Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 3.19 “Red White Black And Blue”

Posted on May 8, 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 Fridays, I will be reviewing St. Elsewhere, a medical show which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988. The show can be found on Daily Motion.

St. Elsewhere gets political!

Episode 3.19 “Red White Black and Blue”

(Dir by Eric Laneuville, originally aired on February 13th, 1985)

This week, on St. Elsewhere!

The First Lady is coming to Boston! Though she’s going to be visiting Boston General, St. Eligius has been designated as a backup hospital. While she’s in the area, the Emergency Room will be closed to everyone but her. As well, some members of the hospital staff have been flagged as security risks — including Dr. Craig!
Dr. Craig is not happy about that but eventually, he’s cleared. It turns out that his wife was the security risk because she once defended the Black Panther Party.
Betty White plays Captain Gloria Neal, a doctor who is on the First Lady’s security team. She is an old friend of Dr. Westphall’s. At first, it seems like she and Westphall might pursue a romance but it doesn’t happen. I’m going to guess this is because Gloria realized that Dr. Westphall is the most depressing man on the planet.
When a severely injured man is rushed to St. Eligius, Neal refuses to open the Emergency Room. So, Dr. Craig takes it upon himself to overrule her. The man dies on the table.
Dr. Jacqueline Wade (Sagan Lewis) follows Captain Neal around, complaining about the president’s policies. In fact, the entire hospital seems to be full of Democrats! Wow, this President sure must have been unpopular. Let’s see who it is …. hey, Ronald Reagan! Three months before this episode aired, Reagan was reelected with 58% of the vote. He carried 49 states, including Massachusetts. Apparently, everyone who voted for Walter Mondale worked at the same hospital.
Mrs. Hufnagle is back at the hospital. She is having heart problems. Dr. Westphall glumly tells the doctors that they have been neglecting her because of her terrible personality. However, not even Westphall can handle talking to her. He passes the case over to Dr. Craig.
Fiscus has dinner with Shirley Daniels, who says that she hopes she goes to prison for shooting Dr. White. The next day, Shirley is admitted to the hospital with appendicitis.
Victor Ehrlich wrong believes that a child has been abused by his mother. He gets social services involved. Later, Westphall sighs with regret and tells Victor that he did the wrong thing. Westphall is being kind of a prick here. Legally, if Ehrlich thinks that there’s been abuse, he’s required to report it. Westphall seems to be upset that Ehrlich can’t read minds.
Finally, chronic homewrecker Nurse Rosenthal has to spend the day at the hospital so her lover, Richard, spends the day with her annoying children. Well, I guess he certainly wasn’t going to spend it with his wife. I will never understand why this show felt it was necessary to spend so much time with this particular family. They were all annoying, every single one of them.

This episode opened with a homeless man using an American flag as a blanket and then went on to feature a man selling American flags getting attacked. That’s about as subtle as things got. It’s interesting that the show previously established Dr. Craig as being a Republican but apparently, with this episode, viewers were expected to believe that he was not a fan of Ronald Reagan’s.

In other words, this was not a great episode. This felt like the medical equivalent of one of those Law & Order episodes where all of the salt of the Earth cops start talking about how they never miss Morning Joe.

Finally, I feel bad for Mrs. Hufnagle, Even annoying people deserve good medical treatment!

Retro Television Review: Homicide: Life on the Street 5.8 “The True Test”

Posted on May 3, 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, a special guest star ends up in the Box.

Episode 5.8 “The True Test”

(Dir by Alan Taylor, originally aired on November 22nd, 1996)

At the end of this week’s episode, Pembleton finds out that he has finally passed his firearms exam and he’s been cleared to return to active duty. Excusing the suspension of disbelief necessary to buy that Pembleton has recovered that quickly from his stroke, it’s a good thing that Pembleton and Bayliss will be working together again. Because, seriously, Bayliss spent this episode acting like an unprofessional ass.

There’s been a murder at the exclusive Larchmont Academy. Fifteen year-old Marshall Buchanan, the only black student at the entire school, has been found on the athletic field, stabbed to death. It’s Lewis’s case but his temporary partner, Bayliss, takes charge. Bayliss is convinced that Marshall was killed by a student and that the killing was racially motivated. Bayliss is rude to the headmaster. He’s rude to Marshall’s 12 year-old roommates. He gets angry in the cafeteria and starts banging his hand on a table while everyone is trying to eat. Lewis finally asks Bayliss what his problem is. Bayliss explains that he grew up near Larchmont. His cousin desperately wanted to go to Larchmont but was rejected because he wasn’t from an old money family. Bayliss has never forgotten the way his cousin cried after getting his rejection letter.

