Title: The Radical
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Lee H. Grant (story), Tony Sheehan (teleplay)
Air Date: December 7, 1978
Previous: The Harris Incident
Next: Toys
Guest Starring: James Gregory, Corey Fischer, Stuart Pankin, Craig Richard Nelson
"The Radical" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of Barney Miller.
Wojo brings in a shoplifter, who, without any prompting, reveals that the ID Wojo took from him is false, and he is actually one Jonathan Dodd. Mr. Dodd, it seems, is wanted by the FBI for a series of bombings and other protests against the Vietnam War. Mr. Dodd, who envisions himself as famous and important, is miffed when the cops of the 12th haven't heard of him, his fellow radicals don't answer his calls, and the FBI is too busy to send over an agent. He is even more mortified when he finally gets a comrade-in-arms over to bail him out, only to find that his old buddy Mr. Moraz is now an insurance salesman in a suit.
Meanwhile, the second wacky case involves an overweight burglar, Mr. Moreau (Stuart Pankin). The fat burglar is very sensitive about it and makes a series of defensive fat jokes.
Inspector Luger drops by to pay one of his "morale" visits that are really him boring the pants off of his underlings. In this particular instance, however, Luger the crusty old cop gets in a shouting match with Dodd the anarchist—and has a heart attack.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: A Running Gag with Inspector Luger and Levitt. Luger, being taken off in a stretcher, tells everyone that he's been "proud to serve and work with a fine group" of cops. Then he turns to Levitt and says "You too, Levine." Levitt has to choke back the protest as Luger is hauled out.
- Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: Jonathan Dodd is the prototypical bomb-throwing anarchist chucking bombs at the police. He's on an FBI most-wanted list hanging in the squad room, although the FBI doesn't seem to care enough to send an agent over.
- Celebrity Paradox: Just two episodes before in "The Vandal", a character ranting about shitty prime-time television cited a show called The San Pedro Beach Bums. Stuart Pankin, who appears in this episode, starred on The San Pedro Beach Bums.
- Continuity Nod: Luger with yet another story about his old friend Brownie, now lying in a hospital somewhere "like summer squash".
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Mr. Moreau was arrested because he tried to run from Harris, but he got stuck crawling out a window.
- Handshake Refusal: Mr. Moraz, former lefty radical turned slimy insurance salesman, says he hopes Luger has good insurance because the NYPD's coverage is very poor. Then he turns to Harris and sticks out his hand and says "I didn't get your name." Harris says "I didn't give it," and walks off in disgust.
- Hollywood Heart Attack: Dietrich even lists the symptoms: shortness of breath, nausea, pain in the left arm. It turns out that Inspector Luger actually had some heart fibrillations, and he is discharged from the hospital.
- The Remnant: Jonathan Dodd turns out to be the last remnant of 1960s Weather Underground-style radical leftism, still fighting the war against "The Man" in 1978 when Vietnam's been over for three years and nobody cares. Wojo and the cops at the 12th don't recognize his name, the FBI is so uninterested that they're not even going to bother to send over an agent until tomorrow, and his old friend from the radical days now wears a suit and sells insurance. The detectives commiserate over how sad it is that a guy would still go around being a radical long after America has left those days behind.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Mr. Dodd is obviously from the Weather Underground although that organization is not named. Mark Rudd, a Weather Underground member who had gone underground in 1970, surrendered less than a year before this episode aired.
- The Vietnam Vet: It was long established that Det. Wojciehowicz was a Marine who fought in Vietnam before joining the police force, but this was one of the few times Wojo's veteran status was dealt with directly. Wojo is offended by Dodd, but he has his world rocked when both Dietrich and Harris admit that they protested against the war. Finally he explodes, telling everyone else that they don't know what they're talking about.Wojo: You can't really understand it unless you were there yourself!
