Cagney & Lacey, Season 6

Season 6 consisted of more “self-contained” episodes than the previous several seasons, although a few ongoing stories remained. In “Ahead of the Game,” the Lacey’s home is robbed. It turns out that Lacey doesn’t follow the procedures she advises for preventing burglaries, resulting in a lot of ribbing from her co-workers. Lacey is arrested for protesting at a nuclear power plant (“Special Treatment”) and is shot (but saved by a bulletproof vest) in “Happiness is a Warm Gun;” causing Cagney to receive stress counseling from the police psychologist. One episode (“To Thine Own Self Be True”), continuing from Season 5, concerns the trial of Cagney’s temporary partner for taking justice into her own hands (when a rapist would have gone free on a technicality), and Cagney refusing to lie to save her from prison. Cagney’s struggles with drinking continue through Season 6; in one episode (“Easy Does It”), the detectives go undercover to investigate some robberies at AA meetings, and Cagney is startled to see her alcoholic father’s girlfriend. However, the real payoff is in the two-episode season finale, “Turn, Turn, Turn”, where Cagney’s father finally succumbs to health issues caused by a lifetime of heavy drinking. In a harrowing, award-winning performance, Gless portrays Cagney, traumatized by his death, going on a bender that causes her to hit rock bottom; Lacey begs and finally convinces her to go back to AA and start dealing with her demons.