NYPD Blue, Season 2, Episode 6: "The Final Adjustment" Story by Christopher McQuarrie Teleplay by Charles H. Eglee & Channing Gibson Directed by Dennis Dugan PLOT ONE: MURDER OF THE WEEK Sipowicz and Simone are investigating the death of a woman who was killed in the brownstone she was refurbishing near Washington Square Park. Sipowicz is suffering from a bad back (caused by his scuffle with Detective Abruzzo last week), but his condition is aided by the husband of the deceased, who happens to be a chiropracter. The husband also tips Sip and Simone off to the fact that one of the people who was working with his wife on the refurbisihing job had done time for murder upstate. While they're looking for the suspect in question, one Victor Ugo (no relation to the Les Miz guy), Simone discovers that the chiropracter had a mistress, and that the mistress' brother (who lives with her) is an ex-con. Ugo is brought in - he claims that he had nothing to do with the murder - the only person he ever hated enough to kill was his mother, and he killed her already. Sipowicz believes him and becomes convinced that he's being framed - especially after they find out that Ugo heard about the handyman job from the mistress' brother (who he did time with). When they bring in Walter (the brother), he reveals that the chiropracter was the brains behind it all - he wanted his wife killed. But Walters' word isn't enough; Sip and Simone need a confession. So they place a few hidden cameras in the mistress' apartment (With her consent) and she gets the chiropracter (by getting him *very* horny) to tell her he killed his wife and framed Ugo for it. PLOT TWO: YO-JAMES-BO (THE BODYGUARD) Martinez is dog tired, because he's working the night shift and spending his days moonlighting for Mike Roberts' security firm. Roberts has James bodyguarding the daughter of a wealthy Costa Rican banker. The daughter, Letitia, confesses to James that she's worried her father must be in great danger - the fact that he has just retained a criminal lawyer Martinez had dealings with in the past does nothing to assuage her fears. The next afternoon, Roberts is helping the banker into a limo, while James is helping Letitia out of another, when a motorcycled gunmen executes the banker. James tackles him and places him under arrest. Apparently, Letitia's father was laundering money for a drug cartel but had decided to go straight and was using the criminal lawyer to cut a deal with the feds. The cartel found out and had him killed. James thinks Roberts knew about this and set up Letitia's father to be killed - and even if he didn't, he did a piss-poor job of guarding him - and decides he doesn't want to work for Roberts' again. PLOT THREE: LITTLE THUG TATE Simone gets a visit from a former neighbor of his - rather, a former friend of his dead wife. She found an automatic in her 11-year-old son Nick's dresser drawer and wants Bobby (who Nick used to look up to) to have a talk with him. Nick acts tough - even Bobby's tour of the 15th Precinct lock-up does little to scare him. Eventually, he admits he was holding the gun for someone else, but won't say who. He gets hostile towards Bobby, calling him a "scumbag" and telling him that his (white) friends need to carry guns because all the black kids in school have them. Finally, Bobby lets him go, only to hear later that Nick got beat up, presumably by the owners of the gun who were upset at not getting it back. Simone gets the names of the boys suspected, and he goes with Sipowicz to threaten them to stay away from Nick. Bobby gets more than a little violent (placing one kid in a chokehold and pressing his badge into another's forehead so hard that it leaves an impression). PLOT FOUR: ANDY GOT BACK Though "the official move" isn't for another week, Andy brings a few articles of clothing with him to Sylvia's - though he still won't use the key she gave him. She indulges his nervousness about their moving in together and suggests he take a shower. After he strips down and hops in, she joins him and begins giving him a very thorough washing down..... --------------------------------------------------------------- Ignoring for the moment the unwavering memory of Dennis Franz's posterior for the moment (and believe me, I'll get to it), the one overriding thought that occurred to me throughout tonight's show has a lot to do with what I posted about yesterday: the fact that virtually every case gets solved in one episode. In the first season, this was okay, because there was a lot of different stuff going on (Andy's recovery from the gunshot and the bottle, James' ascendence to detective, Greg and Donna's romance, the whole Kelly/Licalsi/Marino affair, etc.) that the relatively mundane nature (by dramatic standards, anyway) of the police work never seemed to bother me too much. But now we know these characters fairly intimately, and while the character stuff is still what makes the show go, without that element of discovery - the thought that Sipowicz could show a totally