How Four Groundbreaking Television Shows Played The Role in Gay and Lesbian Representation, Introduction and Part 1

 

From A White Cis Male

Who Loved TV

 

I've always been incredibly open-minded when it comes to television shows even if I as a white, cis male am not always the intended demographic.  My problems with Shonda Rhimes have nothing to do with her being an African-American woman, its because she's a terrible writer and her shows demonstrate it. Conversely in the past decade I've found characters I recognize in series I as a white cis male should not, whether they are in Ramy, Reservation Dogs or Pose.  Yet I've ranked all of these shows among my ten best of the years they aired because I truly believe great storytelling is universal.

Those of you who've read my reviews over the last few years in particular know how inclusive I've been to series that should, by any definition, be outside my comfort zone. These include such extraordinary limited series as Fellow Travelers, Capote Vs. The Swans and Ripley.  But while I've talked a lot about how much gay and lesbian representation in current TV can lead to extraordinary television, I've rarely looked backward.

So in celebration of Pride Month I thought I would do just that and take a look at how four series that helped usher in the Golden Age of TV were groundbreaking because they looked at something that America had never seen before – and who many had a lot of trouble adjusting to.

It's said that the era of Peak TV was one of Difficult Men. As those of us who came of age during that period (I was one) one of the most radical things they did was make many of these difficult men homosexuals and in many cases complicated – and in several cases, truly monstrous. This could not have been a pretty picture for the gay and lesbian community. It was one thing to want representation on film and TV but I remember how so much of it was trying to prove they weren't a threat. It could not have been fun to suddenly get representation and then wonder: "This is gonna confirm everything the Moral Majority thinks of us."

Perhaps that was true. I'd argue that these characters were a vital step forward. If representation matters it is important to illustrate that you can be more than the model minority. This has always been true, even if in recent years some shows like Euphoria and Scandal have taken it to an extreme few would willingly follow. But they are necessary, not just to paint a fuller picture but to tell truer and more real stories.

So let's begin in the beginning. And that starts in the darkest place imaginable.

 

Part 1

"OZ Didn't Make You A Bitch"

Dealing With Queerness and Love in the Darkest of Places

 

Everyone wants to argue that the era of Peak TV began with The Sopranos in January of 1999. I have always argued that it really began in June of 1997 when OZ debuted. Critics like Matt Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz acknowledge that shows like The Sopranos couldn't happen without OZ but they still insist that didn't begin there.

Because I was there I understand why. Critics and awards shows immediately responded to the later show. The reaction to OZ was decidedly mixed. Some magazines like Entertainment Weekly always had it on their ten best list; TV Guide never really liked it at all. But considering that by the time OZ came to an end in 2003 and so much of what critics found repulsive at the time – the horrible, brutal deaths usually in graphic detail, the endless horrible profanity, no characters to root for, no real sign of progress – would become the kind of things that were praised in The Wire and Deadwood and to an extent in The Shield, I still can't understand why so many critics look down on it even now.

Now with the benefit of the time I think I know what one of the biggest issues was. The nudity and the openly gay relationships that dominated every episode. I mean the media of TV criticism was dominated, even more so then today, by straight white males. And in the dim dark days of the 1990s  - which trust me were far more homophobic then today – to have a show where in the Pilot you see Beecher, who Tom Fontana said represented the HBO viewer, getting raped by a member of the Aryan brotherhood – well, let's just say it might have been easier for them to deal with a mobster who yearned whatever happened to Gary Cooper as the show that brought on the Golden Age.

For the record I don't blame those critics one bit: OZ wasn't an easy watch even if you could somehow removed the gay undertones that were present in almost every episode. I won't lie: the open nudity for someone in college on a regular basis was disconcerting in the first season and Fontana and the cast kept pushing it with each new one. (Lee Tergesen would say in the commentary that the cast would start to work out more when they realized just how much nudity they were going to have to do.)

