The second season of Diagnosis Murder, a beloved crime drama starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, aired from 1994 to 1995 and continued to captivate audiences with its intriguing medical mysteries. This season, consisting of 22 episodes, further cemented the show’s reputation for blending medical expertise with captivating detective work. Each episode presents a unique case, often intertwined with Dr. Sloan’s professional and personal life, keeping viewers guessing until the very end. Let’s delve into each episode of this compelling season.
Episode 1: Many Happy Returns
Fri, Sep 16, 1994 (45 mins)
Dr. Sloan’s anxiety is through the roof as he faces an IRS audit, perceiving ‘sloppiness’ everywhere. His desperation leads him to leave a frantic message, almost sounding like a ‘death threat’, on his accountant Ernie Pitt’s answering machine. Meanwhile, Mark’s attempt to discreetly leave Agent Gretchen McCord’s interview for a supposed ‘medical emergency’ ironically lands him right at Pitt’s murder scene. Detective Claire Van Sickle, still bearing a grudge against Mark’s colleague Steve, is assigned to the case and forms an uneasy alliance with McCord to scrutinize Mark. As Mark investigates, with Jack and Amanda playing undercover roles as Pitt’s potential heirs and other clients like martial arts expert Nick Cove and insurance fraud specialist Attorney Avery Decker, he uncovers a web of threats and deceit. An attack by the real killer, alongside McCord, brings the case to a dramatic climax.
Episode 2: A Very Fatal Funeral
Fri, Sep 23, 1994 (45 mins)
The chairman of a charitable foundation, Elton Malone, dies suddenly after licking an envelope he claimed held proof of embezzlement. The envelope was empty, making it a literal empty threat but a deadly delivery method. The suspects include board members: Norman Briggs, Community General administrator; Mort Slater, a brewery owner; Christine Shaw, whose husband Charles is a congressional candidate; and Alexander Damon, an art investment broker with a shaky business. Damon himself becomes a victim at Malone’s funeral, killed by a curare dart. Amanda joins Shaw’s campaign, uncovering suspicious finances, only for Shaw to also die at Damon’s funeral, prompting Charles to withdraw his candidacy. Norman suspects Slater, whose brewery is rumored to be struggling. Jack investigates Slater, discovering his arson plan. Mark focuses on Jennifer Sweeney, the foundation’s minutes secretary, who faints at Damon’s funeral. Slater, indeed the embezzler to pay an arsonist, also dies from curare at Shaw’s funeral, revealing a cunning killer targeting the corrupt members of the foundation.
Episode 3: Woman Trouble
Fri, Sep 30, 1994 (45 mins)
Dr. Mark Sloan grows concerned when businessman Robert Stanton misses a crucial X-ray follow-up for suspected TB. Mark had previously witnessed a confrontation between Robert, his mistress Marilyn Kramer (a model), and his wife Irene Stanton, whose financial support is critical for Robert’s Japanese business deal. Suspecting foul play, Mark deduces the two women conspired to eliminate Robert. He enlists Jack and Amanda to investigate the fashion scene, where Marilyn works, to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, Steve is completely smitten with a socialite, going undercover and desperately borrowing money from everyone, including Jack and Amanda, for dates he can’t afford, seeking their advice on sophisticated dating.
Episode 4: The Busy Body
Fri, Oct 7, 1994 (45 mins)
Following a birthday dinner with his friends, including Norman who rushes off for a hospital accreditation inspection, Mark Sloan finds himself in an unexpected predicament – handcuffed by stripper cuffs meant for a surprise. Unfortunately, Jack forgot to get the keys from McCreedy, the recently fired security agent replaced by Norman’s new security team, who ironically lost the keys years ago. More pressingly, Mark discovers a murder victim in the hospital pharmacy without identification, who then vanishes along with the likely murder weapon before Steve arrives. The victim is identified as lawyer Lorenzo P. Kotch via TV footage, a man with numerous potential motives due to a messy divorce and business rivalries. His body reappears and disappears again, leading Mark to suspect a more complex scheme is at play.
