In The Best of Families

**In The Best of Families** is the third episode of season one of the series featured on the ABC channel, *The Commish*. The episode aired on September 28, 1991. However, the episode was shown as the first episode during the airtime, while the real first episode or the pilot episode called ***A Matter of Life or Death*** was shown as the fifth episode.

### Synopsis

Commissioner Tony Scali is threatened with criminal negligence after the son of a prominent lawyer hangs himself in his cell.

### Plot

##### Cold open

Tony is ordering officer Stan Kelly to stake out a few convenience stores because, in recent nights, there have been robberies. The robberies occurred every same time around night, and Tony hopes that his officers would be able to catch the robbers.

As he explains this to Irv Wallerstein, a disheveled man walks into his office and asks where's the access to the roof because he wants to jump and commit suicide.

Tony calmly asks the jumper whether he has a permit to jump off a building and explains that to commit suicide, he needs a legal permit, but the jumper doesn't have any.

Tony writes down a 'permit' to be given to a local doctor, who is confused because he'd never heard about a jumper permit. Tony chastised him and say the permit is suicide prevention and the jumper needs to be hospitalized.

##### Story

Officer Ricky Caruso and Officer Carmela Pagan are chasing a car that runs a red light, and during the pursuit, the driver hit a tree and hurt his head. The driver is arrested, but at the precinct, he resisted his fingerprints being taken until Tony talks to him. Carmela explains that the driver was evading arrest, doing a reckless endangerment, he had no license, no ID whatsoever, and he won't even give his name. When Tony asks about his name, the driver cries, so the commish has to guess his name and make some jokes about his friend from school, Nunzio Valitucci, who has a head like a Florida map.

It makes the driver laughs although it's obvious that he's still depressed. The driver then says that his name is Bobby Sturdivant. Tony asks whether his father is William Sturdivant, but Bobby denies it. Tony then takes Carmela aside and tells her that Bobby is the son of the wealthiest lawyer who runs a prestigious law firm on the East Coast, and orders her to call the father to post bail.

In the morning, Tony discusses buying a new house at Cloverdale with Rachel Scali and Arnie Metzger when he gets a call from the Eastbridge Police Department, that Bobby committed suicide last night in his cell by hanging himself with a belt. Tony is angry at everyone because he feels that Bobby's death is his responsibility while Irv tells Tony that last night Carmela called the father, but he wouldn't bail him out because he was at a dinner party and wanted his son to learned some lessons.

Irv reports to Tony that the death was indeed a suicide, and Bobby had a visitor at 2 AM the morning who gave a fake name. Tony orders his detective to investigate Bobby's apartment, search for clues, and whatnot, while Stan reports that the patrol units are still going to stake the convenience stores at night. He also reports that Joe Halloran is fixing the patrol cars but Tony is pessimistic.

As Tony is looking at the new house along with Rachel and Arnie, the realtor Clarice Parkhurst seems to be snooty but still welcoming to the family because of his Commissioner status.

In the middle of it, Mayor Louise Hinton calls Tony and tells him that Bobby's father is at her office and very upset that his son died in their custody, so she wants Tony to get to the Mayor's office. Tony immediately goes to the Municipal Building and meets with District Attorney Clayton Marshall and William Sturdivant. William blames Tony and the Police Department for his son's death and plans to sue everyone for police brutality and murder coverup. Louise asks Tony not to get involved with the investigation, but he also asks her not to get too close to William.

Ricky and Carmela are adamant that they took away Bobby's belt and shoelaces before putting him in a jail cell, and Ricky is angry that they are being investigated for criminal negligence and police brutality. Tony and Irv check the evidence bag and see that Ricky was telling the truth about the belt, but question whether he was telling truth about other things.

When a burglary in one of the convenience stores happens, the police are chasing the burglars, but one of the officers is losing control of his vehicle because the brake doesn't work, and the patrol car slides into a back of a truck and destroys the groceries. Tony watches it happens and realizes that the car hasn't been fixed.

