As the episode opens, two men dressed in dark suits exit the elevator onto the main floor of Crane, Poole, and Schmidt. They notice Melissa Hughes (Marisa Coughlan) walking down the corridor and ask her if she is Melissa Hughes. She has enough common sense to call out to Alan Shore (James Spader), who is working in his office nearby. After some back and forth conversation, the two men introduce themselves as U.S. Treasury agents.
They should have done that right after they spoke to Melissa the first time, and they should have shown her some identification.
Melissa is quickly arrested for not paying her taxes, or rather, not paying them in full. Alan tells her not to say anything and he will be at the jail as soon as he can. This is not the first time Alan has had to try and pull Melissa out of a jam. She was arrested before on an attempted burglary charge ("Legal Deficits").
Denise Bauer (Julie Bowen) finds Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen) and shares some disturbing information: she had a dream about sleeping with Denny! Oh dear. I knew she was unhappy to see her boyfriend leave for Switzerland in search of a cancer treatment ("Breast in Show"), but I had no idea she was that desperate. In her dreams, anyway.
Denny Crane (William Shatner) enters shortly afterwards and asks if she had dreamed about the two of them in bed together. She is surprised that he would know, but she answers yes. He then tells her that he says that to everybody, and she is the first person who actually said yes.
Paul Lewiston (Rene Auberjonois) decides to get his daughter Rachel (Jayne Brooks) into treatment when he finds a "crystal meth kit" in her bathroom("Shock and Oww!"). Not only has Rachel fallen back into addiction, but she has a daughter, Fiona, to raise on her own.
When he finds a center willing to take Rachel in, he warns the two men who show up at his office that Rachel will more than likely not go along willingly. Wisely, he arranges the intervention when Fiona is in school.
Brad Chase (Mark Valley) and Shirley are in the room at the time. When Paul tells them that he expects them to support his "justification" of child endangerment should Social Services get involved, Brad is not keen on the idea.
Article comments
1 - Man About Town
Great review! Someone may have already commented on this. Melissa was having credit card problems in the episode "Legal Deficits" (exorbitant interest rates, late fees, etc.)but I don't recall her being arrested or charged with burglary.
2 - NancyGail
You must have tuned in late. In practically the opening scene, Alan had to bail Melissa out of jail for "trying to rob a bank" (her own words). Charges were later dropped when she apologized to those who ran the bank (Alan made her). But Jerry Espenson's work helped Alan "convince" the charge company lawyer to forgive all of Melissa's debt.
3 - Imamess
Love your reviews. I'm sort of reading them backwards. I didn't know you did them. Just a small correction. Melissa's full sentence is: "They’re saying I tried to rob a bank. I didn’t. I just smashed a window."
4 - NancyGail
Exactly my point. She was arrested because the bank authorities thought she was trying to rob it. Glad you like the reviews!