A huge shout-out to Wing Chun, for waiting so patiently for this very late recap, and to everyone on the boards for hanging in there and making this fun.
Warning: Expect foul language. There's no ass, goddammit.
I was wrong before: this is the longest "previously" ever on Blue. Previously on NYPD Blue, Denby discovers a charred, headless body in a dumpster and tells Di, "This has gotta be your partner's ex!" Di sees Denby and what looks like Don hanging out across the street from a coffee shop she's parked in; Di tells Sip she thinks she saw Don and Denby. She asks why, "If Don's alive wouldn't Denby cop to that?" Sip's eyes get all wide -- the very idea! -- and suggests maybe Don turned on Denby. Di asks Kirky how's it going without Don around. Instead of breaking into a song and dance à la Ally McBeal, Kirky gets all weepy and says, "It's an adjustment." Di does not say, "Duh." Di, in a bar with Denby, says, "I'll put a bullet in that brain you wasted." Not like a threat, like a promise. Don smiles. Oh boy.
Yay, its Theo! He and his dad, Sipowicz, are brushing their teethies in front of the bathroom sink. They share the mirror very well. Theo, adorable one, says, "Spit in there." Sip, killjoy, says no. Theo tries again: "Spit into the mirror!" Sip grumbles, "See, I do something once for you and you want me to do it all the time." What I wouldn't do to get my hands on a video if that. Patooie! They brush their little teethies and Theo spits. Sip says, "Let me see your lip." Theo gurgles, "Is it pale?" Sip mumbles, "No, it's purple, normally you're pale." He lets go of Theo's head and they brush, rinse and spit. Sip looks worried as hell.
Cut to Sip dressing Theo. Sip casually mentions that they'll be stopping at Dr. Chronic's before school. As Theo playfully wiggles around, Sip loses it and yells, "This is ENOUGH with this!" Theo, unflappable, says, "Okay, Dad!" Sip's got more, and snaps, "See, this is the smartass tone. I've asked you not to take a smartass tone with me." Hello, he's both four and your offspring, just how do you expect him to talk? Theo murmurs and lays his head on his father's chest. Sip realizes what an ass he was and says, "Sorry." Theo, in an amazing show of spirit, says, "Don't worry about nothing, Shirley Temple." Oh my god -- now we know he's his father's son. How many four-year-olds know who in hell Shirley Temple is?
Woosh! Bloosh! People all over the world! Join in! Get on board the season finale train! Finale train!
Kirky enters a darkened room. Fucking hell. It's Don. He's wearing a wifebeater and has that bad orange-y dye job. He's gotten fat; he looks like that asshole from the band Smashmouth. Hey now! Get your game on! Be a rock star! Go play! I hate Don. Kirky has that disgusting hangdog look on her puss she gets when she's around Don. Wipe that face off your head, Kirky. Don chirps, "Stopped by on your way to work?" Yeah, she brought breakfast too. You do like to eat shit, don't you? Kirky grows a spine and snaps, "You're a liar." Don says casually, "Did Kyle wet the bed again? Oh, this is MY fault. Maybe YOU should stop coming over here. I'll call you before we hit the turnpike." Kirky says, "Do you remember what I said I was going to do to you if I saw you again?" Ooh, I do, I do! Get him! Don smirks and says, "Heey, I'm a miracle baby! Back from the dead." There's a slimy noise from behind a door and Kirky says, "Who's in there." Don comes as close he's ever gonna get to looking sheepish and says, "It's not a hooker. It's a guy. It's not a guy hooker." Heh. Kirky opens the door and it's Denby on the crapper, sniffing suspiciously. "That was a travesty of procedure," he says. Ha ha ha. Don chucks Kirky under the chin and says, "Jill, trust me. Go to work. Keep the city safe." Denby calls out, "Our best to your partner," and sniffs again.
