Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life on the Street 4.8 “Sniper, Part One”

Posted on September 28, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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

This week, a sniper terrorized Baltimore.

Episode 4.8 “Sniper, Part One”

(Dir by Jean de Segonzac, originally aired on January 5th, 1996)

This week, Bayliss investigates a red ball!

Actually, the case turns out to be a red ball within a red ball!

And then it turns into a third red ball!

A red ball is a term used for a case that is going to draw a lot of media attention and which is going to result in pressure from the guys in command. It’s an actual term, one that was introduced in the David Simon book that served as the inspiration for Homicide. I’m pretty sure that the term was also used in The Wire, though perhaps not as much as it was used in Homicide.

It’s hard not to notice that, starting with the third season, there have been a lot of red balls on Homicide. If one were to judge solely based on seasons 3 and 4, one might be justified in thinking that Baltimore was the serial killer capitol of the world. That’s not really a complaint because most of the red ball episodes have been pretty entertaining. Still, it’s very much a contrast to the first two seasons, where the emphasis was always put on gritty realism and the recurring theme was that, outside of the Homicide detectives, the media didn’t really care about the majority of the murders taking place in Baltimore because the victims were almost always minorities in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

This latest red ball involves a sniper who is gunning down people at random and leaving behind a hangman game at each location. He’s trying to figure out a 9-letter word. It’s an odd motivation but serial killers are odd people. Bayliss, who is suffering from back pain and popping muscle relaxants like candy, gets the case because, as he continually reminds us, he was the one who answered the phone. (Somehow, Bayliss does manage to get through the investigation without bringing up Adena Watson.)

While Bayliss tries to find a killer who shoots people at random, Russet deals with the brass. Colonel Barnfather, who was originally quite enthusiastic about promoting her, now suddenly hates her and the episode ends with Russert getting demoted back down to being a detective. (So, I guess that Giardello’s homicide squat will be getting a new investigator.) Russert’s demotion felt like it came out of nowhere but, from a dramatic point of view, it made sense. This show already has Giardello as the beloved boss. It didn’t also need Russert in the role.

As for the killer, he is tracked down by his signature on the receipt that he signed when he purchased his chalk. He turns out to be a nervous insurance agent who has a big house in the suburbs and who is playing a hangman game in his study. When Bayliss attempts to negotiate with him and asks him to leave the study, the insurance agent asks for a letter. “Uhmm …. B,” Bayliss says. B turns out to be just the letter that was needed and the insurance agent promptly shoots himself in the head.

The word that he was trying to come up with turns out to be Eromitlab. Look at in a mirror.

This was a good episode, even if it did sometimes go a bit over the top with everyone shouting, “We’ve got a red ball!” and the nonstop montages of the detectives swarming the streets of Baltimore. I’ve really grown to love Kyle Secor’s performance as Tim Bayliss and this episode featured Bayliss at his loopy best. For an episode about a serial sniper who ended up killing eight people, there was a rather odd sense of humor running through it. This is an episode that started with Jay Leno coming in the Waterfront Bar. (Munch tells Bayliss that Leno is probably sick of people treating him like he’s famous so they decide to ignore him until Leno gets mad and leaves the bar.) When the first shooting is called in, the phone rings several times before anyone is able to answer, leading to Munch to question whether a murder has actually occurred if no one answers the phone. Bayliss obsesses on his upcoming back surgery. “Its says a possible side effect is death!” Bayliss exclaims, looking over the information about the operation. Meanwhile, Brodie gets on everyone’s nerves with his big video camera.

Ominously, this episode with a second sniper climbing up to the roof of the building. The red balls continue.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 2.1 “Bop Gun”

Posted on December 15, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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 second season begins with a special guest star.

