The BEST episodes of Hill Street Blues season 2

Every episode of Hill Street Blues season 2, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Hill Street Blues season 2!

This groundbreaking and award-winning NBC crime drama provided a very realistic view into the lives of the dedicated cops and detectives of an urban police station. From January 1981 to August 1986, the show ran on Thursdays at 10/9 Central, with occasional repeats on Saturdays at 10/9 Central. From August 1986 to August 1987 first-run episodes aired Tuesdays at 10/9 Central.

Last Updated: 9/19/2024Network: NBCStatus: Ended
Fruits of the Poisonous Tree
star
8.89
70 votes

#1 - 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.

Directors: Rod Holcomb
Watch Now:Amazon
Freedom's Last Stand
star
8.64
67 votes

#2 - 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.

Directors: Gregory Hoblit
Watch Now:Amazon
Pestolozzi's Revenge
star
8.11
64 votes

#3 - 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.

Directors: Randa Haines
Watch Now:Amazon
The World According to Freedom
star
8.03
68 votes

#4 - 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.

Directors: Jeff Bleckner
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The Second Oldest Profession
star
7.98
43 votes

#5 - 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.

Directors: Robert Butler
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The Last White Man on East Ferry Avenue
star
7.86
73 votes

#6 - 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.

Directors: David Anspaugh
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Chipped Beef
star
7.79
71 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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Cranky Streets
star
7.76
70 votes

#8 - 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.

Directors: Randa Haines
Watch Now:Amazon
Blood Money
star
7.74
74 votes

#9 - 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.

Directors: Gregory Hoblit
Watch Now:Amazon
Hearts and Minds
star
7.65
46 votes

#10 - 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.

Directors: Gregory Hoblit
Watch Now:Amazon
Zen and the Art of Law Enforcement
star
7.61
38 votes

#11 - 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.

Directors: Arnold Laven
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The Young, the Beautiful and the Degraded
star
7.56
39 votes

#12 - 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.

Directors: Lawrence H. Levy
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The Shooter
star
7.56
36 votes

#13 - 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.

Directors: Thomas Carter
Watch Now:Amazon
Personal Foul
star
7.55
38 votes

#14 - 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.

Directors: David Anspaugh
Watch Now:Amazon
Invasion of the Third World Body Snatchers
star
7.50
36 votes

#15 - 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.

Directors: Gregory Hoblit
Some Like it Hot-Wired
star
7.43
35 votes

#16 - 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.

Directors: Thomas Carter
The Spy Who Came in from Delgado
star
7.33
66 votes

#17 - 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.

Of Mouse and Man
star
6.86
65 votes

#18 - 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.

Directors: Thomas Carter