Some Hasidim pass by on the gritty, gritty street, and we land at the station house. Sip's at his desk with his arms folded on his desk in front of him, like a nun. Ricky enters. They "mornin'" and "how's it going" each other. Ricky starts busting on him: "You look like you're in school, the way you're sitting." Sip barely opens his mouth to say, "Those days are long gone." Ricky keeps going, "No adult education classes for you!" Sip probably hasn't even heard the Hall and Oates song, that's how far away he is from adult education. Sip has had enough jabs and says, "I stopped with Theo at the pediatrician's today. Then he had me drop him at school." Ricky gets serious and says, "So the pediatrician's not worried." "He drew blood for a test and then he had me drop him at school." Ricky goes into this usual riff about how he used to worry about his sisters, and I start dreaming of a Silver Spoons-era Ricky taking care of his little sisters in a Coal Miner's Daughter kind of dilapidated shack and then I snap out of it just in time to hear Sip say something. "He's not really sick, he's bouncing around. I'm noticing his color." John comes in and says hey. The phone rings and Sip grabs it. "Yeah! Uh-huh. I see. All right. All right. Let me, uh, um, yeah, okay, yeah." He hangs up. "All right, well, I gotta get over there, I gotta get him." Sip stands up and then sits down and says, "Let me call Katie." Ricky offers to come with. Sip's already checked out. "Lost time." He starts blabbing semi-hysterically to Katie about getting Theo a hot dog before they go to the hospital and how long it will take if they take the train and there really doesn't need to be any sad music under all this but there it is. Ricky takes a few paper clips.
A crime scene, a dead man. It looks bloody. As the paramedics exit, Medavoy and Baldwin come in and get the skinny from the uniform: "Home invasion. The girl answered the door and the guy pushed his way in. And dad and brother came in and..." The dad interrupts with, "We come home, he's got her on the floor, he was gonna rape her. We were just in time." Then he looks away. Hmmm. Baldwin asks the girl what happened. The dad tries to speak again but Baldwin says with the perfect amount of gritty New York attitude, "I'm asking HER." With her head so low it's practically on her lap, she whisper-mumbles, "He knocked and asked who was home, pushes his way in and throws me on the floor." Baldwin and Medavoy peep a baseball bat sitting right to the door. The dad blusters, "The guy come at her with a knife!" Baldwin asks them to all come down to the station house. The dad starts freaking out. "He came in here! Are we gonna have a problem over this?" Baldwin says, "Not if you come down to the station house." The dad, brother and daughter all reluctantly stand up one by one.
Station house coffee room. Ricky and Di do a round of "how's it going." Di asks where Andy is and Ricky spills the beans about Theo being sick and having tests done. "That's mildly worrisome," he says. Dude, did you hear the sad music? Kirky comes in and adds her two cents about how doctors are now "very aggressive" and they probably just want to give him an antibiotic. Yeah, right. You know how gritty this show is. Theo's not getting off that easy. Kirky leaves and Di sighs to Ricky, "Something terrible is going to happen." That's the spirit! Di tells Ricky about seeing Don and Denby and coke and that "Don has to be dealing for Denby. What are we gonna do about Jill?" Ricky asks, "You don't think she knows?" Di thinks not. Oh nooo.
Sip carries Theo into a hospital waiting room. Don't worry, he's okay, it's just a dad thing. The nurse on duty chirps, "Hi, Mr. Sipowicz! I'm Mimi, I was your on-floor nurse after your prostrate operation!" Sip blinks a few times and says, "Oh yeah, sure." What's , an orderly rolling up and snapping his fingers before saying, "Hey, didn't your other son get shot and killed a while ago? I think I cleaned his corpse up for ya. Seemed like a good kid." The doctor comes over and says hi, Katie comes up to them just after and she and Mimi lead Theo off to a play area with other kids, who are all suspiciously bald, saying, "Let's see what they got." Theo takes a look around and says, "They got bald kids." Hee! Mimi offers Theo a "special ice pop" that are only "for the kids in this room" and Theo refuses. Katie takes him over to look at the fish tank.
The doctor walks over with Sip, who blinks like that almighty blinking machine he is at the sight of the bald kids. He probably doesn't have any slurs for 'em. How about asking them where they're from, Chromedometon? Ask them if they like to play baldminton. You could always preen in the reflection you get in their shiny little heads. Or maybe one of their dads is Mr. Clean! I got a million of 'em. The doctor says that Theo's hemoglobin is low and his red blood cell count isn't good. They need to do a bone marrow study. Sip's face collapses and he says predictably, "Oh God." The doctor says they're going to take the marrow from his hip with a needle. Sip says, "No. He can't take any more shots." The doctor isn't having that and says, "We have to help him -- and your son is going to take his emotional cues from you." So chill.
