The Lolita Blues (aka Salutary Lessons)

Season 2, Episode 16, Aired

Episode Summary

EDIT
8.7
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Great
2 votes
  • Your Rating: 10
    "Perfect"
  • Your Rating: 9.5
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 9
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 8.5
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 8
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 7.5
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 7
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 6.5
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 6
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 5.5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 4.5
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 4
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 3.5
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 3
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 2.5
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 2
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 1.5
    "Abysmal"
  • Your Rating: 1
    "Abysmal"
Rate Now!
When a woman reports her daughter as missing, the Blue Heelers find she has moved in with her schoolteacher.
WRITE A REVIEW

Cast & Crew

See All EDIT

Fan Episode Reviews (1)

See All

  • While PJ tries to gather evidence proving that two brothers were involved with an unsolved payroll robbery, Tom finds his hands tied when he is pressured by a mother to take action when her daughter moves in with her school teacher. A thoughtful ep...moreless

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By Jay-Spacedust, Feb 22, 2011
    This review contains spoilers.

    'The Lolita Blues' (also known as 'Salutary Lessons') is an interesting, thoughtful episode of 'Blue Heelers', involving a 16 year old school girl who is involved in a romantic relationship with a much older teacher, and has just moved in with him.

    Both sides in the case consider that they are in the right the mother insists that her girl should be brought home, while the teacher insists that he and the girl are in love, and with her being above the age of consent sees that they are doing absolutely nothing wrong.

    I like the way that no real "sides" are taken with the story, i.e. not really commenting on which side is in the right and which side is "wrong". Tom's view on the matter is split, but he is pressured into taking some sort of action by Inspector Faulkner (it is Faulkner's niece's daughter, Kim, involved in the case), while although not out-and-out stated it is subtlety suggested that Maggie does not feel they should be acting on the matter.

    Of course, of major note with this episode is that young Kim is played by Tasma Walton, who would go on to join the main cast as "Dash" McKinley later in the third season. Walton puts in a fair performance here as Kim, but it is a far cry from the feisty character of Dash that she would become known for.

    There is also a separate (though overlapping) b-plot, involving PJ trying to prove that two brothers are connected to an unsolved payroll robbery. I'm glad that they had a b-plot in this story, I think if it had just consisted of the main plot it would have strained the overall episode, although I did find the b-plot a bit hard to follow in places and felt it could have maybe been made a bit clearer (maybe it was just me!).

    The teacher at the centre of all the upset is portrayed well he really does believe that he is doing nothing wrong, and is suggested to have led a rather lonely, solitary life until his relationship with Kim. However, there are nice touches in suggesting that he does have a slightly darker side not necessarily villainous, but maybe some social interaction problems and slightly obsessive.

    Then just as we think the story is over, there is the shock ending. After Kim has left the teacher (thanks to an "unofficial" visit from Wayne, opening her eyes to the possibilities of other men), the Heelers race to the scene where Kim has returned to the house to collect some CDs, only for the teacher to lose his grip on reality and fracture her skull, killing her outright.
    I wasn't totally sure what to make of this ending are the writers saying "have an affair with your teachers, kids, and you'll end up dead"?! Probably not, but either way it is a real shock twist to the end of the story, and one that really leaves you thinking, about what has happened, and what will happen to the teacher.

    All-in-all, this is not one of my all-time favourite episodes of the series, but one that is acted and executed very well. After watching it on DVD before bed last night, I had pretty much settled on an 8.5 score, but it is an episode that has really left me thinking about it enough to give it a 9/10.

    (By the way, on the DVD version, the audio is noticeably out of sync for the first 10 minutes or so. I found this very distracting, and it doesn't say much for the (lack of) quality control by the DVD publishers).moreless
WRITE A REVIEW
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

See All

FILTER BY TYPE

Blue Heelers Forums


Add a Topic See All
Last Activity
Replies

Season 2 Episodes

See All
Ep 41
Brotherly Love (2)
Ep 40
Brotherly Love (1)
Ep 39
The Discount Suit
Ep 38
Juggling With Smoke
Ep 37
Vow of Silence
Ep 36
A Question of Loyalties
Ep 35
Tough Love
Ep 34
Unnatural Death
Ep 33
Just Deserts
Ep 32
The Mongrel Factor
Ep 31
Double Jeopardy (2)
Ep 30
Double Jeopardy (1)
Ep 29
Swings and Roundabouts
Ep 28
The Best of Rivals
Ep 27
The Last Straw
Ep 26
Secrets
Ep 25
The Homecoming Queen
Ep 24
The Collector
Ep 23
Paranoia (2)
Ep 22
Paranoia (1)
Ep 21
With Prejudice
Ep 20
Gun Crazy
Ep 19
Parenting
Ep 18
Trust Me
Ep 17
Shadow Man
Ep 16
The Lolita Blues (aka Salu...
 more

Contributors

Become a contributor
More
Less

TV Listings

Full Listings
TV.com Properties | Shows | Videos | News | Listings | Forums | People | Photos | TV.com Blog

CBS Entertainment | About TV.com | About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Ad Choice | Terms of Use