NYPD Blue, Season 2, Episode 8, "You Bet Your Life" Story by Eric Newman & Tom Towles Teleplay by Eric Newman & Tom Towles and Leonard Gardner Directed by Elodie Keene PLOT ONE: BURN, BABY, BURN Andy and Bobby find the charred remains of a pregnant woman under the Manhattan Bridge. Eyewitness accounts lead them to believe that the dead woman was a pregnant hooker who was seen being abducted the night before by two men in an RV. The license number of the RV leads them to Sal and Bobby, two young punks who can't keep their stories straight (Sal won't even admit to having gone looking for a hooker that night). However, there's no evidence to prove that the dead woman is the missing hooker, until a woman who may have been the dead girl's mother shows up to file a missing person's report with Simone. He gets a picture of the girl and uses it to convince Bobby the punk to confess to the murder. PLOT TWO: SID...I MEAN, STEVE THE SNITCH A sleazy two-bit operator named Steve shows up at the 15 to offer Martinez info on a pawn shop robbery, in exchange for money. It turns out he knows who did it because *he* had been planning the job but got sick and the other guy stole his idea. James gets Steve to wear a wire to force a confession from the robber, but when the robber offers Steve $2500 to quit hassling him about the pawn shop, Steve's wire "mysteriously" goes dead and Martinez and Medavoy have to bust the robber without probable cause. The pawn shop owner does identify him in a lineup, but it's unclear whether they'll be able to prosecute. James gives Steve one-fourth the promised reward (for the stunt with the wire) and sends him on his way. PLOT THREE: SON OF YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (aka "Oh, Danny's Boy") Dan Breen, Andy's former AA sponsor (Andy has apparently "dumped" Dan since last we saw him) shows up at the 15 with a messed-up face. He tells Andy that his son, Danny, is mentally unstable and beat him up. Andy, Bobby, and James pick up Danny and charge him with assault, but he's found incompetent to stand charges, given his medicine and sent home. Andy's convinced that if Dan stays with Danny, sooner or later Danny could beat him to death without even meaning to (Danny only gets upset when he forgets to take his medicine). Andy forces Dan to move out of his apartment and not tell Danny where he's going, but Dan insists on at least saying good-bye so he can tell Danny how to take care of himself. Danny doesn't want to listen to his father, so finally Andy and Dan walk out resignedly, with Dan extremely worried about Danny's future. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A lot of people have complained about this episode being too insubstantial and clinging too close to the current rigid plot format (a big case for Sip/Simone, a smaller case for M & M, and at least one personal subplot). However, this was probably my favorite of all the Simone episodes so far, because it exemplified everything I love about "NYPD Blue." In most other TV shows, everyone wears their emotions on their sleeves; on Blue, emotion is treated like an embarrassing relative - kept hidden and unmentioned whenever possible. While it's fun to watch Sipowicz explode or Medavoy get flustered, the best moments are when the characters are trying not to show any emotions at all - and when the actors let you seem them anyway, underneath. Tonight's episode - particularly the Dan Breen story - was extremely low-key, and I can understand how that might turn some people off, but watching Franz, Smits, Boyle, and even Turturro try to keep their characters' feelings under wrap was amazing. The final scene between Dan and Danny Breen was almost too painful to watch, because everything that Dan or Andy should've said, they didn't. The "A" murder was nicely done, for a change - too often, everything is too neat or easy, and in this case, it looked like Sip and Simone really were in trouble - and the absolute calmness of Sal gave me at least a small amount of doubt about whether they killed anyone. In addition, the scene with Smits and the dead woman's mother was very touching - you could see how difficult it was for Bobby to be asking those questions. And as for Steve the Snitch, I laughed, but I really hope he doesn't become a recurring character - as people have pointed out, the character is totally stolen from Sid the Snitch from Hill Street Blues. My problem with the episode is that we still don't have any plot threads or character stuff that will have any ramifications later on - it was too self-contained, just like the last few weeks. Shorter takes: -This summer, I walked by that spot under the Manhattan Bridge where they found the body every day on my way to work - at the New York Post building a block away. I could even spot the Post building in the background - it's the big concrete building with the red letters running across the top. Seeing that was pretty neat. Oh, and all that rubble isn't usually there - it's just a sidewalk and a ballfield. -Nary a sign of Sylvia this week. The Steve the Snitch stuff was crying out for her to have a scene where she cut Steve to shreds for killing the wire (and probably blowing the case - the line-up ID is probably poisonous fruits, as there wasn't probably cause for the guy's arrest). Sylvia has essentially turned into Andy's Girlfriend - I miss seeing her on the job with that acid tongue of hers. -Was this the first time this year Donna wore one of her trademark sweaters? She's been mainly wearing silk blouses so far, but she had on that fuzzy blue angora thing which seemed more her style. -If I was James McDaniel, I'd be in the producer's office every day asking when I'm gonna get more screen time. Everyone else has gotten a subplot except for Fancy - hell, Andy's fish have had more action than Fancy. -So, is Lesniak only going to appear every other episode? -Line of the Week: none. Andy was in too somber a mood (over a particularly nasty murder, plus the stuff with Dan) to crack wise about anything. -Alan Sepinwall -sepinwal@mail.sas.upenn.edu RANDOM QUOTE: "You know, sometimes I just wish I was a guy." "No you don't. The male body needs sex at all times! It's a living hell!" -Joyce Hyser & Billy Jacoby, "Just One of the Guys"