Log 64: Bottom of the Bottle (Episode 15, Season 2)

Episode 41

As you may have guessed by the title, the underlying theme of this episode is alcoholism. Up to now, most of the alcoholics featured on the show have been the "funny" male drunks, usually played by Foster Brooks. This episode deviates from that formula, the drinkers featured here are not all "fun" and one of them is a woman.

Synopsis:

Malloy and Reed track down an alcoholic's shot-gun toting lover and rescue a girl who has attempted suicide.

The Story:

It must be Sunday, because Reed and Malloy are booking one of their regular "customers" at the jail. 

This is Louie, he wants Reed and Malloy to remember that the drunks are important to the police. The LAPD would be out of business if it weren't for them.

After they've booked Louie, Malloy and Reed head out to patrol the streets of Los Angeles. 

I can't wait for next week's episode, "Log 27: Who Spilled the Paint?".

While they're in the black and white, Reed wonders how many times Louie has been arrested and what happened in his life that made him crawl inside a bottle.

Malloy theorizes that Louie himself wouldn't be able to answer that question. 

Reed agrees that Louie wouldn't know the reason for his drinking, "He'd be the last person I would ask."

Before they can start guessing at the genesis of Louie's problems with alcohol, the radio breaks in a with a call of a 390-415 (intoxicated person disturbing the peace) at the bar located at 4093 South Paul, code 2.

Mixed drinks for sixty-five cents! No wonder they have a happy hour and a half.
 

Malloy and Reed enter the bar to find two men engaged in a slugfest while an excited female spectator cheers them on. They're barely two steps inside this fine establishment when a chair, thrown by one of the pugilistic patrons, comes flying at their heads. After ducking to avoid getting hit with the chair, the officers rush forward to stop the fight.

Reed handcuffs the man who threw the chair while the woman jumps on Malloy.
(Go for it, girl! I don't blame you at all!)

After everyone has calmed down, Malloy wants to know what the heck is going on.

The bartender, who was one of the men duking it out, explains that the women was already at the bar when the other man showed up and ordered a water. The bartender turned his back and heard the woman drop to the floor. He told the couple to leave and the man took a swing at him.

This is the guy who took a swing at the bartender. His name is Christopher Pilaf, he's married to the woman in green. He's also very sorry about the whole thing and offers to pay the bartender for any damages.

The bartender doesn't want Mr. Pilaf's apology. He wants him to pay for the damages, but not in cash. 

"In Hell you will, you can depend on it."
(Are those pickled pig's feet in that jar? Gross.)

Mr. and Mrs. Pilaf don't end up in Hell, not today anyway, just jail. Mr. Pilaf is taken back to Central division with Malloy and Reed while his wife is taken to Sybil Brand Institute (maybe she'll run into Susan Atkins there).

"I've never been arrested before."
Does this guy remind anyone else of Maj. Freeman from M*A*S*H? You know, the psychologist or psychiatrist.

This guy. Maybe it's the mustache.

After Reed explains the process of being booked to him, Pilaf tells Malloy and Reed that he left his wife six months ago. He couldn't take her drinking anymore.

Malloy and Reed have returned to their patrol after booking Mr. Pilaf. They receive a call for a 211 silent at a liquor store, but are immediately told to disregard. 1-Adam-16 will handle the call. As they are being told they are not needed at the liquor store, a green Dodge speeds past them. The driver and the passenger of the Dodge wave their arms out of the windows. Malloy flips on the reds and the sirens and begins pursuing the green car. 

The chase leads them past this sign.

Their pursuit ends with the Dodge crashing into this white guardrail.

Does that "NOT A THROUGH STREET" sign and white guardrail in front of the house with the creeping foliage look familiar to you? It should.

You've seen it before.

In episode 7, when this redheaded filly drove her crimson pony car into the same fence.

Well, back to the story at hand. The driver and passenger of the Dodge jump out of the car as soon as it hits the guardrail. Reed and Malloy exit the patrol car with guns drawn and tell the two young men to keep their hands in sight. With their hands in the air, the two men excitedly tell the officers there is a girl dying in the backseat. Reed looks in the back window and verifies their story, there is a girl lying on the backseat, bleeding profusely. He calls for an ambulance while Malloy frisks the driver and passenger. Malloy doesn't find any weapons and tells them to relax. 

