"You call this plain clothes…?" (Re)watching Cagney & Lacey

[Mel O'Drama]

EASY DOES IT

A really beautiful episode came out of the procedural which involved Chris and Mary Beth investigating a series of armed robberies at affluent Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Chris is particularly uncomfortable in the environment and there are some significant shots of her looking very uneasy as a share in an AA meeting hits close to home for her:

LAURA: “This is not all easy, because I like to drink. Correction! I love to drink. The guys told me I could drink like a man. Hearing that meant more to me than I had dynamite legs or pretty eyes. Drinking like a man was part of my image. But I never drank on the job in my life. It never interfered. Of course I did drink after work."

While the two women are undercover at AA, the robbers change their M.O. and hit an Al-Anon meeting (a fellowship for family and friends of alcoholics). Given Charlie’s current drinking behaviour, this is even more uncomfortable for Chris. Especially when she realises Charlie’s partner, Donna, is attending out of concern for Charlie:

DONNA LA MARR: “My name is Donna.”
ALL: “Hi Donna.”
DONNA LA MARR: “And I have a man friend. And he's a drunk. [Chris recognises the voice and turns to look at Donna] Sometimes I really love the guy. A lot of the time I don't. I feel like a cat on a fence. I can't jump one way and I can't jump the other. But now I have to do something fast, because Charlie wants. Charlie, that's his name.” [Mary Beth looks significantly at Chris] “Well, he wants me to marry him. And right now ...I just can't. Maybe if we...”
[Donna notices Chris and stops speaking. Chris looks across at Mary Beth who is looking at her]

There’s a little confusion in the aftermath where Donna thinks Chris has come to Al-Anon to get support around the situation with Charlie. Chris can’t reveal the real reason she’s there, so is forced to play along with Donna. The moment where the robbers hit the meeting with Chris and Mary Beth in attendance and get caught feels quite cathartic. Donna is present and gives Chris a look of respect.

Mary Beth’s story is also fun, where Harv has a little money in his pocket after doing well at work and is spending it like water. He buys an expensive stereo system. The last straw comes when she walks into the dining room to find him astride a huge mower-cum-snowblower.

MARY BETH: “Harv, you're scaring me.”
HARVEY: “Oh, Mary Beth. ...Honey. I am allowed to be a little stupid with our money. We are allowed to do things that we couldn't do before.”
MARY BETH: “I've been clipping coupons my whole life, Harvey. That's a hard habit to break. I don't ever want to have to struggle again!”
HARVEY: “Are you saying that my success is a fluke?"
MARY BETH: “I said no such thing, Harv!! I believed in you when you didn't believe in yourself!”
HARVEY: “It would be nice if we could both believe in me at the same time!”
MARY BETH: “Yeah, but you're going out on your own, Harv. This is not us, Harv! Not any more!!”
HARVEY: “Do you know what? You act like you are a slave of the money. Nothing bad is gonna happen. Mary Beth, I wanna see you enjoy yourself this one time. I'll make you a deal! I'll make a deal with you. The mower goes back, but you've gotta spend the nine hundred bucks it cost on yourself.”
MARY BETH: “Nine hundred dollars? Nine ...hundred... dollars!!! On myself?”
HARVEY: “By Wednesday. Otherwise it comes back here and it sits in this dining room until spring.”

It’s a nice scene I can’t help thinking of the extravagance of the Eighties prime time soaps where characters spent in millions every week. It’s pleasing that a show running at the same time could allow the audience to feel covetous at a character being offered a spending spree that would probably barely cover Alexis Colby’s breakfast.

The way Tyne repeats "nine hundred dollars" is hilarious. I was reminded of the Catherine Tate character Kate, who would ask her colleague to guess a figure and then repeat it in contemptuous disbelief.

Chris’s moment of truth comes at the end of the episode. Appropriately enough it’s in the Ladies’ Room, while Mary Beth is in a cubicle discussing her spend. It’s beautifully staged. Tyne - as ever - does a great job of speaking without pausing for breath offscreen while the camera focusses on Sharon Gless as Chris allows herself to cry:

MARY BETH: “So, I come in, and I'm wearing this gorgeous little purple hat, with a little curled up brim. A cloche they call it. It's like Greta Garbo wore in "Ninotchka". And I did a little turn in front of Harvey and I said ‘What do you think, Harv?'. And he says 'I think it's great. What else did you get?'. So I said 'This is a Jasper Conran original. It's design, Harvey. This is it'. 'Nine hundred dollars' he says. 'You spent nine hundred dollars on a hat!'. 'Harvey,' I said 'You told me 'Have a good time''. But then Harvey gets this kind of shot-up look on his face, and to tell you the truth, I was kind of worried about his blood pressure. So that's when I told him about the washer and dryer. Twenty percent off, I got. Plus.. the purple cloche. California avocado, the both of them. A matched pair. The washer has four different cycles. And it's got this little light around the dial that kind of stays on all the time, so at night when you go down the basement in the dark you'll be able to see this blue glow. It just glows even if all the other lights are off. And the dryer has this little bell that ting-a-lings during the last cycle so it tells ya so the clothes don't just sit there.” [she comes out of the cubicle and joins Chris to wash her hands] “They don't crease in the hot air. So they come out all fluffy and smooth, no ironing whatsoever. Did you ever see anything like that in your life?” [realising Chris is distressed] “Christine?”
CHRISTINE: “It's nothing.”
MARY BETH: “Oh, don't give me 'Nothing'. What is it?
CHRISTINE: “My Dad's a drunk. I can't make him stop. I don't know how.”


The episode ends with a warm hug between the two, which is a lovely moment.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Once again, I've got behind with following up the episodes I've watched on this thread. This past week or so I've only watched five episodes, but I'm over a week behind with some. Rather than reviews, here are a few little comments about those five:



TO SIR WITH LOVE

I was really looking forward to this episode having watched the legendary kitchen scene on YouTube some months ago. In fact watching that scene - and laughing out loud - quite possibly prompted me to start the rewatch. And it didn't disappoint this time round.

Rosenzweig calls the scene "a peek into what might have been had I been successful in my one time 'pitch' to have Cagney & Lacey be a comedy with drama instead of the other way round". The entire episode does indeed have the flavour of a dramedy, and it's none the worse for it. It's situational but keeps enough eye on character to not feel too contrived.