Hey, Bayliss, you know what?

Big freaking deal. None of that matters!

Your cousin wasn’t accepted?

Oh, boo hoo. That has nothing to do with the case!

Usually, I like Bayliss and, even more importantly, I like Kyle Secor’s performance as Bayliss. But, in this episode, Bayliss was just kind of whiny. Pembleton would have told him to knock it off. Lewis just ignores him.

Bayliss is right about one thing. The murderer is a student, a 17 year-old sociopath named McPhee Broadman. (Seriously, Homicide, you couldn’t have come up with a less on-the-nose name?) McPhee is a sociopath who is looked up to by a bunch of the younger students. His mother (Sagan Lewis) is a judge and therefore, he thinks he’s untouchable. McPhee is played by a young Elijah Wood and Wood, it must be said, gives a chilling performance as the young murderer. Towards the end of the episode, a smirking McPhee confesses to the crime. Even after hearing him confess and say that he wants to kill her, McPhee’s mother still immediately starts making plans to defend him and to suppress his confession.

And she’ll probably succeed. Bayliss has an obvious personal issue with McPhee. And, as far as I could tell, neither Bayliss nor Lewis bothered to Mirandize him before interrogating him. Way to let a murderer back out on the streets, guys!

Seriously, thank God Pembleton is back.

As for Kellerman, he is still on restricted duty but he did buy Dr. Cox a drink at the Waterfront and it’s kind of easy to see where things are heading with those two. But if Pembleton can recover from a stroke in eight episodes, Kellerman can beat those bribery charges. I have faith.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 3.15 “Bye, George”

Posted on April 10, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Episode 3.15 “Bye George”

(Dir by Mark Tinker, originally aired on January 9th, 1985)

It’s another busy day at St. Eligius.

The then-Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, appears as himself, entering the ER after pulling a muscle while out for his daily run. Fiscus refuses to believe that he’s the governor. Elliot recognizes him, of course.
Three years later, Governor Dukakis ran for President and lost …. big time. Dukakis is still alive and is the earliest living unsuccessful presidential nominee. Because he lost to the first President Bush, he used to show up on the news during the second President Bush’s term. He always came across as being bitter and kind of whiny.
With Tshalla’s kidney transplant having been performed and his clinic at risk due to government corruption, Dr. Wyler finally leaves Boston and heads back to Africa. And really, it’s not a moment too soon. For all the time the show spent assuring us that Dr. Wyler was a modern-day saint, I found him to be a bit full-of-himself and a little annoying. We’ve already got Dr. Westphall and Dr. Craig on this show. We don’t need any more pompous doctors.
Speaking of Dr. Westphall, he’s depressed. Well, what else is new?
Since revealing that he only studied for six months at a fly-by-night medical school, Dr. Morrison is no longer allowed to treat patients or go on rounds. Joan Halloran (played by Nancy Stafford) returns to the hospital (and the show) and announces that she will be defending Morrison in front of the medical review board and that she hopes that Morrison will be able to continue on as a resident. Morrison just kind of shrugs. Morrison is easily depressed as Dr. Westphall.
Joan talks to everyone around the hospital and everyone agrees that Jack Morrison is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being they’ve ever known in their life. When Joan tells Jack that he is universally beloved, Jack seems to cheer up a little. Not much but a little.
Poor Mrs. Hufnagel. She’s finally about to leave the hospital but, before she goes, she asks another patient, stand-up comedian Murray Robbin (Murray Rubin), to marry her. Murray says he’ll think about it and then he promptly dies.
Murray was Elliot’s patient. Depressed by his death, Elliot goes to Westphall for advice. Westphall’s advice is as useless as usual. Given that Westphall can’t even hear the laughter of children without spending the next eight hours obsessing on about how they’re all going to grow up and die someday, he may not be the best person to talk to while feeling down.
Elliot finds Hufnagel in the chapel and they both cry together. It was a touching scene, well-played by Florence Halop and Stephen Furst.
Dr. Ehrlich took Dr. Craig out for dinner! Yay! I love it Ehrlich tries to suck up to Craig because it neve goes well. He takes the Craigs to an incredibly tacky Hawaiian place.
Uh-oh, Ehrlich’s credit card has been declined! Surely the wealthy Dr. Craig will help….
“Start washing dishes, Ehrlich,” Craig says.
As if so often the case, Ellen Craig admonishes her husband for being rude and agrees to help Victor out.

