7.9/10127 votes#1 - Hearts and Minds
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 10/29/1981
A prostitute accuses a detective of blackmailing her for sex; Goldblume searches for a missing child; a former gang leader returns to the Hill as crusading social reformer; Belker busts a purse snatching orangutan and keeps in touch with an undercover rookie planted inside a volatile street gang; and Furillo and Esterhaus question their current romantic involvements.
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Writer: Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich
7.9/10122 votes#2 - Blood Money
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 11/5/1981
Goldblume meets a lonely woman while driving a cab undercover; LaRue and Washington use a desperate snitch to solve a prostitute murder; Virgil reports on Hudson's takeover of the Black Arrow gang; and Furillo and Joyce meet socially after splitting up.
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Writer: Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich
8.2/10123 votes#3 - The Last White Man on East Ferry Avenue
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 11/12/1981
Hill and Renko handle a domestic call involving an old man threatening his neighbors with a shotgun; Hudson looks for the informer in his gang; and Joyce asks Furillo for advice about the Downey case.
Director: David Anspaugh
Writer: Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich
8.4/10138 votes#4 - The Second Oldest Profession
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 11/19/1981
Bates loses a junkie prostitute through an error in judgement; Hudson beats up his lawyer after his release on bail; Furillo and Joyce reconsider their separation; and Esterhaus ends his friendship with Mac.
Director: Robert Butler
Writer: Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich
8.1/10124 votes#5 - Fruits of the Poisonous Tree
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 12/3/1981
Night court interferes with ""Monday Night Football"" as LaRue and Washington are accused of entrapping a mugger; Bates and Coffey look for gang members responsible for the drive-by shooting of a child; Fay announces that she's getting married again.
Director: Rod Holcomb
Writer: N/A
8.1/10136 votes#6 - Cranky Streets
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 12/10/1981
Hill covers for an old friend with personal problems who uses excessive force on an arrest; Coffey arrests an old family friend during a visit to his old neighborhood; Fay introduces her fiance; and negotiations breakdown between the police union and the city.
Director: Randa Haines
Writer: Robert Crais
8.1/10119 votes#7 - Chipped Beef
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 12/17/1981
Furillo pushes Hill about his support of Nash; Belker goes under to catch a gang preying on automatic bank tellers; Fay's engagement ends abruptly; and a good samaritan faces arrest on old out of town warrants.
Director: Georg Stanford Brown
Writer: N/A
8.6/10168 votes#8 - The World According to Freedom
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 1/7/1982
Belker meets an eccentric calling himself ""Captain Freedom"" while on a stakeout; LaRue gets more than he bargained for as a cell plant when he overhears an arson suspect taunting an accused child molester; and Furillo issues an ultimatum to the gangs after a savage massacre in a local tavern.
Director: Jeff Bleckner
Writer: N/A
7.8/10111 votes#9 - Pestolozzi's Revenge
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 1/14/1982
The Captain meets LaRue and Washington when he returns from a purse snatching; Renko (who has lost his service revolver) and Hill are rear-ended by a wedding party; Bates gets mad at Coffey when he stands her up for a breakfast date; Lou threatens again to remove his vending machines from the precinct house; Daniels tells Furillo to initiate a scam saloon in the South Ferry Precinct as a preemptive move against the corruption-seeking Sullivan Commission.
Director: Randa Haines
Writer: Anthony Yerkovich, Michael I. Wagner
8.0/10116 votes#10 - The Spy Who Came in From Delgado
Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 1/21/1982
Hunter uses pedigreed hounds to track wild city dogs; the scam saloon begins producing results, despite Captain Freedom's help; Fay fixates on cemetery plots; Frank becomes incresingly disgusted with his lawyer and Chief Daniels over the actions of the Sullivan Commission; and a suspicious Calletano learns the truth about a gorgeous new khaki officer.