The kitchen scene alone makes this a top ten episode for me. Everyone involved knows the characters well enough to get every drop of humour out of the situation. Chris imitating Mary Beth right down to her voice ("You got chips") was hilarious, while Mary Beth voice breaking with emotion after Chris called her balloon decor idea for the party "tacky" was played perfectly. The scene plays (deliberately, I suppose) like it's lifted from I Love Lucy. I wouldn't have thought this would work, but it does. So well.

The moment where Samuels got his award felt very satisfying. Right down to the last minute I was half convinced someone else's name would be called, so I shared his surprise and the other characters' pride.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

DIVINE COURIERS (A.K.A. "Heavenly Messengers")

A week or so later I've almost forgotten this one. Once again the quirky case is lighter than many. But it was written well enough for that not to matter.

The subplot of Chris's own drinking starting to echo Charlie's has been bubbling away through the course of the season. It gets a mention or two here and adds some welcome substance.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT

The first of a hat-trick of episodes that show some great colours on Mary Beth. Her relationship with the teenage girl is really beautiful and full of interesting layers. Mary Beth's guilt over almost shooting her partly fuelled things (the girl was deaf and hadn't been aware of Mary Beth behind her shouting instructions to drop the gun she was holding).

There's a lovely scene where Mary Beth talks to the girl in her cell. It's essentially a Tyne Daly monologue - one of those great scenes where Mary Beth thinks out loud. It also taps into her maternal instincts and is clear she feels very protective towards the girl. The episode then points out the irony of Mary Beth neglecting her own family to work on this case, giving some nice tension between Mary Beth and Harv.

The relationship with Mary Beth and the girl pays off big time in the last act when Mary Beth has to put her feelings aside in order to be a cop, giving us a great scene.

There was a sub-plot with Isbecki being embarrassed when his older, smarter girlfriend shows up at the precinct to everyone's surprise, but I can't remember if there was any more to it than that.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

SPECIAL TREATMENT

So here's a different side to Mary Beth. This time it's political activism. I love how even this is done in Mary Beth style, with her ordering Harv Jr. and Michael to go along with her while they're eating dinner.

What I really enjoyed is how organic Mary Beth attending an anti-nuclear rally felt. Seven episodes earlier, in Waste Deep, Mary Beth had become very anxious after her awareness of the treatment of toxic waste was raised. But going even further back: in Season Two's Burn Out Mary Beth had talked about the Sixties and people out to change the world. Joining the force was her way of doing something. There's a long thread here that the show picks up and develops.

In Burn Out, Mary Beth's beach confidante, Maggie, had talked nostalgically - even romantically - about clashing with the police while protesting. Mary Beth experiences that here. Even more delightful is that the officer she starts butting heads with at the station is Dupnik from Ahead Of The Game (some five episodes prior to this one). So the history given in three unrelated previous stories comes together to enrich this one.

Mary Beth insists on not being given special treatment because she's a cop, and as a viewer I found myself a couple of times wondering where she crossed the line from commendably principled to self-defeating. Certainly her behaviour frustrates not only Dupnik - who doesn't want to be the cop who arrests other cops - but also Chris and Samuels.

With Mary Beth held in a cell as Dupnik procrastinated processing her hoping she'd change her mind, one thing that came across very strongly in this episode was a sense of how it feels to be confined with no information about when it's going to end. By the time Mary Beth was losing her cool, thrusting at Dupnik in an attempt to throttle him through the bars and then noisly overturning her cot, I could believe it.

The cell scenes in particular felt quite stagey in the best possible way. They were an opportunity for Tyne to get a little theatrical and work with her limited surroundings, interacting with her visitors as the scene required.

It's also great that Mary Beth now has an official nemesis. Chris has acquired a few over the run of the series while Mary Beth has mostly stayed out of such a dynamic. But here her relationship with Dupnik is a nicely balanced one of mutual irritation. I've so enjoyed Dan Lauria's appearances that I had to check IMDb and I'm very glad to see that Dupnik has another couple of appearances still to come.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN

We should stay off roofs from now on. Anything above the second floor we give to Isbecki.

This line from Chris is a really nice little touch. An unspoken acknowledgement that as of this episode both women have been shot on rooftops. Strangely enough, a wardrobe malfunction on the part of the victim's partner played a key role. When Chris was shot, back in Season Three's Partners, Mary Beth was distracted by a snapped heel. In this episode Chris isn't wearing the bulletproof vest everyone was asked to use in light of a series of police shootings as she'd left it at Charlie's house.

The way Mary Beth was shot was typically unexpected and quite low key. Rather than happening at the beginning of the episode fuelling the action; or near the end of the episode leading to a dramatic finale, it happened somewhere in the second act. And having her shot by a little kid further played against expectations. Even better, to the best of my memory there was no Eighties slo-mo.

Mary Beth - thanks to her bulletproof vest - had suffered a broken rib, but the fallout was what made this fly. Harv seething with resentment towards Samuels felt believable. John Karlen manages to make Harv come across like a bit of a tool at times and - whatever his perceived justification - this is one of them. Then we see the red tape involved and the fact that both Chris and Mary Beth are expected to engage in the force's Psych Services - something Mary Beth is reluctant to do.

There are two knockout scenes in the episode. The first comes when Mary Beth finally attends her psychological assessment. We catch only a glimpse of the psychologist she is speaking to in long shot at the end of the scene, and he says very little. For most of the scene, the camera stays on Tyne Daly's face. It feels like it plays out in real time and is one of the finest Mary Beth scenes yet for its simple honesty.

I keep thinking about those movies where something terrible happens to Margaret Sullavan, and she has to pick out a new wife to take her place. It's the same with me. Except there was no time. What?! What do you want me to say? A poor screwed up kid panicked and shot me. He could have killed me. He would have killed my partner. What questions? What loose ends do you wanna hear about? It was terrible and stupid. And I'm mad. I'm very mad about it. Is that it?! Tell me what it is that you want me to say, Doctor. So I can say it and get the hell out of here.

Something that struck me about the staging of this scene was the similarity to a later Rosenzweig vehicle, The Trials Of Rosie O'Neill, where at the start of each episode the titular character - played by Sharon Gless - would reflect on her personal crises and balancing her professional and personal life to an unseen counsellor. They were the series' signature, and back in the early Nineties I remember finding these scenes memorable, fresh and original. I can't help wondering if this scene influenced that aspect of the series.


