La Bamba
 (original air date  1/21/95)

Storyline:  Gordon Hires Mick and Joey to get a young girl who is an American prisoner out of a Mexican jail.

Guest Stars: Willa O'Neill (Trudi Carey), Suzanne Herrara.
Note: Suzanne Herrara also guest stars in The Chase.

According to US


This episode opens with Mick & Joey surfing. I think I see a theme here. The scene switches quickly to "A Renegade Island Prison off the coast of Mexico." I swear to God that's what it said. We see that it's a women's prison. A female warden has singled out one prisoner, tells her she learned that she will be going to the press upon her release tomorrow. The girl turns and looks at another prisoner. She is then shown being taken away by a male guard. He hands her a shovel and motions for her to start digging. She says she doesn't understand. He tells her she is digging her own grave. She hits him with the shovel and gets away.

Back to surfing. 
Gordon is on the beach also, practicing his golf swing and talking to Fritz. She is begging for an assignment. Mick has come out of the water with a broken surfboard. He sees Gordon and he and Joey walk up to him. Gordon asks them, "When's the last time you surfed Mexico?" He asks Mick & Joey to pick up the girl, Trudi Carey, at her release and make sure she gets home safe.

The next scene has Mick & Joey arriving at the island in a boat. Joey is seasick. As they are getting out of the boat, a jeep pulls up on the sand and two men get out and point guns at them. Mick is then seen talking to the female warden asking about Trudi. She states that the paperwork is not ready, she will not be released today. She sends them away telling them they will be notified when she is released. Mick is suspicious. The men with the guns take them back to their boat. Mick is going to call Gordon when they hear gunshots off in the distance. They take out the guards. We see Trudi running through the jungle. 

Fritz is in the next scene, she is boarding a military helicopter. She parachutes over the island.
Mick and Joey are running below, getting shot at by more guards with dogs. They roll down a hill and Joey says, "I hate when that happens." Mick and Joey split up and eventually find Trudi. They explain that Gordon sent them. She tells them about the Warden pocketing payoffs and that she was going to go to the press upon her release. Mick tells her, "Well no wonder you weren't going to get out of here alive." Joey says, "No problem." Mick: "No problem?!?!? These guys have guns." Joey: "Yeah, but you'll think of something. " Mick: "I will?" Joey: "Yep. That's what you do, what you're good at." Mick just gives him "The Look".

The guards with the dogs see them. Mick, Joey & Trudi run until they happen on a waterfall. Joey says they should jump. Trudi says, "There's something you should know. I can't swim." Joey tells her she has nothing to worry about, they'll get her out before her hair gets wet. She looks at them unbelievably and Mick says, "So you'll get a new "do". Let's jump" They are shown jumping in slo-mo. They swim ashore, and run into Fritz. She strips off her wet clothes, and Mick gives her the Rick eyebrow shrug. Mick tries to get up to walk but can't, his ankle is sprained. Fritz tells Joey he has to help Mick. Joey looks at Mick and says, "It's been my life long ambition to carry you."

We now see a scene of the 4 of them walking through the jungle with Rick doing a very bad sprained ankle acting job. The reviewer is wishing Mick got shot or something, it would've looked more credible. Mick has his arm around Joey, limping. Joey says to Mick with a groan, "You don't miss many meals, do ya?" Fritz tells them they have to go around to the other side of the island. Fritz tries getting her radio to work. She decides she has to climb higher. The sprained ankle acting has gotten worse. Fritz goes off on her own, tells the other three she will catch up with them at the boat.
The Warden finds Fritz. Yeah, that's believable. Dozens of guards with dogs searching the island and all. Fritz is thrown in a cell after an apparent beating. 

Mick, Joey & Trudi are still walking. Mick's acting...ankle is getting worse. He looks in Fritz's backpack.

Fritz rips apart the mattress on the bed in the cell and picks the lock with a wire. Mick, Joey & Trudi find parachutes. Fritz beats up the guard, and then strangles another wimpy guy at the radio. (worst non-struggle I've ever seen) She sends a Mayday and calls for the Coast Guard. The Warden catches her. She & Fritz struggle.

Back to Mick, Joey & Trudi who now have the parachutes on. Trudi says Mick and Joey are crazy. Joey yells, "We're from California!" The guards with the guns and dogs appear again so the threesome start running down the hill and fly up with the parachutes. So the guards just stand there and watch them.

The threesome land on the beach at the boat. Fritz shows up with the Warden (who is just walking in front of her, no handcuffs or nothing). Mick asks Fritz if she is okay. She replies, "Nothing a little makeup won't cover-- you?" Mick states, "Never better."

Mick & Joey are now back on the beach. Mick has a guitar! He smiles and we get the awesome dimple display as well as an eyebrow shrug. Reviewer was so thrown out of boredom by this sight, all I could do was just sigh. I didn't even care what they were saying at this point.

This episode was down and out boring. Too much bad acting - Fritz lost her German accent a couple of times, and there was just too much running around in the jungle. I give this one 1 wave due to the last minute and a half redemption. - Michelle P.
This isn't one of my favorite episodes either, but I swear I've watched this one more than any other one out there. Hopefully this'll be the last time for a long time. I think the reason I found it kind of boring was there wasn't enough dialog, too much watching stuff going on, stuff that wasn't all that interesting.