Episode 5: My Four Husbands
Fri, Oct 14, 1994 (45 mins)
Pamela Dorn, the star of ‘Queen of the Jungle’ TV series, seeks cosmetic surgery at Community General, hoping to emulate her movie star mother’s career. An undercover TV reporter feigning appendicitis is also present, aiming to exploit Pam for career advancement. One of Pam’s four ex-husbands, who had casting authority over a movie role Pam desired but was given to Julia Roberts instead, is murdered. Despite witnesses placing Pam at the scene, Mark, who has known Pam since childhood, believes she is being framed by one of her ex-husbands. Jack reluctantly assists, despite disliking Pam, along with Norman and Delores’s amateur help, they uncover more incriminating evidence against Pam. Steve has alibis for all ex-husbands, but Mark insists one must be fabricated and unravels an intricate murder plot.
Episode 6: Murder Most Vial
Fri, Oct 21, 1994 (45 mins)
Corporate millionaire William P. Bissell files a massive malpractice lawsuit against Community General after a knee operation leaves him in a wheelchair, due to his non-compliance with doctor’s orders. Norman Briggs persuades Bissell to accept further treatment and reconsider the lawsuit if his condition improves. An accident confines Mark to bed, and during a bedside visit, Bissell dies from a drug overdose of his regular medication, administered during visiting hours. Suspects include Bill’s CFO, Thomas Taylor, recently demoted and now heir apparent; widow Emily Bissell; mistress Jenny Morley; and orthopedic surgeon Karen Fielder, with a hidden past. Meanwhile, Steve is perpetually tired from night law classes, and Mark is determined to improve the hospital’s poor food, even considering blackmailing Norman to achieve it.
Episode 7: You Can Call Me Johnson
Fri, Oct 28, 1994 (45 mins)
Jack requests Mark to operate on his godfather, mob boss Alfredo Bartolo, alias Mr. Johnson, who checks into the hospital with his entourage. Tragically, ‘Al’ dies in recovery, seemingly due to a suture mix-up. Al’s son, Vinnie Bartello, implicitly blames and threatens Mark, suspecting foul play. FBI agent Gayle Wheeler informs Steve that Vinnie aims to take over the ‘family business’. Jack, believing in family loyalty, even within criminal families, investigates and finds a suspicious fake cleaning lady in the OR. Following a minor car accident, Mark’s rental car is bombed, escalating the danger.
Episode 8: Georgia on My Mind
Fri, Nov 4, 1994 (45 mins)
P.I. Charlie Hawkins dies at Community General from a gunshot wound, his cryptic last words: “tell Georgia ‘Jerry Mathers’?” Georgia is his charming secretary, prompting Jack to cancel his Hawaiian vacation, competing with Steve to help her investigate Charlie’s last case. It involves an ice cream company named after founder Harry Litvaks’ sons, ‘Walter and Harry’, with actors used for promotion under those names. Money envelopes point to the sons, or their sister Samantha Litvak, who is later poisoned with cyanide, also found in Charlie’s body. This suggests two potential murderers, one for poisoning and one for shooting. Meanwhile, Norman seeks reassurance about his fertility from a prospective fiancée.
Episode 9: The Last Laugh: Part 1
Fri, Nov 11, 1994 (45 mins)
Norman pressures Mark to invite Dr. Elliott Valin, a wealthy plastic surgeon named “Doctor of the Year,” to bring ‘high-profile clientele’ to Community General, but Valin dismisses the idea rudely. Valin dies from laughing gas overdose, leading Mark to investigate. Valin’s son, Roger, discovered his father’s affair and financial troubles with his holistic medicine practice. However, suspicion falls on Valin’s young widow, Bonnie, who has a lover. Bonnie convinces Mark of her innocence, embarrassing Steve when she’s declared innocent, before Mark realizes Bonnie manipulated them with perjured testimony from her boyfriend, Dave McDonnell.