The episode ends with a fairly meaty confrontation between Mary Beth and Chris at Psych Services where they are forced to look at their partnership. Once again, the small details prove rewarding as they get used as weapons in what's almost a war of words:

CHRISTINE: "This is about me, right? That's why I'm here."
MARY BETH: "Why is it always about you? Your career problems. Your lousy social life. Your father's..."
CHRISTINE: "OK. So it's not about me. [Looking at the doctor] Did you work this thing up or what?"
MARY BETH: "I don't need anybody to speak for me. You let me down, partner."
CHRISTINE: "What the hell are you talking about?"
MARY BETH: "Why didn't you have your vest on?"
CHRISTINE: "Oh, Mary Beth, would you stop mothering me? She's always gives it me about the seat belts. 'Fasten your seat belt'. Now it's the damn vest! I live the way I live, doctor."
MARY BETH: "I was scared, Chris. Maybe you never get scared, but I do."
CHRISTINE: "Don't make me feel guilty about this."
MARY BETH: "Are too selfish to understand that? Why is it all right for you to die?"
CHRISTINE: "If you haven't anything more stupid to say. Wait a minute. I had a bullet in my chest. Now, I'm talking about the real thing. I had the transfusion; and the tubes; and the pain."
MARY BETH: "Answer my question."
CHRISTINE: "No! It's not all right if I die."
MARY BETH: "Yeah, but you act like it is."
CHRISTINE: "Who's saying that?!! You or him!!! Do you think I wanted to see you go down? Do you think I didn't want it to be me? Well, I wish I had taken the bullet. OK? But hey, I didn't."
MARY BETH: "Perfect, Christine! Then you'd be dead!! Because you weren't wearing your damn vest."
CHRISTINE: [To the doctor] "But she was." [To Mary Beth] "But you were and she's gonna keep wearing every day until she picks up her pension!"
MARY BETH: "I'll wear it when I need to."
CHRISTINE: "What's it gonna be like if you're worried about a bullet? What kind of a partner are you gonna be?"
MARY BETH: "The same kind I've always been. The one you can count on. The one that feeds you coffee and aspirin every morning. And tiptoes around on eggshells until you're ready to face the day. The one who picks up the pieces when you jump over some witness with both feet because you've got a damn hangover. I'm the one that follows you around this filthy city. And freezes with you in the car all night while you play out some half-cocked hunch. And the whole time hearing about how the newest man in your life is disappointing you. Propping you up when the bottom falls out on some case that we both broke our butts on! Because I care about you."
CHRISTINE: [going to walk out] "I don't wanna hear any more of this crap."
MARY BETH: "Not this time, sister." [going and confronting her at the door] "I care. About you. Christine Cagney. I care about what happens to you."


It's perfect because it takes what's really important about this series - the minutiae, the functional dysfunction, the personal crises, the working relationship and the history of the characters - and brings them into the light, acknowledging that the two characters both carry around the scars and the feelings that have accumulated over the entire history of the show. And even before that.

The scene feels like a bookend. As a viewer I'm left wondering how the relationship will look as a result of this. And I can't think of a better way to go into the two-part season finale which follows.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

TURN, TURN, TURN - Part I

(1/2)​

It's difficult for me to think of another episode of Cagney & Lacey where so much story was slotted into so little time. At one point, feeling quite emotionally exhausted and having been through a whole lot of change and a lot of story, I glanced down at the timer and noticed that I was just 42 minutes into Part I.

You may think that cramming a whole lot of story into that time would make the episode feel fast paced and choppy. But no. There was time enough to feel I'd fully experienced this incredible episode. Time went slowly - but in a good way.

Frequently an episode will start slowly and build. There may be an occasional action scene later in the episode, but that's not really what this show is about. Everyone involved has faith enough in the show to not need that hook at the top of the episode to grab the audience's attention. So Part I going immediately into a sequence where Mary Beth witnesses a car accident and rescues a baby from a car that's about to explode feels significant. If an action scene is placed at the beginning, there's a damned good reason for it.

It's only now occurring to me that a nick of time rescue from a car with a leaking fuel tank is something of a cop show cliche. Because here it was treated as fact, rather than a moment. I was completely with Mary Beth. Little touches like her cutting her hand on the window she'd just smashed with her gun made this a raw experience. The stakes were also upped with Mary Beth's own Sophie's Choice moment: the baby's father had also been trapped in the car and there wasn't time enough to save both.

Mary Beth becoming something of a media darling was enjoyable to watch, particularly the scene where she froze on seeing a TV camera and tried in vain to suppress uproarious laughter while speaking to the interviewer. Tyne's giggles were so convincing I found myself laughing too. I also enjoyed that we had the added enjoyment of cutting to Mary Beth watching herself on TV and trying to balance her cringes with her secret enjoyment. Among her many cards and gifts of appreciation, it was a lovely touch that there was one from Dupnik, his card showing his characteristic dry wit ("Joan of Arc lives").

Charlie's alcoholism getting out of control was done well and subtly. Throughout this season there have been subtle parallels between Charlie's alcoholism and the fears of Chris and those around her that it could be another thing she has in common with him.

Now, I can barely remember Charlie's scenes in this episode. And this is something I can't praise the show for enough. It was a typical Chris/Charlie dynamic. Charlie had rung and spoken to Chris while she was in Samuels' office. We never heard Charlie's part of the conversation, but got the gist. And so did Samuels, which led him to express his concern and talk about his old partner who ended up going to Alcoholics Anonymous. At Chris's loft Charlie is drunk and Chris tries to discuss his drinking and float out the AA suggestion. He gives some lighthearted-but-defensive banter, and then leaves - amicably but with some tension between them.

Chris arriving at Charlie's apartment with an olive branch the next evening also felt familiar. The music score slightly telegraphed that things were not all well, and sure enough, there was Charlie passed out on the floor having hit his head. What followed was a very raw scene of Chris completely alone talking to her father while giving him CPR and pushing breath into his mouth, wailing urgently as she did so. It felt in character for Chris to speed up help arriving by identifying herself as an officer when contacting the emergency services and telling them that "a member of our force is down" without going into specifics.

