The third of four "lost episodes" released in syndication after the first-run airing of the series finale, which functions as a backdoor pilot for a Spin-Off that never went to series.
Crockett and Tubbs once again run into undercover agent Joey Hardin, who is investigating a number of suspicious deaths caused by a type of hallucinogenic discovered in a designer drug. Hardin is approached by OCB Captain Paul Cutter, a long-time acquaintance of Crockett's, and is asked to join the "Young Criminals Unit", a new division he's setting up that will investigate youth-related crimes via using officers who can blend in more easily with teenagers.
Now allied with Officers Mundy (Adam Storke), Andrews (Cameron Dye) and Tania Louis (Laura San Giacomo), Hardin sets out to discover the source of the designer drug, "Bliss", which leads the unit to a university professor, Terrence Baines (Keith Gordon), who is testing and planning on distributing the drug to unsuspecting victims.
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Louis digs up research and information noting that Baines, his deceased girlfriend Lisa and Peter Ladd all came from broken homes, meaning Baines' experiments have a Commonality Connection of preying on vulnerable teens from abusive households.
- Continuity Nod: At one point, Baines muses out loud, "Joey tells me that you are interested in, shall we say, bettering the world through chemistry?", a reference to the third-season episode of the same name.
- Creative Closing Credits: For the first time in more than two seasons (the last being "Down for the Count, Part II"), the credits end with a series of still images from the episode instead of the usual stock footage. This is more than likely because the episode was a backdoor pilot that was minimizing ties to the main series.
- Dead Partner: Mundy is this for Louis, who plans to quit the YCU after his death from Bliss. She's swayed to stay with the Unit by Cutter.
- Destination Defenestration: Baines kills his test subjects by leading them (in a Bliss-induced haze) to the roof of the university campus, encourages them to walk "the road ahead", then makes them step directly off the roof to their deaths. He ultimately suffers a similar fate, as he gets flipped off the roof by Hardin when Cutter shows up to back up the team.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: In the same manner that he used to eliminate his test subjects (Destination Defenestration off rooftops, caused by hallucinations from Bliss), Baines falls off the same roof to his death.
- Just in Time: Hardin manages to save Andrews (who'd been dosed with Bliss by Baines) from being run over by a semi-truck after believing it to be a cruise ship he's walking towards, by pulling him away from its path moments before impact.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Baines has his goons murder Mundy and Claire (the latter of whom Baines has become jealous of because she's entered into a relationship with Mundy), and stages their deaths to look like an auto accident. It's revealed later that Baines did the same thing to his girlfriend, Lisa, who also died in a suspicious boat accident before the events of the episode.
- Mauve Shirt: Mundy is established as a prospective member of the YCU, who ultimately gets killed off midway through the episode (alongside his new girlfriend, Claire), and has his death staged to look like an auto accident.
- Mind Screw: "Bliss" is a designer drug created by Terrence Baines that makes the subject hallucinate objects and perspectives (sometimes due to suggestion by other parties) that is almost-certain to result in their deaths. Peter Ladd is convinced to walk "the road ahead" and envisions a long road in front of him... that conveniently leads off the roof of a building. On the other side, the drugged Andrews hallucinates that he's walking towards a cruise ship, which is actually a tractor-trailer that's barrelling towards him.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: The episode itself is a backdoor pilot for a Spin-Off that never got picked up to series (likely due to the show's dwindling ratings by that point). The credits make reference to "Starring" actors rather than the usual Special Guest, Crockett and Tubbs disappear after the intro sequence, and the entirety of the episode revolves around a completely-separate team that investigates a case related to a university, in a manner similar to 21 Jump Street.
- Remember the New Guy?: OCB Captain Paul Cutter has apparently been a long-time friend (though now combative associate) of Crockett's for many years, dating back to when Crockett was shot in the line of duty in 1976. Despite the fact that Cutter apparently works in the same office as Sonny, and that he has been replaying the incident in his mind for many years and tries to make amends, Cutter was never seen in the series at any point before this episode.
- Sequel Episode: Even though it's a backdoor pilot, the episode directly follows up on both "Line of Fire" and "Miami Squeeze", which has Joey Hardin as a former DEA officer who was put under protective detail by Crockett early on in the season, and was later shown undercover investigating another case. Here, he's tapped to join an undercover team that's investigating youth-related crimes and cases by Cutter.
- Sequel Hook: The episode ends with Hardin, Andrews and Louis all electing to stay in the newly-formed YCU under Cutter's leadership. The backdoor pilot was ultimately never picked up to series, leaving their further adventures unexplored.