Episode 10: The Last Laugh: Part 2
Fri, Nov 18, 1994 (45 mins)
Bonnie Valin confesses to Mark she orchestrated getting away with her husband Elliot’s murder, exploiting double jeopardy. Steve faces demotion, forced to prosecute the innocent Roger Valin. Jack aims to recover Amanda’s embezzled trust fund by posing as a seller and buyer of a stolen Campbell soup painting, enlisting a forger. Mark confronts Bonnie, noting the life insurance refusal and Roger’s probate contest, scaring her boyfriend Dave McDonnell with perjury charges. This leads to an attempt on Mark’s life. Mark suspects Dave is murdered by Bonnie with rat poison, but the truth is more complex.
Episode 11: Death by Extermination
Fri, Dec 2, 1994 (45 mins)
Mark’s sister Dora arrives in L.A., immediately disrupting his life. She commandeers his beach house and his bed while her new villa is being fumigated. Steve avoids Dora, but becomes involved when realtor Harvey Wardell’s body falls out of Dora’s closet, poisoned before fumigation. Dora appoints Genevieve Ducasse as Harvey’s replacement. Steve investigates, learning Harvey’s secretary, Lena Prosser, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit and had access to his coffee, ideal for poisoning. Harvey’s young widow, Constance, shows no grief, enjoying her newfound freedom with a trainer. Dora’s nitpicking proves useful, revealing pharmacist Larry Macklin, who bought a house from Wardell on unstable ground, and a pharmacist’s access to lethal drugs, as a potential suspect.
Episode 12: Standing Eight Count
Fri, Dec 9, 1994 (45 mins)
Jack’s boxing hero, Mercury ‘The Heat’ Jones, is hospitalized at Community General after a KO loss, ending his hopes for a 50th victory and retirement. His wife Brianna wants him to quit boxing regardless. His opponent, Tommy Brackett, is diagnosed with a heart condition, preventing a rematch. Brackett is found dead the next morning, smothered, next to Mercury’s hospital ID bracelet. Jack learns from Marco, a neighborhood friend who lost bets on the fight, and joins Butch Reilly’s gym as “Animal” to investigate Brackett’s locker and office, confirming his debts and promoter Wayne Topping’s fight purchase. A witness saw Brianna entering Tommy’s room with a rented doctor’s jacket, but the team must still find another suspect.
Episode 13: The Bela Lugosi Blues
Fri, Jan 6, 1995 (45 mins)
Norman blackmails Dr. Jack Stewart into representing medicine on Empire magazine’s shortlist of L.A.’s Most Eligible Bachelors, much to the hospital staff’s amusement. Vic Danton, a bachelor finalist and band leader, is murdered by blood draining, the second such murder with neck punctures, making Mark fear a vampire-like killer. Mark worries when Jack happily accepts a dinner date with Moriah Thomas, the editor ranking the bachelors, hoping to be her ‘desert’.
Episode 14: The New Healers
Fri, Jan 13, 1995 (45 mins)
A TV show filming at the hospital is constantly interrupted by Mark due to medical inaccuracies. When the lead actor, unpopular among the cast, is murdered, Mark investigates everyone involved in the production.
Episode 15: Call Me Incontestable
Fri, Jan 20, 1995 (45 mins)
Mark is concerned when his friend Alex Forman misses their dinner celebrating Alex’s bar exam success, finding him apparently a suicide by hanging. Steve accepts the suicide note, but Mark investigates Alex joining “Perfect Couple” dating service, noting multiple suicides among its members. Jack joins the service, his ‘perfect man’ profile written by Amanda and Dolores, attracting attention from female members and staff. Jack’s first date, Gloria Kinley, a spoiled woman, dated three previous suicide victims and talks about ‘fixing’ men, while her ex, Clete Kinley, is obsessive and assaults Jack. Relatives denying suicide may involve life insurance. Gloria only allows Mark to ‘guard’ her, proving to be the aggressor. The Sloans set a trap and reconsider their initial assumptions.
Episode 16: A Blast from the Past
Fri, Feb 3, 1995 (45 mins)
Steve is visited by Eddie Gault, a wife-killer he imprisoned, now paroled and hinting at revenge. Steve moves back into his old room with his father, who struggles with a new alarm system causing false alarms. Eddie, a skilled electrician, gets an orderly job at Community General, charming everyone, including Norman who can’t fire him despite his record. Eddie provokes Steve into threats, obtaining a restraining order. Steve warns Eddie’s fiancée, met via pen-pal service, but she’s already abused by Eddie and won’t press charges. Eddie bypasses the Sloans’ alarm and their neighbor’s dog. Warning him off leads to Steve’s 30-day suspension. Eddie abuses his fiancée again, then targets Amanda to draw out Steve.