This was a great episode! Yes, Westphall and Morrison were their usual depressing selves but Elliot and Hufnagel finally got to act like real people (as opposed to just caricatures) and the bit with Ehrlich and the Craigs was wonderfully handled. Those who only know William Daniels as the kindly old Mr. Fenney are really missing out. Dr. Craig’s a great character.

I enjoyed this episode. For once, the humor and the drama were evenly balanced. With Peter White dead and the cast clicking as an ensemble, St. Elsewhere appears to have really found its pace.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 3.14 “Whistle, Wyler Works”

Posted on April 3, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, we learn why almost all of Morrison’s patients seem to die.

Episode 3.14 “Whistle, Wyler Works”

(Dir by David Anspaugh, originally aired on January 2nd, 1985)

It’s another busy day at St. Eligius.

Having finally found a kidney donor, Dr. Westphall performs the transplant. Tshalla (Larry B. Scott) gets a new kidney but Dr. Wyler is shaken to discover that, while he’s been working in Africa, surgical techniques in America have progressed to the point that Wyler now feels undertrained.
Having managed to alienate even the super patient Dr. Morrison, Mrs. Hufnagle is now working her “charm” on Bobby Caldwell. Caldwell tells Hufnagle that she doesn’t really need plastic surgery but Hufnagle seems to really want it.
Victor freaks out when he’s not included to assist in Dr. Craig’s latest big surgery. A chance meeting with Ellen Craig leads to Victor confessing that his father died when he was young and that he’s always been looking for a new father figure.
Ellen snaps at Mark for not understand how much Victor looks up at him. Yay! I always like it when Ellen stands up to Mark. That Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels were (and are) married in real life always adds an extra snap to these scenes.
Elliott appears to have a crush on one of Nurse Rosenthal’s daughters. There’s no way that’s going to end well.
Dr. Chandler returns from vacation (in reality, Denzel Washington was probably busy filming a movie) and deals with a patient (Jay Tarses) who is also a bigamist.
When the representative of a fly-by night medical school approaches Luther and tries to get him to enroll, Auschlander kicks the smarmy representative out of the hospital. Before the rep leaves, he mentions that St. Eligius already has at least one of his school’s graduates on staff.
Yep, it’s Jack Morrison.

It’s already been established that Jack got his medical degree from a Mexican medical school. In this episode, it’s further established that, whereas most doctors spends years in medical school, Jack graduated after six months. Jack explains that he still passed all of the tests that he was required to take but that he was also given credit for his life experience of working as a pharmaceutical rep.

Dr. Westphall is not amused. If someone could learn how to be a doctor that quickly, Westphall says, wouldn’t we all being doing it? Westphall points out that he put his reputation on the line to keep Jack around as a second-year resident. Westphall also says that this explains why Jack always seems to be misdiagnosing his patients and …. well, I think Westphall has a point!

This was not a bad episode, though I’m a bit weary of this Dr. Wyler storyline. Wyler doesn’t do much other than feel sorry for himself. I’m far more interested to see where things will be going with both Victor and Jack.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 3.11 “Homecoming”

Posted on February 27, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the heartbreak continues!

Episode 3.11 “Homecoming”

(Dir by David Anspaugh, originally aired on December 5th, 1984)

What a depressing episode!

Actually, it’s not totally depressing. Dr. Elliot Axelrod (Stephen Furst) survives his first night as the attending-on-duty and he even convinces cranky old Mrs. Hufnagle (Florence Halop) to go back to her room. He also handles things when a patient collapses in the hallway. One can be sure that Elliot will be given absolutely no praise for his good work because he never is. But at least, he was there and he proved himself to be more competent than anyone gives him credit for being.

Now, for the depressing stuff:

Nurse Rosenthal is continuing her affair with Richard Clarendon. This wasn’t depressing because of anything that happened in this episode. Instead, it’s just depressing that any time was devoted to these two boring characters.

