Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 5.10 “Blood Wedding”

Posted on May 17, 2026 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, 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!

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life on the Street 5.9 “Control”

Posted on May 10, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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!

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 5.5. “ME, Myself, and I”

Posted on April 12, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the show gets a new co-star.

Episode 5.5 “M.E., Myself, and I”

(Dir by Michael Fields, originally aired on November 1st, 1996)

There’s a new medical examiner in town! Julianna Cox (Michelle Forbes) drinks too much, smokes too much, and she takes her job personally! She drives too fast! She speaks her mind! She fires the incompetent and the corrupt! She shows up at crime scenes! Lewis moves a body before Dr. Cox arrives. She tells him to never do it again!

She’s a new regular and this entire episode is essentially dedicated to hitting us over the head with the fact that she’s awesome. And she is awesome and she’s also played by Michelle Forbes so I’m sure she will be a worthwhile addition to the show’s ensemble. That said, this episode sometimes seem to be so desperate to convince us that we’re going to love Dr. Cox that it forgets to craft a compelling story. She helps Bayliss to solve a case. Bayliss likes her. Well, Bayliss like everyone. Indeed, Bayliss gets so excited whenever an attractive woman appears that he sometimes seems like a cartoon wolf, with his eyes popping out of his head.

In other news, Kellerman is still under investigation and he’s not taking it well. The great Edward Herrmann played the officious FBI agent who took over the Box and spent the episode asking the other Homicide detectives if Kellerman seemed to be corrupt. “How did Detective Kellerman afford a new boat?” Actually, how did Detective Kellerman afford a new boat?

Pembleton went off his blood pressure meds so he could make love to his wife on his anniversary. Pembleton — how are you going to recover from this stroke if you keep finding excuses not to take your medication?

Finally, Brodie got kicked out of Bayliss’s apartment so he moved in with Lewis. Brodie praised a black velvet painting of Teddy Pendergrass, leading to a fight between Lewis and his wife. It was an amusing scene. Brodie, you stand accused of murdering a marriage! The jury finds you guilty!

It was an okay episode. Homicide is one of those shows that is enjoyable watch because of the ensemble and Michelle Forbes seems like she’ll be a good addition. When you’ve got a cast this good, you can get away with an episode where not that much really happens.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 4.20 “The Wedding”

Posted on February 1, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week …. someone’s getting married!

Episode 4.20 “The Wedding”

(Dir by Alan Taylor, originally aired on May 10th, 1996)

Kevin Lungo, a Baltimore radio host, is found dead. The previous day, he announced on his program that he was not only in favor of abortion but he was in favor of requiring any pregnant woman with an IQ of less than 100 to have one. Did that comment lead to him being gunned down in a parking lot?

(When this episode aired, 100 was considered to be an “average” IQ. Now, the average IQ is considered to be 90. That’s not a good thing.)

We never really find out. The case is handled by Giardello and Kay and, while Kay has never heard of Lungo, it turns out that Giardello used to enjoy listening to him. (Hopefully, Giardello disagreed with Lungo’s pro-eugenics stance.) When the radio station offers a $5,000 reward for any tips, someone calls in and give the name of the “killer.” When Giardello and Kay follow-up on the tip, the suspect pulls a gun and is shot dead by Giardello.

Giardello feels guilty about the shooting. He tells that Kay that, when he was younger, he was able to shoot well-enough that he could simply wound a suspect, instead of killing him. Making it even worse is that the dead man has an alibi. The call was just a practical joke between friends. “Why did you have to kill him!?” the dead man’s friend wails.

Back at the squad room, Lewis shocks everyone by announcing that he’s getting married to a woman that they’ve never heard of. While he doesn’t invite any of his co-workers to the wedding, he does ask them to attend a reception at the Belvedere Hotel. He tells Pembleton to order and pay for the flowers. He asks Russert to arrange for the band and an open bar and asks if she would be willing to cover the cost. (“Until my next paycheck,” Lewis assures her.) Munch assumes that Lewis is lying. Most of the squad room suspects that Lewis is lying. But they give him the benefit of the doubt and show up for the reception.

Also going to the reception is Carrie, the very glamorous sister of Kay Howard. Carrie is visiting from Florence and soon, both Kellerman and Bayliss are shamelessly flirting with her. An actress named “Margaret May” is credited as playing Carrie. Of course, Margaret May is actually Melissa Leo.

With the exception of Giardello and Kay (who are still working the Lungo murder), all of Lewis’s colleagues show up at the ballroom. Even the crusty forensics examiner, Scheiner (Ralph Tabakin), shows up. “Do you want to dance?” he asks Russert’s daughter. “NO!” she replies.

