Title: Good-Bye, Mr. Fish: Part 2
Directed by: Danny Arnold
Written by: Reinhold Weege
Air Date: September 22, 1977
Previous: Good-Bye, Mr. Fish: Part 1
Next: Bugs
Guest Starring: Abe Vigoda, Florence Staley, Larry Gelman
"Good-Bye, Mr. Fish: Part 2" is the second episode of the fourth season of Barney Miller.
Despite taking place In-Universe on the same day as the previous episode, Bruno Binder and his bounty posters are forgotten. Instead everyone is worried about Fish, because it's his last day of work—he has hit the mandatory NYPD retirement age of 63—and he hasn't shown up. A worried Bernice Fish comes to the office looking for her husband, but the detectives have nothing to tell her. (Inspector Luger's obviously phony reassurances despite thinking that Fish has killed himself do not help.)
Finally Fish does stroll in to the office, telling Barney and the gang that he walked to work. From Brooklyn. Fish, normally a Grumpy Old Man, is oddly cheerful, and even eager to go out and respond to an armed robbery call. When he casually mentions some paperwork that he has to get back to on Monday, the detectives realize that Fish is in a state of denial about his retirement.
The B plot involves one Edward Sellers, a middle-aged man who was arrested for smashing up the security cameras at a grocery store. Why? Because Mr. Sellers is convinced that the cameras are for tracking people, so that "they" can subject you to "the operation" and make you a pod person.
With this episode Abe Vigoda was written off of Barney Miller, to star full-time on the spinoff Fish...which was cancelled after two seasons in 1978 when Vigoda demanded more money than ABC wanted to pay.
Tropes:
- And Starring: Abe Vigoda having already been removed from the opening credits, he instead gets "Special Guest Star" at the end. Florence Staley, in her last appearance on Barney Miller, gets "And Starring".
- The Big Rotten Apple: Alluded to when Fish, on the verge of tears as he faces retirement, talks to Barney about "the trouble this city is in" and how New York needs "good men" like him. Played for a gag later when Wojo reveals Fish's retirement present, a New York City municipal bond, and a horrified Yemana says "Oh my God."
- Blatant Lies: Inspector Luger is talking about how Fish has "disappeared off the face of the earth" at the exact moment that Bernice walks in. When a horrified Bernice asks who's disappeared off the face of the earth, Dietrich says, without missing a beat, "The pterodactyl! Eleven million years ago!"
- Broken Tears: Fish gets teary-eyed when he finally has to face up to the fact that it's his last day of work.Barney: The rules say you have to retire at 63.
Fish: Rules are made by men and rules can be changed by men! I know the Commissioner, I've known him for 20 years and I'm going to have a talk with him... I'll talk to him and everything's gonna be alright.
Barney: This is not the last day of your life, Fish.
Fish: I'm a man with a record, Barney. You think they're going to force me out? Not me! A man with my experiences, my accommodations? Not me! [tears in his eyes as his voice breaks] Not me... - Comforting Comforter: A variation, when Harris straightens Fish's tie as Fish is bidding goodbye to the gang.
- Impostor-Exposing Test: Mr. Sellers says that there's one way you can identify the pod people after "the operation": they can't speak in a high register. He spends the whole episode irritating Yemana by saying "Hello?" in a high-pitched voice. Dietrich gets a reluctant Sellers to leave (for Bellevue) by saying "You're gonna be all right" in a high soprano.
- Multi-Part Episode: The second part of a two-part season premiere in which Fish unwillingly retires from the NYPD.
- Older Than They Look: The gang finally starts to call people, looking for Fish. Wojo tells the people he's talking to on the phone that Fish is "63, but he looks a lot older." (In fact Abe Vigoda was only 56.)
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Everyone is startled and suspicious by the strangely chipper, upbeat mood that perpetually grumpy Fish is in. Turns out he's just refusing to admit that he's retiring.
- Put on a Bus: Fish is retired from the NYPD, but in a way that would allow him to come back. Abe Vigoda did in fact make a guest appearance as Fish in the third episode after this one and he would return in a Season 7 episode.
- Reluctant Retiree: Fish refuses to admit that he has to retire and starts to cry when Barney finally confronts him.
- Replicant Snatching: Mr. Sellers believes that some sort of shadowy conspiracy is turning humans into pod people with an "operation".
- Unusual Euphemism: Harris many creative euphemisms for Bellevue (the mental hospital) and the bus to Bellevue were a Running Gag. When Harris says they'll have to call "the Twinkie mobile" for Mr. Sellers Barney corrects him, which doesn't stop Harris from making the call to Bellevue and telling them that "we've got a customer for the Magic Kingdom!".
