>"Are you sure that Close Call was filmed before The Code?"
I am sure that in 1996 the fandom in general understood the production number of "Close Call" to be 222 (the 22nd episode of 2nd season), and I am looking right now at the North American DVD set to confirm that the DVDs, which go in production order, do indeed place "Close Call" as 22 (they do; it's on Disc 5).
I've never personally seen the "Close Call" script or production notes, so I have no independent evidence.
For myself, I've always advocated for privileging the aired order over the production order (e.g. "Francesca" was originally 321 in production order, after 320 Ashes to Ashes, because no one told the author of "Francesca" that they were killing off Vachon). Opinions and preferences differ, of course.
I imagine that production numbers are assigned when filming begins, not when editing ends, so there could easily be overlap in post-production.
Re: Episode order
I am sure that in 1996 the fandom in general understood the production number of "Close Call" to be 222 (the 22nd episode of 2nd season), and I am looking right now at the North American DVD set to confirm that the DVDs, which go in production order, do indeed place "Close Call" as 22 (they do; it's on Disc 5).
I've never personally seen the "Close Call" script or production notes, so I have no independent evidence.
For myself, I've always advocated for privileging the aired order over the production order (e.g. "Francesca" was originally 321 in production order, after 320 Ashes to Ashes, because no one told the author of "Francesca" that they were killing off Vachon). Opinions and preferences differ, of course.
I imagine that production numbers are assigned when filming begins, not when editing ends, so there could easily be overlap in post-production.