Al Freeman Jr. | Through the Shattered Lens

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, the bar finally opens!

Episode 3.12 “Partners”

(Dir by John McNaughton, Originally aired January 20th, 1995)

As you can tell by the title, this episode was all about partners.

For instance, Megan Russert realized that her former partner from narcotics, Douglas Jones (Robert Clohessy, with his Bronx accent), has been beating up his wife, Natalie (Lily Knight). He regularly puts her in the hospital, though Natalie always insists that she either fell down the stairs or walked into a door. Jones, who is now working homicide during the night shift and under Russert’s command, insists that he would never hurt his wife. When Russert asks Jones’s former boss if Jones had been having any trouble while working narcotics, he refuses to give her specifics. It’s a boys club and the boys protect each other. Eventually, Natalie ends up shooting Jones with his own gun, probably killing him. (We’re told that he’s barely holding on.) This storyline was well-acted and well-written but watching it, I was reminded of just how awkwardly this show tends to use Russert. Because she commands a different shift, she doesn’t really get much interaction with the other main characters. Her affair with Beau Felton has never really made sense. From what I understand, Russert was created by NBC demanded more personal drama and some glamour. Isabella Hofman does about as good a job as anyone could with her often underwritten character but there’s really just not much for her to do.

Meanwhile, with Pembleton under suspension and threatening to quit, Bayliss doesn’t have a regular partner. His attempt to partner up with Lewis ends in disaster when Lewis’s bad (albeit hilarious) driving leads to Bayliss getting a minor concussion. Fortunately, Pembleton does return to the Homicide Department, though not before nearly burning down his kitchen while trying to make dinner. Unfortunately, before Pembleton can return to his job, he has to take the fall for offering to drop the investigation into Congressman Wade’s false kidnapping report. Andre Braugher perfectly plays the scene in which Pambleton testifies in court. It’s easy to see the emotional and mental pain that Pembleton feels as he essentially commits perjury, taking the blame and letting Commissioner Harris of the hook. Pembleton is forced to compromise and it eats away at his soul. At the same time, he also gets to return to doing what he does best. Early on in the episode, Giardello acknowledges that he and Pembleton are not friends. “I’ve never been to your house, I’ve never met you’re wife …. I am not your friend ….” but Giardello explains that Pembleton is a good detective. He turns “red names black” and that’s why he wants and needs Pembleton to return.

Bayliss, Lewis, and Munch finally open their bar and, at the end of the episode, it looks like the entire city of Baltimore has turned out. Bolander even looks like he’s having a good time! Munch raises a glass in a toast to the best partners that anyone could hope for and I got tears in mismatched eyes. Seriously, I was so happy to finally see that bar open! It was also nice to see everyone else happy for once. That doesn’t often happen on Homicide.

This week, secrets are uncovered and trust is betrayed.

Episode 3.11 “Cradle to Grave”

(Dir by Myles Connell, originally aired on January 13th, 1995)

Police Commissioner James Harris (Al Freeman, Jr.) gives Pembleton a special assignment. A congressman (Dick Stillwell) claims to have been temporarily abducted by a man in a van but he also says that he doesn’t want to press charges. Both Harris and Pembleton suspect that the Congressman is lying and that he filed a false police report, which is itself a crime. Pembleton’s investigation leads to the discovery that the abduction story was actually the congressman’s attempt to cover-up a quarrel between him and his lover (Christopher Glenn Wilson). Pembleton goes to the congressman and offers to drop the investigation into the abduction so that the congressman’s personal life will not be exposed. The congressman agrees.

Unfortunately, news of the false police report still gets out and Pembleton is sold out by Harris, who claims that he never gave Pembleton permission to drop the investigation, even though Harris made it clear that he wanted the problem to go away. Outraged over being sold out by his boss and also by Giardello’s refusal to back him up (Giardello is upset that Pembleton lied to him about the investigation), Pembleton turns in his badge and quits the force.

Meanwhile, Lewis and Much investigate the murder of a biker. What they discover is that the biker sacrificed his own life after it was discovered that his wife was an FBI informant. In order to keep the gang from going after his daughter, the victim agreed to be killed in retribution.

And finally, Felton and Howard try to investigate a murder but …. where’s the body!? It turns out that the body is on the move. First, it’s accidentally sent to the hospital before Felton and Howard can get a look at it. Then, it’s returned to the crime scene while Felton and Howard are heading to the morgue. Apparently, this was based on a true story and I can believe it. There’s no incompetence like bureaucratic incompetence.

This was not a bad episode. Andre Braugher did a great job of capturing Pembleton’s pain at being betrayed by his mentor, Commission Harris. Even the biker stuff was well-handled, with Timothy Wheeler giving a strong performance as the club’s “warlord.” The biker stuff had an interesting subplot, with one of the bikers revealing himself to be an undercover FBI agent trying to make a RICO case. As with the case involving the congressman, it helped to create a definite atmosphere of mistrust that ran through the entire episode. Whether it was the FBI or the congressman or just the EMTs, no one could be trusted and no one knew what they were doing.

It’s a good episode. I hope Pembleton reconsiders quitting. The city needs him.