At the beginning of the episode, we see Brenda struggling to find her way to the scene of the crime along Mulholland Drive. For someone new to LA, this wouldn't be surprising. Mulholland Drive runs from Cahuenga Blvd. near Universal City Studios over the ridge of the Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica Mountains, past several famous canyon roads lined with exclusive homes, including Laurel, Benedict and Coldwater Canyons. At Topanga Canyon Blvd., its name changes to Mulholland Highway. From there it winds 22 miles until it meet the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.
Among the deadliest poisons, a 40-60 mg oral dose of nicotine can be lethal for adult human beings. Nicotine is a water and fat soluable poison, which can be transmitted through the skin in toxic amounts when dissolved in an alkaline solution, such as hair conditioner.
As Brenda struggles to find her way down Mulholland Drive, we see her using a map book. Later, Provenza removes it from her bag and shows it to Gabriel, and they share a laugh. The map book is the LA County Thomas Guide, so commonly used to navigate around LA that many businesses and agencies include the map page and map grid location in directions to a site. The Thomas Guide was family owned and published in the LA area from the 1940's until its 1999 purchase by Rand-MacNally. Guides are printed by county, and updated annually. The company also produces custom wall maps; one can be seen in the room where the detectives monitor the interrogation rooms.
Mulholland Drive was named for William Mulholland, an Irish engineer who developed the LA Aqueduct and Owens Valley Project in the 1920's, bringing water to LA from the Owens Valley. The scandal that surrounded the project was fictionalized in the movie Chinatown.
There is mention of Sgt. Gabriel having a Master's degree from USC. USC is the University of Southern California, a private university located south of downtown Los Angeles in a largely African-American community, and famously, where O. J. Simpson played college football.