Recap / Barney Miller S 2 E 17

Episode: Season 2, Episode 17
Title: Fear of Flying
Directed by: Lee Bernhardi
Written by: Reinhold Weege
Air Date: January 29, 1976
Previous: The Sniper
Next: Block Party
Guest Starring: Jack Riley, Charles Murphy, Valerie Curtin

"Fear of Flying" is the 17th episode of the second season of Barney Miller.

Wojo brings into the squad room one Fred Clooney, who is a bigamist. Mr. Clooney says that he is a Gemini and this has led him to do everything in his life, including getting married, in twos. Mr. Clooney's other wife is in Cleveland and Wojo has to escort him there to face charges. This is a problem because, as it turns out, Wojo is afraid of flying. The situation becomes more serious when Mrs. Clooney—the New York version, that is—comes into the squad room and swallows a bottle of sleeping pills.

In other news, the detectives of the 12th are shocked when one Mr. Woolen brings in $3500 he found in a satchel in the street. In personal news, Fish's wife Bernice is pissed at him because he suggested they take separate vacations.

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Tropes:

• Bad to the Last Drop: What do the detectives use as an emetic after Mrs. Clooney swallows a bottle of pills? Yemana's coffee, of course! And it works, as Mrs. Clooney lives after she pukes Yemana's coffee all over the ambulance.
• Blowing a Raspberry: Mrs. Clooney blows a raspberry at her two-timing husband as she's taken out of the squad room.
• Call-Back: Fish is irritated when Bernice abruptly hangs up on him. At the end of the episode, he takes a call from her, says "Hello, Bernice?", then slams the phone back down.
  Fish: That felt good!
• Driven to Suicide: Mrs. Clooney swallows a bottle of pills. The detectives save her life by feeding her Yemana's coffee.
• Face Your Fears: Wojo has to fly. He eventually forces himself to do it, saying that a man has to face his fears, "even if it kills him."
• The Gambling Addict: When Wojo tells everyone that he has to fly to Cleveland, Yemana gives him $1 and tells him to take out flight insurance and name Yemana the beneficiary.
  Yemana: It's the gambler in me!
• One-Episode Fear: Wojo is revealed to have a fear of flying.
• Place Worse Than Death: Yemana feels this way about Cleveland, as revealed when he learns that Wojo, who is on assignment to the district attorney's office, has to escort a bigamist there to stand trial.
  Wojo: [enters in a suit and tie with the bigamist, Fred Clooney, handcuffed to his wrist] Hi, guys. [starts unlocking the cuffs]
  Chano: [chuckles] Well, well, well! Don't we look classy!
  Harris: You know, uh, with that suit he's either getting married or he's dead.
  Wojo: I came by to pick up some things. I'm goin' to Cleveland.
  Yemana: He's dead.
  [later, when Clooney's New York wife, Gloria, has shown up and overdosed on secobarbitol]
  Barney: How are you feeling, Mrs. Clooney?
  Mrs. Clooney: Oh, embarrassed. Disgusted. Alone. Deserted.
  Mr. Clooney: [horrified] Deserted!? I'm not deserting you, Gloria, they're taking me to Cleveland by force!
  Yemana: That's the only way I'd go.
• Secret Other Family: Mr. Clooney has wives in Cleveland and New York.
• Shout-Out: The title is a Shout-Out to very popular 1970s novel Fear of Flying, which is not actually about a fear of flying but about the sex life of a woman who Really Gets Around. Harris tricks Wojo into taking the book with him, and it actually works in getting Wojo's mind off having to fly.
• Suicide by Pills: What Mrs. Clooney attempts upon finding out her husband has a second wife.
• Take That!: A lot of jokes about how much Cleveland sucks.
  Barney: Have a good time in Cleveland.
  Yemana: You could be the first.
• That Came Out Wrong: When Fish says Bernice thinks he wants to have an affair, Barney scoffs and says "You couldn't do a thing like that!" After a Death Glare from Fish Barney realizes that what he said could be taken in a couple of different ways, and he starts furiously backtracking.
• TV Telephone Etiquette: Discussed Trope. After Bernice's conversation with Fish ends, Fish indignantly says "She hung up on me!" Chano says how much he admires people who hang up with TV Telephone Etiquette. At the end of the episode Fish does the same, hanging up right after he takes the phone and says "Hello, Bernice?"