But based on what I read at the time (which wasn't much) OZ's willingness to put homosexual relationships so front and center was something that was immensely respected by what was then called the gay and lesbian community. And I honestly don't think Shonda Rhimes or any of the many LGBTQ+ series that have followed in the past decade in particular could have happened without OZ showing these kinds of relationships in the most brutal and horrible way imaginable.  Who knows? Maybe it even helped. Once you've shown the twisted love story of Beecher and Keller, any other gay relationship has to look like a Harlequin romance.

I need to be clear that on OZ there was a division between openly gay men and those who didn't admit even to themselves they were gay, if not sexual predators. There were quite a few examples of the former during the series but understandably they got buried under the latter who were the series regulars. Still I respect Fontana for what he did.

Early in Season 2 we meet a character named Richie Hanlon (Jordan Lage). He's overheard a conversation about the rape of Leo Glynn's daughter. He goes to see Father Mukada. This is how it opens:

Hanlon: I like to take it up the ass. Some people think it's perverse. But it's my choice so fuck them.

Ray is puzzled by this.

Hanlon: I choose to take it up the ass. But rape…that's something else.

In what is almost a throwaway exchange Ray asks Richie if he was raped. Hanlon says  casually. "Yes. But that's not why I'm here." There's an entire saga told in that line, not the least of which is Hanlon's resignation. He knows that there's nothing to be gained by telling the horrible thing that's happened to him; it’s a reality the warden and the hacks are unwilling to even try to solve.

Just as tellingly Hanlon is seen as inferior to the Aryan brotherhood who we know regularly rape and sodomize other prisoners and feel no disconnect when they say they're not f---ts. This is particularly true for Vern Schillinger who we will see sodomize the brain damaged Cyril O'Reilly later than season and completely deny it years after the fact.

Indeed one of the more uncomfortable truths about OZ – which have to make it tough watching even now – is just how clearly so many of the prisoners are not just sexual predators but how freely they abuse much younger men. This is true of both Schillinger and Adebisi, who we will see multiple times molesting teenagers. We never see it as graphically (OZ had almost no sex scenes and the few that were televised were heterosexual) but the viewer saw just enough. It's hard to forget a scene where Adebisi has tied a naked Kenny Wangler (JD Williams) to the bed and unties him every morning, only to tie him back up the next night.  Kenny is just eighteen at the time and its very important to note he's far from innocent. In fact in the episode prior to this he's ordered the murder of his wife for stepping out on him and has laughed about it to his friends before going to her funeral. Nevertheless seeing him during this scenes is horrifying in its implications.

During the third season Adebisi has started to work at the AIDS ward for an elaborate plan of revenge. He's drawn the blood of a dying man so he can infect one of his tormentors with it, which is honestly horrible enough. During it the man he's infected (though he doesn't know it) asks why he wants to leave the cafeteria to work with a bunch of "f—s".

Adebisi: "Out there, I hate them. But in here, sometimes you need your dick sucked."

You get the feeling this compartmentalizing is far from uncommon in OZ and that Adebisi and Schillinger have just taken it to an extreme. Sister Pete (Rita Moreno) will make it clear to Beecher that there are some men who do this.

Beecher, of course, is a special case by this point. I actually remember the first episode he and Keller met: it was the first episode of OZ I ever saw.  It was the episode that introduced Keller – or as Augustus Hill put in the narration: "Boy meets boy."

When they first start sharing a cell this is their first exchange:

Beecher: Are you a f--?

Keller: I do what I have to do.

By the end of that episode we know that Keller knows Schillinger and that he's working a plan to manipulate Toby so that he and Vern can destroy him emotionally and then physically.

During the first season and a half of their, shall we say, complicated love story we're not sure if Keller is the first man Beecher had sex with. We know that Schillinger saved Keller previously and while its assumed they had a similar relationship Fontana never tells us one way or the other. Keller has been married three times ("Four if you count Bonnie, who I married twice") and during the first season we see all three of his exes. We're honestly not sure that Keller was even bisexual before he came to Oz.

And then in Season 4 we learn about his past. He is the suspect in the killings of three homosexual young men in the year before he was arrested and sent to prison. (This storyline will form the backbone of Beecher and Keller's relationship in the final two seasons.) It's only later in the season that he confesses he killed those three men after he had sex with them. Mukada asks why. "I didn't want them to tell," he says simply.

