Barry
(original air date 10/29/95)

Storyline:  When a homeless, disabled man is accused of murder, Mick and Joey set out to clear his name and run into a loan-shark operation with a stong-arm crew of punk rollerblades. 
Guest Stars: Thomas Jane (Barry), Paula Trickey (Samantha Harrold), Timothy Omundson (Pete Neary), Robin Ganter (Tee)

This one starts with a basketball game at the beach between the Barrett brothers. They leave the court arguing over the score, when they happen to spot a gang of guys gathered around their shop. It seems the men are admiring the `scenery` at High Tide…Annie….as she's sunbathing and oblivious to their gaping stares. (My biggest question here though…is Annie like the ONLY bikini clad girl on the beach that day??? Or what? By the way they`re herded in there, you would think she was lying naked!) She's wearing a `walkman' radio and doesn't hear the commotion. Mick shoo's them away. Maybe he should have monopolized on that moment and brought in some extra business for the shop. Haha! The boys are just hanging around when Barry, (Bar, sounding like Bear, as they call him) a local guy pushing a cart comes along. He sells (or trades) all sorts of items from his cart & does jobs for the local people. He carries a clock and a schedule in his cart and makes his stops up and down the beach. He is always seen wearing an orange life jacket. Barry is clearly a guy with some special needs and he tends to repeat after whatever anyone says, like an echo. Barry is just as Mick narrates, "mentally challenged." Mick states in a narration that he's been getting along just fine until 'one day.' The brothers scope out his daily schedule and chat it up with Barry before he leaves. At 6 o'clock he's due to stop off at the local garage for his sweeping job. So Barry rolls down the street with his little cart, packed full of 'merch.' 

Meanwhile there's some guys in the garage down the street tormenting the Pete the mechanic, grabbing his hand in a vice. Ouch! One of the `boys' guards the outside. The mechanic ends up shooting his attacker, killing him. The other guy sees that `things went wrong' and he takes off on his rollerblades down the street. Barry is nearby when the boy stops to place a call and tells the other end, "Chief, it's Kurt. He whacked Stevie…I'm buggin' out man." After the boy walks away, Barry echoes what he said. Poor Barry…he's about to be in a mess of trouble! The mechanic is then shown dragging the dead boy's body away to hiding. Barry shows up to sweep the shop. He finds the gun. He places it in his cart, thinking he's found a real `treasure.` The mechanic sees him around the corner and grins deviously as his murder weapon is about to be carted off by Barry the cart boy. 

The guys are about to surf (Wetsuit Alert!) when Joey sees a ruckus going on at a building beside the beach. Mick is begging him, "The waves are calling. Surf USSSS!!!" But Joey goes to the crime scene anyway. Reluctantly, Mick follows. They find Sam (Mick's detective buddy) at the scene. Mick flirts it up with Sam. She tells them they're like that lady on Murder She Wrote, that every time something bad happens…they show up! LOL! I thought this was kind of cute how it was slipped in. High Tide DOES have a hint (a small hint) of Murder She Wrote. And wasn't that show also quite popular shortly before, and maybe even during the time High Tide was on the air? Mick smiles an adorable dimpled-smile. Sam fills them in on the crime scene and the body of Stevie who was found. Mick flirts, "I love it when you talk cop." They give each other some `glances' and the guys head back out to surf. Mick is pumped over the killer waves of the day. But nooo, Joey won't let it rest. He leaves Mick on the beach with their boards.

Of course Mick won't let him go it alone! They talk to the mechanic (and we get a killer bare legs shot of Mick!). Enter Sam. She begins to question the man and he squirms. He has a bandage on his hand but makes an excuse for it. He claims he was there last night until Barry came along and then he went to the pier. (HA…to drag out the body, right mister?!) Pete trashes on Barry and Mick comes to his defense, looking at Sam and telling her…he's a good guy. He goes back to his mopping and he exposes a yo-yo---Barry's yo-yo---that's tangled up in the mop. The 3 know for sure now that Barry was in fact there, as the had guy said. 

