Log 63: Baby (Episode 7, Season 2)

Episode 33

How appropriate that I get to bring you the day Jean Reed became a mother on Mother's Day! I swear I did not plan this at all, it's all a really great coincidence.

I feel like we've been building to the birth of baby Reed for the past few episodes. In episode 4 of this season Malloy asked Reed if he was so rough on the child molester because he was thinking of his unborn child, in episode 5 Reed dreamt that he delivered his baby himself, and last week we finally met Jean Reed and she almost gave birth in the ghost town. The ambulance attendant told Jean that she could have the baby at anytime, in an hour or a week. And here we are one week later and she is having the baby!

Last week's episode contained another big clue that Jean would have the baby in the next installment: her dress. It is a well known fact that the Mark VII wardrobe department only had the one blue gingham maternity dress*. Since Jean wore it in episode 6, there was no way she could be shown with child again. Don't believe me about the dress? They also had to use it on a pregnant woman in Emergency! because they had no other options.

See, I told you.

*Warning: The "fact" you have read may not be true. I am not innocent, but I changed my name anyway.

Synopsis:

On the day that Jean has checked into the hospital to give birth, Jim has everything organized so he can get through his day at work. Unfortunately, nobody else is organized.

The Story:

It is a few minutes before roll call and Pete is just about to leave the locker room when Mac asks him where his partner is, he wants to commend Jim on his paperwork. Mac's question is answered when Jim enters the locker room, all suited up and ready to go three minutes before roll call. He immediately asks if anyone has called him at the station.

Pete wants to know who would call a person at 7:00 A.M.
Jim answers,"The hospital".

Pete and Mac are shocked! If Jean is at the hospital about to give birth, then why in the world is Jim at work today? 

"Well, what'd you expect me to be doing? Pacing up and down some hospital lobby?"
Well, yes, actually. But, that would make for a pretty boring TV show. So, thanks for coming to work.

The doctor said that Jean probably won't go into the delivery room until the afternoon. If he needs to, Jim will leave early. 

Pete has to hand it to his partner, he thought he would be "climbing the walls".

Pete and Mac both wonder what is Jim's secret? How can he remain so calm when his life about to change forever? 

"Organization, that's the key to it. You expect something to happen, so you get organized. That way there's no confusion or panic."

When Jean woke Jim up at 4 A.M. and they realized that the baby was on it's way, he got out his checklist and got busy. He called the doctor, called Jean's girlfriend Margaret, she wanted to go along to the hospital, then he got Jean's bag for the hospital together. 

The last thing on his list was getting dressed in his uniform so he could go straight to work from the hospital. Jim was so organized, he even had time for a shoe shine.

Looks like socks weren't on Jim's list.

Mac and Pete are amazed at Jim's efficiency. But, they also want to know if the shoe shine man made any comments to Jim. Jim reports that he didn't and wonders what his partner and commanding officer are driving at. 

"He might have at least offered to shine your ankles."

And you thought Sonny Crockett was the cop who originated this look.
(But, I really hope Jim gets socks somewhere or he's going to get a nasty blister and his shoes will really stink at the end of the shift.)

It's now 8:00 A.M. and our dynamic duo are in their patrol car, Reed is still as cool as a cucumber. He explains to Malloy that logic and planning are helping him get through his day at work.

"What does Jean think about all this devotion to duty?"

"I didn't ask her, it wasn't on the checklist."

Have you ever been a long car trip and just finished drinking, let's say, a bottle of water? You're riding along feeling hydrated and just fine. Then your friend starts telling you about their trip to Niagara Falls and suddenly all you can think about is the location of the next rest stop?

Well, what happens next on Adam-12 is kinda like that. Jim is riding along all logical and organized, confident that the hospital is taking good care of his wife. Then Pete does this:

"A lot can happen in an hour and a half. Twins, maybe, did you ever think of that?"
"Malloy..."
"You know, it's funny, I thought you'd be wanting to stop every 5 minutes to make a phone call."

The patrol car then pulls into a gas station with a phone booth. As Jim enters the booth, Pete asks if he has a dime. 

"Organization."

"It's gonna be a long day."
(Oh, Pete, you have no idea.)

This should be a quick call to the hospital. He'll just check in on Jean then to back work. 

"What do you mean she's not there? How do you lose a pregnant woman?"

Before Jim can find out what happened to Jean, they get a call of a 390 (intoxicated person) on Chapman Road. 

Here's our intoxicated person, good ol' Foster Brooks as Mr. Sacks, pretending he is a matador to the passing automo-bulls.

 They get Mr. Sacks out of harm's way and find out he is celebrating a large land inheritance.

He inherited the land from his maiden aunt. She wasn't just square, she was the whole box!
Jim has trouble paying attention to Mr. Sacks.

He's too busy eyeing this.

As they put Mr. Sacks in the black and white, Jim is worried about Jean. Pete reassures him that he will be able to call from the station in five minutes.

Back at the station, Jim calls the hospital again from the pay phone in the locker room. (Has there ever been a pay phone in the locker room before?) The hospital still hasn't found Jean. Jim has to call back in ten minutes.