After leaving Chris in despair, we went to the hospital waiting room where we followed Mary Beth as she arrived to give her support. There's a really interesting moment where Chris saw Mary Beth, moved as though she was about to stand and embrace her but one of them knocked a lamp that was on the table, so Chris ended up staying seated and Mary Beth moved to sit next to her. I'm not sure if this was scripted, ad libbed or completely accidental. Whichever the case it felt very real. The dialogue that followed from Chris really pulled the rug out from under me:

Apparently they say he was dead when they got there. Dead on arrival. You know, you sometimes hear those stories about patients who die on tables and, even with heart failure, they just come back to life. Miracles happen all the time. Right? They let me ride in the ambulance... I held his hand the whole way. Nothing. No one was there. Damn it. His hand was warm. It wasn't cold at all. When we got here, the doctors said there was nothing they could do. They said 'That's it. There's nothing we can do'. I said 'No, that's my father! ...Would you give up if it were your dad'. They said a lot of nothing. And then they started working on him all over again. Ten minutes. Twenty. Damn it. How I hate hospitals. They couldn't revive him in the end.

Have you ever had some bad news and had a physical reaction? That's exactly what happened to me while watching this. On the first line of dialogue above, I felt my stomach turn - right at the top, just under my ribs. Then while Chris continued to speak I wasn't quite sure if Charlie was alive or dead. As she described what happened, I was waiting for her to say that he'd been revived and had had a close call. But no. Just as in real life, we get a sudden death that gives no real closure. I didn't know that Charlie would die during the course of the series, and feel incredibly satisfied that the show has managed to surprise me in this way. It was surprising not just because I didn't know it was coming, but also because I got to experience the experience of learning the news from someone else rather than seeing it for myself. Rosenzweig - quite rightly - has commented on many occasions how important their early decision to turn the "show, don't tell" rule of TV on its head was. The reveal of Charlie's death is one of the clearest examples of why the "tell, don't show" rule takes the rhythms of this series head and shoulders above perhaps anything else on TV.

And yes: at this point I'm feeling that C&L is perhaps the best written TV show I've watched.

cont'd...
​

 

[Mel O'Drama]

...cont'd




TURN, TURN, TURN - Part I

(2/2)​

The way the loss resonates with the characters felt incredibly relatable. A show where character is this important knows it needs to stay present. So the departed character he is conspicuous by his absence - as is the case with a real death. And we focus on what the consideration of mortality means for those who are left behind. Harv decides to treat his mother to a holiday. He also takes a stick and gently pokes the bear that is the subject of Mary Beth's father, asking if she wants her children to get to know him. It enriches the overall story to be reminded of this unpleasant fact of life that Mary Beth carries round. It taps into the history of the show as well as the present and leaves the audience wondering if perhaps it's part of the show's future too.

There are eulogies both formal and informal. The informal came as throwaway little snippets of the reality of Charlie's life - from Samuels giving Chris the ME's report about Charlie's death which showed just how much he was drinking, through Chris recalling Charlie attending an open casket funeral and his comment that they'd turned his friend into a Kewpie doll to some back and forth between Chris and Brian over which of their parents was at fault during their childhood (Chris, naturally, too Charlie's side while Brian could see his mother's point of view).

Speaking of Brian, it was so good to see David Ackroyd return. Stephen Macht was back too. And there was one shot at the graveside service where I got more excited than I should have at seeing both of these Knots Landing supporting stalwarts briefly sharing the same frame. Sadly, they never had any dialogue together but I still got more than I'd expected. And they got closer than on Knots where they missed each other by about half a dozen episodes. It feels so rewarding to have both of these characters back. The show could have got away with not including them with Brian 3000 miles away and David no longer Chris's love interest, and I greatly appreciate the choice to bring as much history as possible to this episode.

Also returning was Donna LaMarr. This particular return brought some tension and showed some ugly colours in Chris. At the graveside, Chris gives a silent and passive-aggressive snub when Donna tries to initiate a hug. Later, after Chris has hit the sauce at the wake at Flannery's, Donna takes a direct hit from Chris's tongue:

CHRISTINE: "Hey, Donna! Having a good time? I'm having a hell of a good time! Too bad Charlie couldn't make it, huh?"
DONNA LA MARR: "Chris, stop. I know how bad you're missing your dad right now, but later on, ...don't be a stranger. OK?"
CHRISTINE: "You left him when he needed you. And now he's dead."

Chris and Donna's relationship has gone on for a few seasons now and continues to fascinate. Objectively, I understand that Donna has done what her Al-Anon programme has suggested for both her own sake and Charlie's own. It's also plain that she loved Charlie and is broken up about his death. But at the same time it's easy to understand why Chris takes this viewpoint at this moment in time.

And right after this moment, when Chris is as unlikeable as possible, she makes a slurred and heartfelt toast to Charlie and wins my heart all over again.

A wonderful, wonderful episode.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

TURN, TURN, TURN - Part II

The somewhat extreme journey taken by Chris in this two-parter gives some of the most intense and gripping scenes of this show to date. If Part I was the catalyst, Part II is simply a study in self-destruction as Chris freefalls. It doesn't come out of the blue - the pipeline has been laid for this episode for a long time ahead of this - but it's still quite shocking how quickly things crash and burn.

Something this episode gets across really well is the psychological aspect of the disease. We see Chris effectively sabotage everything that's meaningful in her life, pushing away the people closest to her and ending up in a place of self-imposed isolation that feeds her belief she has nothing to do but keep drinking. Chris's professional front began to slip in Part I when she lost patience and began screaming at a woman who was irritating her. In this episode it starts with Chris getting drunk over lunch, ostensibly to toast Mary Beth's award. This does not go unnoticed by her colleagues - including Samuels. Mary Beth later finds her taking a nip out of a hip flask and expresses concern.

CHRISTINE: "All right, I take a little nip now and then. I like to drink. And I can use the relief from all the crap that's going on in my life including lectures from my partner."
MARY BETH: "I'm trying to keep you out of trouble here! If you seek help voluntarily then it won't go on your record. If you walk in there drunk then the Lieutenant is gonna have to..."
CHRISTINE: "Do you want another award?! Like Mother of the Decade or something."
MARY BETH: "Nice! From the woman who doesn't have a jealous bone in her body."
CHRISTINE: "Bog out of my life! All right?"
MARY BETH: "OK. You got it. Because I need a partner that I can count on for backup, honey. I'm not putting my arse on the line for some lush that can't get through the morning without a little nip of Scotch."


