mother. This was an okay episode for me. It's not the worst thing I've ever seen, but it's also not one of my favorites. - Kelley Pearson