Title: Experience
Directed by: Danny Arnold
Written by: Steve Gordon
Air Date: January 30, 1975
Previous: Ramon
Next: Snow Job
Guest Starring: Alex Henteloff, Jack De Leon, Rod Perry, Noam Pitlik, Ray Sharkey
"Experience" is the second episode of the first season of Barney Miller.
A man enters the 12th precinct and asks to talk to a detective. Not finding the person he wanted to see, the man walks out of the squad room—leaving behind a bomb in a briefcase.
Capt. Miller, it turns out, is going through files trying to get a lead on a mad bomber who has been terrorizing the area. Meanwhile, Detective Wilson (Rod Perry) and Fish have brought in Marty, a purse snatcher. Fish, an old cop who is two years away from mandatory retirement, couldn't keep up as Wilson chased down Marty on foot. Fish decides that he can't hack it as a cop anymore, and tells Barney he's going to retire.
First appearance of Alex Henteloff (Arnold Ripner, sleazy lawyer) and Jack De Leon (Camp Gay Marty), both of whom would be periodic guest stars over the run of the show. Rod Perry, who played Wilson in the original pilot, made his only appearance of the series here, as he was replaced by Ron Glass as Harris.note Noam Pitlik, who appears in the opening scene as the bomber, would go on to direct more than half of all the episodes of Barney Miller.
Tropes:
- Blowing a Raspberry: Wilson says the mysterious briefcase can't belong to Wojo or Yemana because "It's too classy for you guys." In response Wojo blows him a raspberry, and Yemana says "Very well put."
- Camp Gay: First appearance of Jack De Leon as the extremely gay Marty. To Marty, his crime of stealing the purse wasn't nearly as terrible as that of the woman who bought the very ugly purse.
- Dramatic Irony: Barney says of the mad bomber that "This whole thing has me uneasy." Yemana says that Barney will catch the bomber because Barney has "animal instinct...a sort of awareness." As Yemana says this Barney is actually holding the briefcase bomb, which he picked up off a chair.
- Elder Employee: Fish, a couple of years away from his pension, decides he must retire because he can't hack it. All the other cops try and talk him out of it, although even at the end of the episode he says he's still going to retire. (In Real Life Abe Vigoda was only 53.)
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Barney is trying to give Fish a pep talk as Fish talks of retirement. Barney says of Fish's coworkers, "They know that you're sharp, that you're on the ball!" This is followed by a loud snore from Fish, who has fallen asleep on the couch. Again at the end Barney, still trying to talk Fish out of retirement, says "You're a fine example for every young officer on the force!" Fish starts snoring again.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: On his way out, Jack impulsively steals the briefcase with the bomb in it, inadvertently saving the precinct...only for an undercover Wilson to apprehend Jack and bring the briefcase back.
- Relocating the Explosion: Fish manages to lock the bomb in the office's safe Just in Time. After it explodes, Barney reminds Fish that there was $40 in petty cash in the safe.Fish: Take it out of my check.
- Time Bomb: A mad bomber has been leaving bombs all around the area, set to go off at 5 pm. So when Fish figures out that the bomb is in the briefcase, everyone knows exactly how long it will be until the bomb goes off (not very long).
