Title: Lady and the Bomb
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Lee H. Grant
Air Date: April 9, 1981
Previous: The Doll
Next: Riot
Guest Starring: Abe Vigoda, Peggy Pope, James Murtaugh, Judson Morgan, Ben Freeman, Howard Mann
"Lady and the Bomb" is the 18th episode of the seventh season of Barney Miller.
It's the usual two wacky cases. An anxious housewife, Mrs. Doris Carlisle, comes into the squad room with an unusual problem. Her husband Ron is suffering from a lack of virility, and Doris blames this on nuclear waste, because Ron works in the Nuclear Medicine unit at a local hospital. Mrs. Carlisle wants the waste gone. Barney's first instinct is to tell the woman that disposal of nuclear waste is not an NYPD problem, but Wojo, being Wojo, has already agreed to look into it. Wojo returns to the 12th and tells Barney that while the hospital does have a fair amount of nuclear waste from chemotherapy research and such, no one is willing to accept it at the present time, so that's that.
The second case involves Mr. Houston and Mr. Korshak, two older gentlemen who got into a fight at a post office. They are playing chess by mail, and an argument over moves led the two of them to meet at the post office, and a fight ensued.
Meanwhile, Harris has gotten the verdict in Arnold Ripner's libel suit, and it is disastrous. Harris lost and Ripner won a $320,000 settlement. And Fish is back! Detective Phil Fish (Abe Vigoda) makes his second and last return visit to the 12th Precinct after he retired at the beginning of Season 4. Fish is there merely to shoot the breeze, but his idle chatter with Barney about old times is interrupted. Mrs. Carlisle, it turns out, is not willing to accept being told that there's nothing the police can do. She pulls a bomb out of her shopping bag and demands that the nuclear waste be removed in two hours, or she'll blow everyone up.
Tropes:
- And Starring: Abe Vigoda gets an "And Abe Vigoda as Detective Fish" credit.
- Bad to the Last Drop: The Running Gag about the squad room's terrible coffee. Barney gives him a cup and says, "It's not as bad as Nick's, but we're working on it."
- Bland-Name Product: Mrs. Carlisle says that she learned how to make a bomb by going to "a radical bookstore" and buying a book called "Recipes for the Revolution". This is obviously inspired by Real Life book The Anarchists Cookbook.
- Chekhov's Gun: Mrs. Carlisle has a shopping bag, which Fish specifically points out, asking if she's been shopping. The bomb is inside the bag.
- Continuity Nod: Several.
- The storyline about Harris getting sued, part of the nearly series-long arc about his book "Blood on the Badge", is returned to again. Harris has suffered a devastating defeat in court and must pay Ripner over three hundred thousand dollars.
- Barney comments about Harris's lawyers bringing up his "prison record" during cross examination. That's a reference to just a few episodes ago and two-parter "Contempt", in which Barney went to jail for contempt of court.
- Abe Vigoda's Barney Miller spinoff Fish was abruptly canceled after two seasons, because ABC didn't want to meet Vigoda's salary demands. It gets a sort-of wrap up in this episode as Barney asks how Fish's children's home is going. Fish says that the state withdrew funding, so the kids had to go back to the orphanage. Victor was charged with assault, but they won't try him as an adult, and Jilly got knocked up, but at least the father is marrying her.
- Hostage Situation: Mrs. Carlisle takes the whole squad room hostage and demands that the nuclear waste be removed from the hospital.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Mr. Houston says that he put Mr. Corshak in check with a clever move, but Mr. Corshak denies receiving that letter. Levitt then chimes in, saying "According to Mr. Houston his check is in the mail." No one laughs.
- The Loins Sleep Tonight: Mrs. Carlisle's husband no longer has a sex drive, which she blames on the radioactive waste at the hospital, and which has spurred her to drastic action. She finally surrenders and hands over her bomb when Fish explains to her that people get old, and things change.
- Newhart Phone Call: A frequent gag on the show, heard in this episode a couple of times as Barney is trying to get help with the nuclear waste. In one scene he calls Mr. Giles, the hospital administrator.Barney: I was hoping you could help me out.... Yes, I do have full hospitalization, Mr. Giles.
- Unreveal Angle: The Running Gag about the squad room's toilet, which was almost never shown but was said to be gross. Fish takes a look in the bathroom and says, "It is as horrible as I remember."