Chris Meloni's work on OZ is one of the three or four best performances on the entire series. He would start work on Law & Order: SVU while OZ was still on the air but the producers were more than willing to allow Meloni to keep acting on as Keller. (There's a certain irony in this as you can see that this is exactly the kind of case that Eliot Stabler would be trying to solve on the show at any time during its run.) What's fascinating is that for much of his tenure Keller was a man tormented by some of the horrible things he did. At one point he would tell Sister Pete that "We don't choose God. He chooses us." And he made it very clear that it was too late for him. After that decision he promptly decides to kill two men that Beecher has slept with, theoretically to upset the applecart under the new management but mostly out of revenge.

Beecher spent the entire series knowing that his love for Chris Keller was by far the best and worst thing that ever happened to him. He didn't want to love him, not just because he knew what a horrible person Keller was, but because the two constantly brought out the worst parts of each other.

Complicating things was Beecher's spiritual journey during this same period. In one of the more inspired storylines of OZ during Season 3 Beecher would form a friendship with Kareem Said that was very close to a conversion to Islam. The decision would temporarily cost Said his leadership of the Muslims in Em City but neither man regretted it. But because homosexuality is against the preaching of Islam Said disapproved and made this very clear.

There were many inspired discussions of this between the two men on the subject. At one point Said told Beecher that this 'thing he has for Keller' was hurting his growth. Beecher was painfully honest: "I don't want to love him but I do. And as for Allah, I'll deal with him when the time comes." It is a measure of both men's growth that this was not a dealbreaker for Said and he would try to lead Beecher through it.

The sad part is Said was right: Beecher's relationship with Keller was toxic. The most horrible touch came in the final season. Keller would be convicted of the murder of Bryce Tibbits, one of the gay men he was accused of killing and sent to death row. Beecher, who was paroled earlier that season, worked pro bono and got him off. But Keller was so jealous of Beecher's freedom that he ended up tricking Toby into picking up an illegal drug that would violate Toby's parole – and then called the cops to make sure it happened. When Beecher returned he said: "Same old story. I got fucked in the ass."

And yet when the show is over, when the bodies have fallen, one of the last scenes is of Beecher talking to Sister Pete about love:

"When God was making the Universe why did He make something so wonderful so fucking painful?"

Sister Pete, who's had her own struggles with the question says: "I think He thought we could handle it."

It's an exchange that could just as easily serve so many queer relationships beyond TV – maybe even being gay itself.

And I've never forgotten one of the earliest episodes of Six Feet Under. David and Keith are sitting at home watching OZ with a kind of fervor. During it Keller recites one of his most famous lines and both Keith and David mouth it:

OZ didn't make you a bitch. You were born one.

Considering that Six Feet Under debuted just a few weeks after Season 4 ended in the wrong hands this could have seemed like selfless promotion of the network. I never looked it at the way.  Alan Ball, it's worth remembering was a gay man himself perhaps the first openly gay man to become a showrunner in TV history. And given how much of his real life would influence that show I find it easily to believe that there were watch parties like this among his community for much of the late 1990s.

Of course it was because of Alan Ball that gay men would have a more realistic and slightly healthier relationship to see on HBO in the near future. That will be the subject of the next article in this series.

Hollywood Has Spent A Century Playing A Part. I've No Sympathy That They Thought It Was Real Life

 

Ever since Hollywood was founded at the start of the 20^th century it has always been a business first and everything else second. The talent is aware of this as a basic level – they make money, have unions and go out on strikes – but they've always mistaken their  value to the rest of society.

They truly believe at some basic level that they are artists firsts and business should always be a secondary consideration. They've always fought with the heads of studios, executives and the people who only consider their precious films and TV a commodity that they are using to generate revenue for their business – a business that, despite what the talent thinks, is not a vital industry to Americans. They don't need it the way they need food or shelter or clothing or anything else. It's  something they want to see if they have free time and that they don't want to pay a fortune for.

