NYPD Blue Summary/Review by Amanda Wilson aka Puedo01@aol.com
"Stratis Fear"
Season 12, Episode 14
1/18/05
Teleplay by Keith Eisner
Story by Bill Clark & Keith Eisner
Directed by Bob Doherty

Wish I loved this week's as much as I loved last week's, but....

Here's a quick Summary:

BIG FAT GREEK MURDER: The owner of a coffee shop, a hard-working Greek 
immigrant by his son's account, is found stabbed to death.  A little 
digging turns up an ex-wife of Mr. Stratis who wanted more out of life 
than a husband who'd sling hash all day, and a daughter who got to go to 
private school. Son, Alex, stayed to work with Dad. A former coffee shop 
employee who was fired tells Andy and Clark that Stratis had a few 
girlfriends and that he took out life insurance polices on himself for 
them. Another strange clue: two just-rented, girl-friendly Disney videos 
were in his apartment: Mulan and The Little Mermaid.

A girlfriend named Margo who has a serious assault record is picked up but 
tells the cops Stratis was great. They find out from her, however, that he 
did have a little bit of a problem with very young girls. Margo denies she 
ever let her own kid near him, but Andy gets in her face, and she admits 
that she did allow it, but adds with indignation that she never allowed 
any penetration to occur.  Stratis' daughter Melanie is interviewed next, 
and she tells a tale of abuse at the hands of her father. She says her 
mother and brother didn't believe her, and she finally got sent away to 
school. Stratis' ex-wife is questioned and she tries to make the cops 
think her daughter is crazy, that she keeps her own daughter away from the 
family. She notes that Melanie does allow her child to see Alex once in a 
while including the night before.

In another meeting with Alex, Clark and Andy get down to the bones of his 
feelings by bringing up how much he admired his father, how he must have 
felt it was wrong of Melanie to keep his grandchild from him and how he 
probably helped ease the old man's pain in that regard. Alex admits he 
did, and that he left his niece and father alone for a while. He didn't 
believe Melanie's story, after all. But when he came back to pick up the 
girl, he found her dazed and complaining that her underwear was on 
backwards. He confronted his father later, got a confession and then, out 
of his own guilt, stabbed the man to death.

PRIVATE RELATIONS: A public relations executive whose clients included a 
celebrated former cop paralyzed in the line of duty is found robbed and 
murdered. Greg and Baldwin interview the former cop and his father, also a 
former cop.  Neither of them can imagine why the PR flack got whacked. 

The flack's secretary can. She's a bitter woman and has no problem 
painting her dead boss as the world's biggest asshole. She tells the cops 
he was screwing the paralyzed cop's wife. She says further that she 
informed the cop's father about it.

Surveillance video show the cop's father's car in the parking deck where 
the murder happened, but when questioned, he claims someone could have 
easily stolen it. He says he left his keys in the visor.  He also claims 
the secretary lied, and that he had no idea his son's wife was having an 
affair. All the while he spins his perfect denial, he's telling Greg and 
Baldwin with his eyes that he did it and that they just can't catch him. 
It's true: ADA Munson says there's not enough to indict.

Baldwin has dinner with the cop and his wife. At the end of the meal, the 
cop tells Baldwin that he knows about the affair and that he's told his 
wife and his father that he's OK with it.

PRIMA RITA: Rita's aunt comes to see her at work and weaves a horror story 
about her once-perfect daughter, Paula. Paula's been seeing a bad guy, 
staying out late drinking. Rita tries to brush it off as youthful 
indiscretion until her Tia shows her the XTC she found in Paula's purse.

Rita meets Paula's boyfriend, Bobby, and runs him through BCI. Bale jumps 
on her about that, but tells her he's the target of a federal narcotics 
investigation.  Rita reaches out to a friend in on that investigation and, 
after skillfully deflecting several friendly come-ons, finds out Bobby is 
going down that night.  She knows Paula will be with him, so she arranges 
to have Murph pick her up on possession charges.

