Slither 
Directed by Gerald McRaney
Written by Gina Goldman
Synopsis: AJ is undercover as a phys. ed. teacher to keep an eye on Phoebe, a recovering drug addict, at the request of her parents. He's
impressed with how she's turned her life around and encourages her to try out for the volleyball team.
The bad crowd she ran with isn't quite finished with her, though. Her old friend, Sophie, tells Phoebe that AJ is a narc. As Phoebe goes off to
confront him, the old gang decides there's a high risk of her turning them in to the police and frame her by putting drugs in her school locker and leaving an anonymous tip.
When Phoebe asks AJ if he's really a narc, he denies it but he can't deny that he's something other than a phys. Ed. teacher. She feels terribly
betrayed and runs home. AJ goes over there with his mom who knows the parents, trying to convince Phoebe that she can trust him and he wants to be her friend. She and her parents get in
a big fight, however, and Phoebe doesn't trust anyone any more.
The next morning, she arrived at school to find police at her locker, having found the planted drugs. She panics and runs away.
AJ doesn't believe the drugs are hers and helps convince the police and her parents she's innocent. Rick tells the parents to ask for 'time and
charges' from the operator should she call collect so she can be traced. They ask Town for help, but he's tracking down a big time drug dealer and
refers them to Juvenile Services for help. The agent there paints a bleak picture of girls earning money through prostitution and pornography. Wracked with guilt and desperately afraid, AJ
begins to canvas the city with Rick to find her.
Phoebe runs into another runaway, Jennifer, on the boardwalk. They become friends and Jennifer takes her to where she stays, under the dock. While there, she introduces Phoebe to Bobby,
who is obviously strung out. He pressures her to smoke a joint and she starts her downward spiral back to addiction. When she runs out of money
for drugs, Jen takes her to a two-bit drug dealer, Deeds, who trades drugs for sex. Desperate for drugs for Jen and herself, she 'trades'.
The next morning, she stumbles across Deeds with a big time drug dealer, but she doesn't know it. The dealer threatens Deeds with death if she talks to the wrong people. Deeds says she's okay
and they leave her alone for now.
Phoebe's not the only one who had a rough night. AJ is praying for all he's worth that they find the kid he cares about so much. Rick finds him unshaven and dazed at his house and tries to get
AJ to face reality - they'll probably never find her. AJ's haunted eyes tell Rick he's not ready for reality, and Rick backs off and gets AJ moving again.
Phoebe calls home collect, but her mother is so excited to hear from her she forgets to ask for time and charges. Phoebe's dad tells her they know the drugs aren't hers and that she can come
home. She can't trust him after what happened with AJ and hangs up without saying where she is. Phoebe's mom realizes too late what she forgot to do and calls AJ, beside herself with worry. He
tells her they can still trace the call, but to remember if she calls again. Rick gives Bruno a call to see if he can trace Phoebe's location.
They trace the number to a public phone on the boardwalk. AJ and Rick speed there and realize Deeds is someone to watch, since he knows so many kids her age. Sure enough, Phoebe and Jen
come walking down the street and AJ bodily lifts her into the truck.
They take her to a coffee shop for a meal and a breather before they take her home. Bobby has followed them, however, and manages to
discreetly drop angel dust in AJ's coffee. As Rick finishes the tale of his brush with drug addiction in Vietnam, AJ starts on a bad trip. He panics when
he can see Rick's bones through his skin, jumps out of the booth and onto a corner table with a butterknife in his hand. Rick tries to talk him down,
but he's inconsolable and strikes out at his brother wildly. Rick finally gets him in a chokehold and suffocates AJ until he loses consciousness. While
the commotion is going on, Bobby grabs Phoebe and runs out the door.
AJ finally comes down from his high, horrified by what he'd almost done to Rick. Rick is equally shaken by the fact that he had to choke his own brother out. With renewed determination, they
head to Deeds' place with several police units to ask a few questions.
Phoebe did not want to be 'rescued' by Bobby and once again calls her parents, this time wanting to go home. Deeds hangs the phone up and takes
her outside to the big time dealer, whose seen the undercover cops and blames her. She's bundled into a van and taken away by the dealer.
AJ, Rick, and the agent from Juvenile Services arrive at Deeds place and Rick gets them inside. The brother find Deeds strung out and threaten to
give him an overdose if he doesn't talk. Deeds looks for help from the agent, but he says it'd be a pity that he got there too late to do anything.
Deeds gives up and tells them the dealer has taken Phoebe to a nearby heliport.
Rick and AJ head there as fast as they can with as many police cars as Town can round up. It turns out the dealer that has Phoebe is the same one
Town had been tracking. A police helicopter prevents theirs from taking off, the bad guys are arrested, and Phoebe is saved.
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They do tend to get a little preachy at
times...well, manly in Town's talk to the kids about drugs. It had no plot purpose, so it came across that way. The only reason I mention it is because the rest of
the episode meshes its message so smoothly with the plot or dialogue that it doesn't seem preachy. Telling parents about 'time and charges', warning of a life
of prostitution and pornography, warning of death and misery - it's just so well done that it makes Town's speech stick out
like a sore thumb. But it's only that one scene that bugged me and that's amazing with the seriousness of the issue, so overall, bravo!
Fantastic acting job by both JP and Mac
in this one. JP is heartbreaking as the deeply worried AJ, tormented by guilt at what's happened. In the coffee shop, he's frightening as the wild and frantic AJ, but
not just frightening. There's such terror on his face that I wanted to comfort him even as he tried to skewer Rick. Shouldn't happen to an innocent blond boy.
get AJ to realize they probably weren't going to find her, but stopped when he saw how much AJ was hurting.
That instant about-face, helping AJ to cover the city again is the act of a man who understands a lot about his brother and about pain. Masterfully
done. The great performance continues as he tries to get AJ down from the table in the coffee shop. His words are soothing, but his eyes are scared to
death - not for himself - but for AJ. The pain in his expression as he's strangling his brother is amazing. Wow, great scene on both actors' parts.
