Title: The Judge
Directed by: Bill Davis
Written by: Frank Dungan, Jeff Stein, and Tony Sheehan
Air Date: December 6, 1979
Previous: The Desk
Next: The DNA Story
Guest Starring: Peggy Pope, Philip Stirling
"The Judge" is the ninth episode of the sixth season of Barney Miller.
Except for a wistful look on Barney's face in the last scene of the last episode, this episode is the show's only In-Universe acknowledgment that Sgt. Nick Yemana is dead.note And it's an oblique one at that. The detectives come to work one day to find Nick's desk gone. After a moment of wistful reflection (Wojo: "Gonna kind of miss it being there." Barney: "Gonna miss a lot of things."), they start their day. Dietrich is being even more annoying than usual, which leads Harris to not-at-all-subtly suggest that now that they have more room, Dietrich can move his desk farther away. Meanwhile, Levitt, who works plainclothes on a part-time basis and uses Nick's old desk when he does, is unpleasantly surprised to come in and find the desk gone. Levitt takes it as a sign that he's never getting that full-time promotion to detective, and angrily demands a transfer.
Then there are two wacky cases. In one, a Ms. Marcum comes in and reports seeing a lurid series of crimes through her window—drugs, prostitution, rape, a shooting. Harris and Dietrich check it out and discover that Ms. Marcum is mentally disturbed and confusing the soap opera she watches every day with reality. The other case came about after Wojo had to go to court to give testimony. He returns with none other than the trial judge, Judge Philip Gibson, in tow; it seems Judge Gibson snapped and struck a defense attorney with his gavel.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: When Ms. Marcum first sees Captain Miller she says "Don't I know you from somewhere?". In 1969 Hal Linden made a couple of appearances on Search for Tomorrow.
- Bad to the Last Drop: When Nick was around his legendarily bad coffee was a Running Gag. After the detectives come to work and find Nick's desk gone, Dietrich makes coffee.Dietrich: Not as bad as Nick's, but I'm working on it.
Barney: [sips, frowns] You're getting there. - Berserk Button: The pressures of work have obviously gotten to Judge Gibson, but what made him snap and assault a defense attorney was the defense attorney showing up in court in a turtleneck.
- Bland-Name Product: Harris and Dietrich find all of Ms. Marcum's colorful stories in "Soap Opera Monthly". The actual magazine was Soap Opera Digest. Ms. Marcum is watching a show called "Endless Tomorrows" which is apparently a play on Search for Tomorrow.
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Ms. Marcum thinks that the soap operas she's watching in her tiny basement apartment are real life.
- Comically Missing the Point: Left alone at the end of the episode with Ms. Marcum, Barney tries as gently as he can to explain that sometimes fictional characters can seem very real, and people get confused. Ms. Marcum then says that "Gwen" isn't really in trouble, and "Rick" didn't really embezzle that money in order to get his mom a cornea transplant. When Barney agrees, she says "Then why is he in prison?", and on that note the episode ends.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: When Wojo calls Barney over to calm Judge Gibson down, the judge says that they're "bringing out the big guns." Judge Gibson grows steadily more red in the face as he screams at Barney that it's the "consequences of your actions beginning to sink in. I mean the embarrassment, the humiliation, the disgrace, a laughingstock in front of your colleagues—" and at that moment he realizes he's talking about himself, and he breaks down crying.
- Pun: As Wojo leads Judge Gibson into the cage, he explains that "It doesn't matter who you are." Judge Gibson answers "I'll be the judge of that!"
- Scatting: Apparently casting about for a new way to annoy Harris, Dietrich starts scatting. His endless repetitions of "dooby ba ba" and the like cause Harris to demand Dietrich move his desk away.
- Unusual Euphemism: The Running Gag of Harris's creative euphemisms for the Bellevue mental ward, as the discussion of Ms. Marcum leads Harris to ask Barney, "Want me to call General Hospital?".
