The show received critical acclaim, and its production innovations influenced many subsequent dramatic television series produced in the United States and Canada.
Goldblume becomes Fay's partner in natural childbirth classes, a horse-riding eccentric, the "Cisco Kid" (Martin Ferrero) causes problems, and Calletano finally passes a kidney stone (with a loud scream) during very hot weather, and a series of city-wide power cuts.
Also in this episode, Fay and Henry have a sexual encounter, Hill is victorious in a police boxing match, and Michael Conrad makes a short and shaky appearance at roll call, looking very drawn and unwell.
Honk, the "guard goose on the loose", is caught by Bates and Coffey, but executed in the station by its owner; Calletano and Schnitz make arrangements to salvage the "dark meat".
Sergeant Phil Esterhaus dies while making love with Grace Gardner, and Captain Furillo announces the death at Roll Call, shocking the officers.
Former Captain Fuchs arrives to advertise his new private security consultancy and meets with disdain from Furillo and harsh words from Belker, who, because of his close relationship with Esterhaus, is taking his death particularly hard.
Le Jardin from Divisional Accountancy arrives undercover to identify a petty thief, and discovers that Leo has been taking stationery home for personal use.
A genial census worker (Barry Corbin) is taken hostage and murdered, much to the dismay of his bodyguards, Hill and Renko, who were called away to back up other officers on the order of Deputy Chief Briscoe.
In the personal storylines, Renko's girlfriend Daryl Ann is pregnant, and Hunter dates both Bates and Fay Furillo, while looking for a partner - both turn him down (The lunch-date with Bates actually takes place in the previous episode) In a packed episode, "Operation Stop and Cop" continues to claim victims as Pilsky is shot and killed by a fleeing suspect; her delay in returning fire was caused by her "officer-involved" shooting the previous day.
Bates and Briscoe argue publicly when the Deputy Chief denies that he ordered Pilsky's deployment; her death also affects Hunter, who had planned a date with her.
Washington, Garibaldi and Belker, with Goldblume's approval, follow William Mullins all day cutting off his access to drugs until he slips up: when he refuses to surrender after committing an armed robbery, he is shot dead by the detectives after firing at them.
The episode title comes from a minor storyline about a legal battle between a man whose genitals became caught in a whirlpool drain and the distraught therapist who didn't release the power switch until he was punched.
Hunter's proposed "Equine Rapid Development Force" is rejected under budget cuts, even though he had bought his own horse (Apollo) to save the city money.
Peabody, back in charge of the Blood and seeking quick money to finance a gang war, approaches the group of Mafia-connected loan sharks which Belker has infiltrated.
Belker temporarily moves into Hunter's RV; new ADA Davenport faces opposition when she plans to prosecute three white teens for the vicious beating of a young black athlete; Furillo's car accident starts an investigation into illegal gun sales by Al DiPiano; and Mayo has a date with Chief Daniels.
Renko bets LaRue that he has a better driving route to the station house, planning to use his winnings to pay for a backstage pass he has purchased to meet his favorite musician, Bobby Angel; unfortunately, his idol turns out to have feet of clay (or, in this case, cocaine).
A runner trying to raise money for cancer research is exploited by his coach; Garibaldi's death shakes the station house; Hill takes a direct interest in helping a black youth who robbed the Korean store get a job at the store; Furillo begins choosing personnel for the new commission on police corruption; the Lee Cleveland case comes to a tragic end and Mayor Cleveland comes to the end of his rope; Howard gets a shock from and about his latest love interest; khaki officers Leo and Natalie elope.
Fabian has turned up unannounced to stay with Bates; Hill returns home with his father's body; Hunter hits his head falling into the station basement and begins hallucinating that he's being held prisoner on a Russian freighter; Buntz is unhappy at being involved by an ex-colleague in shaking down a loan shark; Furillo is approached by a politician who thinks he should stand for mayor; Sid the Snitch is given the task of delivering Belker and Robin's wedding present, who finally get married.
A prostitute accuses McBride of trying to blackmail her, and in the process of discussing the false charges with Bates, McBride confides that she is a lesbian;[5][6][7] two new officers, Ron Lipsky (Chris Noth) and Michael Galva, are called to deal with a suicidal man; Ballantine's mental health problems continue; Furillo is courted by a group of men to run for mayor; Buntz has to decide what to do about his ex-partner Tommy Donahue, whom he suspects of murdering a fellow officer.
Hill and Renko rescue suspected multiple murderer and rapist Albert Sawyer (Paul McCrane) from a mob; a media and political circus ensues, with the arrest bringing out the worst in a lot of people; because of a mistake in judgement, Belker almost isn't there when Robin goes into labor; she delivers a healthy baby boy (whom they later name Philip, after deceased Desk Sergeant Esterhaus).
Hunter is demoted to Sergeant as a result of the Internal Affairs investigation, and Furillo convinces him to take over the Desk Sergeant position; with the public defenders on strike, the officers must use discretion in making borderline arrests as the station overflows with suspects; Belker finds the storeowner cashing the checks of the mugged senior citizens; while Belker tries to get the name of the criminal from the shopowner, LaRue reopens the store - acting as the storeowner - and catches the criminal when he comes in to cash another stolen check; the public defenders return to work after the cuts are rescinded; Jablonski undergoes successful bypass surgery.
