Title: Rachel
Directed by: Homer Powell
Written by: Frank Dungan, Jeff Stein, and Tony Sheehan
Air Date: February 26, 1981
Previous: The Librarian
Next: Contempt: Part 1
Guest Starring: Anne Wyndham, Alex Henteloff, Stanley Brock, Chu Chu Malave
"Rachel" is the 14th episode of the seventh season of Barney Miller.
Rachel's back! Rachel Miller (Anne Wyndham), not seen since the fifth episode of the series, stops by the squad room to see her dad. Rachel, now a college graduate and a slim, lovely blonde, catches the eye of Detective Wojciehowicz, who asks her out on a date. Barney is well aware of Wojo's Casanova ways and, when he hears that Wojo is going out on a date with his daughter, he pressures Wojo to cancel.
Meanwhile, Harris is all excited because there may be a movie deal in the offing about his book, "Blood on the Badge". (Barney thinks Roy Scheider should play him.) Unfortunately, all this talk of the book means that Barney has it tucked under his arm when slimy lawyer Arnold Ripner comes into the 12th asking about his client. Ripner, who had not heard of the book before, reads it, and is offended by the very thinly veiled portrait of him. He tells Harris that he'll be suing Harris and his publishers for $5 million.
With all that plot there is only one wacky case instead of the usual two. A burglar, Joseph Rubio, has broken into the sporting goods store of Bruno Bender, a recurring character. It seem that Bender, a loud, obnoxious type who once styled himself a vigilante and has been known to offer bounties for criminals, had rigged up a crossbow as a booby trap in the store. When the detectives found it, Bender was arrested too.
Tropes:
- Ambiguously Jewish: One of a small handful of episodes mentioning that Barney is Jewish. When Wojo finds out that Barney doesn't like the idea of him dating Rachel, he asks if it's because he isn't Jewish.
- Booby Trap: Bender is arrested for rigging up a booby trap with a crossbow, one which could easily have killed someone a little taller than the diminutive Mr. Rubio.
- Brick Joke: During the Cold Open, Barney and Harris are discussing Harris' dream cast for the film version of "Blood on the Badge". Harris, it's implied out of spite, has settled on Charles Nelson Reilly for Dietrich. In Act 2, as Harris and Ripner nearly come to blows, Dietrich (who was reading Harris' casting notes during the argument) asks Harris "what's with Charles Nelson Reilly?"
- The Casanova: Wojo admits it, saying "I sleep around a lot." Usually Wojo's Casanova ways only bother Barney when they make Wojo late for work (which they do a lot), but when it's Rachel that Wojo wants to date, things are different.
- Continuity Nod:
- The long plot arc about Harris writing a book, which was visited from time to time for nearly the whole run of the series, takes a turn. Just when it seems that everything's coming up roses for Harris with a potential movie deal, Arnold Ripner slaps a lawsuit on him.
- Rachel makes her third and last appearance on the series, and mentions how Fish and Nick were there the last time she stopped by. She also mentions Wojo's "karate outfit", which he did wear in the squad room once, in the sixth episode of the first season.
- When Barney and the whole squad have to mobilize for a hostage situation, Barney says to Rachel, "Don't tell your mother." Earlier in the series there was a whole arc about how the Millers nearly got divorced because Liz couldn't deal with the dangerous nature of her husband's job.
- Internal Reveal: Bruno Bender, who's being held in the cell again, never realized that Barney was Jewish until Wojo mentioned it. When he hears he shouts, "Hey, you people got a great air force."
- Mistaken for Prostitute: Levitt is asked by Barney to keep an eye on the place as everyone else mobilizes for the hostage situation. Levitt sees Rachel lingering in the office, turns to Barney, and says "Hooker?" Capt. Miller is not amused.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Barney thinks his daughter is off-limits, and says as much to Wojo. Wojo quite reasonably points out that Rachel is a 22-year-old college graduate and certainly no longer a virgin and is old enough to make her own decisions. Barney eventually accepts that Wojo is right and even suggests a restaurant where Wojo and Rachel could go.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If Barney hadn't shown Harris' book off to Ripner, Ripner wouldn't have sued, at least not for a while, as Ripner had never even heard of it until Barney called his attention to it.
- Shown Their Work: Ripner may be an ambulance-chasing sleazeball but he knows his law. When Harris protests that "Blood on the Badge" is a novel and the Ripner character in the book is a fictional version with a different name, Ripner cites Bindrim vs. Mitchell, a real court case
in which a man sued for libel and won a judgment over his portrayal in a novel. - William Telling: Discussed Trope as Dietrich, amused at Bender's booby trap which could have killed a man a little taller than Rubio, says to Bender "Let's do the apple trick."
- Write Who You Know: In-Universe. Harris's book was a Roman à Clef where he basically used all the people he knows, his colorful fellow policemen and the even more colorful parade of crooks that file through the place. Unfortunately for Harris he was a little too obvious with the unflattering portrait of Ripner, and Ripner sues him.
