I noticed something that kind of detracted from the experience of watching both halves of the pilot: terrible sound editing. The words "ass" and "sucks" have been quite obviously dubbed over several times, probably due to network censorship when it originally ran on Fox. This results in Judy delivering the laughably horrible line: "Original Gangster, my eye."
The episode begins with the mandatory "Last week on 21 Jump Street" montage introducing us to Waxer, Tom, and Kenny once more.
When Tom arrives to work, Jenko, Harry, and Doug are reenacting a famous football game using a Frisbee. Tom tries vainly to get their attention so he can deliver his debriefing. The game ends with Doug tackling Jenko around the waist, picking him up, and setting him back down on his feet. Tom is obviously irritated by their childish behavior and mutters, "I bet this is the only precinct in the department that has recess."
Tom begins reading a novel-length report of the previous day's activities. Doug's ADHD kicks in and he yells, "Get to the point!" Jenko lets Tom know that he purposely put him undercover at Amherst to investigate the theft of Mr. Weckerle's Jaguar. Tom and Harry will be staking out Kenny's house that night.
In the car after dark, Harry reveals that he learned to speak English by watching reruns of Dragnet. He heard Tom Senior was a good cop who won a medal for valor; Tom points out that it was awarded posthumously. They see Kenny pull out of the garage on his scooter and follow him. It looks like he's just innocently delivering newspapers until he pulls up to a store, smashes the front window, and starts shoving cameras in his bag.
"The little jerk's doin' smash-and-grabs!" Tom cries. Harry gives chase, but Kenny ditches them by zipping down a narrow side street. Harry's erratic driving gets him pulled over by a marked police car which happens to contain Tom's last partner Charlie. It also adds another politically incorrect joke to the show's tab.
The next day in English class at Amherst, Tom gets mouthy with the teacher Mr. Lamb. A girl named Wendy passes Tom a note. Mr. Lamb openly mocks both of them in front of the whole class and reads the note aloud. When the period ends, he drafts Tom into drama club and gives him the script for that year's play, Rip Van Winkle.
Outside in the hall, sexually aggressive Wendy continues to pursue Tom. She's wearing a micro-miniskirt with a slit up the front. Tom looks desperately uncomfortable. "My mom thinks I'm a tramp," Wendy says. Gee, I wonder why? Wendy adds that her mom makes her watch public TV documentaries about teenage pregnancy and STDs. Her attempts to scare her daughter straight are failing miserably.
After school, Mr. Lamb partners up Kenny and Tom to read through Rip Van Winkle in drama club. Kenny mutters that the play could cure an insomniac. I've had insomnia for years and never considered that remedy; I may have to look into it. Kenny thinks Tom looks familiar. Tom panics, thinking Kenny recognizes him as the cop who was at his house a few days ago. He's visibly relieved when Kenny says he remembers Tom dating Noreen.
Kenny gets very squirrelly when Tom offers him a ride home after drama and we soon found out why. Waxer confronts Kenny in the school parking lot. The Jag was just interest and Kenny still owes. Tom tries to intervene and Waxer pulls a switchblade on him. Principal Schaffer appears just in time to break it up, but doesn't seem overly concerned about Waxer having a weapon on school property. It doesn't make a lot of sense due to the earlier scene painting him as a strict disciplinarian. He actually lets Waxer walk away!
Tom goes to Jenko's office with a computer printout on reported burglaries. Unsurprisingly, there have been a lot on Kenny's paper route in the past few months. He initially suspected Kenny was involved with drugs, but now it looks like Kenny and Waxer are running a burglary ring. Jenko points out that it would take more than fencing watches to pay for Waxer's Ferrari.
Across town, we see Waxer and his henchman Ray-Ray stripping down Mr. Weckerle's Jaguar in an abandoned warehouse. Both are clad in orange jumpsuits. It seems to be a tool to foreshadow their eventual trip to juvenile hall. Kenny arrives to drop off a backpack full of stolen cameras.