Katie and Theo are checking out the fish tank. Theo's naming them Donald Duck #2, and Tigger #2, after the fish he has at home. Katie asks, "How about this one?" Theo looks around and says, "Bald Kid." Bwa ha ha! Someone give that kid an Emmy. Katie leads him away from the tank and Theo says to a bald kid, "I named the fishes after you." The bald kid beams. Awww!
Station house. Medavoy, Baldwin, and the family-that-killed-the-rapist come in. Baldwin tells the men to stay put on the bench by John's desk and that he'll interview the daughter in the coffee room. The dad sputters in protest. What? Baldwin laughs in his face and says, "That's not how we do it." Medavoy agrees, saying, "And we've been doing this a long time." Yeah! The dad asks, "Could she bring coffee to us?" Oh, macho types. Love it. Baldwin says no, but asks if they both want coffee; he'll bring it out. The son squirms and asks for a cola. After Baldwin and Medavoy walk away the dad hisses, "When did you start drinking soda?" Aah, the soda tip-off. They're guilty.
Medavoy's explaining to Fancy about how the dad and son smashed the guy's head with baseball bats. Fancy suggests a rape kit, but Medavoy explains the family is saying the daughter was almost raped. Close, but no cigar. Fancy asks if the daughter confirms the story and Medavoy says, "Oh yes."
Baldwin and Medavoy work out the interview technique. Girl first? Check. Um, how about Jill. No, she's on the phone, with someone. Ahem. They decide to ask Diane. But...
They interview the girl themselves. "I told you what happened." Tell us again, they say. "It don't ring right to us," says Medavoy. Did she know him? No. Ever meet him before? No. Did he try to rape you? Yes. She shows Baldwin some nasty bruises on her wrists. "Okay?" Baldwin asks if these bruises are from today. Yes. Really? They look older. "What do you want from me. Why do you try to beat me down. Don't say he didn't rape me cause he did." Whoops. Medavoy asks, "He had?" She says. "Four days ago. Four days ago. All right!" Damn.
Ricky obsessively arranges his meager collection of office supplies (the stapler has to be just right) and then rolls his chair over to Di. He says, "Don's alive -- so what. Denby -- so what if we're not worried about Jill. Worried you got to tell her, worried she already knows." Di says, "I am not giving her to the job! Making it her fault this prick came back into her life!" Ricky says quietly, "Don has to disappear. Denby has to get collared, Jill's out of it. Don has to disappear."
Fancy says to Medavoy about the rape/home invasion case, "Something about this story's wrong." Duh! Didn't you hear the son ask for cola?
Back at the station house, Baldwin's interviewing the dad. Apparently there was a car speeding away from the scene right after the application of the baseball bat to the dead guy's head. The dad says, "No second guy," and looks away. They ask the daughter -- Anita is her name. No second guy, she says.
Medavoy, sitting on the desk by John's desk, asks the brother about Anita's bruises. "I'm not her warden. What my sister got and when she got it? I don't run that tab." Nice. The walkie-talkie sputters. John gets it. It's Sip. "I want to talk to Ricky," he says. John runs right over with the walkie-talkie. Sip's voice sounds weak. "He's sick. He's not making his red blood cells." Ricky reminds him that they're on an open channel. "I got no strength in my legs. I'm sitting here like a baby." Ricky says he'll be right there. Just as he slams the walkie-talkie back in its place, a voice squawks over saying, "15th Squad! No unauthorized transmissions on this channel!" John makes the 10-4.
Ricky runs out of the station house and finds Sip sitting in a car out front, crying. "I'm losing my composure. I'm no good to him right now. I've got no strength in my legs." Ricky, sweating, says, "So we sit here." Sip cries some more. "Who knows what's wrong with the baby? And Diane and Jill...who knows what's gonna happen?" Ricky says, "We're sitting right here." Sip, totally losing it, says, "I don't know what I'm gonna do." Ricky asks him to lean on him now. They hug. "We're gonna make it Andy. One step at a time."