When Jim says "maternity ward" those two officers in the background turn around and look at him.  Why? Are they thinking, "Oooh Reed had sexual relations with his wife. Hee hee."

It's been awhile since Reed has had a problem that he won't shut up about while they are in the patrol car. Well, this is a big problem; so, of course he's going to talk about it. Of course, Malloy's going to be annoyed with him, too.

Reed's complaining about the hospital's lack of organization.
Malloy thinks he's overreacting.
"Yeah, probably only two or three thousand people in the whole hospital," he tells his anxious partner.

Ten minutes must have passed, because they stop at another service station phone booth.

Hurray! The hospital switchboard operator has found Jean. At least, she thought she did. She rings the wrong room.

While Reed is on the phone, the station attendant approaches the car. He wants to know why Reed is tying up his phone instead of using the police radio. Malloy answers, "He's having a baby."

"Premature, huh?", observes Tom.
"I beg your pardon?," asks Malloy.
"He don't look pregnant to me,"explains Tom.

You know I have a gun, right?

Reed is still on the phone waiting for the the hospital to find Jean when they receive a call that an officer needs assistance catching a 211 suspect fleeing on foot. 1-Adam-12 will assist. Malloy calls to Reed, who comes bursting out of the phone booth and drops all of his dimes. Tom volunteers to pick them up and save them for Reed.

"I guess this makes me part of the organization."

Reed hops in the car and they take off to find the suspect. Reed quickly spots the guy and Malloy stops the black and white. As is his usual habit, Reed jumps out and chases the suspect.

He makes the capture in this apartment building courtyard.

The officer who needed assistance then walks up and thanks Reed. He also lets Reed know that he got lucky, he and his partner caught this guy's accomplice and he had a gun.

Hearing this does not please Malloy, after the other officer leaves with the prisoner he lays into Reed for taking a risk on this day.

"I know I'm not the fastest guy in the world. But, today, as far as you're concerned, I'm Olympic material. Ya understand?"
Translation: I'll catch the bad guys today. We need to keep you safe so you can meet your baby.

When they are back in the car, Reed asks to go back the station. He's had it and regrets coming to work today. He levels with Malloy, his thoughts weren't organized when he decided to come to work. He decided to take a chance when the doctor said the baby wouldn't come until the afternoon. He didn't want to take today, he wanted to be sure he had off when Jean came home and really needed him. 

Reed sounds so down and disappointed in himself that Malloy decides to do something nice for his partner.

He tells Reed to put them code 6, they're going to the hospital.

Not so fast, fellas! The radio has other plans for you. They are called to a 459 report at 5351 Gallini.

When they arrive at 5351 Gallini, they have their very own welcoming committee.

This is Ernie, his mother called the police then went over to Mrs. Hickle's to borrow her vacuum and drink coffee. Ernie figures they probably have half an hour before his mother returns.

A half an hour, Reed doesn't have that kind of time! Malloy asks Ernie if he knows why his mother called the police so they can get this investigation moving. This kid knows what a 459 is, he must know why his mother called. 

Reed looks for a phone or a call box or this kid's mother.

Ernie is reluctant to tell the officers why his mother called them. (I suspect the poor kid was lonely up in that tree all by himself and just wanted to hang out with Reed and Malloy until his mother returned.) He finally tells them that the coin boxes attached to the washers and dryers in their apartment building have been jimmied.

Lucky for Reed there is a pay phone in the laundry room.  However, Malloy has to use the phone first to call the station about the 459, that's not lucky for Reed. He goes off in search of another phone while Malloy uses this one.

He doesn't get very far before Malloy calls him back to the laundry room. When he called the station he was told that Jean's friend, Margaret, had called and left a message for Reed. Jean just left for the delivery room.

Reed just stares in disbelief at Malloy as he delivers the news. 

"Are you alright?" asks Malloy.
(I don't think he is. You may want to get out of there, Pete.)

They have to wait for a special investigator to arrive, which should take ten minutes, then he has to dust for prints, then they can leave. 

We next see the boys in the car speeding driving the posted speed limit towards the hospital. They should be there in five minutes!

Or not.
Malloy has come to a sudden stop to avoid hitting the boy on the bicycle and he has hit a parked car in the process.

Now they will have to call AI and make a report, it's mandatory when city liability is involved.

Reed just wants to leave a note on the guy's windshield. 

A note like this.

Malloy doesn't go for the note idea so they have to find the owner of the car. Luckily the boy knows where the owner lives.

At first the owner thinks he did something wrong, either he was parked too close to the intersection or too far from the curb. It pains Malloy to tell the man that he hit his car with the black and white while it was legally parked.

This is the owner of the vehicle, he is shocked that Malloy hit his legally parked car. His brother is a deputy sheriff in Texas and he would never do a thing like that.

Before they return to the street, Malloy asks the owner if he would mind if his partner used the phone.

"Not at all, but lots o' luck," he answers.

What should be a simple accident report is taking much too long for Reed and Malloy's taste. The car owner and the traffic investigator are both from the same town in Texas and they are too busy having "old home week" to finish the report.

Reed and Malloy decide to take matters into their own hands.

