Ghost of a Chance
Directed By: Martin Campbell
Story By: Tom Fontana
Teleplay By: Noel Behn
Bayliss leads the investigation on the high-profile Adena Watson case. Munch and Bolander have to figure out if an elderly widow killed her husband. Howard searches for the evidence to convict a murderer as Danvers puts pressure on her to solve the case.
Tropes applying to this episode include:
- Cloudcuckoolander: Ralph Fenwick goes off on weird, semi-philosophical tangents at random. It's justified, since he's been suffering from sleep deprivation.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Bayliss angrily complains to Giardello that, even though he's the primary for the Adena Watson case, he doesn't even have a desk. Giardello - who had just been defending Bayliss to his superiors - gets angry, performs a Desk Sweep of Rage on a random table, and declares it Bayliss's, then tells him to get to work.
- Immoral Journalist: Subverted. Griselda Battel hounds Bayliss and Giardello and gives less than flattering reports on their handling of the Adena Watson case, but she still provokes cooperative with the investigation.
- Insistent Terminology: Jessie Doohen insists on being called Widow Doohen instead of Mrs. Doohen.
- Jerkass:
- Crosetti and Lewis childishly taunt Howard about her claims of seeing Fenwick's victim's ghost.
- Pembleton tries to steal the Adena Watson case from Bayliss and repeatedly insults him over the course of the investigation.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Barnfather and Pembleton are absolutely right that Bayliss is unqualified to handle the Adena Watson case.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: After spending the whole episode patronizing and mocking Howard, Felton helps her prove Fenwick's guilt to make up for it.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Howard is seen snuggling with her cat in bed.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Dr. Blythe chews out Bayliss for having Adena Watson's body removed before a medical examiner could take her body temperature to help determine her precise time of death.
- Not Quite Dead: Thormann calls Lewis and Crosetti to investigate an old man's death, only for him to get right back up and turn out to be perfectly alive. His wife, who up to this point had been expressing nothing but grief over his death, starts yelling about how much she wants him to just die and the two get into a screaming match while the officers just watch in astonishment. Thormann later calls them back after the old man dies for real, having had a heart attack while his wife left him to die.
- Quit Your Whining: Giardello conveys this to Bayliss via a Desk Sweep of Rage after he complains about the Adena Watson case.
- Sanity Slippage: Downplayed. Howard clearly starts cracking under the pressure to convict Ralph Fenwick, which results in her buying into the ghost theory. It's implied to be the result of a lack of sleep.
- Shown Their Work: At one point in the episode, all the detectives in the squad are shown working on the Adena Watson case, either on the crime scene or on the phones in the squad room. According to David Simon's book, the murder of a child is considered a "red ball" where all hands are on deck and under pressure to solve the murder.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Howard dreams of a victim's ghost telling her where the murder weapon used to kill her was, and believes it was a genuine supernatural encounter. When Howard tries to follow the ghost's advice, she turns up absolutely nothing. As it turns out, it really was just a dream.
- Bayliss is a rookie officer whose first case is extremely high-profilenote ; predictably, he has no idea how to handle it and not only is he unable to find any leads, but he accidentally contaminates the crime scene and continuously acts weak and indecisive.
- Shout-Out: Crosetti and Lewis taunt Howard about seeing the ghost of the murder victim by singing the theme song to Casper the Friendly Ghost.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Howard gets upset with Felton when he tells Crosetti and Lewis about the fact she heard the murder victim's ghost.Howard: You tell me you're my partner as well as my friend. In my opinion, you're neither.
