Title: Chase
Directed by: Jeremiah Morris
Written by: Tom Reeder, Danny Arnold, and Reinhold Weege
Air Date: November 17, 1977
Previous: Blizzard
Next: Thanksgiving Story
Guest Starring: George Murdock, Luis Avalos, George Loros, Mews Small
"Chase" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of Barney Miller.
There are two different plots in this episode. In one, Wojo is late for work again. This time it's not because he overslept after having sex with his babe of the week. Instead, Wojo is late because he spotted an armed robbery in progress, then commandeered a taxi driver's cab to chase after the suspect. Into the squad room come Mr. Mione, the cab driver who is highly agitated over the prospect of his cab getting wrecked, and Miss Rosen, his shy passenger who had a few bags of designer clothes in the cab and is agitated about losing them, although she isn't as loud as Mr. Mione.
In the other plot thread, Dietrich and Harris bring in a James Glynn, a drug dealer who implausibly claims that the bag of heroin he was selling was "extra-strength pain reliever". Glynn makes sure that the detectives see the $6000 in cash he was carrying, and offers a bribe to let him go. After Barney and the detectives turn him down, "Glynn" reveals his real identity: Sgt. Michael Hunt of the NYPD, specifically Internal Affairs. Glynn was sent by the 12th Precinct's IA nemesis, Lt. Scanlon, in an effort to tempt the detectives into accepting bribes. An enraged Barney demands that Scanlon come to the squad room to answer for the failed sting.
Tropes:
- Agent Provocateur: "Glynn" the drug dealer is actually Sgt. Hunt of Internal Affairs, who was specifically sent to lure the detectives of the 12th Precinct into taking a bribe.
- Double Entendre: By the end of the episode Mr. Mione has found out that his cab is in fact totaled, and while the NYPD will eventually replace it, it's going to take a while. He's absorbing the bad news when Miss Rosen pipes up that she has a four-door sedan that she rarely drives that Mr. Mione can use as his cab. All of her dialogue with Mr. Mione has been loaded with double entendres suggesting that she's a virgin and would like him to deflower her, and their last lines confirm that he's going to accept both the offer of the cab and the other offer.Miss Rosen: It's never been driven in the city.
Mr. Mione: I'll be gentle.
Miss Rosen: I'll appreciate that. - Flashed-Badge Hijack: Wojo flashed his badge and hijacked a cab in order to chase down an armed robber. As Mr. Mione feared would happen, his cab is totally wrecked.
- Hot-Blooded: One of the standard Barney Miller plots was Wojo going off half-cocked and causing some kind of problem that Barney had to smooth over. In this episode Wojo does a Flashed-Badge Hijack, only for Barney to remind him that NYPD cops are discouraged from commandeering vehicles unless it's a serious emergency.
- Implausible Deniability: Glynn the drug dealer claims that his heroin is protein powder. When he's asked why he was carrying $6000 (in 1977 money) in cash, he says that it was his life savings and he was changing banks. This is later justified when it's revealed that "Glynn" is actually an NYPD cop running a sting on the 12th Precinct.
- Internal Affairs: Lt. Scanlon of IA is back to haunt the LAPD again, in the second of George Murdock's 12 appearances on the show. While Yemana is mildly offended that no one offered him a bribe, usually mild-mannered Barney is very pissed, pointing out that among other things Scanlon wasted two weeks of Dietrich and Harris's time in investigating a fake drug operation.
- Nature Abhors a Virgin: Without quite coming out and saying so, the meek Miss Rosen reveals that she's a frustrated virgin. At one point she asks Mr. Mione his sign and then very meaningfully says "I'm a Virgo." Mr. Mione, just as meaningfully, says "That's too bad."
- The Reveal: Glynn the sleazy drug dealer is actually Sgt. Hunt of Internal Affairs, and the whole heroin bust was actually an elaborate sting by Scanlon meant to lure the men of the 12th into taking bribes.
