Title: Field Associate
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Jordan Moffet
Air Date: January 15, 1981
Previous: Resignation
Next: Movie: Part 1
Guest Starring: Jeffrey Tambor, Florence Halop, Ned Glass
"Field Associate" is the eighth episode of the seventh season of Barney Miller.
Dietrich and Harris bring in one Stanley Goldman, who has been arrested for burglary despite obviously being well over 70. Stanley, who has a criminal record dating back nearly 60 years and who once worked for Lucky Luciano and Bugsy Siegel, isn't too worried about the prospect of going back to jail, because he has liver cancer and six months to live.
Wacky case #2 has Dietrich and Wojo bringing in a William Klein (Jeffrey Tambor), who was arrested for causing a disturbance at the New York office of the Trilateral Commission
. It seems Mr. Klein is a conspiracy theorist who thinks the Trilateral Commission is a secret conspiracy to take over the world.
Meanwhile, the 12th Precinct has received a nasty memo from Internal Affairs, citing a host of nitpicky rules violations engaged in by the detectives—Wojo's always late, Harris is doing personal things like calling his stockbroker on NYPD time, Dietrich talks endlessly. They soon figure out that the informant, who obviously has intimate knowledge of what goes on in the office, is the one man who's in there every day but isn't named: Levitt.
Tropes:
- Anticlimax: Harris finds a missing persons report that Mr. Goldman's wife filed on him way back in 1948. He is giddy with the excitement of reuniting Mr. and Mrs. Goldman for the first time in 33 years, but when Karen Goldman shows up at the 12th she and her husband have no interest in seeing each other and Mrs. Goldman leaves. Mr. Goldman, amused, thanks Harris for reminding him why he left her in the first place.
- Conspiracy Theorist: William Klein is a conspiracy theorist who thinks the Trilateral Commission is a secret cabal.
- The Dandy: The Running Gag about Harris being a fashion enthusiast and clothes horse is tweaked when the IA memo reveals that he has been calling a discount clothing store called "Suits 4 Less".
- Disguised in Drag: It's Levitt's turn to dress up as a woman and go out on mugging detail to catch purse snatchers. This just makes it sillier when Levitt confronts the detectives about his informing to IA, while wearing a dress and wig.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Levitt has this as part of his rationale for becoming an IA informant, as he was fed up with what he saw as condescension and disrespect from the other squad members, especially Harris' constant cracks about Levitt's height and what he saw as Barney doing a constant flip-flop on promoting Levitt to plainclothes full-time. This gets through to the squad, where his first justification, that he did it because if he didn't, they'd have asked someone else who might have tried harder to uncover worse faults, fell flat.
- Internal Affairs: They don't show up onscreen but the 12th gets a nasty memo from IA, which causes some agitation for the detectives.
- Last-Second Word Swap: Harris hears about the memo and says "I think we've got a field associate up our...way."
- The Reveal: As Mr. Klein is on his way out Dietrich says that his concerns aren't crazy, and any group like the Trilateral Commission that holds unchecked power is a concern. Then he says he'll bring it up at the next meeting—because Dietrich is a member. Or at least he says he is... given Dietrich's known history as a Deadpan Snarker Troll, he may have said it just to wind Klein up.Mr. Klein: Oh God, no!
- Title Drop: The informant who has been reporting on the 12th to IA is called a "field associate."
- Vice President Who?: Mr. Klein starts rattling off the names of prominent members of the Trilateral Commission. After naming Carter and Henry Kissinger, he mentions Vice President Walter Mondale and Dietrich says "Who?"
- While You Were in Diapers: Mr. Goldman takes one look at Barney and says "I got outstanding warrants older than you."
- Your Days Are Numbered: Mr. Goldman is pretty blasé about facing imminent death. Harris, who takes a liking to Mr. Goldman, agrees to go to his funeral.