After her apartment is broken into while she’s in the shower, Clancy (Helen Hunt) moves in with Jack. Jack and Clancy make for a cute couple but, watching this episode, it’s easy to see that their relationship is doomed. Clancy is young and enthusiastic. Jack is young but he moves like an old man and he’s already been through a lifetime’s worth of tragedy. Sadly, Clancy living with Jack does not last longer than one night. Clancy says that Jack acts like he’s offended by having her stuff in his apartment and she’s right. Jack is still mourning his wife and not ready to live with anyone.

Lois Wegener (Mimi Kennedy) comes home from being out of town and discovers that her husband, Andrew (John Schuck) is becoming progressively weaker from the experimental bone marrow treatment that he’s going through in an attempt to save the life of their daughter (Brandy Gold). Everyone at the hospital is impressed with Andrew’s courage but it’s obvious to me that this is not going to have a happy ending.

Kathy Martin is still in the psych ward. During this episode, she gives Fiscus the note that Shirley Daniels gave her after Shirley shot and killed Peter White.

And finally, it wouldn’t be a depressing episode without a Westphall storyline. Westphall’s daughter, Lizzie (Dana Short), comes home from college for the weekend and, without asking Westphall ahead of time, she brings along her new boyfriend, Rick (Casey Seimaszko). Lizzie assumes that Rick will be sleeping with her in her room. Westphall is not thrilled to hear about that. (It doesn’t help that Rick isn’t wearing a shirt when he and Westphall first meet.) Lizzie gets angry. Westphall points out that his dead wife would not have approved. Lizzie argues that she is now an adult and can do whatever she wants.

And you know what? I am totally on Westphall’s side here. It’s his house! Lizzie isn’t the one paying the bills. If Westphall doesn’t want Rick sleeping in her room (and, I might add, there are other rooms in the house where Rick could sleep), then Rick doesn’t sleep in her room. When I was younger, I probably would have been on Lizzie’s side but now that I’ve gotten older, I see Westphall’s point and Lizzie comes across as being a spoiled brat. I mean, if she wants to stay in the same room as Rick, they can get a motel room. How expensive could one be in 1984? This episode ends with Lizzie telling her father that she’s leaving. “Lizzie!” Westphall says but she’s already gone.

See what I mean? This was a depressing episode, even by St. Elsewhere standards. That said, it was also a good episode. Ed Flanders, David Morse, Helen Hunt, Stephen Furst, Mimi Kennedy, they all gave wonderfully empathetic performances. Your heart may hurt for them but you can’t wait to see what happens next. Sometimes, life is depressing but, like the characters on this show, you have to moving forward.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 3.9 “Up On The Roof”

Posted on February 13, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, an arrest is made.

Episode 3.9 “Up On The Roof”

(Dir by Eric Laneuville, originally aired on November 21st, 1984)

It’s another busy day at St. Eligius.

The last of the firemen (Stephen Elliott) is finally sent home. At first, he’s bitter about all of the skin grafts and all the other work that Dr. Caldwell did on him. But then his grandkids come in the hospital and room and shout, “Grandpa!” And then he steps outside and is greeted by all the other firemen. He leaves in a fire truck and Dr. Caldwell — the only angst-free doctor at St. Eligius — smiles and waves. Finally, someone on this show gets a happy ending.
Ms. Hufnagel continues to get on everyone’s nerves with her constant complaints. Dr. Fiscus dumps her on Dr. Axelrod. While the show seems to want us to be as annoyed with Ms. Hufnagel as everyone else, I have to admit that I feel sorry for her. Does she complain a lot? Yes, she does. But being in a hospital can really be scary. I complained a lot whenever I was rushed to the ER because of my asthma. I complained a lot when my mom was in the hospital. I complained a lot when my dad was in the hospital. I complained a lot when my aunt was in the hospital. Sometimes, complaining is the only comfort you have.
Dr. Morrison is upset when a friend (John Schuck) is told that his daughter cannot be treated with an experimental dialysis machine.
Nurse Rosenthal continues to have an affair with Richard Clarendon, the labor negotiator.
Dr. Christine Holz (Caroline McWilliams) comes to the hospital to perform a bone marrow transplant. Dr. Annie Cavanero invites Dr. Holz to come to her place for dinner. Cavanero is shocked when Dr. Holz reveals that she’s a lesbian and the viewer is once again reminded that this show aired in the mid-80s.
According to what I’ve read online, the original plan was for Dr. Holz to become Cavanero’s romantic partner but Cynthia Sikes refused to kiss another woman onscreen. This led to the storyline being hastily rewritten and it apparently also led to Sikes being fired from the show at the end of the third season.
Kathy Martin is still in the psych ward. When Detective Alex MacGallen (Charles Lanyer) attempts to question her about where she was when Peter White was shot, he is informed by Kathy’s doctor that Kathy has an alibi. Later, Shirley comes to the psych ward and slips Kathy a letter.
Shirley has been hiding the gun that she used to shoot Peter all over the hospital. However, when the detective finally confronts her and reveals that he knows that she killed Peter, Shirley pulls the gun on him and then run up to the rooftop.
On the roof, Dr. Westphall and Jack take their turns trying to convince Shirley to surrender to the police. After Shirley confesses and then demands to know why Jack didn’t make more of an effort to stop Peter, Shirley drops her gun and is taken into custody.