Baldwin and Medavoy haul in the guy that was speeding away from the home invasion/attempted rape/baseball bat murder scene, or, the Second Guy. They both take off their jackets and roll up their sleeves. It's not until Baldwin takes his watch off that the guy offers to cooperate. I like suggested police brutality better than real police brutality, for sure.
Di asks John to keep Anita company for a few -- she and Kirky need to use the coffee room. Dum da dum dum DUM!
Coffee room. Kirky looks suspicious. Di tells her she saw Don. Kirky looks away. Di says, "I can't even believe that's possible. Can you?" Kirky, all attitudinal, says, "And what if it was? You told me he was dead four months ago, and I made him dead to me." Di looks scared and says, "That's good, that attitude. He could only ruin your life again." Kirky looks away and says, "Uh huh." Di starts babbling at top speed about how Denby showed her the burnt body in the dumpster with no head or hands, making it untraceable, and then about Denby having Bobby's ring. Kirky says bitterly, "Sorry, Diane." Di, flabbergasted, says, "There's nothing to be sorry about! That's not why I'm telling you!" Kirky says, "So why are you telling me." Di freaks out and says, "This is horrible! All of it!" Kirky says grimly, "It is what it is -- what are you gonna do. You're gonna give Denby to the job?" Di says hopefully, "Screw 'em, right?" Kirky gets mad and says, "What about my kids reading it in the paper. I didn't make their father evil." Di says it's just a matter of time. Kirky snaps, "Don't play God! Maybe Don will get away -- so the kids don't have to find out." Di, one step away from a nervous breakdown, says, "Okay, okay," and nods jerkily until Kirky leaves. Then she cries.
Medavoy and Baldwin are listening to the Second Guy's story of how the home-invasion/non-rape went down. "We partied, smoked reefer." Woo! "He said this girl he laid four days before gave him her number and said she would lay him again, she'll be down automatically. He called, she buzzed us up. They smashed his head in. Whap, whap!" I swear he said whap whap. "God. I ran for my van, drove fast away. They yelled, rape her NOW."
Di emerges from the locker room, upset. She goes over to Ricky and says, "She knows. She lied, but she already knows." Ricky wipes his face.
The dad is yelling to Baldwin and Medavoy. "It's her job to answer the phone and serve the damn food! She gave him her phone number to get him off her! I was never listed in twenty-three years!" Oh yeah, looove these macho types. "See what a jury says!" Medavoy says, "I think they'll believe Anita. She said you asked her to call him and that you were waiting." The dad screams, "She wouldn't say it even if it were true!"
The brother is silent. Then, "I have to go to the dentist." I think they allow that in jail.
Baldwin and Medavoy come out and ask Di to talk to Anita. They're gonna put her up in a hotel room so she doesn't have to go back to the crime scene/apartment. She goes over and tells Kirky, who's like, "Okay," until Di says, "Wanna help?" Oh yeah, working at work. I forget to do that sometimes too. They go in and are both super-nice to poor Anita. I can't help but notice that Di's Playtex (I'm guessing) bra is giving her quadra-boob. You know, when your bra cuts into your boob so that it bulges out over where it's supposed to be crossing your heart or whatever? It's one of the many annoying things about being a woman. Another would be, oh, say, having a brother and father who expect you to be their slave and literally kill any expression of your sexuality you might choose to have. Anyways, Anita looks shell-shocked. She says, "When they hit him the blood went on me. I'm not even wearing the real dress I had on. What are you gonna do with them?" Kirky says, "They're gonna have to go in the system." Anita says thank you, and cries.
Sip's house. Katie comes in smiling. Sip asks what Theo's up to and she says, "Giving his lovvies jobs when he's gone." Sip crabs, "Stuffed animals. I asked you not to call them lovvies." Hee hee. Lovvies lovvies lovvies. Then, Sip realized what a colossal ass he's being and cringes. He says, "They said to be there at nine, so we should leave at eight-forty? You're coming with. You get along well with him." Katie says, "You get along well with him too, when you aren't afraid. He wants you to read him Green Eggs and Ham." Sip starts freaking out again and says, "Oh god, what if I lose my composure?" Katie says, "Come on, I'll sit with you boys before I go."
