Several significant changes are wrought upon the long-running cop drama Hunter during its seventh and final season. Having spent six years in the LAPD's homicide division, Rick Hunter (Fred Dryer) is promoted to the department's new, elite Metro Division, a group designed to give special attention to high-priority cases. Likewise making the move upward is Hunter's longtime superior, Captain Devane (Charles Hallahan). Conspicuous by her absence is Stepfanie Kramer, whose decision to leave Hunter prompted the producers to write her off the show by having her character, Det. Sgt. Dee Dee McCall, quitting the force to get married. Her replacement as Hunter's partner is Sgt. Joanne Molenski (Darlanne Fluegel), who is introduced in the two-part season opener "Deadly Encounters". Like Hunter, Molenski still has issues with her troubled past, as indicated in the subsequent episode "Kill Zone." And also like Hunter, Joanne is capable of making serious mistakes, notably when she loses her weapon to a killer during an undercover operation in "This Is My Gun". Midway through the season, Joanne Molenski is knocked off by a serial killer in the two-parter "Fatal Obsession"; at the same time, Lauren Lane joins the cast as Sgt. Chris Novak, a divorcee with a cute daughter named Allison (Courtney Barilla)--and a former flame of her erstwhile partner Hunter. During the series' final months, the relationship between Hunter and Novak will slowly but surely rekindle again. Curiously, neither Hunter nor Chris are the focal points in the series finale "Little Man with a Big Reputation"; instead, the plot is built around a former associate of the mercurial Captain Devane.
by Hal Erickson
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