Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
Written By: James Yoshimura and Tom Fontana
Directed By: Wayne Ewing
Giardello discovers that the top brass are covering up the fact that the station contains hazardous asbestos that has potentially leaked into the ventilation system. Bolander and Munch investigate the death of a young teenager who was beaten to death. Bayliss and Howard try to quit smoking.
Tropes applying to this episode:
- Abusive Parents: Percy Howell's father is disturbingly blasé about his son's death, and bluntly admits he didn't care when his son came back home with a large bruise on his face.
- Accidental Murder: Colin Dietz killed Percy Howell when he beat him with a baseball bat as part of an initiation ritual, inadvertently fatally injuring him.
- Bad Boss: Granger and Barnfather cover up the asbestos in the station in spite of the risk it poses to everyone working inside so they won't have to face any backlash over it.
- Based on a True Story: Bolander and Munch using a copy machine as a Lie Detector (see Blatant Lies and Stupid Evil below) was actually done not only by the Real Life Baltimore detectives, but also a group of homicide detectives in Detroit (who apparently got into a lot of trouble when that was made public).
- Blatant Lies: Bolander tells the gang member he's about to interrogate using a Lie Detector (actually, a copy machine) the "electrolyte neutron magnetic scanner" test could harm his testicles through prolonged exposure. Felton plays along when, while claiming Bolander's ex-wife is on the phone for him, tells Bolander he doesn't even want to be in the building when they conduct the test.
- The Cameo: John Waters shows up at the end as a bartender politely listening to Bolander rambling about Elvis.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Munch first starts to show signs of being one here, claiming that marijuana was outlawed by William Randolph Hearst so he could ban hemp to make way for his own products.
- Cool Car: Lewis wants to build his own sports car, and has started with a Ford FR V8 engine that he bought. Crosetti buys him a rearview mirror as a gift.
- Downer Ending: The episode ends with a drunk Bolander sitting alone in a bar, sullenly mulling over his divorce, his break-up with Dr. Blythe, and Percy Howell's death.
- Enemy Mine: Played for Laughs - Felton and Pembleton, who normally can't stand each other, unite over their disdain for the fact Howard and Bayliss have both quit smoking.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Colin Dietz claims to have loved Percy Howell like a brother and genuinely thought his accidentally fatal beating of him was an expression of love.
- Foreshadowing: When Giardello finds out about the asbestos in the station (see Bad Boss above), he angrily tells Granger and Barnfather that if he picked up the phone, he could get the media involved. In later seasons, we see Giardello leaking stories to the media whenever the bosses do something he thinks is wrong.
- Friend to All Children: At one point, Giardello is on the roof of the building and watching two young children on a swing set (pretending to run back and forth with them), and he tells Lewis he would give anything to have children that age again. Also, Bolander talks easily to the young girl who comes in to give evidence about Percy Howell's death.
- The Fundamentalist: Mr. Howell brags about his own righteousness and gets on Munch's case about him being Jewish.
- Jerkass: Mr. Howell, who doesn't care that his son is dead and harasses Munch for being Jewish.
- Off the Wagon: At the end of the episode, Bayliss ends up bumming a cigarette from Pembleton and Felton. Earlier, Pembleton tells Felton about how he had quit smoking for a few months until he showed up at a crime scene with burnt bodies, which got him to stop smoking again.
- Papa Wolf: Giardello is pissed when he finds out Granger and Barnfather have been putting the entire squad at risk by covering up the asbestos, and strong-arms them into revealing this to the entire station lest he leak the story to the media. When Barnfather starts angrily demanding to know what Giardello wants out of it, Gee threatens to murder him should he ever pull a stunt like this again.
- Shout-Out: When Giardello wonders why they should have a smoke-free area in the homicide unit when Bayliss and Howard so far are the only non-smokers in the unit, Howard responds, "If you build it, they will come."
- Stupid Evil: The gang member Bolander and Munch interrogate by using a copy machine and passing it off as a lie detector that administrates the "electrolyte neutron magnetic scanner" test, which gets him to reveal who killed Percy Howell.
- Titled After the Song: "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", originally written for the movie Roberta.
