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.
Ring ring. “Homicide.”
Episode 4.13 “I’ve Got A Secret”
(Dir by Gwen Arner, originally aired on February 2nd, 1996)
This week, almost everyone has a secret.
For example, when Pembleton and Bayliss are called in about a man found dead in his car, they discover that, earlier in the day, he went to a local ER after being shot. The gunshot wound, which was accidental, didn’t kill him. Instead, it was the internal bleeding that the doctor either missed or intentionally ignored. Dr. Kate Wystan (Mimi Kennedy) may come across as being a selfless doctor who has dedicated her life to helping the residents of Baltimore’s most crime-ridden neighborhood but Pembleton and eventually Bayliss come to suspect that her secret is that, because the victim was black and a known criminal, she didn’t give him the same standard of care that she gives to her other patients. Pembleton considers this to be murder, though it sounds more like a case of malpractice than anything else.
Munch spots Kay kissing a man outside of police headquarters and he becomes obsessed with trying to figure out who the man is. He’s always believed that Kay is happy being single and alone. (Uhm, hello? Munch? Remember when she dated Ed Danvers?) Kay’s secret is that apparently she has a life outside of Homicide.
Finally, Lewis and Kellerman spend the entre episode chasing a burly man who is wanted for killing both of his parents. At first, this entire storyline feels almost like a parody of NBC’s request that the series start featuring more action. Lewis and Kellerman spend the entire first half of the episode chasing this guy through allies and pool halls and every time, they fail to catch him. There’s none of the badass heroics that we’ve come to expect from cop shows. Eventually, Lewis reveals that his brother is in a mental institution. When Lewis tries to visit his brother, he’s just turned away. Lewis’s secret is that he actually cares about his brother.
This was an okay episode. By this point in the series, Homicide had reached the point where it could do an episode where the true enjoyment came less from the storyline and more from just listening to the characters talk to each other. I really didn’t care much about the crimes that they were investigating. Instead, I just enjoyed listening to Pembleton and Bayliss talk and bounce ideas off of each other. They’ve come along way since the day that Bayliss objected to Pembleton’s interrogation technique and Pembleton shouted that he would never have a partner. By the same token, Kellerman and Lewis have their own unique chemistry that is fun to experience. They’re like the sensitive frat cops. As for Munch and Kay, they should just hook up already. It’s obvious to everyone that they’re in love!
Maybe that’s their secret?
Through the Shattered Lens 