Season One, Episode 15: “Rites of Spring” (Part Two)
written by Michael Kozoll, Steven Bochco, and Anthony Yerkovich
directed by Gregory Hoblit
original airdate: May 19, 1981
“Previously on Hill Street Blues…”
Roll Call: Item nine, implied; the shooting which ended part one has resulted in rioting in the East Utica vicinity. Item ten concerns Phil’s irritation at the “rather anemic” showing at the blood drive mentioned in last episode’s roll call; the sisters will be setting up in roll call for the rest of the week to make it more “convenient”. Final item: dress code compliance, which apparently means no more of Renko’s cowboy boots (among other things). As they break up, Phil holds up the train; additional units are being requested on East Utica. And it’s here where we’re informed that the current story is that a sniper shot the kid in the alley… as we roll credits.
Neal and J.D. walk in, with J.D. trying to act like he’s suffered a home injury and Neal knowing damn well it was a drunk-in-public injury. Ray interrupts them to ask them to take Weeks back to the incident site. At the scene, Furillo is walking with Captain Jerry Fuchs from Narcotics. Henry trades places with Fuchs and gives us the exposition; this is the fourth time Weeks has been in an officer-involved shooting, plus he’s got six complaints in his jacket for excessive force… and he’s a racist. Henry’s not giving Weeks the benefit of the doubt. Howard rolls up and wants a moment with Frank, but it’s personal. Henry, overhearing Howard discuss going to self-actualization meetings with his new lady, interjects. Howard is so blissfully happy that he doesn’t even react when things start breaking on a rooftop; Frank has to yell at him to do something.
Neal and J.D. arrive with Weeks, and Frank introduces them to Lieutenants Hurley and Shaw from Internal Affairs. With an interruption from a uniform, which Frank dispatches J.D. to deal with, Weeks tells his story to IAD — including, when asked to tell them exactly what he said, “Freeze, niggers, or I’ll blow your heads off.” Shaw, who is black, is unimpressed. Washington is even moreso, and stalks off to join J.D., where they have a nice street-level conversation with Theo Monroe, the dapper manager of the clothing store behind which the shooting took place.
Hurley and Shaw continue grilling Weeks, asking why he was there in the first place. Neal and J.D. return with the information that there was no sign of forced entry and no cash or merchandise missing from the clothing store. Weeks is, to put it bluntly, screwed.
Back at the station, Leo and Mick are being vampired by a Catholic nurse. This is mostly a scene full of one-liners, but it does update us on Mick’s work at the false front fencing operation, which it appears ties in to an underground card game. Upstairs, the crew from the alley returns home, and Henry receives a phone call from the hospital regarding his ailing son. It’s not bad news that drags him down; it’s no news.
In Frank’s office with Neal and J.D., Weeks is telling Frank who the snitch is that he was looking for, and he’s being awfully indignant over Frank actually trying to help him. Frank holds J.D. up as Neal and Weeks depart, and tears into him because the company holding J.D.’s car loan called him complaining that J.D. pulled a gun on the guy they sent to repo J.D.’s car.
Cut to Andy and Bobby on patrol. Andy half-seriously wants Bobby to run off to California so they can be motorcycle cops (blatant CHiPs callout) because he’s tired of the ghetto. They get a call for a domestic, where they meet Bates and Coffey… and the four encounter a very large, very enraged woman named Louella trying to beat her husband to snot with a baseball bat.
After a quick interlude with Mick at the fake fence with feds Ralph Prentiss and John Amico, we cut back to the station to see the four uniforms hauling Louella in for booking, and Henry gets another call from the hospital. It could be meningitis, so he takes off. Meanwhile, J.D. tells Neal he’s got some business and takes off, just as Joyce walks in for a quiet relationship talk about their fight last episode. She also hands over four tickets to the Phillies game in apology to Cooper and Perez. They sneak off for a nooner.
We cut straight to the hotel for that. It’s a long scene further discussing their relationship — nearly five minutes. It’s not particularly enlightening, though, although she does inform Frank that the rape case he was so concerned about has been handed off to another defender.