But where’s Lewis? Lewis is missing. Was Munch right? Pembleton, who is there with his very pregnant wife, is not amused. As Brodie films him, Pembleton announces that he is going to kill Lewis and he will never get caught because of his experience as a homicide detective….

Fortunately, Lewis shows up before Pembleton gets his gun. And accompanying Lewis is his new wife, Barbara Shivers (Karen Williams)! The reception is a huge success. The band plays. Kellerman and Bayliss both try to hold onto Carrie’s attention. Scheiner watches as Russert’s daughter proceeds to dance with everyone but him. Finally, Giardello and Kay show up. Kay warns Bayliss that Carrie is dangerous. Bayliss asks why. Kay says that Carrie likes to play game and she just does whatever feels good. Bayliss looks intrigued….

Mary Pembleton’s water breaks on the dance floor as she goes into labor! (In a nice twist, Mary Pembleton was played by Andre Braugher’s real-life wife, Ami Brabson.) As the episode ends, even Giardello smiles. For all the ugliness in the world, there is still hope.

I loved this episode! Homicide’s greatest strength was its ensemble and here, everyone gets a chance to show off. Yaphet Kotto reminds us of what an imposing actor he truly was, though my favorite Giardello moments continue to be the times when he allows himself to get amused by the absurdity of it all. What really made this episode was for me was that, even with the wedding reception and Mary going into labor, the episode never allowed itself to be sentimental. For most of the episode, everyone is skeptical about Lewis getting married and, having watched Meldrick Lewis for four season, I was skeptical too! In the end, the episode earned its right to emotionally satisfying through smart storytelling and good acting.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 4.13 “I’ve Got A Secret”

Posted on November 2, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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?

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.20 “The Gas Man”

Posted on August 3, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the third season of Homicide comes to an end.

Episode 3.2o “The Gas Man”

(Dir by Barry Levinson, originally aired on May 5th, 1995)

The third season of Homicide was coming to an end and NBC was dragging its heels as to whether or not it would renew the show. Homicide was critically acclaimed but its ratings were low, despite the efforts to make the show more audience-friendly during the third season. Producer Barry Levinson grew frustrated with NBC’s refusal to tell him whether or not the show would be renewed. Feeling that show was probably over, Levinson and showrunner Tom Fontana decided to do something truly radical. They crafted a series finale that sidelined most of the major characters.

Instead, The Gas Man focuses on Victor Helms (Bruno Kirby) and his best friend, Danny Newton (Richard Edson). Helms has just gotten out of prison, where he served six years after a gas heater he installed malfunctioned and caused the death of one of his customers. Helms blames Frank Pembleton for the loss of both his freedom and his family. (After getting released, Helms tries to talk to his teenage son but is rejected.) Helms and Newton follow Pembleton across Baltimore, watching as he goes to work and to a fertility clinic. While Pembleton is investigating the murder of a fortune teller, Helms and Newton sneak onto the crime scene and find both the murder weapon and the fortune teller’s severed head. Helms takes both of them home and sends pictures to the Baltimore Sun, trying to taunt Pembleton. Both the Sun and Pembleton assume its a hoax. Eventually, Helms makes his move and, even with a knife to Pembleton’s throat, he realizes that he doesn’t have it in him to commit a cold-blooded murder. He starts to cry. Pembleton arrests him. Life goes on.

This was an interesting episode. The first time I saw it, I was a bit annoyed that the focus was taken off the lead characters. But the more I think about it, the more I appreciate what Levinson was going for. With this episode, he shows us what happens after the investigation and the conviction. Victor Helms is angry because he feels, perhaps with some justification, that he was unfairly charged and convicted. He’s obsessed with Pembleton but it’s clear that Pembleton doesn’t even remember him. For Pembleton, arresting Victor Helms was a part of his job, nothing more. For Helms, it was the moment that his entire life collapsed. Bruno Kirby and Richard Edson both gave good performances as Helms and Danny. Kirby captured Helms’s obsession but he also gave us some glimpses of the man that Helms used to be. As portrayed by Edson, Danny’s loyalty to his friend was actually kind of touching.

Of course, it turned out that this episode was not the series finale. Homicide would return for a fourth season, without Daniel Baldwin or Ned Beatty. We’ll start season four next week!

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.18 “In Search of Crimes Past”

Posted on July 20, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Giardello sets a dangerous precedent.

Episode 3.18 “In Search of Crimes Past”

(Dir by Kenneth Fink, originally aired on April 14th, 1995)

A woman (Felicia Shakman) takes Colonel Barnfather hostage, pointing a gun at his head and demanding that Bolander reopen the investigation into a murder that occurred sixteen years ago. Bolander was the primary on the murder and the man that he arrested is scheduled to be executed in just a matter of hours. The woman with the gun is the man’s daughter. Russert wants to bring in the hostage negotiators but Giardello instead orders Bolander to take a look at the files and the evidence and to try to see if he arrested the wrong man.

