It's the one year anniversary of what Carl considers to be one of his greatest failures: the death of an elderly man at the hands of a robber. Still haunted by that traumatic night, Carl takes the situation entirely on himself, and must learn to let go of his guilt.
Tropes seen in this episode:
- An Aesop: Do not blame yourself for a situation that you had no control over. The guilt will only weigh you down, even long after the incident.
- Angrish: When he isn't yelling about Eddie's laziness or the lack of root beer and milk in the fridge, Carl just mutters to himself in angry gibberish.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Carl and Harriet watch the news segment reacting to the arrest of the robber and death of the hostage. Carl was interviewed by the reporter on the scene, and he explains how he was complying with the robber's demand to get to a car before the hostage ended up getting shot, anyway.Karen: In retrospect, do you wish you had handled the situation differently?
Carl: [beat] I don't know. - Broken Tears: Carl has these when he visits the grave of the eldery man, killed a year earlier in a convenience store robbery, and begs for the man's forgiveness. Later, after a short time of having composed himself and talking with the man's widow, he has these again as he comforts her own broken tears.
- Heroic BSoD: Carl was likely this for the past year as he dealt with the memories of watching a live murder before his eyes and – in his mind – not doing the one thing that could have stopped it. Even though he likely had directly witnessed several shootings and deaths in his career, the enormity of an innocent man's senseless death makes this one too muck to take. (And remember, PTSD counseling as late as the early 1990s was still in its infancy, even for a large metropolitan police department such as in Chicago.)
- Hostage Situation: Referred to as having happened exactly one year earlier, but Carl explains the situation for the first time in detail: a mentally deranged individual had robbed a convenience store and taken an elderly customer hostage. The police arrived and seemingly talked the criminal into surrendering, but just a split second before he was arrested, the suspect shot and killed his hostage. It's a tragedy that had loomed over Carl ever since.
- I Know You Know I Know: Parodied. When Steve asks to take Laura to a concert, she turns him down so he gives her the tickets since he has no use for them. She way overthinks the gesture thinking she will feel obliged to return the favor and Steve knows that she knows that so she goes with him thinking she's outsmarted him even though Urkel never considered doing that, nor would he have.
- I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Carl blames himself for the murder of Charles Mallory during a hostage situation one year earlier, and keeps thinking of that one thing he could have done to stop a senseless death, this despite being told by his superior officers that the situation was handled correctly. Later, Carl – while visiting the cemetery – is approached by Charles's widow, Helen, who herself second-guesses her own decision that night to send him for some ice cream at the store. Together, the two come to realize they are not to blame for the old man's death.
- My Greatest Failure: Carl considers Mr. Mallory's death to be the lowest point of his career. It was a moment that he had replayed in his head over and over, thinking about that one fraction of a second where he could've saved him.
- Posthumous Character: Charles Mallory, the old man who was murdered by a robber the year prior. His death continues to take a toll on Carl, who blames himself for not being able to save him in time.
- Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Carl acts incredibly crabby at the start of the episode, and at first, it's totally Played for Laughs. It isn't until later when we find out the tragic reason behind his curmudgeonly attitude.
- Wham Line: How we learn the full extent of why Carl's in such a crabby mood.Harriet: It wasn't your fault. Everybody said so. The department even gave you a commendation.
Carl: Oh yeah, I got a commendation, but an innocent person died.
