Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing Crime Story, which ran on NBC from 1986 to 1988. The entire show can be found on Tubi!
This week, the Major Crimes Unit follows a ring of things from Chicago to Iowa!
Episode 1.10 “For Love Or Money”
(Dir by Bobby Roth, originally aired on December 5th, 1986)
An investigation into a new Chicago robbery crew leads the Major Crimes Unit to the small town in Iowa that the crew calls home. After the MCU busts the crew, the Mayor is so thrilled that he gives them all the key to the city and invites them to party at the local bar, which turns out to be a surprisingly happening place. Torello, who has just signed his divorce papers, gets drunk, steals a car, and sleeps with the mayor’s wife. That’ll teach him to hand out keys to the city!
Meanwhile, Danny feels sorry for one of the thieves. Howie Dressler (a very young Gary Sinise) is not a ruthless criminal. Instead, he’s someone who has lost his job and who is desperately trying to pay the bills His wife (Moira Sinise) is a victim of polio and lives in an iron lung. Danny wants to cut a deal with Howie.
Unfortunately, though the thieves don’t fully realize it, the thieves work for Ray Luca’s organization. Luca and Paulie take Howie for a ride to a warehouse, where they tie him to a chair. Howie swears to them that he’s not going to rat them out. He says that he’ll take the fall and that the only reason he talked to the MCU was to protect his wife. Howie says that he did what any real man would do in the situation. Luca seems to be sympathetic and motions at Paulie to let Howie go.
Or does he?
Later, Torello, Danny, and the boys are called to another warehouse where the bodies of the thieves have been found. The majority of them were beaten to death. Howie was hanged.
Yikes!
Back at the bar, Danny gets drunk. When Torello shows up to take him home, Danny says that he should have let Torello execute Ray Luca when he had the chance. Torello nods and then says, “I will kill Ray Luca.”
This episode really gave us a look into the mentality of Torello and the other members of the Major Crimes Unit. We’ve always known that Torello is obsessed with Luca but, in this episode, we saw just how obsessed. Torello seems to feel that he’s now on a holy mission to personally kill Luca. The members of MCU obsess over the criminals they chase and, when they don’t have a criminal to chase, they end up losing control, getting drunk, and impulsively stealing cars. Say what you will about Ray Luca, he’s at least a little bit more disciplined.
I get the feeling none of this is going to lead to a happy ending.
