"The Big Break" is a very strange episode. It consists of a lot of sloppy policework as well as a frighteningly bad job of the workers at the county jail! It's so laughable that it's hard to believe that these stories were supposedly taken from real cases AND it's hard to believe the show would talk about such sloppiness.
Friday and Smith have been looking for an armed robber named Hoffman. Despite Hoffman seeming like a real idiot, it took them a while to find him. When they do, there's a shootout but the detectives are able to capture the guy with no injuries. However, despite being a very violent guy, the jail authorities were apparently pretty dumb, as he soon escaped*. He's captured and sentenced to prison.
A few years pass. Hoffman is in the Army and comes to visit Smith and Friday to tell them he has no hard feelings and has turned his life around for good. However, after giving Hoffman a few bucks, they learn that Hoffman is AWOL--and he'd escaped from the military prison! But, by then, he was gone.
The rest of the show consist of the cops once again tracking down Hoffman and capturing him in a hail of bullets. All this leads you to wonder just how dumb the system can be! All in all, a silly and sloppy episode that left me feeling let-down. See if yourself--let me know what you think.