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ARTICLE
DVD Review: 21 Jump Street - The Complete Third Season
by R.J. Carter
Published: August 21, 2005

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Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA
Release Date: September 6, 2005
Distributor: Anchor Bay
Cast:
· Johnny Depp
· Dustin Nguyen
· Holly Robinson Peete
· Peter DeLuise
Related Sites:
· IMDb
· Season 4 Review

Grade: A+


Buy from Amazon.com

The concept of 21 Jump Street was unprecedented: take fresh academy graduates with young-looking faces and use them to go undercover as high school and -- sometimes -- college students. Writers Stephen J. Cannell and Patrick Hasburgh crafted stories that took a hard, unabashed look at the problems of the day. The season opens with "Fun With Animals" where the Jump Street squad is involved in a powerfully charged investigation into racially motivated vandalism that suddenly takes an even nastier turn when a 16-year-old black girl is found beaten, and possibly raped. Officer Hanson's prime suspect: his new partner, Dennis Booker. The season closes with "Next Victim," wherein Booker takes over a college radio station when a hot talk show host is nearly killed in a car explosion over his racially controversial Morton Downey Jr. antics.

Between these two visceral bookend episodes (which is technically inaccurate: the series ended with the cliffhanger two-part episodes, "Loc'd Out") the crew has to deal with street violence, a "Guardian Angels"-like group that unintentionally interferes with a drug investigation, a man accused of child molestation who turns out to be innocent, rape, AIDS, and a police strike.

As heavy as the topics would get, there were always light-hearted bits; you could always count on Penhall to spout an off-the-wall solution, or Booker to spout something appropriately offensive to everyone.

This season is one of my favorites, largely because of the introduction of Richard Grieco as Dennis Booker, the Internal Affairs officer who could out-brood and out-cool Johnny Depp. He was the cop I wanted to be when I was just a young kid myself.

Guest stars on this boxed set Bridget Fonda, Christopher Titus, Mario Van Peebles, Peri Gilpin, Kelly Hu, and Peter's father, Dom DeLuise. However, and disappointingly, there are no extra features, not even a commentary track. I know that Johnny Depp is a busy man these days, but surely the others have a lighter schedule that would have allowed them to come in and give us the behind-the-scenes scoop on things, even with Peter DeLuise's Stargate: Atlantis gig. Surprising, since Anchor Bay often comes through with flying colors in the bonus features department.

21 Jump Street: The Complete Third Season is a six-disc set, with two discs per each slimline snaptite case, kept together by a cardboard slipcover. Previews on this set include boxed sets for Silk Stalkings, Greatest American Hero, The Commish, Hunter, and Renegade.

Grade:
Series: A+
Bonus Features: N/A


21 Jump Street
The Complete Third Season
Episode List
Disc One

Fun With Animals
Slippin' Into Darkness
The Currency We Trade In
Coach of the Year
Disc Two

Who's Choice Is It, Anyway?
Hell Week
The Dragon and the Angel
The Blue Flu
Disc Three

Swallowed Alive
What About Love
Wooly Bullies
Disc Four

The Dreaded Return of Russell Buckins
A.W.O.L.
Nemesis
Disc Five

Fathers & Sons
High High
Blinded by the Thousand Points of Light
Disc Six

Loc'd Out, part 1 (Partners)
Loc'd Out, part 2 (Partners)
Next Victim