A woman named Jeanine McBride is found dead in a park. She was suffocated to death before being shot. McBride had worked at the White House before her transfer to the Social Security Administration out in Baltimore. Detectives Munch and Sheppard learn that her car had been missing for several days, indicating she was shot in Baltimore and dumped in New York. Briscoe, Curtis and the Baltimore detectives work together and find out she had been involved in an affair with a government official. A witness saw the victim leave a club with a Chelsey Purcell. William Dell, independent counsel from DC takes an interest in the case and tries to get McCoy to reveal the name of a confidential informant. Chesley Purcell is apprehended but the FBI takes over the case. Before she is escorted to D.C., she is assassinated by another suspect of McBride's murder.
This is part I of a Crossover event with Homicide: Life on the Street and continues in the episode "Sideshow" of that series.
Tropes present in this episode:
- Break Them by Talking: What Dell tries to do to get McCoy to talk, up to and including his relationship with Claire Kincaid and her death. McCoy just stares at Dell in horror and asks, "Have you no shame, sir?"
- Call-Back: Dell tries to discredit Briscoe by mentioning his appearance before the Hellman Commission (Season 7 "Corruption"), his daughter's murder (Season 8 "Damaged"). He also throws in the time McCoy's assistant Diana Hawthorne tried to please him by putting a man she knew was innocent in jail to impress McCoy (Season 6 "Trophy"). The last potshot is him making a reference to Briscoe riding in the same car with Claire Kincaid when she was killed by a drunk driver ("Aftershock").
- Closet Gay:
- Faye Wellington, the government official who had an affair with Jeanine McBride. McCoy's promise to grant her anonymity in exchange for her testimony is what puts him the the crosshairs of William Dell.
- Nelson, who had occasionally gone out on dates with McBride, also turns out to be this.
- Crossover: This is the first part of the third crossover with Homicide: Life on the Street.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Though no one actually says anything, it's clear from the expression on Carmichael, Danvers, and McCoy's faces this is their reaction when they find out Mike Giardello was the FBI agent who gave the information about the case to Dell.
- Even the Girls Want Her: When Sheppard tries to convince Purcell to testify, Purcell looks at her and says, "Aren't you some tall drink of lemonade."
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: McCoy is so stunned by Munch bringing up the Red Mass
that instead of engaging in an argument with him, he can only give Munch a Quizzical Tilt. - Outliving One's Offspring: At the end of the episode, Janine Mcbride's parents are contacted by the press.
- Parental Bonus: McCoy's line to Dell during his grand jury testimony after Dell reveals the skeletons in his closet (see Call-Back above) is, "Have you no shame, sir?", which is an excerpt of what Joseph N. Welch said to Joseph McCarthy at the Army-McCarthy hearings ("Have you no shame, sir? At long last, have you no decency?").
- Plea Bargain: Purcell declines a 20-to-life deal that would let her avoid a death sentence. In the end, it is irrelevant.
- Shout-Out:
- When Briscoe reacts to Munch being a Conspiracy Theorist, Munch says, "The Manchurian Candidate was a work of non-fiction, Lenny."
- Later, Munch claims the "cone of silence" is descending on their investigation.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Det. Munch goes to the FBI and asks for his file. He says in all seriousness that he doesn't know if there's enough room in his car for what the FBI has on him. The agent returns with a single sheet of paper, Munch is flabbergasted to find out that is not the receipt for the file; it is the entire file.Munch: "He is considered a dilettante and is not taken seriously amongst the radical community?!"
- Take That!: William Dell is pretty much a stand-in for Ken Starr, the independent counsel who went after Bill Clinton for his sleeping with aide Monica Lewinsky.
- Unusual Euphemism: When Schiff learns of Dell's investigations into McCoy's past, he cracks, "So you're upset that Dell is roasting your pistachios."
- Waxing Lyrical: Munch claims to Briscoe about his activities in the 60's, "I was a street fighting man."