Episode 17: Playing for Keeps
Fri, Feb 10, 1995 (45 mins)
Norman sponsors his cousin’s women’s volleyball team, the Malibu Rockets, at Community General. The team is rife with internal conflicts, and star player Rita Jansen is supposedly targeted by a deranged attacker, not for the first time. Sponsorship includes free physicals, which Norman insists Mark performs instead of ‘young’ Jack. Rita is murdered after team blood samples are tampered with. Jack and Amanda take new samples, facing painful sparring sessions. Steve goes undercover as a trainer-masseur. Motives and suspects abound, alibis are weak, and a jock suit-wearing figure attacks Amanda and escapes. Jack distrusts Amanda’s boyfriend, and a rare genetic immunity case is discovered.
Episode 18: Sea No Evil
Fri, Feb 24, 1995 (45 mins)
A woman drowns while swimming in the ocean, with two lifeguards on duty but one asleep. The sleeping lifeguard is accused. His aunt, IRS Agent Gretchen McCord, teams up with Mark to investigate the drowning.
Episode 19: How to Murder Your Lawyer
Fri, Feb 24, 1995 (45 mins)
Arnold Baskin, Steve’s law professor, is targeted in a hit-and-run, prevented by his assistant, Agnes Benedetto. At the law firm, the vital Orinsky case file Baskin is working on keeps disappearing and reappearing, leading senior partners Wallace Carstairs and Jeffrey T. Canfield to threaten his job. Steve protects Arnold and investigates with Jack, who has painful encounters and ends up in the ER, ultimately guided to the solution by Mark.
Episode 20: Naked Babes
Fri, Mar 31, 1995 (45 mins)
Amanda’s dinner party is interrupted by her pregnant friend Angela Pearson, who gives birth to quadruplets, fearing they’ll be stolen, possibly linked to her friend Carol at Shady Glen home Amanda recommended. Angela disappears next morning, leaving the quadruplets in the Sloans’ care. Jack hires student Ty Bradford as a nanny. Amanda infiltrates Shady Glen, posing as a pregnant woman seeking adoption. Mark and Steve investigate, recognizing medical fraudster Dr. Henry Wexler involved with nursing staff in baby selling or protecting illegal secrets.
Episode 21: Death in the Daytime
Fri, Apr 28, 1995 (45 mins)
Amanda wins a walk-on role on soap opera ‘The Young and the Restless’. Everyone wants to join, except Norman fearing bad publicity. On set, accidents and threats among fan mail suggest a murderer. Mark and Steve investigate after a death occurs, finding numerous suspects. Amanda’s resemblance to an actress on the show might be why she’s also targeted.
Episode 22: My Baby Is Out of This World
Fri, May 5, 1995 (45 mins)
Psychiatrist Max Frye asks Mark to help Tara Sampson, convinced she’s pregnant by an alien. Her husband, rock star Noble Samson, is abusive and unfaithful, his latest affair with his guitarist Willy’s wife. Noble collapses and dies onstage during a concert, a kitchen knife in his back. Groupie Christie Rowan was seen leaving his dressing room. Maid Anita Henry heard Tara threaten Noble and is the main heir. Tara claims an alien did it, passes a polygraph. Jack learns about Willy’s wife being Christie, and Willy becoming the new band leader. Dr. Freye reveals Tara found Noble with Anita. Steve follows Tara to musician Johnny ‘M’ Meslofski, whom she kisses. Johnny confesses falsely, but Tara exposes his lie. Frye has Tara declared incompetent.
This detailed episode guide for Diagnosis Murder Series 2 provides a comprehensive look at the season’s storylines, filled with medical mysteries and thrilling investigations led by Dr. Mark Sloan and his team. Each episode showcases the unique blend of medical drama and crime solving that made the series so popular.
