Law & Order

Lennie Briscoe: This girl was killed by a junkie, and I believe Elvis is at Radio City tonight. A quick, sarcastic reference to the King of Rock 'n' Roll and the tabloids and obsessive fans who believe that his 1977 death was faked.

Mike Logan: A medical lock. Couldn't pick that if he was Willie Sutton. Willie Sutton (1901-1980) was a bank robber who was once on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. He's best remembered for a certain witty quote. Someone asked him why he robbed banks and he supposedly replied, "Because that's where the money is."

Dr. Diane Mead: I'm basically an Adlerian anyway. Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: I never bought Adler. Everything's about power? Dr. Diane Mead: It's the human experience. The need for control. Alfred Adler (1870-1937) was one of the 'neo-Freudian' psychoanalysts who initially followed Freud, but soon diverged theoretically. Adler adopted a more optimistic view of the human psyche. He departed with Freud by rejecting the importance of unconscious sexual forces and emphasizing future goals, rather than past events, in determining behavior. He held that people develop inferiority feelings in childhood (he coined the term 'inferiority complex') and compensate by striving to achieve superiority. This results in a 'style of life' that may be healthy (positive goals, confidence, contributing to the welfare of others) or 'mistaken' (self-centeredness, competitiveness, striving for personal power). Ironically, though Mead tells Olivet she is an Adlerian, her behaviors reflect what Adler would have deemed the 'mistaken style of life.'