Denby Summary:

Helping a waitress out at Freddie's on the way to work, Diane looks through the window and sees Denby talking with someone who look suspiciously like Don, only with a bad dye job. As she watches them Denby gets in a cab but looks up and seems to meet her gaze - although Diane is unsure if he actually saw her.

Shaken, she goes to work and tells Sipowicz what she saw, who suggests that perhaps Denby and Don are working together. Diane talks to Kirkendall who doesn't care, telling Diane that since she told her about the headless body that was probably Don he is dead to her. It if is him and he does get in contact she won't do anything.

Denby phones Diane to arrange a meeting, and after agreeing she asks Baldwin to follow Denby afterwards to see if he meets up with Don. When Diane meets Denby he plays around but eventually gets to the point - he wants to know if that was her he saw at Freddie's in the morning. She agrees that she was there, but she didn't see him. Nothing more substantial is gained from the conversation so she leaves.

After Baldwin reports back that as he followed Denby he witnessed some highly suspicious activity, Diane again meets Denby in the bar. Amid his interesting remarks he more or less admits to have a cocaine habit, and - after telling her that he's just about to 'win the lottery' - asks her to come to some exotic country with him where the authorities don't extradite.

Denby Pictures:

Thanks to Jenn for her help!

Denby Quotes:

"What's going on Denby?"
"I like to think of this as our spot."
"Boy. You don't let a day go by."
"Referring to what? 'I don't let a day go by...'"
"To you looking bagged."
"Ahhh. Well...a day missed loaded is a day wasted."
"Why'd you call me?"
"I had this sudden urge. I don't do good resisting those."
"Now what?"
"Now? I ask you how you've been, what you've been up to."
"Pass."
(Spits out mint) "Okay. I ask was that you across the street this morning at Freddie's?"
"Yeah, I was at Freddie's. You were across the street?"
"Yeah. I saw you from across the street."
"Is that when you got this sudden impulse?"
"That's what brought it on."
"Denby, you know how stupid this conversation is?"
"I liked it when you watched me drink."
"You should work on being embarrassed."
"If you were drawing up a list though, wouldn't you put that pretty low?"
"I'm not watching you drink."
"And drinking with me, I guess that's still out of the question?"
"You're a self-centred prick."
"Before my slowness to shame, my self-centredness? Things you'd like me to work on?"
"Don't do anything for me Denby. Don't even move if a car comes."

***

"What - summarising Diane in a nutshell - can we say about life? It becomes more tawdry. Dangerous. Filled with more stupidity. Our eyes go. Faculties in general decline. We keep an interest in sex but, we begin to shoot blanks. What we cannot say Diane, is that life gets less interesting. We can't say that and look at ourselves in the face as honest men and women."
"Could you stand a drug toss Denby?"
"Taking that as I do as some weird form of sexual overture; to hear you make that only now that I shoot blanks is sickening and tragic."
"Coke, huh Denby? Got a romance going now with coke?"
"Offering two ways more of describing life, Diane. Am I right?"
"You stopped caring if the job catches you?"
"Two more ways would be sickening and tragic."
"Or maybe you think you're bullet-proof."
"No, no man is bullet-proof Diane. No person of either sex. No primate can defy the well aimed shell."
(She slaps him) "What are you doing? What are you doing Denby?"
"Before you struck me I was gonna say...given tawdriness, given our tendency to fall apart, what we could call moral and personal entropy but acknowledging simultaneously that life keeps its interest...how about, as we decline, having comfort as a goal? For example; what is there to hate in some person or persons unnamed, having lots of money to drink with and to otherwise piss away in some exotic locale?"
"You come into money Denby?"
"I have had this vision of unbearable intensity, that I am destined to win the lottery."
"Right. That's how all those cartel boys got rich."
"Say I did come into money Diane. Would you consider the two of us scarring our livers 'til they were masses of useless fat, in Sirinan, or the Falkland Islands, called by the Argentineans by some different name that presently escapes me. Or anywhere else of your choice which - like them - does not extradite to Uncle Sam?"
"I promise you Denby - hurt anyone I care about and I am going to ruin your party. I'll put a bullet in that brain you wasted."
"For God's sake Diane, let's not lose decorum at this late juncture. Like friends we both know, let's not lose our 'heads'."
"Yeah, who was that guy you showed me in the dumpster that lost his head?"
"Oh Diane. There's so much doubt in life. I thought that was the one thing we were sure about."
"Oh, I'd like to drink. I wish I was drunk so I could shoot you right now."
"It would thrill me so much to see you drink Diane. I believe I'll roll those dice. We could even leave on some cruise ship, if I was discreet about where it docked..."
"I'll kill you. Look in my eyes, see if I'm kidding."
"Do you really think I care?"

