Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sundays, I will be reviewing Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, on NBC!  It  can be viewed on Peacock.

This week, it’s another night in Baltimore.

Episode 4.21 “Scene of the Crime”

(Dir by Kathy Bates, originally aired on April 12th, 1996)

This week, three murders are committed in the projects of Baltimore.

The first murder occurs when a drug dealer is tossed off the roof of an apartment complex, “the towers.”  Making the Lewis and Kellerman’s investigation difficult is the fact that the city has given a security contract to the Black Muslims.  The Muslims have been patrolling the Towers for a year and, in that time, they’ve chased out most of the drug dealers that once terrorized the building’s residents.  Kellerman feels that the Muslims are racists.  Giardello says that the Muslims just caused the dealers to go to another block.  Lewis, however, is a bit more conflicted.  As he explains it to Kellerman, why should white neighborhoods by the only ones allowed to have their own private security force?

The second and third murders occur at another set of towers.  This time, two teenage drug dealers ended up shooting each other.  When Munch and Russert arrive at the scene, they are met by patrolman Stu Gharty (Peter Gerety).  Gharty walks them through the scene, shows how the two dealers ended up killing each other, and then excuses himself to wait for the medical examiner.  Munch is impressed with Gharty but Russert can’t help but note the thirty-minute time gap between when Gharty got the call about the shooting and when he called for homicide.  Gharty confesses that, when he first arrived, he didn’t immediately enter the building, despite hearing the gunshots.  Gharty was concerned for his safety.  Munch understands and, even more importantly, he doesn’t believe in getting other cops in trouble.  Russert, however, is angered, especially after it turns out that one of the teenagers bled to death while Gharty was waiting outside.

This was an excellent episode of Homicide, one that was smart enough to paint anyone as being all good or all bad.  Ishmael Al-Hadj (Victor Williams), the head of the Muslim security force, is an anti-white fanatic but Lewis has a point when he says that Ishmael and his men have largely kept peace in the Towers in a way that the police have not been able to do so.  In the end, Ishmael turns over the name of the murderer but only after he knows that the man is no longer in Baltimore.

As for Stu Gharty, Russert is absolutely correct when she says that he failed to do his duty but, largely due to Peter Gerety’s empathetic performance, it’s hard not to sympathize with Gharty.  As Russert herself admits, Gharty has been a good cop for years but, that one night, he allowed his fear to get the better of him.  Russert, who is still thinking like a captain despite being demoted, feels that one moment of weakness cannot be overlooked.  Just about everyone else disagrees.  Whereas Russert and Kay Howard sees someone who failed to do his job, a detective like Munch looks at Gharty and sees a 54 year-old cop who is just a few years away from getting reassigned a desk job on account of his age and who made one mistake because he didn’t want his family to get a call telling them that he was dead.  At one point, Gharty says he’s thinking of just taking retirement.  Of course, he didn’t.  Instead, he returned a few seasons later as a regular.

This episode also featured Munch preparing for the return of Bolander.  After calling Bolander multiple times, Munch finally got him to agree to drop by the Waterfront Bar.  Of course, Bolander never showed up.  And it makes sense, really.  After getting shot and nearly dying during the previous season, Bolander was obviously done with being a cop.  (And, of course, Ned Beatty was no longer on the show.)  Still, there was something rather poignant about Munch’s growing realization that his partner and his hero was no longer going to be around.

Next week, the season comes to an end!