Title: The Arsonist
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Tony Sheehan
Air Date: October 16, 1975
Previous: Heat Wave
Next: Grand Hotel
Guest Starring: Roger Bowen, Jack Somack, Steve Franken
"The Arsonist" is the sixth episode of the second season of Barney Miller.
The cops of the 12th Precinct are hunting for, you guessed it, an arsonist. Wojciehowicz thinks the composite sketch of the suspect looks like Woody Allen. Wojo is even less impressed by Harris's psychological analysis of the suspect—"socially awkward and sexually frustrated"—pointing out that he, Wojo, loves to watch a fire burning and is neither of those two things. So Wojo is pretty irritated when the suspect they arrest outside a fire at a burlesque theater, one Edward Foreman, matches Harris's profile exactly.
In other news, Chano brings in a Francis Lindquist, who pumped six bullets into a subway vending machine that refused to issue him a Butterfinger. The 12th is visited by Mr. Cotterman, owner of a local bodega, who is robbed so often that he has come to recognize the men who point guns at him. And Barney is annoyed with Wojo for being late for work; Wojo went to Queens to have sex with some woman and was late getting up.
First appearance of Jack Somack as Mr. Cotterman, who would be a recurring character.
Tropes:
- Did You Just Have Sex?: Wojo, The Casanova, comes in with a goofy grin and greets everyone cheerfully. Nobody is surprised when Wojo says he missed his alarm clock because he slept "in another borough."
- Dramatic Irony: Mr. Cotterman's ranting about how his store is constantly robbed ends with him saying that he wouldn't be surprised if his store burned down, that maybe the local arsonist might burn it down, that it could happen at any time and oh by the way, he, Mr. Cotterman, has been in the squad room for 45 minutes. Barney then steps over and gently informs Mr. Cotterman that the arsonist is there in the squad room with them, and they arrested him an hour ago.
- Facial Composite Failure: Both played straight and then oddly averted. The cops look at the police sketch of the arsonist: Wojo thinks it looks like Woody Allen and Harris thinks it looks like Albert Einstein. That's combined with Unreveal Angle, but when Foreman the arsonist is brought in, the audience does see the sketch. It looks just like Foreman, and nothing like either Woody Allen or Albert Einstein.
- Hypochondriac: Part of how Mr. Foreman's mother manipulates him. When the detectives ask Foreman if his mother is in frail health, he says "I don't think so, but she does."
- Insurance Fraud: Mr. Cotterman, it seems, was planning to burn down his store for the insurance. When Barney tells Mr. Cotterman that they already have the arsonist in custody, he gets an Oh, Crap! look and makes a hurried exit.
- My Beloved Smother: Foreman the arsonist is just as psychologically messed up as Harris predicted, and it's all because of the overbearing mother that he still lives with. When Foreman tells his mom over the phone that he's been arrested for arson, his mom tries to get him to see a doctor—namely, a pediatrician. When it's time for Foreman to go to jail, he and all the detectives have to tell Foreman's mom that she can't go with him.
- Newhart Phone Call: A frequent gag on Barney Miller, seen in this episode when Foreman the arsonist, talking to his mom on the phone, tells her that he won't go to a pediatrician and she can't come with him to prison.
- No Snack for You: Mr. Lindquist says that he's been feeding 20 cents at a time for years into that vending machine, wanting to get a Butterfinger, but virtually never receiving one. So he shoots it.