The talent has never truly understood where they fit in society and because they are all far wealthier than the average American they either don't comprehend or don't care how little their product matters to anyone besides themselves, the critics who review their work, the people who is responsible for promoting and the studios who finance it. To them their product and its artistic purity means more to them then whether it makes money for the people who invest in it or if the people who they are ostensibly make it for actually want to pay for it. Because they get paid regardless of those factors – far more than most of their audience will make in a lifetime – that's the least of their concerns and therefore should be irrelevant to everybody else involved. Business doesn't work that way and never has.

I've recently come to think that the reason Hollywood believes it is more important not just in America but the world at large has to do with the fact that, ever since Fox News and every major Republican politician I know of has made a talking point of attacking them, they believe that the right must be afraid of what they have to say. Combined with their natural distaste for Republicans that dates as far back as Nixon and their already inflated sense of self-importance they've come to believe that the entire country revolves around them.

They seem unwilling or unable to accept a basic truth: the right only cares about what they say or do as long as helps them maintain their power.  They are essentially just another in a long line of straw men argument Republicans have used to help win over working class voters since the 1970s. They are just a means to an end and anything that they can do to help them maintain their power is welcome. And in the past decade in particular Hollywood has been more than willing to give them ample material to hold on to their power.

It's no secret that Hollywood has been struggling immensely in the last decade for multiple reasons, some of them beyond the industry's control, some of which almost certainly has to be the responsibility of the talent. How much their political posturing in the last decade has been a result of the industry's economic shortcomings is impossible to quantify; how much their own labor stoppages did to affect it is not. But for Hollywood, all of this has been irrelevant. They've always thought that regardless of their own actions they should be allowed to carry on exactly as they always have, no matter how much the industry is shrinking and suffering do to the bad economic times. Their needs must always come first; their projects, their royalties, their salaries. And if the industry can't afford to make it because so many studios are being forced to merge or have to deal with political headwinds, well, that's the corporations fault not theirs.

Hollywood has to be aware how much revenues are shrinking, how many businesses are being forced to merge, how much the internet is taking over their world and shrinking their opportunities. But they don't seem to comprehend that these are decisions made of economic necessity and certainly not anything they had to do with it. And even if they did realize that they seem unwilling to acknowledge that they have no real power to fight the tide.  They're not an industry that the government is going to bail out like it did the auto industry and the financial industry after the economic meltdown of 2008. While they may think that because they are activists and say the right things they have more influence they do, none of that counts for political or economic power, which are the only two things that can help them in this situation. And they certainly can't count on the masses of Americans for support in their time of need – which is the point of this article.

I've been vaguely aware of how during the last year there has been a corporate battle for Warner Brothers and its holding by bigger companies, first Netflix, then Paramount.  The industry has been fighting tooth and nail to stop this with all the power they have – which is to say they've been posting on social media and protesting, doing everything they can to convince us that if either deal happens it will be the first domino that will trigger the apocalypse that will destroy the world as we know it.  I haven't weighed in on this for a very basic reason.

I couldn't care less. I know that as someone for whom TV and movies is a vital part of his life, both professionally and personally I should feel something – anger, despair, frustration at how capitalism is destroying anything. I feel absolutely nothing. At all.

And if you asked ten, a hundred, even a thousand people about this, I'm pretty sure none of them would be aware of this deal or why it bothers Hollywood. And even if you could explain why, I'm willing to argue every single one of them would say the same thing: "So what?"

Because I've been over this a couple of times and I really can't see how this will affect the live of the average American or anyone who doesn't work in Hollywood. And just to be clear all of the people it will affect – they already make more money in a month then most of us will in a lifetime. They're not going to starve any time soon. And the world will not suffer because there are fewer movies or TV shows coming from fewer sources. The industry might but I fail to see how it will affect American politics or the price of gas or bring about peace in the Middle East.

Earlier this year I discussed the difference between a necessity and a convenience. In the case of movies and TV I can't call them either. Even for me it is  as best an indulgence, something that makes your life richer in some way but that if you had to, you could live without.