I thought the Military Prison chick, when wearing the sunglasses, reminded me a little of Yoko Ono.
When Mick got out of the boat, his pants were wet right up to the crotch. That had to feel a little icky.
When Mick and Joey beat up the two guards, then took off, they really should have grabbed a couple of the guns.
There was a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid moment that wasn't capitalized on - when they went to jump off the waterfall and she says "I can't swim", one of them should have said "swim? the fall will probably kill you".
Loved the final scene with Rick, I mean Mick (I got confused with him holding the guitar) and Joey. Not only did R...Mick looked adorable and it was a great and rare little guitar moment.

I like Diana Franks much better as Fritz. I still don't understand the switching back and forth. I have a theory that Cay Helmick actually shot her episodes consecutively, but then they were show out of order. If you look at Mick's hair, it's not necessarily consistent either. One of these days I should try to figure that out.....rlh

I loved this particular episode. It's in my top favorites from Season 1. I also like all things Mexico, so maybe that is why. I had my first trip down there a few years ago to Cancun and explored the jungle on some tours…so I thought the scenery in this was nice. It reminded me of some of the things we saw. La Bamba was more of an action-packed adventure than some of the other High Tides I've seen. 

One of the opening scenes on the beach was sizzling in my opinion! Mick: "OH unbelievable!!! Everybody and their grandma is here." (in reference to Gordon, who is playing golf on the beach. (?!) Mick is standing there looking handsome as ever, with his damp hair and broken surfboard. Then there's the classic "I-don't-believe-you" look from Rick when Gordon says that Trudy (the girl the need to find in Mexico) has an invalid grandmother. Joey's excited by the prospect and the surfing ops they'll `have.` He's all worked up for a fun trip to Mexico. 

I am finding that Mick and Fritz have such a great chemistry. Ok…so I won't lie about it…it's impossible to pry your eyes away from Mick in those um…tight (!!!) surfing shorts and that fitted shirt. He and Fritz make this great eye contact when Mick and Joey walk up to Gordon and Fritz. Joey is talking and you see Fritz looking fixed on Mick. Mick looks up and his eyes lock for a few moments with hers. She continues to watch him. Fritz is dying to take the assignment in Mexico, but Gordon disregards her pleas.

I really liked the waterfall scene in Mexico after they find Trudy in the jungle. They've been running for their lives for a while now because there are men with guns and dogs chasing them. Cute scene: the 3 are hunched down in the bushes wondering what to do and how to get away. Joey to Mick: "you'll think of something." Mick: "I will?" (disbelieving look). Joey: "yeah, you always do. That's what you're good at." Then a GREAT, funny `mean' face from Mick. The 3 jump from the waterfall to escape the gunmen. Mick discovers on the bank, after swimming to shore, that he hurt his ankle. Joey pulls Mick from the water and seems to like that he can rescue MICK for once. Fritz pops up out of the water by surprise. Against Gordon's wishes, she flew to Mexico (luckily for the brothers!) and she had parachuted into the jungle. This episode has the original Fritz. I thought it was comical when the guys are sort of eyeballing Fritz in her wet shorts. He wants to know if she's really going to wear those. Fritz asks Joey, "you gonna give me your shorts?" LOL 

At one point, Joey comments to one of the Mexican guards….."your mama has a mustache the size of …..Poncho Dias." Joey's "Mexican/Spanish humor" attempts towards the guards were cute I thought. I also loved the "I'll need a sea-sick pill the size of a hockey puck" comment over having to ride again in the small boat the guys came in on. This entire episode was full of one-liner cracks and funny comments. Another funny one was when Joey was helping Mick uphill through the jungle and tells Mick, "you don't miss any MEALS do you?!" But then in the next minute, Joey has no room to talk! He is asking Fritz if she toted any sandwiches or food of any kind into the jungle with her. She has nothing but survival tools in her bag. He was probably hoping she'd pull out a burrito!! Even when he, Mick and Trudy are hooked to the parasails, and trying to escape the guards, he's still talking about food!

There were quite a few scenes of Joey, Mick and Trudy running through the jungle, and Fritz getting caught by the Mexican guards. Eventually, Fritz ends up saving the day (which I learned in other season 1 shows that this is not the ONLY time she has to come to the rescue.) The girl is a `bad-ass!' What can I say? 

I thought it was cool how Mick had a short scene at the end where he's on the beach and strums a guitar (what looks like a Mexican guitar…by the design on it. I'm not sure). I liked that. I always love to see a little `piece' of Rick come into his acting roles. He and Joey are gazing at the surf, dreaming of surfing (but Mick's ankle is wrapped). Joey will not hit the waves without his brother. Mick has that gorgeous smile and shy nod of his head when Joey mentions Fritz and her attraction to Mick. Joey says, "I think she has the twitch for you man….truly." Can't say as I blame her! 

Fritz closes the show by running back into Gordon's office, like she'd never left there. She hides her clothes and things she wore in Mexico and changes into some dress clothes, and pins up her hair. Gordon comes in right as she finishes up, and he suspects nothing. LOL She pulls the wool over Gordon's eyes in this one! She got to carry out her mission in Mexico after all.  - Kelley Pearson