new element to his personality tonight (like the episode last year with the gay writer) - the crime-solving needs some more juice. Right now, I could probably describe in a fair amount of detail all the various subplots that've taken place this year, but I would be hard-pressed to give information about each week's "main" murder case. Basically, the same thing happens every week: Sip and his partner (be it Kelly or Simone) are called on to investigate a homicide, find a suspect very rapidly, and force him or her to confess, either by scaring the confession out of him/her or conning it out. It's starting to get real old, real fast, and the writers of the show have to do something about this problem. For starters, let's see an investigation last more than one episode - a three or four-part story arc would be much appreciated. Right now, there's no suspense about any of the police work because we know that the killer (or rapist, or wife-beater, depending on the episode) will confess by show's end. Having an unsolved - or, at least, unprosecutable - case might be nice. I want to see Andy's frustration at the ones that get away, especially when he knows who did it but can't prove it in a court of law. The reason I'm rambling on about all of this is because the whole chiropracter storyline tonight felt very cookie-cutter to me - if I wasn't taking notes so I could write the summary, I doubt I would've paid much attention to it. As for the rest of the show, there were some parts that worked wonderfully and some parts that didn't. The James as Bodyguard thing was great - this was the first time James has ever been given a storyline that had nothing to do with his "growth" as a detective. His relationship with Letitia was relaxed and engaging, and Turturro finally got to show some real steel - first in taking down the guy on the motorcycle singlehandedly, then when he went after Roberts. My only complaint is that I wish they could've spread this story out over more than one episode. A part that didn't work was the Simone/Nick subplot. It wasn't Smits' fault - he was great whenever the writers weren't giving him warmed-over John Kelly dialogue ("I'm trying to treat you like a man.") to recite. In fact, when he went to confront the three older kids, I was worried that it was going to turn into the Righteous Anger of John Kelly (tm), but Smits showed that Simone has his own style when he's angry, as well as when he's mellow. And Sipowicz's sneering suggestion that Simone may have done Nick more harm than good showed us that these two still aren't buddy-buddy. My problem with the subplot was Adam Hann-Byrd, who played Nick (he played the title role in Jodie Foster's "Little Man Tate"). Hann-Byrd's sing-song delivery and Opie Taylor-esque looks just didn't work for a kid who's supposed to be on the verge of becoming a young criminal. The bit in the lock-up fell flat because he didn't seem nearly as nasty as he should have. Finally, before I move on to the shorter takes, a comment or three about the "shocking" ending. Well, we knew it was coming, but I would've liked a little more preparation for it - maybe I would've dug up my collection of Fat Boys videos or something to work my way up to The Butt. However, once the initial wave of discomfort hit, I settled down and enjoyed the scene - the fact that we also got to see more of Sylvia helped. :-) Seriously, though, Dennis Franz and Sharon Lawrence have such amazing chemistry together that I could watch the two of them nude for an hour every week if I had to, and eventually I wouldn't even notice. Shorter takes: -Well, we finally know how old James is: 28. I believe it usually takes at least 5 or 6 years before you're even considered for a gold shield, so the complaints about James having advanced through the ranks too soon should be quieted, so long as he joined in his very early 20s. -Do you think we've seen the last of Roberts? The very fact that we don't know for sure whether he in fact was setting up his client for the hit suggests to me that we will, but I don't know - maybe we will have an open-ended case for once. -Back when Kelly and Harold Ng investigated a murder in Chinatown a few weeks ago, I suggested that the location of the 15th Precinct was being subtley moved further downtown. The murder this week at Washington Square Park (and, therefore, NYU and the Village) further proves that. -Did we really need the whole "Medavoy has the runs" subplot? It was way too obvious a laugh - especially since the writers seem to be trying to show that Greg is there for more than just comic relief. -Lines of the week: Most of them are either said by or about Victor Ugo: "I only had one mother. I killed her, and that's done with." "Wanna look in on Norman Bates?" "I don't know if we want to use a body mike." "Yeah, her body may get a little busy." "Boy, that's sure gonna be clean." See ya in the funny papers.... -Alan Sepinwall -sepinwal@mail.sas.upenn.edu RANDOM QUOTE: "What is your glitch?" -Ben Stiller, "Reality Bites"