Dead Heat
 (original air date  5/06/95)
Storyline:  Gordon tries to hire Mick and Joey to watch over a female surfer, who then gets charged with murder.

Guest Stars: Andy Anderson (Brad Blair), Danielle Cormack (Jill McMillan), Sarah Smuts-Kennedy (Vickie Quantrel), Noel Trevarthen (Andrew McMillan), Adrian Keelings (Detective Warfield), Ken Cohen (Shipping Clerk), Ross Campbell (Prison Guard), Steve Farac-Ciprian (Surf Shop Owner) 
Note: Danielle Cormack also guest stars in Sitting Ducks.

According to US

This episode opens with an Englishman on the phone with Gordon, talking about his daughter. Andrew is complaining that she has gone off surfing. Gordon tells Andrew that not all surfers are bums. :-) Apparently Jill has set her sights on surfing in New Zealand and Andrew is worried about her. Gordon offers to send a couple of men "down there" for him.

The scene switches to shots of New Zealand, with Mick doing a voice over explaining that Joey talked him into going. The job seems too good to be true, but how could he pass up surfing in New Zealand?

We now get a glimpse of Mick wearing a purple (open) shirt with yellow shots. Obviously he dressed himself that day. Joey shows Mick a picture of Jill, the woman they are to be "keeping an eye" on. They then see her walking on the beach. (Naturally, it's always that easy.) They introduce themselves, and right away she tells them to take her father's money and go. She turns around and runs into the water and catches the next wave. Joey yells back at Mick, "She surfs!" They both admit that she is good.

Joey calls Gordon to tell him they are quitting this case as there is nothing for them to do; Jill is fine. Gordon insists they stay anyway to soothe his friend's nerves. He raises their pay a couple hundred more dollars.

It just so happens there is a surfing contest being held later that day and Jill is entered. Joey and Mick find spots on the beach to watch, and pull off a Three Stooges bit of eyeing all the bikini clad women walking by. (It's actually funnier that I can describe, they do this little AAHHH, shake their heads back and forth, then slap themselves in the face...in synch with each other. I wonder how many takes that took.) 

Lots of surfing scenes are now shown of different contestants. We see a woman watching Jill with a very envious look on her face. Jill wins the competition by one point. The woman staring at her earlier confronts her as she is walking away with the trophy. A girl fight ensues. Mick & Joey break them up. The woman stalks off. Joey asks Jill if she is okay and offers to get her a drink.
Meanwhile, Mick goes over to talk to the Emcee of the surfing competition, Bard Blair. It appears they are old friends. As they are reminiscing, Joey comes to tell Mick he can't find Jill. Suddenly there is a scream, and people start running toward the area of the scream. The woman who was arguing and fighting with Jill is lying on the sand. She turns out to be Brad's wife Vicky, and ends up dead. Vicky's friend then implicates Jill, stating she and Vicky fought earlier.

The next day, Mick finds Joey with Jill at the beach and tells them that Vicky didn't drown, she was hit on the head with Jill's trophy. Jill is then arrested. Mick and Joey go to visit her in jail, and she begs them not to tell her father.

Mick visits Brad's surf board factory. Brad is too busy to talk with Mick, so he wanders around checking out the surf boards. He later tells Joey that the boards are junk and can't figure out why Brad says they are selling so hotly. Mick then meets up with Vicky's friend. She tells Mick that Vicky was afraid of Brad and was trying to get away from him. He asks if it was something to do with the surf board business. She nods and says that she was too afraid to tell the police this after Vicky was found dead.

Mick and Joey go back to talk to Brad at his business, but it is closed. They jump the fence as Mick wants to check some things out. They find that the boards Brad is selling are hollowed out in the middle to hide drugs. Brad shows up then, and claims innocence to Mick's charges. He states he just makes the boards and has no idea what goes in them. Mick then accuses him of murdering Vicky as she found out what he was doing. Brad pulls a knife on Mick and more men show up. Of course, there is a brawl. When the brothers have finally whipped the bad guys Joey tells Mick, "Don't ever introduce me to any more of your old friends."

Jill is now out of jail and is walking down the beach with Mick and Joey. Joey is on the phone with Gordon once again assuring him that everything is fine. Gordon tells him that Jill's father is on his way to New Zealand. A jeep then pulls up, and Andrew and Jill embrace. Andrew introduces himself and tells Mick and Joey that this was the best $5000 he's ever invested. Mick and Joey look at each other and say, "$5000!"

This had to have been the most boring and clichéd episode to date. Not much dialogue, a ton of surfing and a lot of girls in bikinis. Quite a few of scenes from this one are in the starting montage. There was no real mystery, the wardrobe still sucked and even the jokes were kind of lame. If this was an episode that was given to critics to review, I don't think it would've lasted another season. - Michelle P.
I have a 'liking' for this episode, but not because it's a great story. There are much better storylines elsewhere in season one of High Tide. It's funny though that if I want to watch a show from this season, this is one of the ones I end up dragging out. Some of the stories are what I call "Joey episodes" and some are "Mick episodes." This one is a Mick show, for sure. 

As far as I'm concerned, it does have some 'pluses' about it, despite the weaker story. The 3 most appealing factors are apparent for me within the first 10 minutes. In fact, the first 15 minutes of this one are the best. First off, it is filmed in New Zealand, as is seen from a bird's eye view…displayed beautifully…moving across the screen. There are some vast environments in NZ, apparently, and the air is supposedly some of the freshest and cleanest air on earth. There are beaches & islands, country sides, sheep farms, lush farmlands for agriculture, cities and marinas, mountains---both rugged cliffs into the ocean and rolling green ones, and most of all…an incredible SURF! I tell ya, Mick's little narration of New Zealand truly makes me want to plan my next vacation to that country. Time to pack my bags. :-P It's sounds amazing to me! 