Don't worry fellas, we'll measure the skid marks with your meter while you talk about Hancock, Texas.

After Malloy measures the tire marks and reports his findings to the traffic investigator, the report is complete and they can head to the hospital. Finally!

Or can they? Mac drives up and walks over to 1-Adam-12. Now what?

"Where's my cigar, Reed?"

Mac is here to tell Reed that his baby was born fifteen minutes ago.  Much to Reed's disappointment, Mac does not know if it is a boy or girl.

At last Pete and Jim arrive at the hospital. They are greeted by a nurse at the door to Jean's room. She disappears back inside the room when Jim asks if it is a boy or girl. 

"How do like that?" Jim asks incredulously when the nurse walks away without answering his question.

Next Margaret pops out to let them know that Jean is doing fine. The nurse then returns with a surgical gown and mask for Jim to wear.

"We don't want to have a sick baby, do we?" asks the nurse as she, Margaret, and Pete help Jim into the surgical gown and mask.
Why does Jim have to put all of this on? The nurse and Margaret just came out of Jean's room and they weren't wearing surgical garb.

Pete loves this.

Now that Jim looks ridiculous he can finally see his wife and child. 

Let's take a moment to appreciate how extra-ridiculous the surgical gown looks over the Sam Browne belt and gun holster. 

Pete wants to watch the first meeting of Jim and his baby, but Margaret leads him away. 

Why don't you show me the back of the patrol car, big boy?

The meeting of the Reeds is mostly sweet, but there is one very troubling aspect to it.
When Jean sees Jim in the surgical gown, she asks if that's the new uniform and tells him he looks beautiful. He tells her, "So do you."

That's better.

Jean then invites him over to the bed where she is holding the baby and tells Jim to sit down, she wants to introduce him to someone.

And this is where we come to the troubling part.

WHY IS THE BABY'S FACE COVERED?!?!?
I understand that we are trying to keep the gender of the child a surprise, but YOU CAN NOT TELL THE GENDER OF A BABY BY LOOKING AT IT'S FACE!
Babies breath through their nose and/ or mouths just like adults, they may have trouble breathing IF THEIR FACE IS COVERED!
It's not like the baby is hideously ugly. (How could it be? Look at it's father.) So, why cover the face?

Jim, thankfully, uncovers the baby's face and says, "That's a pretty baby."
Jean asks, "What are you waiting for? Don't you wanna hold your son?"

Wow, Jean you were pregnant a long time! This baby is already six months old!

The final scene begins with Margaret and Pete walking back towards Jean's room. Pete must have told her all about the day he and Jim had because she exclaims, "Well, sounds like you two had quite a day for yourselves".

"It's enough to make a guy sign up for Bachelor's Anonymous, " declares Pete

"What do you mean? You're a charter member?" asks Margaret.

So, what's the deal with Margaret? The way she delivers that last line, it sounds like she has been burned by charter bachelor Pete Malloy. It's never established if she is married or not. She could be single and have taken the day off from work to spend it with Jean.

Has she dated Malloy and scared him off with her obvious love of babies? I've wondered this since the beginning of the episode when Reed asked Malloy if he remembered Margaret. Pete's response was, "We've...uh...met." Did that pause indicate that Pete was fibbing? If Pete were being honest would his response have been, "We've...uh...seen each other naked."? 

Any way, back to our story. 
Jim meets Pete and Margaret outside of the room holding the baby. 

When he first sees Pete, Jim says, "Hey, Pete, look."
It's like he's saying, "Pete look, I made this!"

Margaret immediately chastises him for having the baby outside of the hospital room. But, Jim has something important to ask Pete.

"Do you wanna hold him?"
"No, thanks."

Even though Jim shows him that it's easy to hold a baby (you just have to be organized) Pete refuses. Pete knows he has made the right decision when the baby starts crying.

"Now I wanna see you get that organized," Pete tells his partner.

That's easy enough, let Jean handle it.

This started crying, it's your turn now.

The End.

My Evaluation:

Nothing too serious here. No calls that will raise discussions on race relations or police brutality. Just a series of humorous and frustrating incidents that prevent Jim from reaching his wife and new baby.

Except for one call. Within every "serious" Adam-12 episode there is usually one light-hearted call to balance the story. The opposite is true in this episode, there is one serious call within this light-hearted episode. The call that brings gravity to this story is the 211 suspect that Reed captures. When we find out that the suspect's partner had a gun, we're reminded that police work isn't all about funny drunks and cute kids in trees.

 

Even though Reed has annoyed him for most of the episode, Malloy is upset that he took a risk and chased after a suspect on one of the most important days of his life. However, if Malloy did not want Reed to chase suspects on this day they should have been organized about it and planned what would happen if they were called to pursue a suspect on foot. Perhaps Malloy could learn a thing or two from his partner.

My favorite scenes in this episode are the last ones at the hospital. Jim and Jean are just adorable as new parents. I love how all of Jim's frustration and annoyance just melts away as soon as he sees Jean holding their new baby. How can you not smile when Jim first holds his son? I wouldn't blame you if you got a little verklempt.

How can I rate this episode anything but:

Do you agree? See you next time! KMA-367.