Bob Lau | 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, Pembleton gets his first case as the primary.

Episode 5.10 “Blood Wedding”

(Dir by Kevin Hooks, originally aired on December 13th, 1996)

A robbery at a bridal store leave public defender Meryl Hansen (Delanie Yates) dead. Meryl was the fiancée of State’s Attorney Ed Danvers. Danvers was with her when she was shot and he’s now obsessed with getting justice. He is not happy when he discovers that Pembleton is the primary on the case. Pembleton is still recovering from a stroke. In fact, this is his first case as primary since he returned to active duty. Meanwhile, Pembleton is not happy with the way Danvers keeps trying to tell him how to do his job.

Meanwhile, Giardello meets with the former members of Kellerman’s squad and asks them if they are planning on naming Kellerman to the Grand Jury. Everyone says that they’re not going to name him …. except for one former detective who explains that, if he names Kellerman, his own sentence will be reduced. Giardello even goes to the police commissioner (Al Freeman, Jr.) in search of help. The Commissioner resents Giardello’s independent streak. He’s not only not going to help, he’s also going to actively make Giardello’s life difficult.

As for Kellerman, he spends his time either sitting on his boat or drinking at the Waterfront or bothering his new lover, Dr. Cox, at work. When he’s informed that the Grand Jury has been delayed until the end of January, it’s another weight on his shoulders.

In the end, Pembleton does find the man who shot Meryl Hansen but, by the time the Julius Cummings (R. Emery Bright) is captured, he’s already disposed of the gun used in the crime. There’s enough evidence to put Cummings away for an unrelated robbery but not for murder. Danvers suddenly wonders if he’s been to quick to compromise as a prosecutor. After Danvers goes to the jail and tells Cummings that he will spend the rest of his life proving that Cummings is guilty of murder, Cummings hangs himself in his cell.

I have to admit that, for once, I actually found the Kellerman stuff to be more compelling than the main story. Don’t get me wrong. Andre Braugher and Kyle Secor were both great. Zeljko Ivanek was excellent and he had a few good scenes with Melissa Leo, who has been rather underused this season. But the main storyline felt more like something one would find on Law & Order than Homicide. Pembleton’s very first case as primary turning out to be a red ball? It was a bit too much of a coincidence to be effective.

The Kellerman stuff, however, gave Yaphet Kotto a chance to do something more than just give out orders. Watching him go from detective to detective and slyly ask them if they were going to name Kellerman was a joy. The scene between him and Al Freeman, Jr. was well-played by both actors.

That said, let’s hope this Kellerman thing gets resolved soon. Lewis needs his partner!

Pembleton’s back!

Episode 5.9 “Control”

(Dir by Jean de Segonzac, originally aired on December 6th, 1996)

A drug dealer named Reggie Copeland has been murdered and word on the street is that the killing was set up by Junior Bunk (Mekhi Phifer), who just happens to be the nephew of drug lord Luther Mahoney (Erik Todd Dellums). When Lewis and Detective Stivers (Toni Lewis) arrest Junior, he immediately starts crying.

That certainly makes Lewis happy. He’s obsessed with taking down Mahoney. Junior gives the detectives the name of the man who he hired, on Luther’s behalf, to assassinate Copeland. Munch and Lewis take a trip to the worst city on Earth (Philadelphia, if you had to ask) and arrest the gunman. Even Ed Danvers thinks that they’re finally on the verge of nailing Luther….

Luther, it turns out, has got friends everywhere. Even while sitting in a holding cell, he is able to find out the name of the hotel where the police are hiding Junior. When the cops order room service, Junior makes sure that a baggie with two gold stars is included in Junior’s sandwich. (All of Luther’s heroin comes in baggies with two stars.) Junior realizes that Luther knows exactly where he is. Junior refuses to testify and recants his previous confession. And Luther … Luther goes free again!

Kellerman would be upset, except for the fact that he’s still under suspension. (They’re really dragging this story out, aren’t they?) Kellerman is in such a bad mood that he even kicks Brodie off of his house boat for being too happy. However, at the end of the episode, Dr. Cox shows up at Kellerman’s houseboat. I’m going to guess that she’ll be allowed to stay on the boat.

However, the main event of this episode is that Pembleton is working his first case since his stroke. A woman has been found dead in her home, stabbed twenty times. Meanwhile, her two young sons were both shot execution style. Bayliss may be the primary but Pembleton is determined to take charge. Pembleton thinks that the murderer was the woman’s boyfriend, a sleazy musician named Jimmy Sutter (Andrew DeAngelo). Bayliss thinks that the murderer was the woman’s rigid ex-husbad, Lt. Commander Alex Clifton (Michael Gaston).

From the start, it’s pretty obvious that Clifton’s the murderer. He’s too cold and unemotional when he is told about the murderers. He’s very tightly wound. The fact that the woman was killed in a fury but her children were killed “cleanly and efficiently,” (as Pembleton put it) indicated to me that the murderer was driven by rage against the mother but, in his twisted way, he felt he was sparing the children an even worse fate. Clifton is obviously the killer and Pembleton, to his credit, eventually comes to realize it.

Unfortunately, the case nearly falls apart in the Box. Pembleton and Bayliss have lost their rhythm as partners. Bayliss gets frustrated when Pembleton suddenly starts asking Clifton about the blood pressure medicine he takes. “Do you get any side effects?” Pembleton asks. Outside of the interrogation room, Bayliss admits that he’s scared Pembleton is going to “stroke out” and die. “Everyone dies!” Pembleton says.

Finally, Bayliss and Pembleton make it work. They turn up the heart in the Box and when Clifton takes off his jacket and very carefully folds it, Bayliss presumes to sit down on the jacket. Clifton keeps taking the jacket back and refolding it. Bayliss spills water on the jacket. Clifton finally loses it, yelling and admitting that he killed his ex-wife and his two sons.

Wow, this was a good episode. Michael Gaston give a chillingly believable performance as Clifton. Erik Todd Dellums was, as usual, magnetically evil as Luther. Best of all, it was good to see Kyle Secor and Andre Braugher working a case together. Pembleton is back and it’s about time!