Title: The Indian
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Judith Ann Nielsen, Richard Beban, and Reinhold Weege (story), Reinhold Weege (teleplay)
Air Date: January 4, 1979
Previous: Toys
Next: Voice Analyzer
Guest Starring: Charles White-Eagle, Alix Elias, Phil Leeds, Richard Stahl
"The Indian" is the 12th episode of the fifth season of Barney Miller.
Wojo brings in a Native American, George Tenfingers, who was arrested for conducting a ceremony in an off-limits section of the park. Wojo is worried about Mr. Tenfingers, who is elderly and says that he hasn't eaten in four days. Mr. Tenfingers says that his spirit animal, a wolf, has told him that it is his time to die, and he wants to die in the park. Wojo, being Wojo, winds up tricking a bureaucrat from the Bureau for Indian Affairs to come to New York to help Mr. Tenfingers.
The second wacky case involves one Maggie DuBois, who had her shoes stolen off her feet while she was waiting at a bus stop. Ms. DuBois does not realize that she was the target of a foot fetishist. The pervert, when he's brought in, is Horace Chandler, a harmless old man.
Meanwhile, Levitt, temporarily on plainclothes duty, is rather bitter about the failure of his career and his failure to advance to plainclothes detective permanently. He goes into a full tailspin when he sees Captain Miller praise Officer Zatelli, the other uniform from downstairs, for his "excellent work".
Tropes:
- Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Mr. Owens from the Bureau for Indian Affairs, who comes to New York because Wojo told him there was a matter regarding a disputed treaty. He is highly affronted by being called in "on false pretenses", and leaves in a snit.
- Black Comedy Rape: When Ms. DuBois finally figures out that there was a sexual motive to the theft of her shoes, she says "Have I been violated?".
- Call-Back: Barney, trying to reach an accord with Levitt after Levitt complains about how he feels unappreciated, says that everybody deserves a "pat on the rump" once in a while. At the end of the episode, after Wojo tells what happened with Mr. Tenfingers and goes home, Levitt compliments Captain Miller on handling the situation well, and gives him a pat on the butt.
- Fetish: A woman's shoes are stolen off her feet by a weirdo with a shoe fetish. When Mr. Chandler the weirdo is brought in, he's a harmless, mild-mannered little man who just happens to be fixated on women's shoes.
- Hot-Blooded: Wojo, going off half-cocked as usual. He's so determined to get something done for Mr. Tenfingers that he calls Washington, DC, and lies that there's a matter of a treaty dispute, causing a BIA bureaucrat to fly in.
- Magical Native American: Well naturally, if there's an "Indian" on your show, he's going to be a mystic sort who has seen a vision where a spirit wolf has told him its his time to die.
- Plot Hole: That random BIA bureaucrat from Washington sure did make it to New York City awfully quickly.
- Rule 34: Wojo's explanation for why he isn't surprised about a pervert stealing a lady's shoes off her feet.Wojo: You can point to any object in the Sears catalog, and there's someone out there who wants to sleep with it.
- Spirit Advisor: A spirit, a wolf, appeared to Mr. Tenfingers and told him that it is his time to die.
- Unusual Euphemism: The cops describe the foot fetishist as a "fancier of footwear".
