Partners and Other Strangers
Directed By: Leslie Libman and Larry Williams
Written By: Anya Epstein, Daryl LaMont, and James Yoshimura
Beau Felton is found dead in his house with his head blown off. At first, it looks like a suicide - not helped when Detective Paul Falsone (Jon Seda) of the auto squad accuses Felton of being dirty and working with an auto theft ring - but when Dr. Cox determines Felton was shot in the head before the shotgun blast, it turns into a murder investigation. Not only that, but Detective Stu Gharty (Peter Gerety) reveals Felton was actually working in Internal Affairs as an undercover cop and believes he was killed because of that.
This episode contains examples of:
- The Bus Came Back: Megan Russert returns from Paris to help with the investigation into Felton's death.
- Call-Back:
- Dr. Dyer admits to Dr. Cox she once had a fling with Munch.
- Pembleton follows Bayliss and discovers he's been visiting the uncle who molested him as a child.
- Flashback: There are flashbacks to several moments involving Felton when he was in Homicide.
- Heroic BSoD:
- Lewis has a brief one when he thinks Felton killed himself, wondering who will be next after Felton and Crosetti.
- Howard has one later when she and Pembleton are at the crime scene - she admits she thought Felton was capable of killing himself, and if she had realized right away Felton was murdered, it would have helped the investigation.
- Insistent Terminology: When Howard looks at the bathroom and asks if that was where Felton was killed, Pembleton points out Felton was murdered, and Felton himself believed there was a distinction between the two terms.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Dr. Cox describes Felton's (apparent) suicide as being between a TV-PG and a TV-M, referring to the new TV ratings system that been adopted in the U.S. that season.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: The person who killed Felton blew his head off with a shotgun to make it look like Felton killed himself. Howard later kicks herself for falling for this trick and believing the worst in Felton.
- Precision F-Strike: Pembleton says, "Son of a bitch" when he realizes the dead body is Felton.
- The Reveal: Gharty informs Giardello (while in Barnfather's office) Felton was working undercover for Internal Affairs.
- The Stool Pigeon: Eddie Dugan (Scott William Winters) is Falsone's snitch inside the auto theft ring, which becomes important in the next episode.
- Two-Part Episode
