Spoilers

“The Body Politic”

The next episode of Picket Fences brought a couple of major controversial topics to the front of the story.

One, a local dentist is fired because he would not reveal to his patients that he was HIV positive.

Two, a doctor refuses to allow his wife to be disconnected from life support despite the fact that she had been declared dead. The reason? She was pregnant and he wanted to keep her alive so she could give birth to the baby.

The first case was very much of the typical prejudicial situation that the show specialized in. The second case was a whole pro life, pro choice debate that has still be a major issue in the world.

Of course, the cases lead to a fight between Jimmy and Jill as they wound up on separate sides of the debates. Tom Skerritt and Kathy Baker are at the top of their game in these knock down verbal fights.

This was also a great episode for Douglas Wambaugh and Judge Henry Bone. Wambaugh was extremely effective in both of the cases, including a strong cross-examination of Jill. Henry Bone, once again, showed what a well-meaning judge he is. You can see the heavy toll that each decision he makes takes on himself.

Spoilers

“Nuclear Meltdowns”

Religious freedom comes front and center on Picket Fences as there are a couple of stories involving strange uses of the concept.

First, a church that uses ducks and goats as sacrifices? It is funny seeing Maxine flip out while sneaking into a funeral and arresting the entire church full of people. Judge Bone kicked that case very quickly.

The other story was the main one as one of Kimberly’s friends turns out pregnant, but Kim was confused. She had never even mentioned a boyfriend before. However, Kimberly saw her in a romantic kiss with her father and suddenly everything was hitting the fan.

Except, it turned out that it was not incest and instead was polygamy. Kimberly’s friend was not the daughter of the man, but one of his wives. They were Mormon.

There was another story happening as separated-at-birth twins reunited in Rome through a series of coincidences… including one sleeping with Kenny and the other having the orgasm, in her car in another part of the town. Both twins ended up as Kenny’s girlfriend in the weirdest part of the weirdo episode.

Spoilers

“Bad Moons Rising”

This was the ‘menopause-made-me-do-it episode.

I remember this one clearly when the show was first on the air and this might have been the first episode that I really fell in love with the show. The ridiculousness of the court case being argued by Douglas Wambaugh, and yet winning, only to discover that Alice Freeman, who had runover her husband with a steam roller (that image stuck with me), had made up everything as a way to get rid of her husband without a divorce. The last scene of the episode with Carter spying Alice with the doctor who testified against her together in her house was shocking.

Then, as I was watching, the B-story of the episode was fairly shocking in its own right. It was Matthew who was having dreams about sex and having his ‘penis explode.’ That topic has been done before, but what was wild was how the show had Matthew’s dream being Maxine coming to him in a bra and panties (holding chocolate cake and a baseball card). It made me wonder if they shot this regularly or if there was some kind of movie magic involved because it felt a little creepy having Lauren Holly, the actress, approach teenager Justin Shenkarow, barely dressed and, in another moment, undid her top.

Shenkarow had to have been… interested, yes?

It made me wonder how they got away with this.

Spoilers

“Frog Man”

The first time Kenny isn’t a great shot, he gets taken down.

A powerful episode dealing with the consequences of a police officer being shot and the ways that that can mess with someone’s head.

Kenny is shot by Frog Man at a jewelry shop. Frog Man, a person who had been committing crimes with frogs, was at the shop and wound up shooting Kenny twice. He just happened to get the drop on Kenny.

Kenny was rushed to surgery and Jill had to operate to pull the bullet out of him.

Eccentric frog lover Peter Lebeck (Michael Jeter) was an immediate suspect and Maxine overstepped procedure in her investigation, which led to Peter’s arrest and eventual dismissal of charges because of an illegal search and a confession that stemmed from the legal term, ‘poisonous fruits.’

This entire event led to a meltdown between Maxine and Kenny, because Kenny blamed her for not being there when he needed her and Maxine mad at Kenny for going behind her back to Jimmy. These two who have been very close really came to some dramatic tension.

It turned out that it was actually Peter’s son Milton (Chris Owen) who had shot Kenny, as the 11-year old was trying to find a hero, aka Frog Man.