When they find Barry by the beach in hopes of talking to him, they find the gun. Sam intercepts it for evidence. She has to take him in for questioning (with Joey insisting he will be by his side), but it upsets Barry and he wants to run. In the meantime Mick is strolling the docks & fishing piers, hoping to find clues. He chats with a fisherman and tells the guy he was supposed to meet a friend last night but missed him (Pete Neery). The man tells him that Neery comes there every night after work, but won't give Mick a time. He thinks Mick looks too much like a cop. Well, Rick sure plays one well (an ex-cop)…he's got all the moves and coaxing behaviors down pat. 
In the interrogation room, Sam is having no luck with Barry. He mimics everything she asks him. It's apparent she's losing patience with him. Mick arrives and tells Joey what he learned at the pier. They've learned that the time of death puts Barry right in the middle of this crime. Joey tells Sam that Barry has a phonographic memory, one like a `tape recorder.' She says back, `he's like talking to a parrot.' 

Just to make matters worse, a cop comes in with Barry's rap sheet from when he was a teen. It appears Barry was violent back then, but rightfully so…as he was `bullied' and eventually lashed back. {Argh…one thing that absolutely ticks me off is when someone taunts or teases a `special' person, who may not be able to come up with reasonable ways to fight back. Just a huge pet peeve of mine! I think having a special child of my own has helped me to see a LOT when it comes to people like Barry. Okie doke, back to the story…} So Mick takes a jab at getting info out of Barry. I thought his patience and understanding with Barry was touching. Barry ends up repeating what "Kurt" had said on the phone. Mick gets enough of a lead to go on, to keep Barry out of trouble, but Sam is wanting to book him. Mick and Sam butt heads and get into an argument over Barry…and Sam appears to `win,' leaving Mick looking defeated. 

Back at the shop, Joey and Mick discuss the situation and how they need to keep trying to get through to Barry. Joey is only half-listening as he's scoping `beach babes' through the binoculars. Mick calls the medical examiner---Jessie---(Jessie…Ha!!) and he jumps up and goes to see her. They're walking along chatting when she tells him she's went forever without hearing from him and now all of a sudden he needs a favor and she comes running. Mick smiles that smile that you can`t resist (MY he`s flirty in this episode! ) and puts his arm around her saying, "Must be my boyish charm!" (YES…that's what it is! ) Gee…Mick sure knows how to get the 'dirt' from his connections, doesn't he? All it took was a phone call and that grin. LOL! She tells him there was an oily substance around the bullet wound, like grease. She also shows him a photo of a rolling tiger tattoo.

The murdering mechanic is fussing on the phone with his brother exclaiming that he needs money now. Kurt, the rollerblades boy, shows up wanting his money. When he learns the guy still doesn't have it, he slams the man in the hood of the car he's working on and tells him he's got until tomorrow. 

The brothers visit a tattoo parlor and Joey bluffs that they're good buds with Stevie and that he wants a rolling tiger tattoo like Steve's. He ends up in the tattoo chair with the artist prepping to ink him! Mick pipes in just as the man is about to lay the tat on Joey and says they're actually looking for Stevie's friend, Kurt. The man tells them where to find him. 

The go into a bar, Kurt's hangout, and immediately end up in a fight with a dude at the bar. Pete is waiting outside in his car when Kurt splits out the front. The mechanic takes off when he sees trouble and ends up hitting Kurt with the car, causing fatal injuries. Mick and Joey see the whole thing and call for medical attention. 
Soon after, they proceed to the garage and point out the messed up place on the car from where he hit Kurt. He tries to lie out of it, but they tell him they saw him driving away. He claims it was an accident and the guys ask, "Like Stevie was an accident?" He confesses that Stevie tried to kill HIM, that he went off in self-defense and now he doesn't know what he's gonna do. He tells them he borrowed "20 G's" from a loan shark because he got into trouble with his bookie. Stevie had been sent to collect from Pete. They manage the shark's name out of Pete---Max T. Garden. 

So the boys go back to the station and talk to Sam. They get Barry released for now & Mick gets info and a hangout name from an officer that will help him find Max the loan shark. How sweet of them….the men get Barry all cozied up in the Jacuzzi while they go `work,' or rather try to find Max. But Barry hears `work to do,' and as soon as they're out of site, he hops out of the tub and takes off.

Surprisingly, the shark turns out to be a brassy, bossy confident woman of 20 to 30-something. Mick and Joey upset her and she gets in their face, interrogating them about `why' they've come to her for `money.' They say it's the `word on the streets' that she is the one to come to for help. She tells them she'll sleep on it and says, "The meeting is OVER." As they're leaving the building a guy approaches Max and wants to know the scoop. With a quiet anger she tells him, "Neery's been talking." Outside Joey tells Mick, "Man that is one tough chick." Mick: "Chick? She`s rambo with breasts." LOL…I loved that line. That was cute (and appropriate at this point!) 