Observations:

*Wow. I loved Denby in this. I mean really, really loved. He was practically giddy in that first meeting with Diane and it was an absolute joy to watch. "I like to think of this as out spot." Ha! I still love that presumptuousness, too.

*As for that second meeting in the bar...woo hoo. Again with the interesting conversation (how do the writers come up with his vocabulary?) and an even more interesting proposition. Hmm. Staying at the station house...or...living in some exotic locale with Denby. You never know...it could be just the place for him to detox. It can't have any less chance than wherever he's living in New York.

*He should suck mints more often. And not just to make his breath smell nice.

*Have you noticed that in all of his episodes so far he has been in the last scene? That says something, don't you think? With many weekly shows there aren't a lot of continuing plot lines, but NYPD has several strong plot lines going throughout the series. In many cases it's the last scene of the episode that makes you think "Ohhh, I definitely have to watch that next week!" They need something strong to draw you in, and Denby seems to work.

*Kirkendall is still getting on my nerves, although not as much. At least she's not crying and whining every time Don is mentioned - UGH! That got really old, really fast. It's a shame, really. I can understand Andrea Thompson's reasons for leaving (I wouldn't want to work those hours or be under that amount of stress either), but they've really turned her character into someone who irritates me just so it'll be believable when she goes. I enjoyed her work on Babylon 5, so this disappoints me.

*Kim Delaney as Diane Russell still gets a big thumbs up - she really is a very good actress. Simply adored the slap and her desperate "What are you doing? What are you doing, Denby?" She's been where he is - at least with the alcohol, if not the cocaine - and she doesn't want anyone to go through that. Anyone.

*Most impressive part of the episode? The end. Perhaps the only predictable part of Denby's dialogue was the last line. After Diane threatens to kill him I could see the last line coming...but not the way it did. The utter resignation both in his voice and Scott Cohen's wonderful expression really made me believe it - he doesn't care. She could kill him, and he really wouldn't care. There aren't many actors who could make me actually believe that. I am seriously impressed.

*I'm becoming less and less convinced that Dear Denby is undercover. In fact, I think it's very, very unlikely.

*What was the point of Denby contacting Diane in the first place? To act as a smokescreen to convince her that the body he was conveniently going to 'find' was Don, so they'd stop looking for him. The fact that she was an alcoholic? Probably just coincidence, albeit a handy one. Or was Denby deliberately chosen to deal with her because of what they have in common?

Denby knows he can mess with her head, and does so very well. However, he also realises that she is quite willing to kill him if he goes too far. I still say he genuinely likes her, but perhaps he pushes her just that little bit too far, knowing - or hoping - what she's capable of. I know I mentioned this in my review of 'Joaquin' but I absolutely believe it now.

*Special mention goes to the music composer. The music for this show is often very loud and very intrusive, but the music in the last scene is terrific. It really starts with "Oh Diane. There's so much doubt in life. I thought that was the one thing we were sure about." and continues nicely until "Do you really think I care?" Creepy, freaky music. Nicee nice (sorry, I couldn't help myself!)

*Again..."Do you really think I care?" Woah.

Please sir, can I have some more?

UP NEXT: Episode Four: 'Bats Off To Larry/The Final Roundup'
- Kirkendall sees more of Denby than she ever wanted to. -