That, I hate to break it to the industry, is what every single film, TV show or anything else does, is to the average American. Some of us are glad its here, many of us will utilize it, but none of us really need it. If the apocalypse that half of the films and TV shows are telling us is inevitable does come, the last thing most of us are going to care about is that we'll never be able to see the most recent spinoff of The Walking Dead or hear Chris Hardwick explain what it meant for the story. Sadly this is true even coming from yon author.  I don't think I could survive an apocalypse but I don't think my first priority would be that I'd never be able to see the most recent season of Slow Horses. 

So when I read as I did last night about a town hall that the industry had about how much this merger was going to be a death knell for it my first reaction was: did they all drive limos to get to this meeting of the people? Because increasingly every time I hear Hollywood taking swings at the evil corporate overlords I'm honestly getting out of touch conservative vibes from them. Oh lord, these studios are merging. How will I ever be able to sell my limited series adaptation of Anna Karenina with Vronsky as a biracial transgender and Anna throwing herself in front of a Tesla?

Ever since the 2024 election I've increasingly come to believe that Hollywood has lost the narrative thread of their own behavior. They've completely failed to convince the masses that a white billionaire that they spent much of the thirty years prior to his running for President was a complete monster who was against everything that good people stood for.  They still hold some kind of belief that they are like the average American, making 20 million dollars a year with a crowd of paparazzi and social media following their every move.  And they can't seem to get why so many things are bad in the world, even though they've been wearing pins and ribbons on red carpets and shouting out causes when they receive awards. You know, like you and me.

Very few people in the industry are willing to admit they have failed in their mission and even fewer are willing to blame the public directly for their failures. So they've turned their ire on the corporations and studios which have made it possible for them become wealthy and famous in the first place, saying with a straight face that you shouldn't trust billionaires (Colbert) and that millions of people are watching us (Kimmel) That raw numbers have made it very clear this is not the case – just 6.7 million people watched Colbert's final episode – have done nothing to convince them of the belief that the people are with them. In truth when Kimmel or any late night host says that they have millions of views on the internet, I get serious vibes of POTUS claiming how big his crowd sizes are.

But the difference between them is, ten years after he entered the arena, the President's followers have made it clear they will still show up to vote for him or vote against his perceived enemies. That is a staying power that I just don't see in the industry for anyone during this same decade. If the masses were on the side of Hollywood, as so many of the talent insists, there would be some mathematical proof of it in the ratings or the revenues or the box office to back this up. Everything that I've seen during this period only indicates that this is not the case.

Hollywood is a business first and anything else second. Those who argue otherwise are also in a business and have a different set of standards then the bosses do. Part of the problem with the talent is that most of them seem to believe the latter far more then they listen to the former. If they'd been more willing to do this, their industry almost certainly wouldn't be in the economic trouble its in.

So no, I don't feel sorry for those people in Hollywood worried about the health of their industry.  That is, as they say, a rich person problem and its not one that the majority of America has. You'd think considering how much time they've claimed to talk for the average American they'd have realized this. But considering how many of them were willing to move to another country after the 2024 election and how many still talk about it, I think they'll just be fine.  They'll still be getting royalties from those evil corporations, after all. That's why they went on strike during 2023, right? So that they could get their fair share like every other working stiff who gets money from a TV show they made in 1998 that no one watched.

 

Why I've Voted for Chuck Schumer Before And Will Again

 

 

As my readers know I'm a resident of New York State. The first election I could cast a ballot in was in 1998, the first time Chuck Schumer was running for the Senate to vacate the seat held by long time Republican Al D'Amato who was retiring.

I voted for him that year and every time he's been up for reelection ever since I've always cast my vote for him. I acknowledge Schumer is phlegmatic rather than charismatic but that's never been a disqualifier for me. Schumer has always met the benchmark I have for an elected official: he's a good public servant because he fulfills the only three masters any elected official should: the Democratic Party, the voters of the state of New York and the American people. I ask no more of my leaders then that nor should any voter.