That night, Harry and Tom follow Waxer to a fancy restaurant where he seems to be a regular. He meets a drug dealer, they talk shop for a few minutes, and switch cars in the valet lot after leaving the restaurant. Harry, unaware of the switch, tails the Ferrari.
Tom hails a passing taxi and shouts, "Follow that Porsche!" The driver refuses and Tom ends up having to bribe him to get his way. It turns out the cabbie is a terrible driver. Tom wonders if he's related to someone named Ioki. The cabbie answers with a question of his own: "Is he Italian?" Heh.
The taxi ends up rear-ending the Porsche at a red light. Waxer gets pissed and jumps out. He wonders out loud why Tom is following him, but then decides to get back in the Porsche and just take off. The chase ends because the taxi is undriveable.
Tom goes to a payphone to call Jenko and explain the screw-up. Jenko tells him to arrest Kenny for the burglaries to try to get him to talk about Waxer's other business.
Meanwhile, Waxer is in a generous mood. He gives Kenny a keychain vial full of drugs. At school the next day, Kenny goes into the locker room to shoot up. Tom ends up finding him OD'ed on the floor and calls an ambulance.
At the hospital, Tom blames himself for what's happened. He feels Waxer gave Kenny a "hot shot" because he thought Kenny might start talking about the burglary ring. Judy says that an OD is inevitable when someone starts using drugs. Mr. and Mrs. Weckerle also blame themselves for Kenny's drug problem and thank Tom for calling the ambulance.
Tom asks to speak to Kenny alone and his parents have no problem with that. Tom reveals himself as a cop, which really shouldn't have been such a surprise to Kenny. It's not like Tom was at his house earlier that week in uniform or anything. Tom starts playing "bad cop" to get information on Waxer. Kenny tries his pathetic tough-guy routine again, but cracks after one slap to the face.
Doug rides up to the warehouse where Waxer stripped the Jaguar with Judy on the back of his motorcycle. They knock and Judy says she wants to buy drugs. Ray-Ray and Waxer make Doug wait outside. During the buy, Waxer finds out that Judy is wearing a wire. Hearing that his officer's cover is blown, Jenko enters the warehouse by driving his van through one of the wooden walls.
Waxer runs, but Tom eventually catches him after a lengthy foot pursuit involving climbing fences and a dead sprint through a subway station. Jenko arrives with back-up after Tom tackles the teenage coke dealer. Tom wheezes for the uniformed cop to finish reading Waxer his rights so the case won't be blown on a Miranda technicality. "And they say white boys ain't fast," Judy flirts.
Back at Jump Street Chapel, Doug is upstairs in the locker room. He slams his gun and holster into his locker as he loudly gripes about Tom. Tom hasn't even been at the precinct a week and already busted Waxer for working Kenny over on a cocaine payroll and running a burglary ring.
Doug kisses his fingertips, presses them against one of his posters of scantily-clad models, and slams the locker door shut. He turns around and we see he's wearing a "Just Say No to Drugs" T-shirt. Score one for placement of a quintessential '80s catchphrase.
"Are we just gonna let him get away with that?" Doug asks, referring to Tom's beginner's luck. He slides down the fire pole into the squadroom, where he discovers that everyone, including Tom, heard everything he said upstairs. Judy tells Tom that when Doug complains about another cop like that, it means he's impressed.
Once they're alone, Doug grudgingly admit that he is, in fact, impressed. "Just don't let anyone else know," he warns Tom, "I got a rep to protect." Given that Doug spent most of the pilot wearing motorcycle T-shirts and a studded watch, it appears he's the resident tough guy.
Tom asks why everyone left because they haven't done debriefing yet. Doug looks at Tom like he has an extra head. "It's Friday night!" he says, "Nobody debriefs on Friday night."
The episode ends with a completely throwaway sequence where Tom shows up to play saxophone with Jenko's garage band.
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