This was a depressing episode, even by the standards of St. Elsewhere. Shirley has always been one of my favorite characters and I hate the idea that she’s now going to go to prison for killing Dr. White. From a narrative point of view, someone had to shoot Peter. That was really the only way his story could end. Personally, I think it would have made more sense for Dr. Cavanero to be the shooter that Shirley. I mean, if Cavanero was going to be written off the show anyway, killing Dr. White would have given her a decent exit.

Next week, I’m sure something else depressing will happen. We’ll see!

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 3.2 “Playing God: Part Two”

Posted on November 28, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the hospital is a depressing place.

Episode 3.2 “Playing God: Part Two”

(Dir by Bruce Paltrow, originally aired on September 26th, 1984)

There was a lot going on in this episode.

Sister Domenica demanded that Sister Theresa be taken off of life support and she threatened to sue the hospital if it didn’t happen. This led to Dr. Westphall telling another long and depressing story about his dead wife. I don’t mean to be flippant about anyone’s tragedies but it’s hard not to notice that almost everything seems to lead to Westphall telling a depressing story. Westphall is one of the most saddest television characters that I’ve ever come across.

The nurses are closer to striking. A labor negotiator named Richard Clarendon (Herb Edelman) is brought in by the nurses and it’s hard not to notice that he looks a lot like Helen Rosenthal’s ex-husband. I think I can already guess where this is heading.

A sick child was brought in by a woman (Tammy Grimes) who claimed to be his fairy godmother. This gave Fiscus an excuse to get a consultation from Kathy Martin, who has abandoned the morgue for psychiatry and who is no longer dressing exclusively in black.

At home, Dr. Craig struggled with impotence. At the hospital, Dr. Ehrlich gave an awkward lecture about whether or not one can have sex after heart surgery.

The firefighters are still recovering from their burns.

Clancy got an abortion, despite Morrison’s objections.

And yet, all that drama was overshadowed by the fact that the Dr. Peter White — the drug-addicted rapist who nearly killed more than a few patients due to his own incompetence — is once again walking the halls of St. Eligius. White won his lawsuit. I’m not really sure that I understand what the basis of his lawsuit was. St. Eligius could only ask a select number of residents to return and, even if you overlook the fact that White was accused of rape, it’s not as if Dr. White was ever an especially competent doctor. It would seem that just his struggle with drug addiction would be enough to justify not asking him to return. And yet, somehow, Dr. Peter White is once again a resident at St. Eligius. (The ruling was probably handed down by a Carter judge.)

“You just can’t admit that you were wrong about me!” White snaps at Westphall.

Westphall replies that White is a terrible human being and not worthy of being a doctor and that he will not be allowed to work with any patients at the hospital. And, for once, I wanted to cheer Dr. Westphall. He may be depressing but he understands exactly who and what Peter White is.

Whatever the future may hold for the hospital, I have a feeling that it’s not going to be happy. Two episodes in and the third season has already settled into a pit of melancholy. That said, melancholy is perhaps the right mood for a medical show. When it comes to hospitals, there aren’t many happy endings.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 3.1 “Playing God, Part One”

Posted on November 21, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we start the third season of St. Elsewhere with some new opening credits!

