Due to the run time being 1 hour and 36 minutes, in syndication this is televised as two one-hour shows, part 1 and part 2. Part 1 ends with Hunter leaving Dr. Boland's office. The opening and end credits are the same for both.
Hunter and McCall do not use the term "serial killer" to describe the murderer. Although the term is generally credited to two FBI agents who came up with it in the 1970s, it does not seem to have filtered into mainstream usage until 1981, when it first appeared in an article about an Atlanta murderer, and was likely still not in popular usage in 1984 when this episode aired.
While department regulations DO, as stated, give detectives a say in who they partner with, Hunter is a homicide detective. McCall is undercover vice. They are two separate units. For Hunter and McCall to partner up, McCall would have to request an official transfer. Cpt Cain could prevent the partnership without making any effort at all.
When this pilot episode aired in 1984, John Diehl had an uncredited role as a bank robber. Later that same year, he would go on to play Detective Larry Zito on "Miami Vice" (1984), the most popular police drama of the 80s.
The events here- a new Captain that had little experience on the street and has conflict with a seasoned detective- are similar to those in Sudden Impact (1983) with Bradford Dillman as the police Captain and Clint Eastwood as the streetwise detective.