Subway
Written By: James Yoshimura
Directed By: Sean Fleder
Directed By: Sean Fleder
Commuter John Lange (Vincent D'Onofrio) is pinned between a train and a subway platform, and Bayliss and Pembleton are called in to investigate.
List of tropes applying to this episode:
- Asshole Victim: Deliberately invoked and deconstructed by Lange. He's a total dick, but it's made abundantly clear that what's happened to him is tragic and unfair regardless.James Yoshimura: Tragedy can happen to jerky people too and I think it'd be much more interesting to see how that kind of character's circumstances transcends the typical clichéd TV kind of victim.
- Butt-Monkey: The EMT attending to Lange, who gets repeatedly insulted for her constant empty platitudes and refusal to give him drugs.
- Call-Back: Pembleton discusses his stroke with Lange.
- Downer Ending: Lange dies instantly when the EMTs push the train with the airbags before Falsone and Lewis can find his girlfriend, and Pembleton is left emotionally drained from the experience.
- Dramatic Irony: Though it's never outright stated, it's implied Sara, Lange's girlfriend, is the one seen jogging near the station at the beginning and end of the episode, and Falsone and Lewis are unable to find her before Lange dies.
- For the Evulz: Biedron had no reason to kill Lange. It's justified, since he has some sort of mental illness that gives him a compulsion to push people into subway trains.
- Insane Equals Violent: Biedron, who compulsively pushes people in front of subway trains and seems barely aware that he's even done it.
- Jerkass: Lange is unpleasant and short-tempered, and frequently curses out people who are only trying to help him.
- Mask of Sanity: Biedron is good at looking sane at first, but after Bayliss presses him hard enough he reveals himself to be a barely lucid Psychopathic Manchild.
- Psychopathic Manchild: After he drops his Mask of Sanity, Biedron acts like a confused child and complains about being hot, even when Lange is dying horrifically right in front of him as a direct result of his actions.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Lewis and Falsone are unable to find Lange's girlfriend in the park because it's simply too much ground for them to successfully cover.
- Biedron's efforts to hide his past fall apart the second Bayliss starts investigating his background.
- Skewed Priorities: The EMT refuses to give Lange painkillers because it could endanger his life, even though she acknowledges it would take a million-in-one-chance for him to survive anyway.
- Suit with Vested Interests: A transit official repeatedly tries to get Pembleton and Bayliss to let Lange die so the trains can get moving again.
- Who Dunnit To Me: Lange is already dead until they lift the train off him, and helps Pembleton and Bayliss to find out who killed him.