I’m not really sure I buy Giardello’s response. Giardello claims he has no choice but actually, it seems to me that Giardello is setting a dangerous precedent. In Baltimore, if you think a relative has been wrongly convicted, you can apparently just take someone hostage and demand the case be reopened. I’m not sure those are the rules that anyone wants to set.

Now, of course, it turns out that Bolander did arrest the wrong guy. It perhaps would have been more interesting if Bolander had look at the files and said, “Yeah, I got the right guy,” but then this episode wouldn’t be able to make a statement against the death penalty. Bolander realizes that he made a mistake and also that the actual murderer is a man who committed suicide that very evening.

While that’s going on, Pembleton and Bayliss investigate the death of an elderly woman who appears to have slipped and drowned in her bathtub. Her husband (Barnard Hughes) seems to be heartbroken. Of course, the husband actually killed her. He has fallen in love with another woman and he killed his wife so that he could be with her. I preferred this storyline to the Bolander one, just because it featured a lot of Pembleton/Bayliss scenes and a good performance from Barnard Hughes.

Finally, Munch hired a new bartender. He didn’t bother to tell his partners beforehand but how could Lewis and Bayliss possibly complain about Munch hiring Jerry Stiller to tend bar? (Technically, Stiller was playing an Irishman named McGonical.) This was a minor but likeable storyline, mostly because of Jerry Stiller’s likably bizarre performance.

So, this was yet another good but not great episode. The Bolander storyline was a bit too melodramatic for its own good. It’s not the sort of thing that would have happened during the show’s first two seasons, back when the whole point was to be realistic. But that Bayliss/Pembleton storyline featured the show’s two most compelling characters doing what they did did best. This episode was not perfect but it held my attention nonetheless.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.17 “The Old and the Dead”

Posted on July 13, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Bolander and Howard return to Homicide.

Episode 3.16 “The Old and the Dead”

(Dir by Michael Fields, originally aired on March 3rd, 1995)

When Giardello discovers that Colonel Granger (Walt MacPherson) has been hiring his brother-in-law’s shady plumbing firm to do unnecessary repairs at the city’s police stations, he leaks the story to the press. When the scandal forces Granger out, Captain Barnfather is promoted to replace him. Giardello thinks that, with his years of experience, he’ll be the obvious replacement for Barnfather. Instead, the captain position is offered to Russert. As Barnfather explains it, the mayor is aware that the majority of the voters in Baltimore are women. When Giardello mentions that even more of the voters are black, Barnfather explains that the mayor’s leadership team already has a black man, him.

Giradello is not happy and he doesn’t hold back from letting Russert know about his displeasure. I have to say that I respected Giardello for not holding back. Russert has less experience than Giardello and, from what we’ve seen of her, she doesn’t appear to be as good at her job as Giardello is. I mean, let’s be honest. Russert had an affair with Beau Felton, of all people! It’s a little bit hard to respect her judgment.

While Giardello was once again failing in his efforts to move up, both Howard and Bolander returned to duty. Howard, on light duty, still manages to solve a case. Bolander, meanwhile, is now wearing a hat to cover up the surgery scars that crisscross his head. Ned Beatty, as usual, gave a good performance as Bolander. I like Ned Beatty. For some reason, I’ve never really liked Stanley Bolander. I think it might be because he’s always complaining about something. Maybe it’s because I’m still annoyed by the amount of unnecessary time that the first season spent on Bolander’s love life. Or maybe it’s because Munch is devoted to the guy and Bolander still treats him like crap every chance that he gets. For whatever reason, Bolander has always just kind of annoyed me. That was the case with this episode. I’m not saying I felt good about it. Bolander was shot in the head and nearly died! He has every right to be grumpy. But there is just a part of me that is like, “If you hate your job so much, just retire. Otherwise, stop bitching about everything!”

Finally, Bayliss and Felton worked surprisingly well together as they investigated a skeleton found in someone’s backyard. It turned out that two men has never reported the death of their father so that they could continue to collect his social security checks.

As much as I complain about Bolander, this was not a bad episode. This was a good example of an episode where the mysteries and plotlines were less important than just watching everyone in the cast play off of each other. As of this season, the ensemble has really come together as a tight unit and each character has really come to life as an individual. That’s one reason why I enjoyed watching Bayliss and Felton work together. It was interesting to see how they interreacted and to compare it to how Bayliss worked with Pembleton and Felton with Howard.

Finally, this episode featured a cute cameo from the late Tim Russert, who is introduced as being Megan’s cousin. Felton says that he never misses Meet the Press. For some reason, I doubt that.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.12 “Partners”

Posted on May 18, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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.

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life On The Street 3.8 “All Through The House”

Posted on April 13, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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!