Episode 3.1 “Playing God, Part One”

(Dir by Bruce Paltrow, originally aired on September 19th, 1984)

The opening of the third season finds that St. Eligius is just as depressing as it’s ever been.

Fiscus leads a group of new residents, including Dr. Elliott Axelrod (played by new series regular Stephen Furst), through the hospital. Fiscus comes across as being an arrogant jackass. I guess that’s the appeal of being a second-year resident. You get to look down on all of the first-years.

Jack is still dating Clancy (young Helen Hunt). When Clancy tells Jack that she’s pregnant, he’s shocked when she says she’s planning on getting an abortion. Jack proposes to her. Clancy says she’s not ready to get married and she’s not ready to have a baby.

Dr. Craig is still yelling at Dr. Ehrlich. Dr. Ehrlich is still annoying the nurses.

Speaking of the nurses, they’re going on strike!

Three firefighters (one of whom is played by Erin Hudson) are injured while on the job and are rushed to St. Eligius with severe burns. Luckily, plastic surgeon Bobby Caldwell (Mark Harmon, without that terrible mustache he wore during season two) is on call.

Dr. Peter White is working in a shady clinic and is still suing for his right to be a resident.

A traffic accident leaves one nun in a coma and apparently brain-dead. Sister Doemnica (Michael Learned) wants to take her off life-support. Westphall (Ed Flanders), who seems even more depressed than usual, disagrees. It looks like there’s going to be some conflict about this. For once, I’m on Westphall’s side. I’m believer in hope.

Auschlander is still battling his cancer.

In other words, it’s another day at St. Eligius. The third season premiere did a good job of re-introducing viewers to the hospital. The snarkiness of Fiscus’s tour nicely balanced all of the more dramatic moments in the episode. If anything has me worried, it’s the possible return of the loathsome Peter White. How is the hospital going to deal with the return of a man who they all know is a rapist, even if he was somehow acquitted? I guess we’ll find out.

Retro Television Review: St. Elsewhere 2.21 “Rough Cut”

Posted on October 24, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, St. Eligius loses a resident.

Episode 2.21 “Rough Cut”

(Dir by Eric Laneuville, originally aired on May 9th, 1984)

Bobby Caldwell and Joan Halloran decide to stop being Boston’s most boring couple by taking an impromptu trip to Paris. But then Bobby catches himself in his zipper while trying to put on his pants sans underwear and the trip is cancelled. Bobby spends the rest of the episode walking very carefully.

Fiscus agrees to pose for a story on eligible Boston bachelors and soon finds himself being photographed wearing only a bow-tie and a pair of black briefs. That’s more of Howie Mandel than I’ve ever wanted to see. Potential suitors start to call the hospital. Fiscus is excited until his discovers that they’re all men.

Dr. Wendy Armstrong commits suicide.

St. Elsewhere was a show that frequently mixed comedy and drama but it was still undeniably jarring how this episode went from Howie Mandel getting half-naked and Mark Harmon stiffly moving down a hospital corridor to Dr. Armstrong downing a bunch of pills and dying in the OR. Wendy killed herself after she was told that she would be invited back to do the second year of her residency. (The first two seasons of St. Elsewhere represented a year in the life of its characters.) Bulimic, feeling guilty about a patient who miscarried, and traumatized by her assault at the hands of Peter White, Wendy ended things.

Before Wendy’s suicide, Westphall, Auschlander, and Craig had decided to cut Morrison from the program. While Craig and Auschlander respected Morrison as a person, they felt that he was still struggling as a doctor. Seriously, Dr. Craig? You took his dead wife’s heart but you won’t find him a place at the hospital? However, with Wendy dead, Morrison is invited to take her spot. Morrison accepts. So, I guess that worked out for him.

To the surprise of no one, Dr. White is also cut from the program. He loudly announces that he’s going to sue for his right to continue as a resident. “I’ll be back,” he shouts, sounding like Warren Stacy at the end of 10 To Midnight. Remember how that turned out?

10 To Midnight (1983, dir by J. Lee Thompson, DP: Adam Greenberg)

This was a good episode. Even though I never really cared much for Wendy’s character, her death was still handled well and it was emotionally effecting. Next week, the second season of St. Elsewhere comes to a close.

