Title: The Architect
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Jim Tisdale and Calvin Kelly (story), Frank Dungan, Jeff Stein, and Tony Sheehan (teleplay)
Air Date: March 27, 1980
Previous: Dietrich's Arrest: Part 2
Next: The Inventor
Guest Starring: Norman Bartold, Paul Lieber, Chu Chu Malave, David Clennon, Jesse Aragon
"The Architect" is the 20th episode of the sixth season of Barney Miller.
Dietrich remains on restricted duty as punishment for his actions in previous two-parter "Dietrich's Arrest". He complains about it, and Levitt also complains about having to come in on his day off because Dietrich's on restricted duty.
Since Dietrich doesn't have a gun and can't go out on calls, it's Wojo and Harris that respond to a report of a vandal in the building across the street. It turns out that the man vandalizing the building is one Howard Speer, the architect who designed the building; Mr. Speer is angry that the corporation that hired him proceeded to greatly alter his original design. Mr. Speer keeps asking the time, and when he makes a veiled reference to The Fountainhead, Dietrich realizes that Mr. Speer has wired the building to explode.
The detectives are quite busy with the bomb threat when two men walk in looking for a Joseph Vella, the criminal that Levitt took off to The Tombs at the start of the episode. Suddenly they whip out guns and demand the release of Vella, as well as $100,000 and a helicopter out of the city. Captain Miller finds himself having to manage a bomb squad investigation while also being held hostage at gunpoint.
In other news, Harris, self-involved as always, is about to go on a ski trip to Jackson Hole, WY, and is upset because it hasn't snowed there. The detectives are irritated by the visit of Bob Schuyler, an unctuous insurance salesman, although Wojciehowicz buys a policy.
Chu Chu Malave, one of the two gun-wielding hostage takers, also appeared in series premiere "Ramon", in which he also played a gun-wielding hostage taker.
Tropes:
- Colliding Criminal Conspiracies: Barney is frantically trying to manage the evacuation of the building across the street, when two bozos with guns barge in and take everyone in the 12th hostage over an entirely unrelated matter.
- Comically Missing the Point: Dietrich's complaining about not being able to go out on calls, because he's on restricted duty, ends with him saying "I feel like I'm being punished."Barney: You are.
Dietrich: Oh yeah! - Continuity Nod: Dietrich being put on restricted duty at the end of two-parter "Dietrich's Arrest" is referenced, as he doesn't have a gun and is limited to doing paperwork.
- Curse Cut Short: A Running Gag with Barney having to stop Wojo from cursing, heard here when Wojo quotes the last and most obscene of Mr. Speer's nasty messages.
- Delayed Explosion: Two o'clock comes and there's no explosion from the building across the street. A pissed-off Barney turns to Mr. Speer and says "Very funny, Mister—", and then there's a loud offscreen explosion.
- Foreshadowing: Mr. Speer asks what time it is three different times. The last time, Dietrich twigs to what's going on and figures out that Speer has wired his building to blow.
- Hostage Situation: Two gun-wielding thugs barge into the squad room and demand $100K and the release of their partner from jail. They get annoyed when Barney barely pays attention to them as he's trying to manage the bomb threat across the street.
- Job Title: "The Architect" is angry about his design for a building being altered. So angry that he's decided to blow the building up.
- No Name Given: The two gun-wielding crooks that hold the men of the 12th hostage are never named.
- Stupid Crooks: Frequently seen on Barney Miller. In this episode two thugs come in to set their buddy free, only to find out after they've already drawn guns that he's been taken out of the precinct to The Tombs.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: After Mr. Schuyler asks if Wojciehowicz is a Polish name, a suspicious Wojo says that yes it is.Wojo: Why, are the rates different?
Schuyler: Oh no, not anymore.