The second most wonderful thing about Dead Heat…Mick in those `nice' yellow shorts, chest exposed, and jogging a bit! (If you've seen this episode, then it really needs no explanation! ) I bet the beach babe `extras' from NZ were happy campers on this day! (In fact, I actually have a very sweet online Rick buddy who lives in NZ. She recently made the comment that she WISHED she had known Rick was filming on that very beach, which is near where she lives. She figures it may have been `hush hush' as she's been a fan of Rick's her whole life and there was never any buzz about it down there during the filming. Bummer!) 

Oh yeah….back to the "New Zealand beach wear!" The guys drive up on the beach. Mick hops out of the car in the yellow swim shorts and an open shirt. He throws his hands in the air and smiles like a man who`s just stepped out into heaven, "WHOA!" he exclaims. He looks around, still smiling at the paradise surrounding them. The guys are quite thrilled over Gordon sending them on a free trip to NZ. (Mick has got the cutest belly button, doesn`t he?! ) The dialogue? What lines? I didn't realize they were talking here. LOL! Seriously though, episodes like this one are way too distracting for me. Thank God for the rewind so I can actually go back and catch what they're saying. 

I thought it was cute how Joey shows Mick the picture of the girl Gordon needs them to find, and Mick figures the `hot' pic of the girl is a hoax somehow. ("A little Vaseline on the lens." "Backlighting." "Airbrush.") But then the girl walks by right at that very moment (how convenient!) and the guys are floored. Joey calls her "perfection." The brothers follow her over to a surfboard stand and introduce themselves. She instantly knows that her dad has hired them to `protect' her. It's been a habit of his. He wants her to go to work for him in his finance office, but she wants no part of it. She's a professional surfer. (MY, Rick was tan during this episode! ) I love Mick's expression when he says, "You SURF?" and the girl takes off with her board. The guys think it's a joke. This is a cute close-up shot of Joey and Mick here. They're watching on, looking so secure with themselves…like a couple of old pros…when suddenly they see that she CAN surf! Mick says that the 'world is full of wannabe's`, then he wraps his arm around Joey's shoulder saying something about how if you stay around long enough you'll hear more B.S. than you ever thought…(he starts to say `possible' but is cut short when he saw her on the surfboard, mastering the waves.) Mick, "She DOES surf." Joey, "I see that." And then all together---"Whoa." 

Oh yes, back to Mick in my favorite shorts! The girl is leaving the waves, board under her arm and the brothers jog over to catch up with her. NEVER a bad scene when Mick Barrett is shown full length, jogging the beach with his hair blowing in the breeze! HOLY COW…do we have a shot of this somewhere?! A poster print maybe? And again…what are they talking about? The three are walking towards the camera as they chat…which only adds to the `nice-ness' of this scene! She is supposed to be in a surfing championship that's coming up. The brothers tell her that they are surfers as well. 
The third thing that I especially like about this episode is there are a lot of surfing scenes. I have always wondered just how cool it would be to ride the waves. It looks like a blast to me! I also like how they are featuring female surfers. One of my favorite movies is Blue Crush…which is about just that…female professional surfers. So it makes sense I would enjoy that aspect of this episode. So there are the top reasons I am drawn to Dead Heat, except not in that exact order!

Other highlights---**Mick looks awesome in the light blue T-shirt & blue shorts, with lots of smiling & laughing! And exceptionally nice during the part where he's sitting and talking to his `friend' during the surfing competition. I loved the little `nose crinkle' he does there when his past as a cop is mentioned and he said that he used to think he could change the world.

**Mick and Joey looking at each other when the girl is coming out of the water after surfing and going "AHHHH!" Then doing a "blblblb" type noise with their mouth & tongues, then slapping their cheeks…as if to tell themselves to quit looking at her and snap out of it! LOL 

**Mick's scene and conversation at the table with the girl he thinks might know something about the murder. (Because close-up shots of Mick's face and his striking eyes are always a good thing! ) I liked two of his lines here also---"Fear is not such a bad thing. It lets you know you're alive." And then when she asks him if he's ever been afraid and he says, "Yeah. Only way to conquer fear though is to face it."

**Mick pulls the "Angela Lansbury" thing and figures out his old buddy (the one who's `wife' is murdered) is a drug trafficker. Mick confronts him with what he knows, after being caught snooping in the surfboard `factory.` Turns out that the guy fills up his custom made surfboards with drugs and then ships them around the world. Pretty slick, eh?

Ok, one last note here…so what exactly does Mick say in that one part when the girl is found dead and the cop runs Mick off?!?! I've listened to it repeatedly and I could swear when he walks up to Joey, rolling his eyes that he says, "Homicide dicks." LOL! Or did he say, "Digs?" (Which wouldn't make sense I don`t think. Digs? No. I don't know what he said! But that seemed odd coming out on something that was a primetime show! Although "dicks" would fit the situation.) 

The story was a bit boring to me, but the `scenery' was not! If I'm in the mood for an involving, meaningful story, this is not the one. But if I want to feel surrounded by scenic beauty (the land, the beach and the crashing waves I mean…but yes, Mick too! ) then this is one that I pull out and watch. - Kelley Pearson