Episode 2.1 “Bop Gun”

(Dir by Stephen Gyllenhaal, originally aired on January 6th, 1994)

The 2nd season of Homicide opens with a murder. That’s not surprising, considering the name of the show and the fact that it’s taking place in Baltimore, which had (and has) one of the highest murder rates in the country. However, this time, the victim is an innocent tourist from Iowa, gunned down because she and her family took a wrong turn and ended up in a neighborhood that was far from the wharf. With the press in a feeding frenzy over how unsafe Baltimore is, the bosses want the shooter to be caught and sentenced quickly.

Detective Beau Felton, the primary on the case, is overjoyed. Sitting in the squad room and joking about how the victim’s husband didn’t even know what type of gun was used in the robbery-turned-murder, Felton brags that he is going to be making so much overtime off of this case.

Unfortunately, the victim’s husband happens to be in the squad room and he overhears Felton. Angry, tired, and still wearing a shirt stained with his wife’s blood, Robert Ellison (played by special guest star Robin Williams) demands that Felton be taken off the case.

Giardello takes Ellison into his office and explains that Felton is the primary and he can’t be replaced. Giardello also lists all of the other murders that Felton has recently worked. Felton deals with violent death every day. Giardello says that Felton is going to solve the case but he’s not going to “feel” Mrs. Ellison’s death the same way that her family does.

It’s an interesting scene and undoubtedly, a realistic one. From the very first episode, Homicide has emphasized the gallows humor that goes along with being a homicide detective in a big city. This episode, though, marks the first time that we get to see how an outsider would react to that attitude. Significantly, Felton never apologizes and, even after the shooter is arrested, Ellison never forgives Felton for his comments. Whenever the two interact, it’s obvious that they don’t like each other. But they’re forever linked by one act of violence.

Felton ends up arresting three men. Two of them are accused of robbing the Ellison family and being accessories to the murder. They end up with 30 years in prison. The accused shooter is Vaughn Perkins (Lloyd Goodman), a teenager who has never had any trouble with the police and who not only tries to write Ellison a note of apology but who also pleads guilty and accepts a life sentence. (Ellison, in another example of this show choosing realism over sentimentality, refuses to read the note.)

Kay Howard is convinced that Vaughn is covering for the other two men, saying that Vaughn just seems too quiet and meek to be a cold-blooded murderer. At the end of the episode, she goes down to the prison and meets with Vaughn, who now goes by the name Abu Aziz. Though he initially tries to act hard, the former Vaughn Perkins finally admits that he was holding the gun during the robbery because he thought he could “control” the situation and keep anyone from getting hurt. But when Mrs. Ellison refused to give up a locket, he panicked and shot her. He lost control and, in a split second, he changed the lives of everyone involved. Feeling defeated by the sad reality of Baltimore, Kay leaves the prison and heads back to work.

When Homicide returned for a second season, it was only given a four-episode order. With the show on the cusp of cancellation, Homicide only had four hours in which to prove itself. Originally, Bop Gun was scheduled to be the second season finale. NBC, wanting to take advantage of having Robin Williams as a guest star, instead decided to move the episode to the start of the season. That was probably a good idea. Bop Gun is a good episode that reintroduces us to squad room and also features an excellent performance from Robin Williams. Williams could, to be honest, be a bit hit-and-miss when it came to dramatic roles but he does wonderful work here, perfectly capturing Ellison’s anger, sadness, and desperation. He starts the episode as a stunned innocent but, by the end of it, he’s become a much more hardened individual, one who has no interest in Vaughn’s heartfelt but too little and too late apology. Just Vaughn now has to act hard to survive in a physical prison, Ellison has had to shut off his feelings so that he can survive in his emotional prison.

(As a sidenote, Ellison’s son is played by a very young Jake Gyllenhaal, whose real-life father directed this episode.)

If the first season occasionally felt a bit too much like an insider’s view of the Homicide Department, this episode gives us the point of view of an outsider. Through Ellison’s eyes, we are reintroduced to the detectives. Felton may not be a great cop or even a likable human being but he gets the job done in this episode. And while Felton will now move on to the next case, Robert Ellison will spend the rest of his life thinking about that one day in Baltimore.

