The Wedding
Directed By: Alan Taylor
Written By: Henry Bromell
To the astonishment of the rest of the squad, Lewis tells them he's getting married (to Barbara Shivers (Karen Williams)), asks them to pitch in for the wedding/reception at a hotel, and invites them all there. Because the detectives are busy with that, Giardello and Howard investigate the murder of Kevin Lugo, a popular Shock Jock. As if that wasn't enough for Howard, her sister Carrie (Margaret Maynote ) is in town, and Bayliss and Kellerman flirt with her.
This episode contains examples of:
- Artistic License – Law Enforcement: By the usual standards of the series, huge amounts in the subplot involving Gee shooting DeBassy:
- After the shooting, we see the body being taken away from the building, while Gee and Howard drive away and are next seen in the Box questioning the guy who accused DeBassy. Even if the physical evidence provided conclusive proof that their story was true, after killing a man they should both have been suspended from duty, and no way should they have been questioning another suspect in the same case later that day.
- Apart from a brief dialogue reference in "Work Related", there is no sign in this episode or later ones of any investigation at all into the shooting, and still less of the massive amount of shit that should have come down from the brass and the media when it came out that a Lieutenant had been personally investigating a homicide, during which he shot and killed a suspect, because all of the detectives in the unit had been given the day off to arrange a wedding reception. Especially given that the original homicide victim was a local media celebrity!
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: As Giargello wallows in guilt at his killing of DeBassy, Mary Pembleton goes into labour.
- Call-Back: Russert brings up her fling with Felton as the reason why she's been gun shy about dating again.
- Cock Fight: Carrie Howard spends the whole episode alternately flirting with Kellerman and Bayliss, eventually leading to a physical fight between the two men on the dance floor at the wedding reception.
- Foreshadowing: Lewis confides in Kellerman about his continued misgivings about the wisdom of his marriage during the reception.
- Guilt Complex: Giardello feels this after shooting and killing DeBassy, a suspect in Lugo's killing, especially when Howard tells him DeBassy couldn't have committed the murder.
- Hypocritical Humor: At the wedding reception, Scheiner asks Russert's daughter Caroline if she wants to dance, she obviously says, "No!", and he responds, "Good!" Later, when he sees her dancing with Lewis, Scheiner complains, "Why isn't she dancing with me?"
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Giardello, normally a Friend to All Children, is so upset about shooting and killing a murder suspect - and that's before he even finds out the suspect couldn't have committed the murder - he yells at a kid who's watching and orders him to leave.
- Kellerman, angry that Lewis didn't tell him about his new relationship until the day of the wedding, makes a genuinely angry and insulting jibe about the circumstances in which he probably met her, which leads to Lewis launching himself at him, and the partners having to be physically separated.
- The Perfect Crime: Discussed - when Lewis and his bride are nowhere to be found at the hotel, Pembleton says he's going to murder Lewis, and because he's a homicide detective, he knows how to cover up Lewis' murder so it'll never be solved. Luckily, Lewis shows up.
- Practical Joke:
- Until Lewis and his bride-to-be walk into the reception room at the hotel, the rest of the squad is convinced the wedding is a joke Lewis is playing on them. Even after Lewis gets married and the reception is in full swing, Munch is still convinced it's a joke, which Russert calls him out on.
- After Giardello has killed DeBassy and discovered that he had an iron-clad alibi for the murder, the man who claimed that DeBassy did the murder confesses that he accused him as a practical joke. Giardello doesn't know whether to be disbelieving, disgusted or enraged.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Realistically averted. Right from the start, Giardello is uncomfortable investigating a case himself after so long behind a desk, and actually asks Howard's advice because he's worried that he might have missed something at the scene or in the autopsy report. When he ends up shooting and killing a suspect who opened fire on them, he's distraught, and it's implied that it's the first time in his entire career that he's killed in the line of duty. (He says that the previous time he shot a suspect was when he was a rookie, and he repeatedly and thankfully states that he only wounded the man.)
- Saying Too Much: Barbara's bridesmaid blurts out to Munch that Lewis told her that he thinks Munch has brain damage from taking too many drugs in the sixties.
- Shout-Out:
- Brodie says Lewis wants him to make the Ben-Hur (1959) of all wedding videos.
- When Russert frets about what to do about Caroline at Lewis' wedding, Munch volunteers to watch One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) with her, which he says is his second favorite movie after Raging Bull.
- Tempting Fate: The very pregnant Mary mocks Frank's fears about her dancing, saying that babies don't just fall out of women. Minutes later, she goes into labour.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Melissa Leo played both Kay Howard and her visiting sister Carrie (credited as "Margaret May"), with body doubles seen from behind used in shots with both sisters. Changes in hairstyle and make up mean that she does look like two different but closely related women.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: After Lewis tells Kellerman he's getting married, he immediately bends down and vomits into his garbage can, though we only hear it.