Louise demands the officers in charge during Bobby's death have to be suspended, charged, or fired, but Tony is adamant that his officers didn't do anything wrong and didn't cover up a murder. The Mayor and The Commissioner are arguing while The District Attorney is stuck in the middle. Meanwhile, Irv discovers that Bobby might be a drug user, and may have a drug dealer who was involved with his death. Tony then asks William to check out Bobby's run-down apartment, which shocks him because he thought that his son lived in a condominium.

William didn't know anything about his son's life or his friends as he never visited his home for the past two years. He believes that children should have their independence after a certain age without any parents' interference to achieve their success, but it doesn't mean that the parents don't love them. Tony begs William not to crucify his officers to the press and give them the benefit of the presumed innocence, but as a commissioner, he will punish them himself if they are found guilty.

Clayton reports to Tony that he had been talking to a Private Investigator and found out that Ricky and Bobby were involved with the same woman, and maybe it wasn't a suicide but a murder as a part of a love triangle. The news shocked Tony, and he blasts Ricky for lying to everyone, but the young officer denies killing Bobby.

   Ricky says that he gets girls easily, he wouldn't kill anyone for it, but his explanation angers the commish so he suspends Ricky without payment. Ricky accuses the commissioner of selling out; being a rich politician instead of one of the cops because he'd rather defend a rich lawyer's son instead of a common cop.

Irv found Bobby's suicide letter to his dad in the safe deposit box at Eastbridge City Bank, and apparently, he was blackmailed by a guy named Artie Briggs for taking the Law School exams and classes. Bobby was so afraid of seeing his dad's disappointment, he spent a lot of money to pay off the guy, but he got blackmailed instead. When he was arrested, he knew that the truth would come out and he'd rather kill himself than face his dad.

They need to get Artie to confess to blackmailing and soliciting for suicide, so Tony uses a pager to trick Artie. He tells Stan to call to the beeper every time he moves his leg, and every time the lights from the pager light on, it would trick Artie that he was telling a lie. Artie finally confesses that he was visiting Bobby at the jail cell and gave him his belt to assist in his suicide, He is not a bright person, and the police charge him with blackmail and aiding abetting suicide.

Tony advises Ricky to be more compassionate towards other people and put aside any personal problems whenever he's in police uniform. Ricky asks whether he was supposed to be Superman, but Tony answers that he's supposed to be a professional in his work. Ricky ponders about it and realizes that Tony is trying to help him be a better cop. Tony also gives William the suicide letters and sees him crying in his mansion, which later he talks to Rachel that he doesn't want to live in a big mansion anymore and canceled the plan of buying a new house.

Meanwhile, they arrested four black men with a car similar to the burglars. When Tony questions them, one of the men named Tremaine Dixon claims that they are musicians and singers on the way to a gig in Pelham. Tony orders them to sing, which they do, and the commissioner apologizes for mistaking them for burglars and asks the police officers to escort them to their gig with sirens.

### Trivia

* According to actor Michael Chiklis, the story about a jumper asking where the rooftop was, is a true story. The story was based on Commissioner of New York City's Department of Correction, Anthony Schembri's real-life experience.
* On DVD and streaming services, they don't show the Acapella singers singing because of the copyright music, however, they have shown the singers singing on network TV back then, which lead to many fans confusion who watch the episode now the reason why the police release the men.

### Cast and Characters

#### Starring

* Michael Chiklis as Tony Scali
* Theresa Saldana as Rachel Scali
* Kaj-Erik Eriksen as David Scali
* Geoffrey Nauffts as Stan Kelly
* Robin Gammell as William Sturdivant
* Gina Belafonte as Carmela Pagan
* Alex Bruhanski as Irv Wallerstein
* Linda Darlow as Louise Hinton
* Nicholas Lea as Ricky Caruso
* David Paymer as Arnie Metzger

#### Guest Starring

* John Cassini as Artie Briggs
* Roark Critchlow as Bobby Sturdivant
* Dave 'Squatch' Ward as Freddie
* Lee Cornerly as Tremaine Dixon
* Ronnie Rowland as Singer #1
* Antowaine Richardson as Singer #2
* Anthony Graves as Singer #3
* Deryl Hayes as Clayton Marshall
* Patti Allan as Clarice Parkhurst
* R. Nelson Brown as Jumper
* Josh Stimpson as Mark Studirvant
* Bobby Stewart as Burglar