Robert Shepherd | 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, 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, Homicide explores the theory that, when it comes to twins, there’s always an evil one.

Episode 4.7 “Thrill of the Kill”

(Dir by Tim Hunter, originally aired on November 10th, 1995)

Pembleton and Bayliss are working with the FBI to try tack down Newton Dell (Jeffrey Donovan), a Florida man who the FBI believes has committed a series of murders up and down the interstate. He’s in Maryland now, driving a stolen truck. Pembleton and Bayliss are able to catch him, though not before three murders have been committed in their jurisdiction. However, in the Box, Newton insists that he was not the murderer. He says that the murderer was someone who was traveling with him but he refuses to give out the name. He says he can’t betray the murderer. Even when it’s pointed out that his fingerprints were found at the crime scenes, Newton insists that that the murderer wasn’t him.

Bayliss thinks that Newton is trying to set up a insanity defense. Pembleton doesn’t care. His job is to catch people who commit murder and, as far as he’s concerned, he’s done just that. Besides, Newton Dell’s story doesn’t make any sense. Why would his fingerprints be all over the crime scene if he wasn’t the killer? Why has every witness provided a description that roughly fits Newton Dell?

Strangely, neither man seems to remember that Munch earlier mentioned that Newton Dell has a twin brother.

Yes, you read that correctly. This week, Homicide — a show that started off as a very realistic and gritty crime drama — present us with a murderous twin!

Miles Dell calls the department and lets them know that he can’t let his brother go to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Soon, all of the cops are pulling up outside of a convenience store. Miles (also played by Jeffrey Donovan) is waiting for them. In the store, a dead clerk is sprawled out on the floor. So, that’s another murder that occurred because Pembleton and Bayliss somehow overlooked the evil twin theory!

The entire tone of this episode feels different from every episode that preceded it. With this episode, we hear the tortured inner thoughts of Miles Dell, we get some random slow motion, and we finally get an ending that is so over the top that it feels like a dry run for CSI or Criminal Minds. Yes, Bayliss and Pembleton do have their usual philosophical debates about the nature of evil. This is definitely a Homicide episode. However, it’s also a Homicide episode that shamelessly embraces the melodrama. There’s not a subtle moment to be found in this episode. It’s a weirdly entertaining episode but it’s still somewhat jarring to watch. This is one of those episodes that was obviously made to keep NBC happy. One need only compare it to something like Doll’s Eyes to see how different this episode was from what came before it.

Again, it’s an entertainingly trashy episode. Bayliss and Pembleton are enjoyable to listen to. Jeffrey Donovan was entertainingly over-the-top as both Newton and Miles. That said, I hope this episode was just a one-off and not a sign of what’s waiting for me over the rest of the season 4.

When this 2021 film started, I noticed that the only immediately familiar name in the opening credits was Corbin Bernsen, who was the third-billed member of the cast. Bernsen’s presence in the film did not surprise me. Bernsen has appeared in several faith-based films and he’s even directed a few.

What did surprise me was just how briefly Bernsen’s appearance actually waas. It’s a blink-and-you’ll miss it appearance and, unless I somehow missed it, I don’t think he actually has a line of dialogue in the film. He plays the uncle of one of the film’s main characters. He’s an archeologist and, whenever he finds any ancient glass at the site of any of his digs, he sends it to his nephew. The nephew eventually decides to put all that glass to good use by taping it all together and using it as the frames for his previously frameless glasses. Suddenly, whenever he puts on the glasses, he can see the past!

That’s good because one of his professors has felt guilty ever since his grandson was kidnapped. So now, he can just put on the glasses and see who did the abducting. Yay! However, another professor — a physicist — wants the glasses for himself so he drugs our hero and steals the glasses. Luckily, everything works out in the end. Bad professor goes to jail. Good professor stops drinking and is reunited with his family. And the guy with the glasses gets a recording contract in Nashville.

I guess the glasses are meant to represent faith. And the bad scientist is meant to represent everyone who says that science is more important than faith. I’m not sure that glasses that allow you to see into the past is the best way sell the idea of faith. I mean, if you’re so inclined, I guess you could spend as much time as you want praying for a pair of magic glasses that will allow you to see into the past but, at some point, you’re going to have to admit that there’s no such thing as magic glasses, no matter how much you want to believe in them. In this case, the scientist laughing at you would be proven right.

I had another thought while watching this film. A good sound mix is really important. If you want people to get anything out of your movie, it’s important that they be able to hear what your characters are saying. It’s important that the characters actually sound like they’re all in the same room as opposed to just standing in a booth and reading their lines off a piece of paper. The sound was all over the place. Sometimes, I had to strain to hear everything. Sometimes, I winced because the movie was too loud. Considering how talky this film is and how often the action segues into flashback, this movie needed a much cleaner sound to it. There’s more to making a good film than focusing the image, though this film struggled with that as well.

Anyway, the most interesting thing about this film is Corbin Bernsen showing up for 2 minutes and not saying anything. Has Bernsen become the poor man’s Eric Roberts?