The senior officer then asks, "what happened to the girl?". The two young men explain that they found her in the park with her wrists bleeding.

Malloy applies pressure to stop the bleeding.
(It took me forever to figure out what he was doing here.)

While Malloy is with the girl, Reed asks the driver for his license. He is incensed that he is going to get a speeding ticket for his act of charity. He was only driving that fast in order to get her to the hospital. Reed explains that his reckless driving could have gotten the girl, themselves, and other people "wiped out".

Michael, the driver, also doesn't understand why the officers didn't pull along side of the Dodge. Didn't they see him and Eddie, the passenger, waving at them? Reed tells him that policemen have been killed, shot, or swide-swiped that way.

The girl is Carmella Hermosa, she goes to school with Michael and Eddie. They honked at her when they saw her in the park and she didn't even look. That's when they knew something was wrong. Eddie states, "When Carmella doesn't look, something's wrong." 

The ambulance arrives and removes Carmella from the backseat. Malloy searches her purse for ID and finds none. Without identification to verify her address, he asks Michael and Eddie if they know where she lives. Michael brags that he knows where she lives and even has her phone number. Eddie's not impressed, he tells his friend that she has given her number to "you and everybody else". There may not have been any identification in her purse, but there was a suicide note. Reed summarizes the note for the curious teenagers.

"It says nobody loves her."

The next day Mac has some bad news for Pete and Jim. Carmella's father is filing a complaint against both of them, he claims that his daughter had a wallet with fifty dollars in it. But, the wallet and the fifty dollars were not among her personal items at the hospital. Pete tells Mac that when he checked the purse, there was no wallet. If there was one, it was gone when they got there. Mac hopes Pete can prove that.

Pete and Jim react to the news that a complaint is being filed against them.

In the car, Pete and Jim discuss how they are going to prove that the wallet was not in Carmella's purse when they searched it. Pete wants to check the park, Jim suggests that they talk to Michael and Eddie. Before they can get anywhere in their investigation, they receive a call of shots fired at an apartment house.

The manager at 9501 James Street takes them to apartment 538. The door of 538 has been blasted with a shotgun, twice. No one answers the door at 538, either they're not home or they're unable to answer the door.

Pete tells the manager to stay in the hall while they go inside. Jim unsnaps his holster, just in case.

They don't find anyone inside the apartment, but they do find a picture of their old friend, Mr. Pilaf. The manager tells them that Mr. Pilaf pays the rent, but only Mrs. Pilaf lives here. He also tells them that she has a rugged-looking boyfriend who rides a motorcycle. He then remembers that he heard a motorcycle start up after he heard the shots.

Let's take a moment to enjoy the view in the Pilaf's apartment.

As Pete is talking to the manager, Mr. and Mrs. Pilaf return home after their night in jail. A visibly shaken Mrs. Pilaf reaches for a drink when Pete asks her if she knows who would have shot up her door. Mr. Pilaf takes the bottle from his wife and he tells her "we've gotta deal".

I can't stand Mr. Pilaf, there I said it. He's an annoying, touchy-feely man, who I imagine reads lots of self-help books and probably wants to talk about feelings all the time. 

Mrs. Pilaf continues to deny that she knows a shotgun-toting motorcyclist until her husband reminds her that they've agreed to make a new start. She finally admits that she had been seeing a man called Monk. When she tried to break it off with him, he threatened to kill her unless she gave him two hundred dollars. After she gives the officers his phone number, Jim calls the station to get an address on Monk. Pete suggests that the Pilafs stay somewhere else until they find him. Mr. Pilaf refuses to leave the apartment.

Pete and Jim will be in touch with the Pilafs.

They return to the black and white and meet Mac on tac 2, he now has Monk's address for them. He instructs them to stake out the house and wait for him there. Later, when Mac arrives at Monk's street, they tell him the suspect was seen returning home with the shotgun about a half hour ago.

Mac requests any available "A" unit to meet them.

An available unit arrives as Mac prepares the tear gas gun. He tells them to cover the rear of the house, he'll backup Malloy and Reed.

Malloy and Reed walk up to Monk's door. The senior officer knocks and orders Monk to come out with his hands up, but there is no response from inside the house. Looks like the door is going to have to be kicked.

But wait, what's this? Reed is kicking the door? And Malloy has the shotgun?  Maybe Malloy decided it was time for Reed to practice this essential part of police work. 