During the 21^st century Schumer has moved up the rankings of leadership within the Senate, finally becoming minority leader in 2016 – not a great time for any Democrat to be in charge of anything. In my opinion in what has been a very turbulent time for all three of the constituencies an elected official should Schumer has served all three with as much distinction and grace as humanly possible – and with far fewer rewards then at any time in American history. He became a prominent name in the establishment at the exact time both parties were becoming as virulently anti-establishment as possible and for that reason he has become the target of horrific personal attacks not just from the Republicans and conservatives – something any Democrat who came to Washington in the era of Fox News has to be used too – but by voices within his own party. To the point that even though he has done everything that any elected leader can reasonably be expected to do there are many who think that, if the Democrats regain the majority this November, his reelection to an office he held as recently as two years ago is far from assured.

I've had many reasons to reflect on why this is the case and I believe that much of this reasoning is because, during his tenure as minority leader or majority leader, he has not been to Senate Democrats what his counterpart to Mitch McConnell has been for Republicans: an obstructor, a destroyer of every norm the Senate was known for in the two centuries before McConnell was elected. One might find it paradoxical that a man who the left in particular has famously considered the biggest Congressional boogeyman long before the 2016 election would want someone like that as one of their leaders but it makes perfect sense when one considers that at its core the far left has had as little use for institutions as McConnell and the overwhelming majority of Congressional Republicans in the 21^st century have. They never had much use for institutions when they were working properly; now that they've become ossified so thoroughly that have no use at all.

This would go against everything Schumer is, both as a Senator and as a Democrat. Unlike most progressives he remembers a time before McConnell. When he entered the Senate Trent Lott and then Bill Frist served as leadership for Republicans and Tom Daschle and Harry Reid as leadership for Democrats. None of these men were perfect but in my lifetime McConnell by far has been the biggest outlier as a Senate leader of either party. Considering that John Thune took over leadership when Trump won reelection its clear he's not the same kind of leader I've been used to as a Republican in a long time. It remains to be seen if he will become the kind of obstructionist McConnell was if and when the Democrats regain the majority and the Presidency but there have been signs – small but still present – that he does represent a different kind of leadership then I've been used to from Senate Republicans.

After the 2024 election Schumer was where he was in 2016: Senate Minority Leader. The major difference was that the Democrat voter seemed to be engaged in the kind of election denialism that puts anything Republicans did to shame. Despite Trump winning with the biggest margin of his three candidacies and the GOP gaining control of both Houses of Congress, a poll in January said that nearly two-thirds of Democrats did not want Congressional Democrats to go along with the White House. In other words regardless of the verdict of the voters and the fact that the Democrats really had no power to do anything, the Democratic voters wanted men like Schumer to act like McConnell did when he said: "Our job is to make Barack Obama a one-term President." Never mind McConnell had failed at that or that Trump could not for reelection.

So Chuck Schumer chose to do the one thing absolutely guaranteed to piss off the left. He ignored them and chose to act like a grownup. This has infuriated many Senate Democrats such as Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland both of whom have been listed as wanting Schumer's job if the Democrats win the majority.

They can afford to this because their state's Congressional delegations are almost entire made of Democrats and are far more blue in elections then New York is. For a man whose state has at least four swing districts in the last two elections, it's not a position that Schumer is comfortable taking. The fact that his state had until last year Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elise Stefanik among its Congressional delegation, it’s an approach that is reasonable – something you can never accuse either Murphy or Van Hollen of being.

Schumer spent the first half of 2025 under fire from the Democrats for refusing to shut the government down. He then gave into his base and let them shut it down until after the 2025 elections led to victory for Democrats in off-year elections. Then he let members of his delegation vote to reopen the government when it was clear his party had gotten all the political juice they could out of him. The left was infuriated when he reopened the government, most clearly because they didn't want to acknowledge that they'd been outmaneuvered by the establishment.

Schumer has spent much of 2026 so far patiently waiting for the President to do his work for him. This basically involving sticking a sock in his mouth and saying nothing publicly during the Iran War. I have no doubt behind the scenes he has been supporting the vote for the War Powers Act and waiting for the President to do what he does best and go after those people he found insufficiently loyal during the Republican primaries for Senate.