The conversation escalates and continues from the locker room to the squad room until Samuels gets involved:

SAMUELS: "You've been way out of line lately."
CHRISTINE: "What are you talking about?!"
SAMUELS: "Lunchtime yesterday you were three sheets to the wind."
CHRISTINE: "I beg your pardon?!"
SAMUELS: "Come on, Cagney. Don't kid a kidder. You were drunk on the job. Cagney, you know that I think you're a damn good cop. You're just human, like the rest of us. You've had a big loss in your life."
CHRISTINE: "And I'm handling it!"
[Chris leaves and goes to the squad room]

SAMUELS: "Cagney!!! Cagney, I have been around the block more than you. I've seen it happen before."
CHRISTINE: "You wanna back off, Lieutenant. I am not your ex-partner. I am me."
SAMUELS: "Hang on, I am talking to you. I don't want to have to order you to take leave. I don't want to hurt your career. I want cooperation from you. Help me out."
CHRISTINE: "Oh, I see! Because you have to lay off the sauce, it means the rest of us can have a little nip now and then."
[everybody in the room looks up]
SAMUELS: "Cagney, that was between you and me. You know me better than that."



Back at home, Tony finds a drunk Chris on the floor outside her loft. She begins sexually harassing him, trying to force him to touch her breasts and then hurling insults at him for not complying. A concerned David Keeler comes to her apartment and receives the same treatment, getting a slap in the face for not going along with her. David and Chris's semi-casual on/off relationship has been bubbling along for a good part of the series' run now. This episode feels like a turning point in that relationship. There's no real denouement - no dramatic twists. But David becomes the face of the Al-Anon: the concerned bystander, powerless to help the other person, and this brings out some interesting facets in him. Normally happy-go-lucky and skating over the surface of things, it's David who tries to be there for Chris. From supporting her while she's throwing up to shopping for groceries.


Mary Beth's life is going well this episode. She has an Honourable Mention Commendation from the Department - complete with a medal. And she's given a promotion to Detective: Second Grade - which comes with an additional $7000. I really liked that the writing took this significant moment for a character and used it to acknowledge the every day work of the police. Mary Beth accepts her award for the rescue "on behalf of the many other police men and women who do stuff like this ever day and who never get any recognition." Later in the episode she observes that she got the award for something anyone would have done, and expresses a wish that she'd got it for "real police work".


There's Yin-Yang to Chris and Mary Beth's diametrically opposed journeys in this episode. Mary Beth's thrill at the good stuff in her life is made bittersweet by Chris not being there to share it with her. And in the depths of despair, Chris wants to be happy for Mary Beth. When the two stories come together is when this episode is really firing on all cylinders. At the beginning of the episode, we see Chris proudly watching Mary Beth's acceptance speech from a distance. By the time Mary Beth has news of her promotion, Chris is off the radar and so Mary Beth has to leave an answerphone message. The scene I found most moving in the episode was that of Chris - alone, dishevelled and cradling her glass - listening as Mary Beth left the message saying about her promotion.

Mary Beth eventually leaves her own celebration at Flannery's after speaking to David. She finds him at Chris's, exhausted, unshaven and with dark circles round his eyes. She sends him home to get some rest and stays with Chris. The following scene has a drunken, slurring monologue from Chris about Charlie and her childhood. Mary Beth says nothing, but Daly brings such intensity to the scene as Mary Beth just looks at Chris and it's hard to tell if she's filled with fury, pity, sadness or love. There were a couple of moments where I started to wonder if Mary Beth was going to throw a punch. Instead, she allows Chris to talk herself out and then pass out, brushing Chris's hair gently with her hand.

The confrontation comes the next morning:

CHRISTINE: "I'm so happy for you, Mary Beth. I'll make it up to you. I'll throw you a party. We'll have a great one right here. The best you ever had. I'll get waiters with white gloves on. I'll get you a jazz band in."
MARY BETH: "I don't want a stupid band!! I want my partner back. I had a partner. She looked something like you. She was smart and funny. A born cop. But she has not been around for quite some time. The woman I've been working with recently is just rude and selfish and irresponsible. And she's trashing her life."
CHRISTINE: "And it's my life"
MARY BETH: "Nothing is enough for you. ...Nothing! If you were made Commissioner and had a million dollars and Robert Redford in your pocket, it would not be enough for you. Nothing ever fills you up. Nothing ever makes you feel all right."
CHRISTINE: "Charlie did!! He loved me no matter what!"
MARY BETH: "Charlie killed himself. He just didn't fall, Christine. He was a drunk. Your father was a drunk. Christine!!! How about you?! You shut me out if you want to! But I'm gonna say this for the record. He had point two-five percent alcohol. I saw the report. You saw the report. Your father slipped and fell and bled to death!!! Because he was so damn drunk he couldn't even get up. [she shakes Chris and pushes her. Chris stumbles against a cabinet] Is this what you want? Say it was an accident. Call Charlie Cagney a saint. Say whatever the hell makes you happy. But we will know it's a lie! Oh, Chris.
[Mary Beth hugs Chris from behind]
CHRISTINE: "If he hadn't been drinking."
MARY BETH: "Chris, if he hadn't been drinking..."
CHRISTINE: "...he'd be alive. I hate him for it! I hate him! I just hate him for it."
MARY BETH: "I love you and I don't wanna lose you."
CHRISTINE: "I love you too. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do."


Chris's journey in this episode has many similarities to that of Gary Ewing in the Knots Landing two-parter Bottom Of The Bottle. It's impossible for me to watch Turn, Turn, Turn without seeing the common ground. This is equally courageous in showing a very ugly side to a lead character, taking them to a place from which it seems they have no redemption and finally turning a corner at the end. I've long considered that Knots Landing episode to be the definitive study of alcoholism in American TV drama, but Turn, Turn, Turn is forcing me to rethink that. Both approach the same subject in a different way, and both are brutally truthful. It's fitting that both journeys should end in exactly the same place. With the character in the rooms of an AA meeting, standing and introducing themselves as an alcoholic.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Here's a New York Times review of Turn, Turn, Turn.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I've started listening to the audio version of Barney's book Cagney & Lacey ...and Me!

It's a great listen. I like the way he tells a story, and the inside Hollywood stuff is pretty fascinating anyway.