Sip walks wearily into the living room, post-Green Eggs and Ham. He has his PJs on. He sits down heavily in his armchair and turns to see Andy Junior sitting to him. Andy Junior asks, "The baby's sick?" Sip says sadly, "Oh, God, son." Andy Junior says, "Some ways or another, he's gonna be healthy. I had a hole in my neck the size of a fist!" Sip sees his point, agreeing, "But you're up and around." Andy Junior gets a little peeved and asks, "What am I, a ghost to you?" To him and everyone else, buddy. Sip gets pissed and says, "I cannot live with pain for him, or death, and you are pretty cocky with your know-it-all attitude and tone. While that kid lies in bed for a needle to suck marrow out of his hip." Andy Junior recants and says, "Should we go talk to him?" Sip yells, "Don't press me!" "Pop!" "Don't kidnap or extort! Don't issue orders!" Andy looks away and says he has to go. "Have I got your assurances, Andy?" Andy still looks away. We can see the gaping wound in his neck. Then he says, "Just be with him. Don't be afraid." Sip asks quickly, "Is he okay, Andy?" Andy breaks into a smile and says, "Honest to God? Don't worry about a thing."
Theo and Sip sleep together in the same bed. Sip moves a little. He's dreaming.
Sad music plays. We're at the hospital. Sip is reading Green Eggs and Ham to Theo, who's lying in bed. "I do not pack them in my sack, or take them out for a midnight snack." Katie says, "You're making it up!" She pats Theo. Rick comes in. "How ya doing, Theo?" "I'm waiting for my tests," the adorable one says. I wonder if Ricky ever talks about his child acting days with Theo. "You know, when I was a kid, they didn't have laws like they do today. None of this twin shit. I made The Champ all by myself!" Anyways, Ricky wishes Theo good luck on his test and they sweetly "God bless" each other and then Ricky says he has to go to work but doesn't move. Theo says, "You better hurry, the elevator's open," and that's got to have some kind of deeper meaning. Ricky skedaddles and Katie smiles and smoothes Theo's hair. Sip asks what's up, and she says, "He makes me see Andy Junior."
Station house. Di's rocking a red tank top. Tank top, woo! It's a nice way to end the season. Fancy comes charging in and Di reluctantly follows him into his office. He asks if she's heard about Theo and she says Ricky said he would call. Then the real reason for this meeting: "I want to talk to you about your partner's problem." Di, in the biggest duh ever, says, "Jill?" No, your other partner. "Um, it's personal." Fancy continues. "When she's working, she isn't here. I'm taking her off the chart." Di sputters, "Is that really necessary?" "Yes, if her work is unsatisfying and her partner isn't forthcoming." Di stammers, "Why wouldn't I be forthcoming?" Fancy says, "There you go." Di says telling him might not be good. Fancy frowns. Then, "The job knows." Di loses it. "The job knows! What?" Fancy says, "I need you to be forthcoming and you are being neither concealing nor complicit. That's how I'm gonna write up our talk." Kirky comes into the office room as Di asks, "Tell me what the job knows." Fancy just says, "Would you want that? Now you need to get out of the way."
Di comes out of Fancy's office as if nothing has gone down. Kirky asks about Theo, Di says she's got her fingers crossed for him.
Ricky comes in, saying Theo is waiting for that hollow needle. Di suggests that Ricky be in the cafeteria to support Sip if he needs it (or rather, when), and then sidles up to him and says the job is sitting on Don and Denby -- and Kirky. Ricky booms, "I tell you, that little guy was looking good, bouncing around. At eleven they do that test." Then, more quietly, "So they're on it." Di says about Fancy, "He's gonna say I was neither concealing nor complicit." Ricky whispers, "So you have to get out of the way." Baldwin comes in. Everyone says, "How's it going."