The President, as always, lived up to his expectations and as a result Bill Cassidy and John Cornyn are lame ducks who owe the President nothing and will be in the Senate for another six months. In the last few weeks we've seen how the Senate has increasingly been rebelling against Trump's policies, first by passing the War Powers Act in both houses of Congress, then by making it very clear that they had no intention of voting for reconciliation if either his supposed 'revenge' fund was part of the budget. Both times this was seen as Congressional Republicans standing up to the President but there's no doubt that Schumer's hidden hand was involved as he made sure his caucus would be willing to support them. This was a loss for the President that will almost certainly help the Democrats in their battle for control of the Senate in six months.

Its not clear how big a role Schumer has played in recruiting candidates to run this year and how much is the DNC but having spent so much time working with Sherrod Brown it's hard to imagine that didn't play a factor in Brown choosing to run for his seat in Ohio one years after losing it or helping such possible red state Democrats as Mary Peltola running for Alaska. With the added bonus of Roy Cooper running in North Carolina, the odds were looking up for the Democrats going as 2026 began.

He has been helped, I should add, by the fact that the left's efforts to try and recruit progressive candidates for red states has basically come up short. (There is one exception which I'll be dealing with.) Jasmine Crockett was trounced by James Talarico in Texas and combined with Ken Paxton defeating Cornyn in the primary the odds in winning this seat have increased dramatically. This past Tuesday a kind of shadow proxy battle took place in Iowa where Zach Wahls, a progressive candidate who made it clear he was not going to vote for Chuck Schumer if elected to the Senate ran again Josh Turek who Schumer endorsed. Turek trounced Wahls in the primary by nearly 25 percent and as a result Iowa has now moved to Leans Republican. That either state would be in play would have been unthinkable even a few months ago.

This brings me to what was considered just a few weeks ago as the major impetus for the death knell of Chuck Schumer's career in the Senate: the race to replace Susan Collins in Maine.

During that race Schumer had endorsed Janet Mills, the former governor of Maine who was immensely popular. Almost from the start in the polls she trailed the problematic Graham Platner whose campaign started with his staff all resigning within weeks even before the revelation of his unawareness of a Nazi tattoo on his chest.

Schumer, who had been in the Senate as long as Collins has been there knows just how difficult it is for the Democrats to beat her in Maine. He knew just six years earlier the Democrats had nominated Sara Gideon, a very progressive candidate who had led in every poll all the way up to election day but who Collins had beaten by nearly 9 percent. He knows the history of how many Democrats have managed to win seats in the Senate because of flawed Republican candidates. And he had to know that even if Maine Democrats were willing to overlook these flaws in the primary the Republicans and Collins almost certainly wouldn't. Considering that they'd been making remarks about Platner's flaws for public office as early as November of 2025, he knew the knives were going to come out the moment Platner won the primary and never stop until election day.

For whatever reason, perhaps because of the huge lead in the polls Platner had over Mills, he backed down and Mills withdrew from the race a month ago. This was seen as a mortal blow to Schumer's leadership.

A week before the primary it’s a very different story. Just a few days ago the New York Times ran an article about how multiple ex-girlfriends of Platner made very clear what a toxic personality he was. Platner's campaign has denied it and the left is rallying behind him. The problem is these stories aren't going away. Earlier today The Atlantic have a Graham Platner problem, infuriating the Democratic party. While many progressives such as Ro Khanna are reiterated their support, others such as Robert Zimmerman have said "Democrats who defend him sound like Republicans defending Donald Trump after the Access Hollywood state." Cheyenne Hunt, who'd organized against Eric Swalwell over allegations of sexual assault, rescinded her endorsement of Platner Thursday.  Brian Romick, president of Democratic Majority for Israel, made it very clear "people need to answer for this."

Most tellingly many Democrats are researching the mechanism to replace Platner should he withdraw from the ticket. A senior Democratic operative said: "The calculus here is that this is a must win seat and the safer-bet candidate is the best bet when the Senate is on the line. I don't say this often but I think in this case some people owe Chuck Schumer an apology.