Murph arrests Paula with an amount of narcotics small enough that it won't 
be such a big deal for her legally--at least not as big as what she'd have 
run into had she been with Bobby when the feds grabbed him. Rita leaves 
Paula in jail overnight, informs her that her mother will find out, and 
then comforts her without saying how she really just saved her life.

Review:

Well, this one certainly wasn't much to write home about.  Sorry to say 
that from the opening scene to the closing scene, I found very little that 
was compelling.

Just two highlights: One came in the Stratis story when the fact of the 
dead man's taste for little girls was revealed.  The story was crafted and 
acted well enough prior to this revelation to make the moment something of 
a shocker. It's the only time I think I've seen Andy close to smacking the 
crap out of a woman. Sober Andy, anyway.

The other was the performance by Jackie O.  First, she needs to speak 
Espanol more often--that was way cool.  Second, she played the big sister 
(cousin) detective with absolute perfection in the clothing store scene.  
The look on her face after Paula said, "Rita's a detective" was brilliant. 
Face of the Week, I think.

But those two moments couldn't carry the episode.

The paralyzed cop story left me completely cold. In a show where cops are 
heroes, I don't think a bad ex-cop should get off the hook.  And what was 
with the ending scene? It may be OK with that guy if his wife is having 
affairs, but is it OK with him that his dad is a murderer? Hello? Wasn't 
he a cop, too?  How about a story instead that shows this wheelchair cop 
doing the work of tracking down the killer (because he cares about his 
friend the dead guy), discovering it's his dad and then turning him in. 
Maybe he does such a great job with it that he's offered some sort of 
consulting job on the PD.  As it stands, no one is winner here: the cops 
we watch every week got outsmarted, the ex-cop who did the murder goes 
free and the ex-cop who was supposed to benefit from the murder resigns 
himself to the whole mess declaring, "I'm the luckiest guy in the world."  
Yuk.

Let's talk about Bale for a little bit.  His big secret is out and now his 
character is all over the map. I think it's time to do something with 
this. He steps up to the plate, ready to be the jerk we loved to hate, and 
then he backs down. It's not nearly as exciting.  The tension for Bale 
must be in wondering if Andy is going to blab the story to the world, so 
wouldn't that make him nervous? Maybe if he's jittery, he's on edge, that 
makes him meaner. Andy then struggles with what to do with his knowledge. 
He didn't tell anyone, didn't write it down, so it's his word (and maybe 
that of the skel who took the card) against Bale's. His word might be less 
credible since he's a known hot head, right?  I just think there's more 
room for tension here that's not being explored.  The bomb got dropped, 
now where's the fall out?

QUICK HITS:
*Rita is single?  I guess she is, technically, but it might have been fun 
to hear her mention Tony. Whatever the case, I enjoyed that scene. It was 
nice to see someone flirting with her, and also nice to see her respond 
well to it (rather than saying something nasty or taking it wrong, she 
behaved like an attractive woman usually behaves).  The whole thing made 
her more accessible, likable. 

*When Andy says to the ex-coffee shop worker after the foot chase "What's 
wrong with you?" I thought it was obvious. Wouldn't he likely be thinking, 
"well, two white cops are after me and that doesn't always turn out well 
for the innocent black man." 

*Bennie the paralyzed cop couldn't go up into the detective's squad room. 
How'd he get into the building, I wonder?  I also wonder if there are 
regulations that require political subdivisions to renovate old buildings 
so they are accessible inside and out.

*Mulan and The Little Mermaid. Both Disney flix, aren't they? Great 
movies, if you like that sort of thing (and I do), but it makes you wonder 
if a non-Disney production would have been named.

*I waited all episode long to hear news of Bridgette. Sigh.

*Dinner at 8: John's reference foreshadowed the telling of things at 
Baldwin's dinner, though it was hardly funny.

