NYPD Blue (season 4)

A painful part of Andy's less-pleasant past emerges when activist Kwasi Olashula is found shot to death in his car along with a drug dealer. Lt. Fancy orders Andy to not talk bad about Kwasi until they know the whole story, which ends up with Kwasi dying a hero over a drug dealer's confiscated items. Kwasi's family angrily confronts Andy about his racism, and Bobby later listens in discomfort as Andy explains the origin of his problems with African Americans going back to his childhood and early days on the force. Elsewhere, James and Greg investigate a murder at a bodega, but are unable to close the case because everyone involved is lying.

• This episode won the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.

The American-born wife of a European prince is severely beaten during a robbery attempt, and the prince quickly angers the cops by being too insistent that his wife would want to be taken off life-support. With some help from disgraced ex-Det. Mike Roberts, they learn about a plan to steal paintings and then claim the insurance payoff. James gets a sticky case as Delegate when he has to deal with a detective who seems to have two wives. He does well enough to ask Gina the PAA out to dinner and she says yes. Diane gets an offer to return to OCCB work and reconnect with an arms dealer named Jimmy Liery who might have gone active again.

• Christopher Meloni guest stars as Jimmy Liery.
• Judy Reyes, who became well known for her later role in Scrubs, guest stars as Anna Ortiz.

Detective Jill Kirkendall joins the 15th and immediately picks up a case where a guy is being threatened unless he marries an overweight young woman her brother claims he impregnated. The cops move in before anyone gets hurt and arrest the brother for murder. Andy tells Fancy that Geri's behavior is bothering him, and Fancy has Geri and Gina switch working locations at the 15th. A limo driver's murder is connected to a closeted businessman and his bad taste in male prostitutes. Diane remains in her undercover role. Bobby slaps Henry Coffield in the face a few times and the little weasel finally reveals he was the target of murder because he had promised money to some dealers and that failed when he did not inherit the building.

Note:

• First appearance of Andrea Thompson as Jill Kirkendall.

Fancy and his wife are pulled over in Bayside, Queens, by two uniformed officers on the basis of driving in an all-white neighborhood. Fancy angrily plans to transfer the senior officer Szymanski to a precinct in the all-white Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, as punishment before some criticism from Captain Bass leads to Officer Szymanski's arrival at the 15th. Andy begins having dreams where he see his dead son, Andy Jr., but he is confused and angry about the uneven and pointed nature of their conversations. The dreams play into Andy's psyche when he and Bobby investigate a real life string of bar robberies. They have to deal with a stolen .45 automatic, the involvement in one robbery of Vince Gotelli, and a too-eager cop who is trying to solve the case on his own before they get a break and make arrests. Diane and James come up with a plan to bust scam artists who are ripping off disabled women. Andy learns he will need to find a different outlet to see his dead son in the future.

• Tony Todd as Det. Eddie Hazell
• Pat Crawford Brown as Mrs. Klein
• Michael DeLuise as Andy Sipowicz, Jr.

A Russian mail-order bride is strangled to death. Andy's xenophobia gets a workout, while another serial killer and a Russian cab driver are considered and discarded as suspects, before Andy puts a misplaced purse and the dead woman's husband together and solves the case. Greg is on edge because of a mysterious dinner coming up with Abby, and he binges on peanut butter and becomes violent and aggressive on a case where gangbangers fired shots from a city bus. One of his fury storms provides a key break, but another leaves them without a confession. Greg later calms down and the dinner with Abby turns out to be low-key; she wants him to come over and meet her partner over another meal. Andy moonlights as a night watcher of drug couriers at JFK Airport, and finds his world view challenged by one detainee before an emergency involving another one.

• Robert Carradine guest stars as Gerard Salter

A young Latino man is shot to death and no one, including his pregnant girlfriend, wants to talk about it. Bobby works with a gang member's childhood friend, now a straight-arrow former MP who is on the background check list to join the NYPD, and they put the case together. A high-profile case involving the murder of an auto-repair shop owner who was a huge booster for the police has unlikely lead detectives in Greg and James. However, Greg finds an offbeat way to solve the killing. Diane and Jill catch a shaken-baby case that turns into a homicide; they find the baby's parents disgusting and sympathize with her caregiver as the sad story is revealed. Greg drinks too much wine and tells some stupid jokes, but otherwise enjoys his dinner with Abby and her partner, and Diane is inspired by Jerry Maguire into having a new answer to Bobby's marriage proposal.

• Lucy Liu guest stars as Amy Chu.

A jumpy waiter leads Simone and Sipowicz to the killers of five Ecuadorians at a social club; a nervous Medavoy awaits Abby's ovulation and hampers Russell's interview strategy with a child molester; and Simone must withhold information from Sipowicz, who disapproves of his partner's undercover wardrobe.

• Currie Graham guest-stars as Frankie Lankersheim, seven years before playing Lt. Thomas Bale.

Bobby gets in trouble over the license plate he ran for Joey Salvo the previous week at the FBI's request when they will not stand up for him after IAB finds out about it, and he learns that the FBI suspects IAB of having someone on Salvo's payroll. Bobby's relationship with Andy gets worse as the secrecy about the case continues (though Andy learns Bobby has talked to Diane about it) and affects their investigation of a rape-assault. Andy tries to protect scared witness Steve Cameron, but indifference from ADA Leo Cohen and Bobby's focus being elsewhere leads to a horrible ending. The cops find out that Vince Gotelli hijacked a city bus while drunk and Fancy works to save Vince from jail time.

• Richard Schiff guest stars as Steve Cameron