Baldwin goes over to Medavoy's desk and asks him how's it going. Medavoy gets all steamed. "Hey Baldwin, be careful. That was pretty straightforward. You don't wanna say nothing in the squad you can't work out without a secret decoder ring." Aww, is Medavoy feeling left out? Baldwin just rubs his gorgeous head and looks away. Medavoy storms off.
Rick and Di are whispering up a storm about getting out of the way or not, when there's a huge crash, followed by the sound of Medavoy cursing. He yells, "It came off its hinges and I fell on my butt!" The entire squad assembles to see Medavoy on the floor with the refrigerator door right off the hinges. He says petulantly, "Leave me alone!' Hey, it could have been worse. You could have said you fell on your bottom. Everyone obeys but Baldwin, but Medavoy even refuses his help. When he finally stands up, the refrigerator door falls right on his foot. Medavoy screams and hops around on his good foot. Ow!
Mimi comes to collect Theo for his procedure. Theo says, "Give me a secret ice pop," but is denied. Katie asks to come, and then Theo says, "C'mon, Daddy." Sip gets up shakily and says, "Okay, here I come too."
Station house. Drums boom dramatically. Ricky says to Di, "If the boss tells you to get out of the way, you have to." Then, more loudly, "I'm going to the hospital." Di pauses, then charges over to Kirky's desk. "How about if we talk?" Kirky looks up and sneers, "That sounds like I'm a skel, Diane. Am I a collar?" Di says mirthlessly, "Ho ho ho," and charges into the locker room. Kirky follows right behind her. The door slams behind them, making Medavoy jump and John's eyes widen.
The camera waves around Di's red tank top like a bullfighter would around a bull. They two women instantly start yelling at each other. "What's going on!" "As far as what!" "As far as what's going on in your life!" Outside, Ricky casually walks over to the chalkboard and eavesdrops on them. "You're gonna lose everything!" "Says who!" "Never mind who!" Kirky wails, "You mean I have no time at all?" Di takes a deep breath and says, "No time at all. Not even a day." Kirky says okay, thanks, and then rushes out, leaving Di alone to cry in the locker room. Di rushes past John, barely looking up when he says dryly, "Lost time?" Sad music plays. Ricky says -- and what else is there to say, but -- "ANYWAYS, I'm going to the hospital." John hands over a little stuffed bear (hee hee, a new lovvie) to give to Theo.
We get some gritty, outside-the-hospital scenes, and then jump inside, where Katie and Sip are peering through ware-laced glass watching Theo get his procedure done. More sad music plays.
Station house. Medavoy is bumbling around in his overcrowded locker. Baldwin comes in and asks how his foot is. Medavoy slams his locker shut, mumbling about how he used to have a pair of open-toed slippers in there. Baldwin jokes, "You're not gonna apply for three-quarters, are you?" Medavoy says, "Sometimes, I get so hurt, it's not beyond the realm." Aww! Medavoy says, "People running from desk to desk like it's a race...you took that lost time." Baldwin says he doesn't know what's going on and that he knows how Medavoy feels. At that Medavoy perks up. "You aren't in the inner circle?" Then Baldwin confides this gem: "That Nicole? It didn't work out." Woo hoo! Yay! Medavoy is cheered and says, "All right, we got our own inner circle."
Di's on the phone, with John watching her closely. "Okay. Okay, Denby, I'll meet you." The drums boom.
The hospital cafeteria. Sip greets Ricky. He looks ashen. "Theo did good, Katie's holding his hand in the recovery room. Anything happen?" Ricky says, "The job knows. (Fancy) thinks Di's getting out of the way." Sip grunts. Then Ricky goes, "Suppose that guy disappears, so the world's a better place." Sip looks shocked and says, "That's completely private." Ricky says, "I know -- I'm asking about mechanics." Sip gets black (as in noir) and says, "Bodies in dumpsters turn up. Bodies in water with weights pop up. A body six feet under no animal can get the scent of. There's a place in Brooklyn where the digging is easy. Then, after, the leaves and twigs that need to get scattered around do, and a decent person who did all that in his life would never bee the same." There's a giant close up of Sip's head. Ricky says, "I don't want that, Andy." The mood shifts and he asks, "Any idea when?" Sip looks away and says, "A few hours. They said never rush a pathologist."