Chief Daniels asks Furillo to intervene at the Polk Avenue Precinct, where racial tensions are simmering and Captain Calletano - derisively nicknamed "Captain Taco" by his officers (a nickname that first cropped up in episode 6.7) - has been unable to control the tensions, but Calletano denies there is a problem and vehemently resists help; Furillo looks on sadly as a brawl between white and black Polk Avenue officers erupts after a black officer is shot, and Calletano is unable to stop it; Internal Affairs is investigating Buntz after several people he has arrested have been burglarized while in custody; Buntz traces the burglaries to the man feeding names to Sid the Snitch, who has been forwarding those names to Buntz for arrest; Hill becomes a minor celebrity after catching a baby thrown from a fourth-story window.
After Captain Calletano loses command of Polk Avenue and is reassigned to Division, he threatens to go to the press; several Polk Avenue officers are fired outright or reassigned; Officer James Sanders is transferred to Hill Street and is treated as a pariah; a college friend of Goldblume turns vigilante, with fatal consequences for criminals, police, and ultimately himself; Renko's damaged car is stolen by a hood who offers to get him full replacement cost from his insurance; Renko backs out, and the hood returns his car; Buntz explains his hostility for Flaherty - Flaherty turned in his partner, an old friend of Buntz's; a hit man attempts to kill Sid, but Buntz kills the hit man instead; Jablonski asks to return to the police force.
Renowned mobster "Uncle John" Petruzzi is expected to be assassinated prior to going to jail; Russo is beaten and raped by her mobster "boyfriend" while trying to discover the location and time of the hit; Belker counsels Russo on how to be an undercover cop; LaRue and Washington arrest a purse snatcher who then confesses to several high-profile murders, but further research reveals that he has not committed the crimes; Furillo has to intervene to help Ray Calletano, who is testing Chief Daniels' patience to the limit, and Calletano decides to resign; Jablonski assists Belker on an arrest.
Grace Gardner, a character from the early seasons who dated Sergeant Esterhaus, returns as a nun planning outreach work on the Hill and Flaherty is assigned as liaison; Councilman Wade, out for personal glory, repeatedly jeopardizes the precinct's battle against drugs, shoots an unarmed juvenile dealer, claiming self-defense, and is arrested by Washington; Belker and Buntz (separately) are working on drug busts; Buntz is forced to delay his bust due to a lack of supporting officers and has his finger cut off in retaliation by the loan shark who bankrolled his buy; Jablonski is hoping to return to police work, but experiences a flare of his chest pain and is not cleared by the police surgeon; Goldblume has a new lady in his life: the producer of a TV talk show.
Councilman Wade attempts to derail Furillo's investigation of his shooting by revealing details from Washington's personnel file to the press to discredit the detective; Furillo and Washington discover the conspiracy that allowed Wade access to Washington's file, and Wade is arrested for the conspiracy; Grace Gardner's vocation is challenged by her attraction to Flaherty; Buntz chooses to be the one who arrests the loan shark who clipped his finger, but though he tries for a clean bust, the loan shark pulls a gun and Buntz is forced to shoot him; a literary agent, unimpressed by the manuscript of Goldblume's deceased friend, offers Goldblume the chance to write his memoirs.
Jablonski, Renko and Hill go on a deer-hunting weekend; after being accosted by state troopers, breaking into the wrong cabin, and recalling war-time experiences, the weekend is cut short when Hill steps on a spike during the hunt; Henry Goldblume, who had planned to join them, is sidetracked by a speech to the Boy Scouts, an unstable woman who accuses him of raping her in the Captain's office, and a lack of money; he is then kidnapped by a serial robber who, upon learning that Goldblume is a police officer, forces him to dig his own grave before leaving in Goldblume's car; Officer McBride voices uncertainty and regret after shooting an armed robber, until Buntz mentors her.
A jealous Renko confronts his wife about her relationship with her business partner in her cookie-making company, and at the end of the episode, he sleeps with a classmate from night school; a Hill Street officer with limited fluency in Spanish shoots an innocent Hispanic when he doesn't understand what he's saying; Ray Calletano, now representing the Latin-American Coalition, threatens a lawsuit on the victim's behalf - until he finds out that Furillo would bear the blame; Flaherty's romantic involvement with Russo begins to interfere with work, resulting in Bates dressing down both of them after she is slashed due to Flaherty's inattentiveness; Goldblume finds his informant, who did indeed kill the head of the Blood, and is forced to kill him when he turns a gun on him; Belker, acting on a tip from a snitch, buys stolen credit cards, but is shot in his car in the final scene.
The city is full of stunts after a radio station challenges citizens to commit "outrageous acts"; this includes gang members (one played by Cuba Gooding Jr) releasing a live piglet into the Hill Street squad room; with Hunter resuming command of the EAT, Bates resumes Desk Sergeant duties; Hill and Renko are assigned a new unit (2403), state of the art, and computer-controlled - with disastrous results, which include Renko inadvertently winning the radio competition when he accidentally causes the unit's computer to disrupt traffic lights along a fifty-block length of Dekker Avenue; Belker returns to the precinct intending to ease back into his work; Renko forgives Darryl Ann, who is still uncertain about forgiving Renko just yet; Jablonski's badge is found on an arrested prostitute, and Belker gives it back to Jablonski, who voices frustration that he could not prevent the theft; while investigating a possible Indian burial mound in a house's basement, Hunter and a friend are caught in a cave-in.
A famous American football player (Keenen Ivory Wayans) is arrested for soliciting, but his high-powered attorney and Chief Daniels intervene to reduce the charges and protect his reputation; given 20-1 odds against beating the department's four-time marksmanship champion, LaRue's syndicate bets $400 on Buntz, but Buntz loses by two points in the final round of competition; Furillo backs a loan for his brother, whose construction company is in debt after missing a completion date on a project; fears grow as Lieutenant Hunter fails to report for duty, and his former paramour Prunella returns from Samoa to search for him.