Maxine and Kenny were able to work out their issues, as Jimmy pointed out that they were both at fault for the situation. That Kenny was not mad at Maxine, but at himself because he got shot and that he had taken the situation with such a lazy approach and that Maxine had blown the search and arrest because she was affected by what had happened.

The scenes with Peter and Milton at the police station before Milton was taken away were powerful and painful.

This was a really strong episode that, again, takes the plot and uses it to dive deep inside the characters that we love.

Spoilers

“Pageantry”

“High Tidings”

It’s Christmastime in Rome.

Rome Christmas brings all kinds of conflict.

A female teacher who used to be a male.

Statutory rape. Well, sort of…

Kris Kringle is arrested and takes the police station hostage. Kenny is still a great shot.

A pageant is not allowed because of the Nativity scene. Separation of church and state.

Unfortunately, Judge Bone has an issue with transsexuals. He warned Wambaugh not to bring the case into his court room. That warning was clearly never going to be kept.

Jimmy’s ex-wife Lydia comes to help with Kimberly.

These were two consecutive excellent episodes. The whole Santa takes the station hostage was tense and anxious. As it was mixed with the whole Kimberly drama that was ripping apart the Brock family making it all the more poignant.

Once again, holidays in Rome, Wisconsin are something else.

Spoilers

“The Snake Lady”

A dead body. Suicide or homicide? How does a snake play into it?

Another mystery in Rome, Wisconsin that the Sheriff’s Department has to solve. But can their motives be trusted?

A woman is found dead in her home and the initial appearance is that of suicide. However, her husband, Brian, is confident that she would never have killed herself. He wanted to blame her sister, K.C., who has several pet snakes and thus dubbed ‘The Snake Lady.’

Problem… Maxine started to have feelings for Brian, to empathize with him over his situation leading to Kenny to call her out on it and tell Jimmy.

The case went through several final answers, from suicide to accidental shooting to possible murder. Poor Carter had to report each change in the case to the media which mocked him horribly over the changing case and Carter’s constant comments of being ‘nearly’ deputized.

The mystery of this episode is well done and is one of the tropes of Picket fences. There are a ton of twists and turns among the show’s mystery cases and this is no exception. Everything does come out nicely done and worked as a solution.

Again, we get conflict between our characters developed by the plot. In this case, Maxine and Kenny, who had a lovely encounter with one another last episode over Thanksgiving, immediately had their partnership tossed in the grinder.

By the way, Kenny is one damn fine shot.

The only drawback of this episode is that we never got to hear, “Douglas Wambaugh for the Snake Lady!” No Wambaugh or Judge Bone this episode. Perhaps Wambaugh is taking this episode to spend more time with his wife after last episode’s issues.

One more thing, Brian had grabbed Kenny around the throat and pushed him against the wall, and I am not sure how he did not get charged with assaulting an officer. Kenny was fully in control of the situation though and wound up hitting Brian with the handle of his gun. Still, Brian should have faced charges. “Douglas Wambaugh for the police assaulter!”

Spoilers

“Thanksgiving”

Thanksgiving means family, but in Rome, Wisconsin, Thanksgiving means conflict.

This was the first of the annual Picket Fence Thanksgiving episodes that they would have every year and every year there would be a new chance for the Brock family and their circle of friends to argue, fight and eat turkey.

This first episode sees Jill’s father arrive with a brand new fiancé who just happened to be 26 years old. Jill can barely contain her opposition to the surprise that was sprung on her.

Other conflicts that were being contained within this Thanksgiving episode included Douglas Wambaugh, who had caught his wife Miriam in bed with another man, and Maxine and Kenny alone at the police station.

The master of dialogue, David E. Kelley, loved these kind of episodes that would split up the characters in different places around the Brock house (and the police station) and just had one on one conversations, dealing with the conflicts among them.

The episode laid some groundwork for a possible relationship between Maxine and Kenny, who have always been close. It started with Kenny calling Maxine “Supercop.” It ended with a passionate kiss under the “New Years’ Eve rule” which says that a kiss at New Years does not have to mean anything, just a way to satisfy curiosity.

Holiday episodes are a staple of this series and “Thanksgiving” is the first one to be seen. It is a style that this show will emphasized throughout it.