Weeks heads to the bathroom, and Washington follows him. Weeks assumes Neal just wants to bust on him, and gets awfully racist with him, but Neal’s actually starting to think Weeks is innocent. After their chat, Weeks tells Neal off-camera a different story; a big bust he had a line on that he didn’t want the higher-ups to know about because they’d just take the case from him, and Neal shares this with Furillo on-screen.
Back at the fence, a guy’s trying to sell dental instruments to Belker. Mick swaps places with Amico, and J.D. comes into try and sell some jewelry. Mick catches this on the closed-circuit and listens in, freaking out; he takes off out the back door. After J.D. gets done with Amico, he walks out, sees a bar next door, and heads toward it. Mick collars him and lights him up. J.D. tries to get Mick to make the videotape disappear. Mick tells him to pound sand.
Hill and Renko pay a visit to Shirett Anders, who answers the door in her lingerie. She’s kinda hitting on Bobby while telling him she’s got an arrangement with a girlfriend to trade babysitting duties. Bobby drops Andy off at school, where he drops in on Sandra Pauley to ask her out to dinner. She’s got class in 40 minutes, though. Andy promptly convinces her to spend that 40 minutes being naughty.
Frank walks into the hospital, where Fay’s receiving treatment after being mugged. Harvey just stood there watching, telling her to give them whatever they wanted. So she’s dumping him for being a coward. Doctor Redman turns up with x-rays, and Fay will need surgery on her broken thumb. Redman turns out to be a former All-Pro for the Saint Louis Cardinals out of Syracuse.
On his way out, Frank asks where the children’s ward is and goes to check on Henry. Josh is in a coma, and Henry’s losing his mind. Doctor Rogatz comes out to give Henry the news. It looks bad, as Henry covers his face, sobbing… but they’re tears of joy. Josh is going to be fine. The men embrace as Henry sobs it out, and we roll credits.
Look, Pizza Man: The entirety of Joyce’s lengthy appearance this episode is EWW KISSING. There’s a ton of banter, but really nothing substantial or character-building.
Would You Prefer Internal Injuries?: “Are you kidding, ma’am? In my line of work I see gallons of the stuff. Except it’s usually on sidewalks, and bumpers, woodwork and things.” Mick’s response to being asked if seeing a pint of blood bothers him.
I’m Unarmed: “I’m sick of carrying the same badge as guys who are just in it for the rush.” Henry says this literally just as Howard is walking up to talk to Frank, which is gold. Just moment’s later, Henry refers to Howard’s “self-actualization” regimen as “Like EST, without the toilet training.” You millenials can either click that link, or draw on your recollection from watching Philip and Stan go to similar seminars on The Americans.
My Car!: “Get these people outta here. Get ME outta here, wouldya? Do me a favor.” Andy’s not thrilled about being in the middle of a riot zone with random gunfire.
Judas Priest!: “Do I, as a general rule… tend to invade people’s space?” What’s this? Self-awareness from Howard? (Frank’s expression as he looks up at Howard after he asks this question, by the way, is priceless.)
Mano a Mano: “I want a piece of this guy. There’s nothin’ I hate worse than a wife-beater.” Bates making assumptions. Whoops.
I’m Good For It: J.D. is swirling down the toilet, and we’ll get more into this in a bit.
What’s Up, Lover?: “…claims he saw some joker go down for the count at Cole’s last night after eight rounds with a bottle of 151.” Neal’s not buying any of J.D.’s BS anymore.
Not Now, Fay: “I swear, Frank, I get more support from my pantyhose than I do from the cops in this garbage dump of a city.” We’re back to over-reacting to life.
Central Booking: The following actors appeared in part one, and we’ll simply refer you back to that post for commentary: Robert Hirschfeld as Leo Schnitz, Van Nessa Clarke as Shirret Anders, Charles Hallahan as Weeks, James Remar as Cooper (cameo only), Mimi Rogers as Sandra Pauley, and Ed Marinaro as Coffey.
