Rewatching 21 Jump Street! Here’s a smaller, character-based episode that takes off in some unexpected directions. It’s season four, episode 14, “A Change of Heart.”

  What’s goin’ down: A popular teacher is murdered, so Fuller and Hoffs go undercover at her school. Fuller is posing as a teacher, and Hoffs infiltrates the school newspaper. Fuller catches the eye of a fellow teacher — a much younger woman.

Dang.

Here’s Hanson: Hanson’s all excited because he got tickets to see 10,000 Maniacs. That’s not a Herschell Gordon Lewis movie, but a popular alternate rock band from back in the day.

Penhall’s prerogatives: No Penhall again this week.

The “L” stands for “Large hair.”

Undercover blues: Turns out the lead suspect in the case is a teen lesbian, who may have been in love with the teacher, and who comes on to Hoffs. This is followed by scenes of Hoffs questioning her own sexuality. Is that genuine, or part of her undercover duties?

Sunday in the park with Fuller.

Torn from today’s headlines: Lesbianism, alcoholism, environmentalism, mid-life crises, sex education — this one’s got it all.

Eyes not-so-wide shut.

Jumpin’ or not? The Youtube comments on this one are interesting, with about half the people praising the episode for treating homosexuality even-handedly, and the other half attacking it for being stereotypical and homophobic. Regardless of where you stand on that debate, there are a lot of nice character moments, most notably with Fuller dealing with being single while getting older. It’s jumpin’!

Next week: Future shock.

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