Title: Dietrich's Arrest: Part 2
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Frank Dungan, Jeff Stein, and Tony Sheehan
Air Date: March 6, 1980
Previous: Dietrich's Arrest: Part 1
Next: The Architect
Guest Starring: George Murdock, James Gregory, Allan Miller, Kay Medford
"Dietrich's Arrest: Part 2" is the 19th episode of the sixth season of Barney Miller.
Events follow immediately after the last episode, in which Dietrich was arrested for failure to disperse at an anti-nuclear rally. Harris books him and Dietrich gets put in the cage, which allows him to tell a lot of dry jokes about his change in fortune. ("When are we going to get some food around here?")
Booked right after him is a Nelson Haskell. It seems Mr. Haskell is pro-nuclear power, and in fact he works at the plant the others were protesting. Mr. Haskell has been arrested for splashing the anti-nuke people with water from the cooling plant, water that Mr. Haskell insists is perfectly safe since it's only secondary coolant that went through the power turbines.
Lt. Scanlon of Internal Affairs, the 12th Precinct's personal Inspector Javert, is giddy with joy at the prospect of finally getting to nail one of Barney's detectives for a misdeed. Inspector Luger, who loathes IA as much as the men of the 12th do, appears in defense of Dietrich.
Meanwhile, Barney is still trying to get a loan to buy his apartment, a plot thread from the first part of this two-parter. And the late hours that the detectives are pulling (thanks to the protest and riot) leads them to meet Mrs. Wakeman, the cleaning lady who comes in on the night shift.
Tropes:
- Accidental Public Confession: Scanlon, being Scanlon, refuses to blow off Dietrich's arrest as no big deal, saying that either he broke the law or he didn't, and you can't be "a little bit pregnant." Luger says "oh, so you found out about the cashier in Bensonhurst, huh? I already explained that!"
- Almighty Janitor: Mrs. Wakeman is strangely knowledgeable about the men of the 12th. As she's watering the plants in Barney's office she says "So, did you get that loan?" (He does get a loan, from the Bank of Korea.). She has read Harris's book "Blood on the Badge"—and she read the first draft. At the end, Wojo, who is now fully freaked out about nuclear power, desperately wants to talk about what is to be done, but all the other detectives go home. He's left alone with Mrs. Wakeman, who pats his cheek and says "We'll talk."
- Continuity Nod
- Apparently Luger got that cashier in Bensonhurst pregnant—the one that he mentions in third-season premiere "Evacuation".
- Dietrich has fun guilt-tripping Harris about booking him, remembering how he took Harris in as a roommate when Harris didn't have a place to stay ("The Bank"), and how Dietrich once saved Harris's life ("Identity").
- Internal Affairs: Lt. Scanlon of IA is back again, and he's very very happy to get a detective of the 12th Precinct about something.
- Multi-Part Episode: Second part of a two-parter in which, well, Dietrich gets arrested.
- Mysterious Past: The Running Gag about Dietrich's mysterious past is touched on again in this episode, when Dietrich lets slip that he got married at 17. A surprised Harris says "High school sweetheart?" Dietrich says no, she was his law school sweetheart. When Harris, now astonished, says he thought Dietrich went to medical school, Dietrich says that was later.
- Previously on…: A quick montage of scenes showing Part 1 highlights, ending with Dietrich getting arrested.
- Shout-Out: Mr. Haskell blames anti-nuclear hysteria on the Three Mile Island incident and "that crummy movie." That crummy movie is The China Syndrome, which came out less than a month after the Three Mile Island partial meltdown.
