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.

It’s time to celebrate the holidays!

Episode 3.8 “All Through The House”

(Dir by Peter Medak, originally aired on December 16th, 1994)

It’s Christmas in Baltimore!  Decorations are up.  A heavy snow is falling.  The Homicide Detectives are starting the night shift on Christmas Eve …. there’s no way this is going to be depressing, right?

• Russert and Lewis (who no longer has a permanent partner because Crosetti committed suicide) investigate the murder of a woman who was set on fire.  The victim’s mother (Nancy Marchand) is in the midst of throwing a Christmas party and refuses to acknowledge the fact that her daughter is dead.  Instead, she obsesses on the amount of red decorations.  It’s a human moment.  How would you react if you found out a member of your family had been murdered on Christmas Eve?
• Still, this storyline kind of reinforced the fact that it really doesn’t make much sense for Russert to be a regular on the show.  She’s a shift commander but it’s a totally different shift from the one that the rest of the characters work.  She was originally introduced having an affair with Beau but that appears to be over.  Russert really has nothing to do and her choosing to work Christmas Eve didn’t really make much sense.
• Scheiner, the crusty old medical examiner, shows up wearing a Santa hat.  Assistant State’s Attorney Ed Danvers also makes an appearance.  He mentions that he’s got someone coming to his apartment to celebrate Christmas Eve with him but Kay is working!  Did they break up!?
• Meanwhile, Bolander and Much investigate the mystery of a dead man dressed as Santa Claus….
• SERIOUSLY, HOMICIDE!?
• Much suggests that Santa was killed by angry elves.
• Okay, Homicide, that made me laugh.
• Munch thinks that the man is someone who has been ringing the bell for the Salvation Army for decades.  Bolander says that they need to inform the man’s child….
• STOP IT, HOMICIDE!
• While Bolander goes to the morgue to try to get a positive ID on the guy, Munch sits in an apartment with a kid who want stop talking about how his father promised to spend Christmas Eve with him….
• WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, HOMICIDE!?
• Munch takes the kid out.  They go bowling.  They hit some baseballs.  The kid’s antagonistic and Munch is miserable.
• Oh wait!  The kid’s father is alive!  Yay!  It turns out that someone stole his Santa Claus outfit and that person — that thief of holiday joy — is the one who was brutally murdered while dressed as jolly old St. Nick.
• Uhmm …. that’s still pretty depressing but at least the kid’s not an orphan.
• Back at headquarters, a disheveled Bayliss tries to get someone to play Hearts with him because he needs to make some quick money.
• Seriously, what’s happening with Bayliss?  He went from being clean-cut and idealistic to being a somewhat seedy, convenience store-robbing burnout in record time!

Merry Christmas, everyone!  This was a good episode, actually.  Any episode that involves Munch getting frustrated is usually enjoyable and Russert and Lewis made for a good team.  And, in the end, Santa was not dead.  It’s a Christmas miracle!