About half a dozen chapters in, casting is in progress for Cagney & Lacey. One little titbit that got my attention was the CBS suggestion that Michele Lee play Mary Beth Lacy in the original TV movie. And curiously I could totally imagine that working.

It does get me wondering how the series would have been affected if Michele had been cast. With both Lee and Swit tied to their respective series (Knots Landing and M*A*S*H) that could have made launching a C&L series even more difficult.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Season Seven - Winding Down

NO VACANCY

Ah - the Harry Fisher episode. Even though I'd had a heads-up about this one, it's still pretty bizarre to find Joe Regalbuto playing a parallel universe version of his Knots Landing character. Wondering if the actor had considered that he'd played a character with the same name less than two years earlier proved a little distracting. But the storyline was engrossing enough for it not to overwhelm, with the series making a suitably thought-provoking point about the harmful effects of the system for people who have the challenges of a mental health condition.

Chris's attendance of AA has brought a new shine to her character. It's good to have that space for exploration, and it's occurred to me that it's necessary now that Charlie is no longer present. And even if he had been, Chris's AA self shows a different, more reflective and truthful side to her. As Mary Beth's discussion with the counsellor showed last season, having a neutral, objective space with people that aren't directly involved in the characters' lives allows the characters to become more honest. The old cliche about it being easier to open up to a stranger than a friend is a true one.

I also appreciated the sense that Chris's time in AA had been a journey, even while the show was on hiatus. She's thirty days sober here, having previously relapsed - as she shares to her meeting - with fifty eight days under her belt. It's a good example of C&L's "Tell - don't show" policy. They could have got another couple of episodes out of that line. Instead we had a great line that tells us all we need to know.

My favourite line of the episode came as Chris described her sponsor:

CHRISTINE: "She's trying to be tough."
MARY BETH: "Is she?"
CHRISTINE: "Yes. And overbearing and pushy. Just like Joan Crawford... without the wire hangers."


Harv Jr's obsession with the military - while partly played for laughs here - could see some interesting points raised. Harv Sr. in particular seems more politicised than ever before in response to it, and when this show makes political points it does it well.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

THE CITY IS BURNING

MARY BETH: "If a white kid was killed in an all-black neighbourhood, what would you call it?"
CHRISTINE: "Getting off at the wrong subway stop."

After a black kid is killed in a predominantly white neighbourhood, racial tensions run high.

While the episode covers a big issue - inspired by the December 1986 Howard Beach incident - it is most effective by staying small. There are little moments of casual racism that give the audience a small taste.

Some scenarios are left open to interpretation, such as Chris and Tony witnessing a white cab driver refuse his service to a black couple. Tony, recognising a hate based incident, wants Chris to intervene, but Chris - off duty - turns a blind eye ("It's an infraction, not an offence. I don't wanna spend the next two days in front of the Taxi Commission").

Unconscious, societal bias also gets brought out into the light. Mary Beth talks about a park where the black parents sit on one side and the white on the other ("I don't even think it's noticed. The kids play in the middle, but how long does that last?"). She observes the segregation that exists in their new neighbourhood, and the lack of diversity of their new neighbours. In true Mary Beth reflective style she also questions her own bias:

MARY BETH: "Last year on that bank robbery, Chris and I stopped a black man carrying a briefcase. It turns out he's a lawyer on his way back to his own office. We wouldn't have stopped him if he was white?"
HARVEY: "You were following your instincts."
MARY BETH: "Cop instincts? Or somewhere in the back of my head am I still some little girl from a lily white neighbourhood in South Boston."
HARVEY: "Oh, come on, Mary Beth. You're trying to treat everybody the same."
MARY BETH: "Harvey, I never forget they're black."


Quite naturally for a series based in a Squad Room, institutionalised racism is highlighted, with racist epithets used casually by colleagues. Corassa seems to be the goto for this kind of thing. He's displayed some ugly colours in his time on the show, which is greatly appreciated. I'm in admiration of actors and writers being willing to go to these places to flesh out the picture. Corsassa's bullying of Lowell in Act Of Conscience was really my first awareness of his character and that's been hard to get past. Though to his credit he's also been shown to be likeable and vulnerable - particularly after Newman's murder. Here, it's his stolen gun that was used in the murder, leading to some flak for him. For a character like Corassa, the N-word trips off his tongue quite naturally, creating a great deal of tension in the room.

Petrie's hurt and angry response to Corassa's language gives Carl Lumbly the opportunity to cut loose a little. We've seen far too little of Petrie, and it's appropriate that he is given a voice here. Fuelling the situation - and showing with great empathy the accumulative effect of hurt that is caused by hearing racism used so casually - is the fact that Petrie's young daughter Lauren has had the same word used against her in the schoolyard just that morning.

Lumbly gives the most powerful moment of the entire show as the hurt that's been building through the entire episode is released in a tearful barrage when he attacks Chris's attempt to shock her colleagues into being more appropriate. The writers - and characters - don't hold back on using racist terms in full. They're highly offensive. And that's the point. The script brings them into the open in all their ugliness and lets them sit there in context for the audience to recognise how damaging they can be.

It's to the credit of all involved that a scene in which a series of 'taboo' epithets was used was allowed to air. One thing is very clear: this is not an endorsement. Rather it shows without doubt the consequences of a very ugly fact of life.

Which brings me to another - more subtle message made in this episode that is perhaps more relevant than ever today: words of hate are - with the best of intentions - often swept under a rug or airbrushed out of history books. Not talking about something risks the damaging effect of suggesting that it wasn't as serious as it actually was - particularly for later generations. The terms used in context in this episode leave no doubt as to the devastating effect they can have. Chris's well-intentioned statement that she never wants to hear the terms again could be seen as an observation from the series writers about censorship by TV networks. Marcus's response suggests that part of the reason for censorship is because people have no mechanism for dealing with it. Earlier in the episode, when asked for his opinion, Marcus made a statement that could summarise the reason for this episode's very existence:

I'll tell you what I think. I think everyone's a racist. That's the way this country is set up. It's only a matter of what you do with it.

I came away from this episode with gratitude for what the series did with it here.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

LOVES ME NOT

The four episodes I've watched since The City Is Burning feel somehow less significant than most of what's gone before. It's not the first time I've had this feeling. I remember feeling this early on in another season (four, perhaps. Or five). And it got turned around.