Retro Television Review: Law and Order 6.13 “Charm City” and Homicide 4.11 “For God And Country”

Posted on October 19, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Homicide crosses over with Law & Order.

Law & Order 6.13 “Charm City”

(Dir by Ed Sherin, originally aired on February 7th, 1996)

Homicide 4.11 “For God and Country”

(Dir by Ed Sherin, originally aired on February 9th, 1996)

This week, we have a two-part cross-over between Law & Order and Homicide.

On Law & Order, things start in New York City. A chemical attack on a subway train leaves 20 people dead. Because the train was specifically heading into Harlem and all of the victims were black, it is suspected that the attack was racially motivated. In Baltimore, Frank Pembleton and Tim Bayliss hear about the attack and are reminded of a similar attack on a black church, which occurred five years prior. Pembleton was the primary on the church attack. He and Bayliss head to New York City, where they meet and quickly get on the nerves of Detectives Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt).

Pembleton’s investigation uncovers that a man from Baltimore, Brian Egan (Kevin Geer), not only had access to the chemicals used in both attacks but also that’s he currently in New York. When Briscoe and Curtis arrest Egan and fail to get him to confess, Pembleton asks for permission to interrogate him. Pembleton, being Pembleton, rather easily gets Egan to confess to having committed the church bombing. However, before getting the confession, Pembleton pretends not to hear Egan say that he no longer wants to continue talking. In typical Law & Order (if not Homicide) fashion, the confession is tossed out.

Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) and Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy) still get their conviction. (And Claire gets an admirer in the form of Tim Bayliss.) However, it’s obvious that Egan was not working alone. Egan says that he will never name names.

That changes when his wife is murdered and his teenage son goes missing. Homicide opens with Bayliss investigating the poisoning of Egan’s wife. He and Pembleton eventually track down Egan’s son and they get him to admit that he saw his uncle, former NSA agent Col. Alexander Rausch (J.K. Simmons), murder his mother. Because Brian Egan has said that he’ll only reveal the truth of the conspiracy if his son is brought to New York, Briscoe and Curtis show up in Baltimore.

While Curtis, Bayliss, and Pembleton track down Colonel Rausch, Briscoe hangs out with Munch. Their friendly banter goes south as soon as Briscoe mentions that he once knew a Gwen Munch in New York. Gwen is John Munch’s ex-wife and John is not happy when he finds out that Briscoe slept with Gwen. John Munch spends the rest of the episode drinking heavily. Stanley Bolander would not approve.

As for Col. Rausch, he is captured and he turns out to be a smug snake. (He’s played by J.K. Simmons, after all.) Pembleton wants to see Rausch prosecuted for the church bombing and he especially wants to see racist Rausch publicly humiliated. New York, however, wants to prosecute him for the subway attack. Claire comes down to Baltimore and gets a judge to agree that Rausch should first be sent to New York.

Rausch doesn’t care. He has a heart condition so he simply stops taking his heart pills and then drops dead while waiting for the train to take him to the Big Apple. The episodes ends with Pembleton sobbing as he realizes Rausch will never be humiliated at a trial. The New York cops shrug and say, “Sorry, Frank.”

I enjoyed this crossover quite a bit. It was interesting to see two police dramas, each with a very different style, come together to tell one big story. As Homicide always celebrated the lengths that Pembleton would go to get a confession in the Box, it was amusing to see what would actually happen to one of those confessions if it was brought to court. Jack McCoy is not at all amused by Pembleton’s tactics. Meanwhile, Briscoe, Curtis, and Claire was allowed to loosen up a bit when they went to Homicide and I enjoyed watching them shed their “just-the-facts” personas. If the Law & Order episode was ultimately superior to the the Homicide episode, that’s just because the Law & Order episode featured an actual mystery to be solved whereas the Homicide episode occasionally felt as if it was padded out a bit. On Homicide, it was obvious that Colonel Rausch was guilty and, from the minute he started to cough during the interrogation, it was easy to guess what his ultimate fate would be.

(I also have to say that it was interesting to compare this episode of Law & Order to watch Law & Order has become today. How this show went from featuring McCoy confidently doing his job to Nolan Price essentially begging his co-counsel, on a weekly basis, to actually do her job is something that is worth considering.)

Overall, this was a good crossover. For those who want to watch it, the Law & Order episode is available on Hulu and Disney+ while Homicide can be found on Peacock and Tubi.