Director: Georg Stanford Brown
Writer: Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich, Michael I. Wagner
8.7/10157 votes#11 - Freedom's Last Stand
Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 1/28/1982
Bates plays in the interdepartmental poker finals; Fuchs refuses to help out one of his own men caught forging prescriptions; Henry goes undercover on a smash-and-grab purse snatching detail; Delgado admits he's afraid of testifying before the commission; Joyce chides Furillo for being naive about his supposed innocence protecting him against the commission; the scam saloon closes down after a gun battle; and a furious Furillo testifies before the commission and offers his resignation to Chief Daniels.
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Writer: Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich, Michael I. Wagner
7.9/10112 votes#12 - Of Mouse and Man
Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 2/11/1982
Joyce's fellow PD Pam Gilliam is gunned down; Hill's position as VP for the Black Officers' Coalition puts a strain on both him and Renko; Goldblume tries to deal with an abusive landlord; Fay threatens to bring WAD to the Hill; LaRue and Washington trade up from a cocaine dealer to a PCP lab.
Director: Thomas Carter
Writer: Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich, Michael I. Wagner
7.9/10113 votes#13 - Zen and the Art of Law Enforcement
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 2/18/1982
Grace asks Esterhaus for help with a barking dog; LaRue suffers a crisis of confidence about the PCP lab bust and starts drinking; Renko's family problems hurt his performance at work; Hill antagonizes everyone in his efforts to recruit for the BOC; Goldblume resorts to force to deal with landlord Sosa; and Furillo tries in vain to hold onto Walter Harmon for the death of Pam Gilliam.
Director: N/A
Writer: Anthony Yerkovich, Michael I. Wagner
7.8/10105 votes#14 - The Young, the Beautiful and the Degraded
Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 2/25/1982
Hill has enough of the BOC pressures; Goldblume finds a witness in the Gilliam case who seems too good to be true; Furillo demotes LaRue to the police motor pool; and Joyce grows bitter when Walter Harmon is released and kills again.
Director: N/A
Writer: Anthony Yerkovich, Michael I. Wagner
8.0/10111 votes#15 - Some Like it Hot-Wired
Season 2 Episode 15 - Aired 3/18/1982
Goldblume is bitter over losing a promotion; Joyce walks out of court while defending a repeat offender; Renko learns his father is dying; a stakeout to find a con team shaking down johns proves dangerous; and Esterhaus' prize car is taken by a team of car thieves.
Director: Thomas Carter
Writer: Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich, Michael I. Wagner
7.9/10124 votes#16 - Personal Foul
Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 3/25/1982
Belker and Washington go undercover at a porno theater; Hill and Renko answer a domestic call concerning a suicidal man holding his wife and child hostage; a pickup basketball game between the cops and the gangs calls for full-scale negotiations.
Director: David Anspaugh
Writer: Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich
8.1/10104 votes#17 - The Shooter
Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 5/6/1982
Belker tries to renew his expired driver's license; Renko tries to take his father home from the hospital; LaRue rehabilitates himself with Furillo; and everyone follows the trail of the gun used to kill two officers during a burglary.
Director: Thomas Carter
Writer: Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich
8.1/1099 votes#18 - Invasion of the Third World Body Snatchers
Season 2 Episode 18 - Aired 5/13/1982
Renko's father takes a final trip around the city; Belker goes undercover to find out who has been knifing winos; and Joyce finds her faith restored as she defends a nice young man accused of rape whose alibi is reluctant to testify.
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Writer: Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich
The Best Episodes of Hill Street Blues Season 2
Every episode of Hill Street Blues Season 2 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Hill Street Blues Season 2!
A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station.
Genres:DramaCrime
Network:NBC
Season 2 Ratings Summary
"Hearts and Minds" is the best rated episode of "Hill Street Blues" season 2. It scored 7.9/10 based on 127 votes. Directed by Gregory Hoblit and written by Steven Bochco, Anthony Yerkovich, it aired on 10/29/1981. This episode is rated 0.0 points higher than the second-best, "Blood Money".