Loves Me Not has quite a big main storyline with Mary Beth and the domestic violence of her neighbour towards his wife. There are some nice Daley moments.

The big news this episode was the exit of Petrie. I'm very glad the character - and the actor - was given a proper sendoff. When his promotion was mentioned at the start of the episode I thought that might be all we saw of him, but as things went along a number of satisfying boxes were ticked: from Petrie sharing drinks with Isbecki at Flannery's to his conversations with Chris and Mary Beth. In a nice touch, both women were wet for that final scene, after chasing a suspect towards a swimming pool in the previous scene, which ended with an offscreen splash. I enjoyed his acknowledgement of the friction between he and Chris and their respectful parting.

There was even something of an arc for Petrie this episode, when it looked as though he was going to be able to work nights at the 14th, but Marquette had other ideas.

The final freeze-frame of him walking out of the squad room was quite touching. I'll really miss Petrie. Whenever he had a meatier story, Lumbly shone. It's easy to see that he is a really good actor that could handle anything. In many ways he was wasted on this show. I'd really like to have seen a few more Petrie-centric episodes. I'm not sure why Lumbly chose to leave, but it's understandable that he may have wanted new challenges. Petrie will remain one of the best parts of this show for me.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

DIFFERENT DRUMMER

An episode full of quirk with the old character who was believed to be a witch by her neighbours. There was a lot of humour, wackiness and general silliness.

But some real heart emerged later in the episode that felt more special because it was unexpected. The neighbours being revealed as snobs, bullies and liars shone a light on the harassment that someone can experience for not fitting in. The old woman's tears on finding her 'work of art' destroyed were unexpectedly moving, and Chris's emotional outburst towards the bullies was very real too, and made me want to cheer.

My favourite scene was a small one: Chris, under pressure from Samuels to work extra hours told him that she was attending AA. Gless really got across Chris's reluctance to admit this, and an element of shame for her weakness. Which made Samuels' positive and supportive response even more meaningful.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY

Chris and Mary Beth back in fishnets for John duty to catch a mugger was a novel little nod to the earliest days of the series. I don't think Gless got to do this before, and she made a great hooker here.

There was a lot of reflection in this one, with the reveal that they'd sent an innocent man to prison where he'd been stabbed to death. Harvey and Mary Beth also looked back on the way they'd raised their children, wondering if they could have done better. In both cases - and as the title suggests - they realised they'd grown from experience.

I have to say I mostly found this episode forgettable, barring the fun of the dressing up, a scene where Mary Beth tried to flirt with someone while eating eel and the arrival of Merry Clayton as Det. Verna Dee Jordan.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

VIDEO VÉRITÉ

The contest to be the face of the NYPD doll was so much hokum. But fun hokum.

Meanwhile the procedural about the stolen pop video was also pretty daft and instantly forgettable.

Brigit's visit to NY was nice for the continuity. I do find her too cheery and sunny and squeaky, but that was acknowledged in the script itself. First with Chris describing her niece as "a walking orange juice commercial" and then with Brigit's resigned insight into herself:

I'm a Valley girl, Aunt Chris. I'm empty. You don't know what that feels like.

Brigit's idolisation of Chris and Charlie led to a scene which picked up Chris's journey for this season as she talked to her niece about her own and Charlie's alcoholism, shattering any illusion. A nice little moment for these two whose relationship I believe.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

GREED

Acknowledged by Rosenzweig himself as the show's own "jump the shark" episode, I still found myself looking forward to it. The imagery was so silly it was amusing. Chris's snipey comments and irritated looks towards the host aside, it wasn't actually very funny. Nor was it enthralling. And I couldn't watch without wondering what was going through the minds of these Emmy-winning actresses who had to suffer the indignity of dressing up as fruit.

And yet it was strangely enjoyable. Fun, even.

I came away thinking that no C&L rewatch would be complete without this one.

Incidentally, this episode saw the debut of Chris's gigantic specs. They are huuuuuuuge. She first wore them when dressed as a pineapple so I assumed it was part of her disguise. But then she continued wearing them at home. Perhaps the show's way of easing us into them. After a pineapple costume even those glasses seem tame. Almost.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

SECRETS

Even though the work plot tapped into Chris's ambition and gave Samuels a little storyline, I've quickly forgotten it.

The Laceys' drama, though, was meaty enough to more than make up for it. Harv Jr. being in touch with his Grandfather opened that particular wound for Mary Beth giving a multi-layered drama of Mary Beth coping with teen rebellion while at the same time dealing with her father Martin appearing at her home.

With Mary Beth's history of paternal abandonment being historical and the facts being given both piecemeal and subjectively (mostly through snippets of conversation from Mary Beth) the scenes between Mary Beth and Martin have an unusual dynamic where Mary Beth appears to be the unreasonable one. Intellectually I can understand that she's been badly hurt and is protecting herself, but there's also a sense that her resentment is causing more damage than Martin leaving his family. It's a carefully woven scene where the viewer is allowed to empathise with what our lead character tells us is the bad guy. We're trusted to get it and to read between the lines. So when a détente is reached towards the end of the episode, the audience shares in the sense of becoming more unburdened.

Everyone involved plays the situation for its truth. There's no sense of vanity on the part of the actors. The hurt brings out some less attractive qualities in Mary Beth, and Daly takes that journey. I particularly appreciate how this storyline has played out in the long term over the show's run. From hints of Mary Beth's non-traditional family background in in early seasons, with a little more detail given here and there leading to Mary Beth and Martin's hotel lobby confrontation in Season Five's Post Partum which tantalised with its lack of closure. This episode marks another chapter in that storyline. It's not resolved by any means, but there is a sense of a forward step for all concerned. Part of me would like to see another step forward before series' end, but I have to say the lack of a neat little denouement is giving this particular thread much resonance.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

DON'T I KNOW YOU?

This episode is a complete masterclass in a number of features that define this series.

Firstly, I was lulled into a feeling of security by the familiarity of the format. Having fast forwarded the preview at the beginning, I caught a glimpse of Chris kissing a date and another of an angry looking David Keeler. This suggested that there would be a Chris-centric personal storyline this episode.