Denby's setting up a checkerboard across the street from the station house. Di comes over. "I'm brushing up on my leisure skills," he says jovially. Di notices an egghead watching them from across the street, a representative of "the job," no doubt. Denby asks, "Do you find this rendezvous brazen?" Oy. Di says, "Not for you." Denby starts blathering again. "All the qualities I want in a friend, Diane, you possess. I'm referring to you reaching out to your partner, and she in turn reaching out to me. Fugitives! That must have some appeal to you." Di glares and says, "I don't see you or Don in the picture, Denby. Jill just wants to take her kids and go." Denby blathers some more about taking a trip and wanting Di to come with him. Di says, "Are you trying to get me to pull you back?" Denby says, "It's a little late for that. Getting saved will have to wait until my time at the plate." Denby should write a fucking book, he's so pithy. He continues, "If you want to hurry that along, I'd like it fast, and from the back. And if you do it, I bequeath these all to you," gesturing at the checkers. He walks away slowly, saying, "Ready, aim..." He turns and Di does not even have her gun drawn. Know why? She isn't stupid. Denby leaves, waving at his shadow across the street. Hey fucko, let's go for a ride.
Hospital. Mimi says, "Mr. Sipowicz? The lab results are back." Sip asks for the doctor to "tell us both," meaning Katie too. The doctor starts: "Theo is showing red blood cell maturation arrest." Sip says, "C'mon now." "He's not making enough platelets. The marrow is compromised. We begin to worry about leukemia." Sip freaks out. "The white cell count is almost normal. His marrow could be knocked out by a virus." Sip gets optimistic and says, "He's been sick!" Then, "Don't say you can cure him when you can't. Don't say you can help him when you can't." The doctor says, "With any disease, we should be able to help." Sip yells, "There they go with that double talk again!" The doctor says, "Take Theo home, he'll be a lot happier there." Sip says "Yeah, thanks."
Di's back in the station house. Ricky comes in. "Theo took it like a champ (shout out to the movie he was in?)!" Then, whispering, "That started Frank." Di says she knows Kirky reached out to Don. "They're getting ready to go." Ricky asks, "Her and the kids? All right."
Another detective joins the fray. "Wanna talk in here?" Ricky's not so sure. "Yeah, I was in here all night hooking up microphones to tape recorders." Ricky says, "Humor me," and they talk in another room. Whuh? Ricky says, "I don't want innocent people to get hurt. When is this over. A month?" The detective says, "I'd avoid making secret phone calls and sleeping with anyone's wife." Okaaay. Ricky talks to Baldwin and Medavoy: "Someone could get hurt. A cop and a skel are trying to book." Medavoy asks how he can help. "If he makes it to the house, you call the rat house. A cop from our department is going to be there." Medavoy goes, "Oh."
Fancy watches Di get the phone and suspiciously slip out, saying, "Lost time," to John.
Sip walks into the hospital chapel. There's a deaf guy signing and grunting in the front pew. Sip ahems, but obviously the guy doesn't hear him. Sip sits in the back and the deaf guys signing hands fly in front of Sip's face from time to time. Sip starts out with, "This makes a lot of sense. If what I said about the burial and so forth...it's on me. It's on me. I'm sick of asking! He don't deserve it. He don't deserve to be sick. You prick. None of them deserve it. Prick. If it's me, put it on me, or don't you go the balls. Do what you want. Do what you want. This idiot isn't gonna notice." See what they're doing here? It's very subtle. "Don't let him be sick. I'll do whatever you want. Please, take care of my boy." There's a huge close-up of Sip's face as the deaf guy grunts and signs frantically. Then Sip leaves.
Street scenes fly by (there's a bicycle!) until we land in Kirky's living room. She's crying to Di. "I don't want you to think I'm a criminal. I saw him in that crummy place...once I saw how much he hated me and he saw that I saw it? I ran. One day I came home and Kyle said he had been there...Frank's gone. I'm meeting him at five and he's gonna take me and Kyle to meet Frank." Di hugs her as Kirky cries, "You can't do anything! You can't do anything or he'll hurt Frank!" Di says everything is gonna be okay.