*Disco biscuit?? Why, that was Alan Sepinwall's high school nickname! Go 
back to "hug drug," you XTC freaks!!

CAST LEGACIES by J.(eff) L.(ebowski) Garner:

Previously on NYPD Blue...
Andrew Sikking as uniform sergeant, Philip Angelotti as uniform, Lisa 
Lackey as A.D.A. Munson, Michael Echols as uniform, James Eugene Davis as 
uniform, and Lisa Marie Jabboury as Lisa.

Previously on NYPD Blue as someone else...
--Mike Genovese (Charlie Quinn) -- played in the Season 4 finale "A 
Draining Experience." Since then, he's been seen on "Babylon 5," "ER," 
"Judging Amy," and "Port Charles"

-Sam Vance (Ernie Goldman) -- he had various roles in the Season 8 
episodes "Flight of Fancy" and "Dying to Testify," as well as the Season 
10 premiere "Ho Down." He's also appeared on "Monk," "Cold Case," and 
"Without a Trace"

Not previously on NYPD Blue..

--J. B. Blanc (Alex Stratis) -- most of his work has been in British 
theater and television, though he does have a role in the upcoming film 
"Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang"

--Terri Hoyos (Aunt Sylvia) -- she's been on "Hill Street Blues," 
"Cheers," "My So-Called Life," "ER," "Frasier," and the films "A Man 
Apart" and "Bulworth"

--Troy Ruptash (Brendan Quinn) -- other roles include appearances on 
"MDs," "JAG," "Boston Public," "West Wing," "L&O," and several independent 
films

--Darryl Theirse (Antoine Brown) -- you've seen him on "Nip/Tuck," 
"Judging Amy," "Philly," and "Popular"

--Onahoua Rodriguez (Paula) -- she's made appearances on "Cold Case," 
"CSI: Miami," "ER," "Judging Amy," and "Boston Public"

--Robb Derringer (Bobby Friedman) -- his resume includes roles on "CSI: 
Miami," "Yes, Dear," "CSI," "90210," the late '90s "Fantasy Island" 
revival," and "Dr. Quinn"

--Amanda Carlin (Vivian Howe) -- she's been on "L&O," "L.A. Law," "Deep 
Space Nine," "Ally McBeal," "ER," "3rd Rock," "CSI," "Friends," and 
"Medical Investigation," as well as the films "Blood Work" and "Liar Liar"

-Delaine Yates (Sheila Quinn) -- you've seen her on "Sex and the City," 
"Hope & Faith," and "L&O"

--Robin Karfo (Margot Wylie) -- her resume includes "ER," "L.A. Dragnet," 
"Judging Amy," and the film "Eddie and the Cruisers"

--Anastasia Basil (Melanie Stratis) -- other roles include "Six Feet 
Under," "The Guardian," "Judging Amy," "Arli$$," and the movie "The 
Terminal"

--Dorothy Constantine (Theodora Stratis) -- she's also had roles in "The 
Birdcage," a "Columbo" TV-movie, a 1983 TV-movie about the life of Grace 
Kelly, and the episode where "The Facts of Life" went to Paris

LINE OF THE WEEK:

I don't have one, but I think the entire reason Flip was in the show this 
week was to say this as Clark and Andy entered the room:

"Hey, good looking."
Clark: "Hey."
Flip: "What makes you think I was talking to you?"

Didn't work for me. First, because I'm not buying Munson and Clark as 
sweethearts. Second, because I've heard this line (delivered it, even) a 
million times. It's like the old "You're so funny" And then after a beat, 
"looking!" Cheesball humor has it's place, but I didn't get that this was 
intended as cheeseball.
Maybe I'm just tired....

I'll go instead with a FACE OF THE WEEK:

Rita/Jackie Obradors' solid stare down of bad guy Bobby after being 
introduced to him as Paula's hot cousin the detective.

See you next week!
Amanda Wilson