With this in mind, I allowed myself the questionable luxury of not investing fully until this storyline "got going" with David's arrival (and presumably discovery that Chris was dating other people). So in a scene where Chris and her date, Brad, left a restaurant and he drove her home my mind was starting to wander a little. In that strange plywood corridor outsider her apartment, I watched her pick up Tony's mail and then go through the "let's take it slow" smalltalk at the door, gently sending Brad on his way. While this was going on, I started musing about Chris and Tony's shared singles lifestyle of dating regularly and exchanging stories, and half-thinking about a time in my early twenties when this was the norm for friends and I. Then I started reflecting about whether I took a lot for granted then and became desensitised to the excitement of dating. In short, I had a little "youth is wasted on the young" moment.

By this time, the scene was on another one of familiarity: Mary Beth and Harv talking and canoodling in bed, which was interrupted by a phone call from Chris who needed to speak to her in person urgently. Now, it's not every day that Mary Beth leaves late at night to visit her partner, but it's not unheard of either. I started to wonder what it was for, and wondered if it had something to do with AA or a case and started paying attention again when Mary Beth arrived at Chris's loft:


CHRISTINE: "I'm sorry I can't offer you a drink. The drinks cupboard's a little bare right now. He said his car battery died."
MARY BETH: "Who?"
CHRISTINE: "He was so strong. My arms... I'm a strong woman. You know I am. Don't you? But he held my wrists and I couldn't move my arms."
MARY BETH: "Who, Chris? Did somebody break in here?"
CHRISTINE: "Brad came to use the telephone."
MARY BETH: "Brad? Brad Potter?!"
CHRISTINE: "Yeah. His car wouldn't start so ...he came to make a phone call and... he raped me."


The scene ends with Mary Beth completely stunned and speechless. And I was right with her, putting the pieces together from what I see and what I'm told. As the scene played out, I'd worked out where it was going, but that left me with more questions. Not least: had I missed something important while my mind was wandering?

It's the perfect example of this series' "tell, don't show" policy. Avoiding the sturm und drang of a harrowing scene of violence, the emotional consequences are placed front and centre. Also - importantly - there is a degree of ambiguity to Chris's story here. As a viewer there was never any doubt in my mind about Chris's words. As the episode went on, Chris's perception and even her integrity were questioned by other characters. And again the viewer is trusted to be able to simultaneously understand this and to be incensed by it. We're put into Mary Beth's shoes of trusting Chris's word 110%, while also understanding the challenges the situation presents for Chris.

The episode then pulls another master stroke by following up this strong example of "tell, don't show" with a graphic scene in which Chris is given a medical examination. It's extremely disconcerting not just due to its content and the fact that Chris is visibly upset, but also for the fact that the audience is still processing the information given in the previous scene. I was still questioning whether there was something I missed. And still assimilating Chris's conversation with Mary Beth. So we're seeing this with a sense of unreality. The dissociative effect of this sudden scenario gives the audience some common ground with Chris, ensuring maximum empathy. It's a powerful choice.

With the wacky fruitiness of Greed still very much at the forefront of my mind, there's another layer added. Two episodes ago, Chris was exchanging brickbats with a sleazy game show host while wearing a pineapple costume because the system required it. Now she's lying in an examination room being objectified for the second (and not the last) time that evening in order for the system to work.

The contrast is stark and all the more effective for it. We've shared silliness with this woman, which makes this new situation even more uncomfortable. In both circumstances, the audience might shake their head and question if what they're seeing is actually happening. Leave it to Cagney & Lacey to make something meaningful - albeit indirectly - out of a potential jump the shark moment.

An element that comes strongly across in this episode is Chris's professionalism is chipped away at once again. An area of her life that she prides herself on and finds a sense of identity with is gently rocked. This is a recurring theme in Chris's journey, where lines blur and conflict arises between her personal and professional personae. Her two greatest nemeses - Albert Grand and Bruce Mansfield - have challenged this in her. It's happened when colleagues have pushed boundaries - Dory McKenna and Jack Hennessy not least. Most recently, Chris's professional mantle slipped during her drinking binges.

Her alcoholism is referenced here. Quite naturally with the traumatic events, Chris pours herself a large glass of scotch. There's a beautiful moment where she hesitates a few moments and is clearly thinking and reaches a decision (no mean feat to get this across wordlessly in a mid-shot) before telephoning her sponsor.

Jo, please. Thank you. Hello, Jo, it's Christine. I'm in trouble. I've got a Scotch in my hand. No, not yet. Well, then I need to talk.

It's so underplayed. A winningly unexpected combination of factual and gentle. Once again, this is not about an event, but rather a small but significant triumph for a character. As a viewer I was rewarded by sharing this triumph with her.

Another reference to the past comes when Chris talks about Sara Jones, which feels organic here.

Other scenes feel familiar without a direct reference. Chris's battle to feel comfortable in her own home paralleled that in Stress where Chris was stalked. The scene where Chris confronts Brad who puts on an act of denial in front of their lawyers and claims Chris is lying strongly echoes the storyline with Hennessy (even though that story is not referenced at all in the episode).

In fact there's so much familiarity here that the storyline gently dabbled with being a by-the-numbers series of recurring obstacles for Chris based on previous storylines. On paper, Chris being raped could have been a rather lazy injection of drama and conflict. Chris has already faced sexual harassment suits, been stalked, bereaved and sunk into alcoholism.

I found myself pondering on the fact that there's a thread of victimhood running through Chris's journey. Donna Mills's famous quote regarding her numerous TV movies of the Seventies popped into my head: "no girl on TV has ever been raped, strangled, assaulted, kidnapped, beaten, or killed more than I." After over 100 episodes, is this also in danger of becoming true for Chris Cagney? And is this a good fit for a TV series with a strong undercurrent of feminism?

I haven't got definitive answers for any of those those questions. All I know is that as a viewer Don't I Know You? feels like a worthy, progressive and important episode, not just from giving these wonderful actors some extremely substantial material, but for telling a story in a unique and effective way and pushing some boundaries while it does so. The writing is so layered and the presentation so stark and unglamorous. Perhaps originality of concept isn't as important as the fact that this familiar story is told in a way that challenges the audience to think. As ever, what is crucial is that the characters' responses drive the story forward. And that happens here.

I'm sure a thesis could be written on the virtues of Chris Cagney, and debates held about whether she's a feminist icon of survival or a put upon victim. And there are strong cases for both. That's not the point here.

The point is that this episode epitomises everything Cagney & Lacey does well. It's a story that needed to be told by these people at this time.