(S01E06) For the first few episodes, I was was really enjoying picking out all the swears, slang words, and racial slurs that this show was getting away with at the time. Now I'm having way more fun picking out all the random guest stars. Every episode is just crammed with a bunch of people in tiny blip roles. So far we've had some good ones like David Schwimmer, Michael Rappaport, and Luis Guzman. But this episode added a whole bunch more.

• James Pickens, Jr. (you'll recognize him as Webber on Grey's Anatomy)
• Tobin Bell (he's played Jigsaw in the Saw films and he was Kingsley in season two of 24)
• Michael Jace (he played one of the ADAs, but most will recognize him as Julian on The Shield)

I think it's incredibly interesting to see all these guests. First off, this was 12 years ago and a lot of these people didn't have the careers that they have now. Secondly, I think it mirrors a lot of what David Milch does with his shows. Look at the first season of Deadwood and think about all the notable guest stars that were involved (Kristen Bell from Veronica Mars comes to mind). I just like to dissect all this stuff. You can point and laugh later. On to the rest of the episode.

The episode began with Kelly playing a pick-up basketball game with a bunch of his buddies, one of which was black (Pickens, Jr.). Another one of the guys was starting to get pretty angry (he made a few affirmative action quips) and Pickens socked the guy in the face. He fell to the ground and died instantly. It was later found out that the guy had an aneurysm and the punch to the face had nothing to do with the guy's death. He could have dropped dead at any minute.

What was interesting about it was the position that it placed Kelly in. He was forced to arrest one of his good friends. Okay, so maybe it wasn't that interesting. The guy never got charged with anything. The jury let him off the hook and he went on to play more pick-up basketball. They found a new sixth-man rather easily though. No one really seemed to miss the dead guy because he was kind of an ass.

Laura's storyline is completely irrelevant at this point. She's still working with Giardella to get info for cases the DA is handling. Come to find out, Alfonse has a bit of crush on her. Big deal. This has nothing to do with anything. Andy is no longer dealing with Giardella so why keep the guy around? It's almost as if Sherry Stringfield got cast as Kelly's ex-wife with no story in mind for her. Unless, working with Giradella somehow puts her life in danger. That would make sense at least.

Since Laura is pretty much out of the picture, Kelly had made amends with Janice and they're back at it. He's still not all right with what she did to Moreno and his goon. He's especially irked by Janice's indifference to it. Regardless, Sipowicz has noticed that something is up with those two and I'm sure he'll be having words with John about it soon.

Most awkward scene? Kelly hopping out of the shower and Sipowicz staring down at his partner's junk for a solid ten seconds. No one else noticed this? Why was this scene not cut out? There had to have been about a million other ways to show that these two were tight. Alright, I'm done ranting... but I'm really starting to get into this show.