Mick Belker (Bruce Weitz) has a rough go of it in The Rise and Fall of Paul the Wall and deals out some police brutality in vengeance which may or may not haunt the character, but definitely haunted me the viewer.

Written by Jacob Epstein from a story by Michael I. Wagner, this episode was first broadcast on 6 December, 1984.

Belker is working undercover as a homeless vagrant who runs afoul of other vagrants (including Dan Hedaya) who cuffs him to some pipes, beat him, rob him and strip him, leaving him broken and aching until he’s discovered by Bates (Betty Thomas) and Coffey (Ed Marinaro).

Once free he hunts down Hedaya’s character to lay a beat down (ugh) and reclaim his stolen badge and gun.

At the precinct, everyone is having an issue with a large overweight man, Paul the Wall (George Memmoli) who was arrested by Renko (Charles Haid) and Hill (Michael Warren) during a routine traffic stop. He collapses in his cell, and may or may not be dead as almost the entire precinct works to get him out of the cell and to the hospital. Things are exacerbated by the arrival of Paul’s wife played by Jennifer Tilly.

And then there’s the story of a woman, Mary Minot (Fran Ryan) defending herself and killing a teenager with a criminal record who broke into her apartment. But witnesses and an investigation seem to suggest that Minot may have orchestrated the moment to intentionally trap and kill the young man. Her attitude and beliefs don’t do her any favours.

Finally, Goldblume (Joe Spano), Hunter (James B. Sikking) and Davenport (Veronica Hamel) find themselves dealing with a hostage situation and working to help a mentally troubled man who is having problems with his job loss and the fallout of it in his life, and his young son is played by Joaquin Phoenix!

Last Chance Salon puts Mick front and centre for a lot of the story, as he still struggles with his break-up from Robin (Lisa Sutton), not to mention getting the crap kicked out of him last episode. He tries a couple of times to reconnect with her, only to realize he has to let her go.

The real issue with Mick this week, which is a shame because of how much I loved his character to start, is the homophobia he has. Homophobia that circulates the entire precinct.

Mick is undercover this week in a hair salon run by a number of gay characters played by such great character actors as Carmen Argenziano and Sam Anderson. It’s obvious that Mick is very uncomfortable, and the ribbing he’s getting about it from his fellow officers doesn’t help, causing him to attempt to make the bust early and get out of there.

Written by Roger Director, this episode was first broadcast on 13 December, 1984.

While Mick is dealing with all of that, the neighbourhood seems to be on the verge of a gang war between the Royal Bloods and the Shamrocks. Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) and Goldblume work to find a way to end the bloodshed before it begins and keep peace on the streets.

I feel bad for Mick and the way his relationship has ended, but some of his activities over the past couple of episodes (and honestly, we’ve seen homophobia around the precinct before) is giving me pause.

Meanwhile, Garibaldi (Ken Olin) is trying to keep his word to a hooker about getting her into a methadone program, but his partner, Mayo (Mimi Kuzyk) isn’t happy with the way he’s going about it.

Throw in some melodrama with Fay (Barbara Bosson) and that brings the episode to a close. A good, if troubling episode.

Until next time, let’s be careful out there.