Poor baby, it takes him two kicks to open the door. You would think his legs would be more powerful after all that running he does.

They check all of the rooms downstairs and there is no sign of Monk.

I think this is Reed's nervous, frown-y face.

No Monk here.

Reed looks so scared and anxious during this whole scene. Which, I guess, is understandable, there could be a nut with a shotgun behind any of the numerous doors in this house. He nervously curls and uncurls his fingers around his gun grip as they search for Monk.
(Monk may be a shotgun-toting, motorcycle-riding maniac, but he has fabulous taste in art.)

No Monk here, either.

They head upstairs to continue searching for the suspect. He's not in the first two rooms they open, which means he must be in the one at the end of the hall.    They each stand behind walls on opposite sides of the hall and cover the door.

Malloy tells Monk to come out and throw the shotgun out, butt first.

Monk thinks it is a better idea for Malloy and Reed to come in and get him. He unlocks the door for the officers. Malloy tells Monk that they are coming in, but neither he nor Reed move one inch towards the door. 

As expected, a shotgun blast comes through the door.

Mac hears the blast and calls Malloy downstairs.

Before he heads down the stairs, Malloy gracefully hands the shotgun off to Reed.

Monk fires another round through the door.

Downstairs, Malloy lets the commanding officer that he and Reed were not hit with buckshot, he also lets him know that Monk is in the back bedroom. The room has a window that faces the backyard, Mac should have no problem firing the teargas into the room.

Malloy returns upstairs and takes cover behind a now buckshot-scarred wall. 

Soon after, he and Reed hear glass shattering in the room where Monk is hiding. Monk then begins to cough and cries that he can't breathe or see. The teargas creates the desired result, it drives Monk out of the room.

Monk comes out of the room, but somehow, the teargas does not. If it does, it has no effect on Reed or Malloy.
It looks like Monk will be charged with ADW (assault with a deadly weapon) and WPLD (white pants after labor day).

They cuff Monk and bring him downstairs. The whole way down, he complains about Mrs. Pilaf. When they reach the first floor, he states that he would never hurt a flea. That may be true. But, if you're human, he'll try to blow your head off with a shotgun.

"Drunks, if you guys only knew."

Later that night, Mac has some good news for Malloy and Reed. One of the Good Samaritans found Carmella's wallet in their car and dropped it off at the station while they were out rounding up Monk. Her father then enters the office. After Malloy returns the wallet, Reed asks Mr. Hermosa about his daughter.

"She'll heal, the cuts will anyway."

Mac: "I guess that let's you guys off the hook."

Malloy: "Kinda looks that way, doesn't it?"

And with that, Malloy and Reed leave Mac's office.

They walk down the hall to the locker room and begin to change out of their uniforms.

Unfortunately, they don't get very far.

The End

My Evaluation:

After watching this one I felt as empty as one of Mae Pilaf's liquor bottles. It didn't make me happy, it didn't make me sad, it didn't make me angry. I think my apathy stems from my ambivalence towards the Pilafs, I just didn't care about them or what happened to them. Mrs. Pilaf is just sad and pathetic, although that may be how the character was intended to be. You know how I feel about Mr. Pilaf. I also thought he was foolish to not follow Malloy's suggestion and leave the apartment before a suspect was apprehended. What good is a new start if your head gets blown off with a shotgun?

Although I didn't care about the Pilafs or their fate, I did like the scenes where their would-be assailant was captured. I always enjoy seeing the methods surrounding the apprehension of a dangerous subject and the lead actors do a great job of adding human emotions to those procedures. McCord does a wonderful job of portraying a nervous, young officer without a bullet-proof vest facing an armed suspect. Milner, who's character is probably just as scared, expertly plays a seemingly confident, more experienced officer. I wonder if Malloy did all of the talking with the suspect because Reed was just too frightened to form words. 

I would have like this episode a lot more if it had focused more on Carmella Hermosa, the girl who is popular with all the boys at school, but doesn't feel loved by anyone. But, I guess there wasn't much else for uniformed officers to do in an attempted suicide case.

I didn't hate "Log 64: Bottom of the Bottle", but I didn't find a whole lot to love here, either. So, I give it a rating of:

Do you agree? 

This is where I usually say, "See you next time." Which, in this case, is going to be in three weeks. I have a lot of traveling coming up, so I will see you all on August 2 with "Log 54: Impersonation".

KMA-367