By Mr. Sobell
It's 1973 -- do you know where your detective is? If it's Sam Tyler, the answer is still hopelessly stuck in the past, with no idea as to why he's there and even less of an idea as to how to get back to his own time. Still, he's got a hot -door neighbor with a habit of wandering the halls in the buff and baking marijuana-laced pasta dishes. So you take your victories where you can find them.
And Sam has to, because Lord knows that the whole fighting-1970s-crime-with-aughties-sensibilities isn't working out too well for him. In this episode, someone is robbing the check-cashing stores of New York -- and leaving a string of dead bodies in their wake -- and Gene Hunt figures he has a pretty good idea as to who. What he doesn't have, however, is enough evidence to secure a conviction, though he's certainly willing to plant some on the suspect. Sam has a better, less-ethically-awful idea though -- why not release the suspect and then plant a tail on him? And it all works out perfectly, too, until there's a gun battle and the 125th Precinct's receptionist is caught in the crossfire. This serves to make Sam more popular than ever in the squad room.
Of course, Sam's a virtual prom king then, compared to how the other cops feel about him when his subsequent investigation suggests that uniformed cops are assisting in the robberies of the check-cashing joints. At the suggestion of Ray Carling, Sam goes behind Hunt's back to seek an assistant district attorney's help. But it all gets back to Hunt, Sam is ostracized even further, and Ray and his mustache have a good laugh at setting Sam up like that.
As it turns out, the receptionist was actually the inside woman on the robberies, feeding the crooks information and giving them police uniforms to aid in their stick-ups. Sam and company thwart the robberies, which were being committed to raise cash in order to fund a big heroin operation, and everything turns out to be hunky dory, to quote another David Bowie project.
Everything, that is, except for Sam's mental state. The poor guy is beginning to forget what Maya even looks like, and every now and again, he notices that he's being followed by something that looks like the Mars Rover. But by episode's end, he looks up at the stars and is able to hear Maya's voice, prattling on about how she misses him. So I guess that's good. Me, I'd wonder what's so bad about the coma if the alternative is having to listen to Lisa Bonet for long stretches of time.
Check back Wednesday for the full recap, but for now, discuss this episode in our forums!