Baldwin and Medavoy are in the locker room, getting ready to join the ambush. Baldwin playfully asks how Medavoy's foot is. He's taping it up like a friggin' ballerina. Baldwin tries to spell it out for Medavoy; Don, Denby, and the other cop is Kirky. Medavoy says, "Baldwin, as sensitive as I was about being out of the loop, sometimes I work good need-to-know." Baldwin says, "It's just us talking." Medavoy continues, "If we keep talking, we're gonna talk about who the skel is that Ricky has and what he's going to do to take care of that skel, and what good is that gonna do?" He stands up on his taped foot and says, "This works."
Baldwin goes into Fancy's office, where Fancy is sitting with a very grave look on his face. He says, "I've learned to know the difference between believing in something and needing to believe in it. That's how my life makes sense. If I get hurt or jacked up because I wanted to believe in something, then I was just acting like a kid, or a damn fool." Baldwin says, "I believe I am a part of something." Fancy sends him out, saying, "Okay. Then do what you gotta do."
There's an arial shot of a burnt-out, boarded-up corner house. Everything is in slo-mo. Kirky and Don and their son walk quickly (in slo-mo), and Denby follows, wiping at his nose. Ricky comes up behind him and pulls his gun out, aiming right at Don's head. He takes him into a van. Baldwin throws Denby in another waiting van and Di grabs Kirky and her son and takes off. Ricky points a gun at Don's chest and eavesdrops on his phone conversation. Don makes it sound like everything is normal and arranges for Frank to be met by Kirky. Then, off the phone, he pathetically begs for his life for a while until Ricky, cheeks red and with spittle on his lips, yells, "There's no point in listening to what you say because you will reach out again, cause you're a skel and that's who you are!"
Sip's house. The sad sunset music plays. Katie comes out of Theo's bedroom, saying, "I got him to take a good sip of apple juice. He's so groggy. He took a good sip though." Good Sip. She gets a weird smile on her face and says, "He's all a part of us. It's hard to remember going along. Let's all help each other to remember." Sip says, "Thank you, Katie." She says in return, "Thank you, Andy."
Station house. Fancy is explaining to a bunch of irate-looking detectives just what went down, i.e., that Denby got arrested with drugs on him. The other detectives don't believe him. Medavoy and Baldwin haul Denby in. One of the detectives -- may I call them "dicks"? Cause they are. One of the dicks says, "Empty your pockets on the P.A.A.'s table." Denby, clever to the end, says, "For that I'll need the use of my hands." Ass. He unloads his pockets and is relieved of his gun. One of the dicks yells, "I want to know where Sorenson is!" Just then, Ricky walks in...with Don. Whew. Don gets shoved onto the bench and Ricky goes to use Fancy's phone.
The phone rings in Kirky's house. She rushes to answer, and is visibly relieved. Kyle squirms a little on the couch. Kirky says Frank's okay, and Di says Don's alive. Kirky, quick like a bunny says, "Not to me." I've heard that song before. It goes like, "Oh, Don's a rat but I looove him anywaaaay! I can't stay away, no no no!" Di hunkers down with her tough-thing-to-say-face on and says, "Jill, I'm a drunk. And the first thing I have to know is I'm not cured." And Kirky is addicted to Don, eww. Di gets out Bobby's ring and gives it to Kirky. "I want you to have this and when that prick reaches out from prison I want you to hold it and remember. Now go get Frank." Kirky, blubbering, rushes out. Di exhales.
Theo's in bed, all pale and wan. More pale than wan. What does "wan" mean, anyway? You never see it alone; it's always to "pale." Anyways, Sip comes in, sniffing but not teary. He's in his blue pajamas. He turns off the lamp to the bed and says, "As long as I have you, for as long as I have you." I start to get teary-eyed. Then, Theo says, "I do still like green eggs and ham." Sip says, "Thank you. Thank you, Samiam." Sip turns the other lamp out ad gets into bed to Theo and I feel a lump in my throat so sharp in makes my mouth turn down. Waah! And not just that the season is over.