Thrill of the Kill
Directed By: Tim Hunter
Story By: Henry Bromell and Tom Fontana
Teleplay By: Jorge Zamacona
Newton Dell (Jeffrey Donovan), a Spree Killer, makes his way up the interstates from Florida towards Baltimore, randomly killing people at gas stations and truck stops along the way. Giardello gets visited by Charisse (Theara Ward), his daughter, which makes him happy, until she tells him she's getting married and moving to the other side of the country.
This episode contains examples of:
- Bait-and-Switch: The episode tries to make us think Charisse is the young African-American woman Dell picked up and killed, and that's why she's late meeting her father. Turns out she was late because her car broke down and she couldn't get to a phone.
- Chekhov's Gunman: When one of the Dell brothers picks up the hitchhiker, she sees a person under a blanket in the back of the truck cab, and he tells her it's his brother. At the time, the audience assumes that he is lying and it's the body of someone he killed earlier, but it turns out that he's telling the truth. It's also mentioned that Newton Dell has a brother when the detectives get the details of his background.
- Color Wash: The scenes from Dell's point of view have a blue filter.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Dell's brother may be a Serial Killer, but he loves his brother, and doesn't want him in jail for something he didn't do.
- Evil Twin: Turned out it was Dell's twin brother who was responsible for all of the shootings.
- Heroic Bystander: The gas station owner is a realistic version - when he sees Dell hiding in the back seat of a woman's car, he gets her out of the car by lying to her that her credit card is no good and the company wants to talk to her about it.
- Oh, Crap!: The owner of the bar who realizes Dell is in the bar.
- Road Block: Bayliss and Pembleton get Russert to agree to set up a road block to try and catch Dell. Unfortunately, his brother, the actual killer, sees through the ruse.
- Shout-Out: When Dell's brother sees the Road Block, he says to himself, "And the third pig said, 'Not by the hair of my chinny-chin chin!'"
- Thicker Than Water: Newton Dell co-operates with his brother's murders, and after he's arrested his brother commits a final murder and then turns himself in, so Newton wouldn't be accused of the murders.
- Urban Legend: The scene where Newton is found hiding in the back of the woman's car is a dramatisation of a common urban legend
. - "Well Done, Son" Guy: A father/daughter version - Charisse points out Giardello is always disapproving of her whenever she doesn't do what he wants her to do, and whenever she makes her own decisions.