Jim Tartan returned as the coroner Metzger. Tartan would appear a few more times in the same role but with his name inexplicably changed to Calloway.
All the other guest stars in this episode were first-timers. Several would also appear in the following two-parter: Frantz Turner played Ralph Prentiss, and has continued to work steadily ever since. Terry Alexander played Theo Monroe; he’d come back for another pair of consecutive episodes in season four, appearing in “Doris in Wonderland” and “Praise Dilaudid” as Quincy. Jack Andreozzi also came back in a different role later, more substantially; after playing John Amico in these episodes, he’d come back for six scattered episodes beginning in season six as Sal Binachi.
There were a couple of characters with lines who went uncredited; the nurse taking blood from Mick and Leo and the black man outside Louella’s apartment. Louella herself is uncredited, although she has no lines so that’s expected.
Some other folks debuted in this episode only rather than returning for “Jungle Madness.” A few reappeared later in other guises. Charlie Weldon appeared as Lieutenant Shaw; he’d be back in season three’s “Officer of the Year”, playing Calloway. Rony Clanton, credited as “Main Seller”, would return in “Blues for Mister Green” in season five as Leonard Peach. Jan Stratton played Dr. Rogatz in this episode only; she’d return three more times, all as “Waitress”, in seasons two and three. Helen Martin appeared, uncredited, as “Neighbor” outside Lorraine’s apartment; she’d actually get a credit in season three’s “Moon Over Uranus: The Sequel”. Martin later achieved some modicum of fame co-starring for five seasons as Pearl Shay on 227. The nurse at the blood drive, who gets a few lines, is uncredited.
Making lone appearances in this hour were Sam Scarber as Dr. Redman and Neil Brooks Cunningham as John Hurley. Scarber, in a fun nod to his scene, grew up in Saint Louis and was an All-WAC running back at New Mexico in the late 60s. Drafted in the third round by the Cowboys in 1971, he later played for the Rams, but long before their move to Saint Louis, obviously.
Another long-term recurring guest debuted in this episode, as Vincent Lucchesi made his first appearance as Captain Jerry Fuchs. After appearing in both of these episodes and the two-parter which follows, Lucchesi would return in season two’s “Pestolozzi’s Revenge”. He’d make a total of 15 appearances as Fuchs, most of which as a staunch friend of Furillo, and that constitutes about half if his entire non-stage acting career. In a strange twist, Lucchesi was the second husband of Claudia Martin, Dean Martin’s daughter. Her first husband? Kiel Martin, a.k.a. J.D. Larue.
Rap Sheet: The crew notes here are identical to part one, except that Anthony Yerkovich got writing credit for the second hour only.
Verdict: The story proceeds apace from part one, and other than Henry’s subplot involving his son nothing is resolved; everything else going on will carry over into the next episode, which may as well have been “Rites of Spring (Part Three)”.
The stories do, however, pick up steam for the most part. The exception is the Shirett Anders subplot, which we’re merely reminded of. But Andy’s relationship heats up, Bates and Coffey’s relationship as partners gets built further, and Mick’s work with the FBI starts getting some results.
Of course, the real reason for that operation, plot-wise, is to put the screws to J.D. LaRue is completely losing the handle now; Mick and Neal covered for him in regard to last episode’s shenanigans, but Neal’s close to his breaking point and Mick’s reached his. On top of J.D.’s financial difficulties, which have now got him in hot water with Furillo, he’s got himself into a bind he can’t just skip out of.
As for Weeks, we as viewers have the advantage of knowing that Weeks really is innocent, as it were, despite how noxious he may be. There’s no mystery to be solved here; what we’re instead left to wonder is whether Weeks will get off the hook. Everyone’s against him except Fuchs and Neal (and maybe Frank), and it’s going to get worse before we reach the end.
Final score: 10. We’re not even going to deduct a point for Fay being Fay, because it only lasts for a minute and a substantial conversation between adults ensues afterward.
Next Week: “Jungle Madness (Part One)” – someone gets shot, Weeks keeps running, and J.D. reaches a crossroads.
