Title: The Doll
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Jordan Moffet and Nat Mauldin (story), Tony Sheehan (teleplay)
Air Date: March 26, 1981
Previous: Contempt: Part 2
Next: Lady and the Bomb
Guest Starring: James Gregory, Oliver Clark, A Martinez, Dee Croxton
"The Doll" is the 17th episode of the seventh season of Barney Miller.
Ms. Christine Lawson, owner of a fancy doll shop, comes into the squad room in a high state of agitation to report a kidnapping. Wojo takes her information but is surprised when Ms. Lawson says that "Victoria" lives in the window of the shop. It turns out that Victoria is a doll. However, she's a $5000 doll so it's still worth the 12th Precinct's time. Soon the thief is revealed to be a kidnapper, as Ms. Lawson gets a note demanding five grand for the return of the doll.
The second case involves one Eugene Corbett, who was arrested for creating a disturbance at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, a NASA facility in New York. Mr. Corbett was solicited outside the building by a man who sold him a ticket on the Space Shuttle Columbia for $500 (Columbia made the first ever space shuttle flight 17 days after this episode aired), and freaked out when he learned that he actually isn't getting a ride.
In personal news, Harris is unhappy over the exorbitant lawyers' fees he's having to pay to defend him in Arnold Ripner's defamation suit—and Barney had gotten a subpoena to testify in the trial. Inspector Luger, being his typical maudlin self, comes by the squad room and tells Barney that with Luger having no family, he has named Barney the beneficiary in his will. Barney is caught by surprise when Luger, who has lived very frugally for decades, reveals that Barney stands to inherit over $220,000.
Tropes:
- Chekhov's Skill: Mr. Corbett is an optician. His story ends with Mr. Swift, the NASA man, mentioning the new space telescope (that would be the Hubble, then scheduled for launch in 1983) and suggesting that Mr. Swift might actually be able to go into space as a lens specialist.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Ms. Lawson is pretty weird about the doll, from when she reports the theft as a kidnapping to saying stuff like "She's not used to being touched by strangers." At the end, when Barney tells Ms. Lawson that they're going to have to keep Victoria for evidence, Ms. Lawson reassures him that she does know that Victoria is only a doll. Then she asks when visiting hours are.
- Continuity Nod:
- Another mention of Arnold Ripner's defamation of Harris, a Season 7 plot arc and part of the arc about Harris's book that lasted for nearly the whole series. Harris is paying his attorneys $165 an hour and isn't happy about it.
- Mr. Siegel works as an optician and has a booth at Siegel's, frequently mentioned as a large department store in the area.
- The Eeyore: Inspector Luger is being even more maudlin than usual, droning on about how he never got married and he has no family and he's lived for decades in a "dingy one-bedroom apartment" and cooking on a hot plate.
-
Fandom Rivalry: After Dietrich lets on that he saw a Three Stooges marathon, Levitt mentions that his favorite Stooge is Shemp. Dietrich, disgusted, says "I don't think we have anything more to discuss" and walks off. Later on, he dismissively calls Levitt "Shemp" when they have to go on a call, to which Levitt replies "They never let ya forget it..." - Finger in the Mail: The kidnapper, just to show he is serious, sends one of the doll's shoes and a lock of its hair.Harris: [laughing] This is silly!
- Shout-Out: Dietrich is going to see a Three Stooges film marathon, but he has to be pretentious even about that, talking about the "Chekovian wordplay" between Larry and Curly.
- Stupid Crooks: Joseph Montoya, the guy who stole the doll. He took the shoebox that supposedly held the $5000 straight back to his own apartment without even looking inside.Mr. Montoya: I trusted you guys!
Harris: That was stupid. - Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Harris, The Dandy, is horrified when Inspector Luger compliments Harris's suit and says it's something that he himself might wear.