When the guys return to the shop and ask Annie how Barry is, she is clueless. They realize he's taken off, so they go to the garage, as they know Barry keeps a schedule and should be there around this time. ("There's work to do.") But yikes…when they arrive, they find Sam and her men lowering Barry down from the car lift. He's in the car with a dead Pete in the back. He keeps repeating, "Barry hold the gun." Mick looks disappointed, but he still seems as though he believes Barry is being used as a decoy and is innocent. Sam on the other hand…she is outside telling Barry to "Shut UP," when Joey jumps in and tells her that's not necessary. He continues his little chant. Mick and Sam have a go around about T. Garden. Mick is sure she's behind the murders. Finally Sam agrees to let them on the case.

The guys take Barry back to High Tide where they relax on the balcony and ask him some questions. They are determined to get through to this guy! They assure him it's okay when they see their questions upset "Bear." Too sweet…Barry asks Mick, "You my friend?" And Mick tells him yes…he is, and so is Joey. Mick say to Barry, point blank, "I want you to tell your friends---who killed Neery." Barry rocks back and forth a bit and says, "Barry didn't kill Neery." Joey jumps in, "Barry, did T. Garden kill Neery?" He says back, "T. Garden killed Neery." (So is he echoing back what they said, or is this his statement to what he saw?) Joey asks, "Is he repeating what you said?" And Mick looks kindly at Barry, looking into his eyes for the truth and replies, "No, he's telling the truth." I thought it was nice how Barry looked away from Mick then with a contented smile, glad that someone finally believed in him. 
Ahhh…PERFECT set up, if you ask me! The brothers put Barry up to calling T. Garden at the bar and telling her exactly what he'd said to them…"T. Garden killed Neery." Ha! Try to make her squirm. But she gains control (or so she thinks!) and they plan to meet at the pier. Might she have a tiny surprise waiting for her at the pier?! 

Max finds that Barry did show up. He's pushing his cart and she approaches him, offering to buy his trusty lifejacket. He sells it to her for a buck. Barry blurts out the `confession' and Max buddies up to Bear saying, "Ah, but only you and I know that, don't we Barry?" Out come Joey, Mick and Sam. But she holds Barry at gunpoint. Mick tells Max to leave him alone, that HE is the one `who screwed up her operation.' But when she points the gun at Mick, Barry lets out a "No!" and grabs Max, lunging off the dock with her. The Barrett brothers (in perfect unisom…LOL) jump up to the edge and dive in after them, like the pros that they are. *wink* Max is no match for Mick in the water. He drags her out & has her cuffed and sent in. 

Sam basically ends up eating crow at the end, telling Mick he's a `good cop.' Mick tells her, "I'm a good EX-cop." Mick looks cute here all wet and bundled up in a blanket! The two have an intimate chat and Sam actually hopes that Mick will come back to the force (after all the hell & grief she gave him?! J/K)---"I could use a good man like you." Mick: "For what?" Sam with a grin: "Well, I could think of something." She leans in to kiss Mick when Barry blurts out, "Hey man, you're a hero" disrupting their moment. They all laugh and joke that they're all heroes. 

The show ends pretty much as it started…Joey and Mick arguing over who's the better athlete, except this time they are toting golf clubs! They stroll down the beach to their shop, but when they arrive Mick says, "NOW what??" The place is PACKED! Annie's at the register in a light blue bikini (that I might add…I thought was very cute and not as revealing as some I've seen. The shiny fabric was cool! Very pretty choice for her beachwear…) and the store is full of men buying up beach merch! So I guess it did work out for them having Annie around as the sales girl. Haha! She compliments Barry and kisses his cheek. Suddenly she grabs up her bag and exclaims, "OH, quitting time," and out the door she goes, leaving the men with the business. I thought the last line was great! Barry (who's been working a bit with Annie) says, "I need a raise." LOL! Joey points and says, "I betcha I know where he got that one from." Together they say…"Annie!" 

This was one of my favorites from season 2, simply for the compassionate aspect of the story and the friendship the brothers showed to Barry. I thought it was a great story about having faith. 

Now if they'd thrown in a few more beach scenes of Mick, then it would likely rank as a 10 in my book! 

Kelley Pearson