Because of the holidays, this is my final Homicide review of 2024! These reviews will return on January 5th!

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life on the Street 1.4 “Son of a Gun”

Posted on October 27, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, things get emotional on Homicide!

Episode 1.4 “Son of a Gun”

(Dir by Nick Gomez, originally aired on February 10th, 1993)

Officer Chris Thormann (Lee Tergesen), a patrol officer who is friendly with the Homicide detectives and who is a bit of protegee to Steve Crosetti, has been shot. While Thormann lies in surgery with a bullet in his brain, his wife (Edie Falco, in one of her first television appearances) waits for news from the doctors and tries to avoid the members of the callous press. Crosetti demands to be put in charge of the investigation into Thormann’s shooting and when Giardello points out, quite correctly, that Crosetti is too close to the victim to be objective, Crosetti strips down to his boxers and shows Giardello the scars left behind by every time that he’s been shot.

It’s an odd scene, one that seems to come out of nowhere in an episode that, up until that moment, had been pretty serious. Kotto does a great job of capturing Giardello’s horror as Crosetti drops his pants. It’s obvious that this is not the first time that Crosetti has shown off his scars to get assigned to a certain case. It’s a scene that shouldn’t work but it does work because not only is it well-acted by Yaphet Kotto and Jon Polito but it also captures the insanity of being a homicide detective. Just four episodes in, Homicide has already shown that it can be a funny show but the humor is rooted in the darkest corners of the human experience. To survive as a homicide detective, you have to harden yourself to the point of being callous and you have to be able to see the humor in just about everything. Crosetti, with his constant analysis of the Lincoln assassination and his inventory of bullet scars, may seem crazy but actually, he’s doing what he has to do to survive.

The episode ends with Thormann alive but in a coma and possibly brain-damaged. And it ends with the shooter still at large. Crosetti has received an anonymous tip from someone saying that the killer was a man named Alfred Smith. But who knows if that’s true.

The Adeena Watson case remains open, as well. Bayliss and Pembleton are still struggling to figure out how to work together. Bayliss is too obsessed with the case. Pembleton is too determined to show up the new guy. A raid on the apartment where it’s believed Adeena was murdered turns up nothing but more evidence of human misery. That said, a cheerful guy (played by Paul Schulze) who claims to be an agent for hitmen does give up several of his clients, allowing Howard and Felton to close even more cases. Even Calpurnia Church (Mary Jefferson), the “black widow” from the pilot, is finally arrested due to the agent’s testimony.

Finally, Stanley Bolander goes on his first date with Dr. Blythe. Before going on his date, he meets his neighbor, Larry Molera (Luis Guzman). Larry is a carpenter. He’s built a coffin that is currently sitting in living room. Bolander’s date goes well but the nervous Bolander turns down Blythe’s offer to go back to her place with her. Bolander returns to his apartment, where he discovers that Larry is dead and lying in his coffin. (Much, who was called when Larry’s body was discovered, is shocked to see Bolander. Bolander is not happy that Much now knows where he lives.) Larry’s death inspires Boland to return to Dr. Blythe’s apartment.

This was an emotional episode. Thormann is clinging to his life while his wife and Crosetti wait for him to wake up. The recently divorced Bolander finally found the courage to go out with Dr. Blythe. Bayliss appears to be so obsessed with the Adeena Watson case that he’s struggling to think straight. This episode takes a look at the mental strain that comes from dealing with crime and death on a daily basis. It’s well-done, even if it’s not quite as memorable as Night of the Dead Living. (The stuff with Larry and his coffin was a bit too self-consciously quirky to be as emotionally devastating as the show obviously meant for it to be.) If I took anything away from this episode, it’s that fate is random. Officer Thormann has been shot in the head but he survived hours of surgery. Larry seemed to be healthy but he suddenly died while Bolander was on his date. Adeena’s killer may never be caught while Calpurnia Church was caught because of an initially unrelated investigation. Some of the detectives are skilled. Some of them are not. But, in the end, they’re all at the random mercy of fate.