With Bell transferred to the Demographics Department, Holmes and Watson are having trouble getting along with the other detectives they've been getting assigned to work with. This doesn't stop them from arresting the guy who's been stealing all the Fabergé eggs, though.
Meanwhile, Bell is discovering what the Demographics Department does. It's mostly data analysis, although sometimes he gets to leave the office and investigate vague anonymous tips about people with dark features rolling barrels into recycling plants without authorization. And this time, he finds a decapitated body. Score! In addition to being headless, the body is also missing any hands or identification, so the case is off to a difficult start. Luckily, Watson has an encyclopedic knowledge of mobsters from twenty years earlier, and she recognizes the corpse from some scars on its legs. Seriously.
The dead man is Handsome Bobby Pardillo, which enrages his father, Robert Padrillo. He vows revenge on whoever did this, so it's no surprise that when Holmes and Watson find a member of the Ferrara family, his car immediately explodes. So now there's a mob war in the offing (if I have that right) unless something happens to stop it. Holmes tries to figure out how Handsome Bobby got tracked down, because he's been missing for 21 years. He determines that the NSA found him at the behest of Deputy Commissioner Da Silva, the very important police officer in charge of the Demographics Department.
Everything works out and Da Silva gets arrested, but the really important thing is that Bell and Holmes have a fight. Holmes is angry at Bell for leaving the Major Crimes Department, because he thinks Bell has a calling to be a proper detective. Bell, meanwhile, is resentful of Holmes. Not just for getting him shot, but because everything seems to come so easily for him. Holmes tells him about his drug addiction, which kind of turns Bell around. So at the end of the episode, Bell is back where he's supposed to be, and he seems committed to working on his physical rehab so he can get rid of his tremors and carry a gun again.
We open in the NYPD meeting room, where a tuxedo-clad Holmes is demanding a leg from Mr. Riley. Mr. Riley demurs, but a police detective I don't recognize has a court order. Watson (wearing a nice gown) says Riley has stolen a Fabergé egg, among other things. The explanation for the fancy clothes is that Holmes and Watson were at the opening of the new Tiffany exhibit, watching Riley and his co-conspirator, Miss Adrienne Harper. Riley reluctantly gives up his leg to Holmes, who pops open a hidden compartment. He's in the middle of an entertainingly smug monologue about how great he is when Detective Nash shoos him and Watson out in mid-gloat.
In the bullpen, Holmes is grouchy. He claims it's because Nash missed Riley's prior convictions, which delayed their case, but I think he just doesn't like not being allowed to finish his speeches. Either way, Holmes and Watson dislike Nash. Apparently they've been through half the squad since Bell left. Holmes approaches Gregson and asks him to be their detective, but apparently Gregson has an actual job so he can't be bothered.
And speaking of Detective Bell, here he is! He's working in the Demographics department under Deputy Commissioner Frank Da Silva, who I keep thinking is one of the Murray brothers, like maybe Joel. You know, Freddy Rumsen on Mad Men? He's not, though; he's played by Peter Gerety, who was that judge on The Wire. Da Silva is giving assignments in a crowded conference room, and he assigns Bell and a woman named Wozniak to go to Nemetz Oil Recycling in Port Morris. They are to check out an anonymous tip regarding a "man with dark features" who rolled a barrel onto the site without permission. There's some banter about how this assignment is due to Bell's bad luck at picking NBA teams and Wozniak tries to get some character background in about how she hates field work.
At Nemetz, Bell and Wozniak get the scoop from a guy who won't even stop walking as he talks to them. Witnesses on shows like these are pretty rude, because it would be boring to always see people standing around and talking like normal humans do. He didn't see anything and thinks the anonymous caller probably just saw Rajit or Amid, who are legitimate employees. They pass a number of green barrels, which contain semi-toxic stuff. Wozniak goes to check the security tapes inside, where it's not nine degrees. Bell walks around the warehouse and studies barrels. One catches his eye and he knocks on it. It's hollow. When they open it up (everyone wearing breather masks, which is a pretty good idea), there's a headless body inside. Neat! And I like that Bell is being shown to have observational skills here. This version of Sherlock Holmes is much kinder to his police contacts than you usually get.