Schumer has been silent on the subject but multiple Democrats are very concerned about losing Maine then they were before. It basically breaks down along party lines: progressives have doubled down while more mainstream Democrats are getting angrier. As well they should. Just last week Platner was beating Collins 51 percent to 42 percent. A poll on Thursday showed the lead had dropped to 48 percent to 43 percent. Simultaneously last month prediction markets gave Platner a 70 percent chance of beating Collins. It's now down to 57 percent – and that's before the primary.

It's impossible to think that Janet Mills could have generate this kind of controversy had she run against Collins. While she withdrew from the race her name is still on the ballot – and its clear that if the voters either stay home or don't give Platner as much of a margin there will be room for a move.

In either case as much as Platner and his supporters want to pretend otherwise its impossible to argue that had they listened to Schumer and backed Mills their chances of taking the Senate back would be much easier. And if they do take the Senate back – which sites like Race to The White House have this week tilted that in the Democrats favor for the first time – it will be because voters prefer candidates like Josh Turek and Sherrod Brown more than the populist rhetoric of Graham Platner.

And even if Platner manages to beat the odds and win – which in a post- Trump America no one can rule out  - he will be more isolated in whatever Democrat senators are elected. He was always an outlier among the Democrats that have been running for Senate this cycle, certainly among those who have the best chance of making them the majority party. Left wing candidates have always had far more difficulty winning statewide offices then moderates have: this is something Schumer knows but that the progressives who loathe him have ignored – and the party has suffered immensely as a result.

Schumer will be on the ballot again in 2028. He'll be 77 then and he might very well want to retire at that point, perhaps deciding to jump rather than be pushed. However if he does stand for reelection I will gladly vote for him yet again and support him if he is primaried. He is a good public servant, the kind of senator the Democratic party, the state of New York and the country need now more than ever. That may not be enough for many of today's Americans or today's Democrats. That's always been enough for me. Schumer, as the left loves to crow, is on the right side of history and that's because he's lived through a lot of it.

Homicide Rewatch: Strangers & Other Partners

 

Written by David Simon, James Yoshimura and Tom Fontana

Directed by Kenneth Fink

 

In the 1990s the finales of broadcast dramas were increasingly coming to end on cliffhangers which would put one or more characters in mortal jeopardy only to return to the status quo in the fall. Homicide had done as much at the end of Season 4 with Frank Pembleton but as we've seen the status quo didn't return for him at the start of the season and he's been struggling with the losses ever since.

During May of 1997 the biggest successes in network drama were taking this to increasingly ludicrous extremes. Perhaps the biggest came with The X-Files which ended with Dana Scully claiming to the FBI that Mulder had killed himself  - despite the fact that a feature film was about to be greenlit at David Duchovny was going to be one of the leads. As we shall see when we begin Season 6 cable would begin to change how these finales came out across the board but network TV would remain late to the party for a few more years. It was not until such shows as 24 and Lost debuted in the 2000s that broadcast television would embrace the season finale when  they teased game changers and would follow through when the season began.

Homicide operated in a grey area during its entire run. In large part this was because as a series that was always on the bubble major changes were born out of necessity rather then any sustained plan. When it had been granted a two season renewal in the spring of 1996 it had been allowed breathing room in a way it never had during its run. This has been seen perhaps the most clearly during Season 5 and its still unclear if the cast changes that were to follow in the summer of 1997 were by its own design or outside factors. But nevertheless the way that it chooses to reveal what is by far the biggest existential change to the show as we know it is keeping with how Homicide has always operated. It allows the entire season finale and several major story arcs that span not only this season but the show's history to wrap up, ending all of the major drama of the season. And only then does it choose to make us spend the entire season wondering the effect of a bureaucratic change in department policies is going to have on our cast.  This isn't  "Who Shot J.R?"

The electricity in this episode starts moments after Giardello brings Gharty into his office and tells them that Felton was working undercover with IID. Internal Affairs was never going to make Gharty popular with the squad but the moment Russert hears his name she instantly places him. Hoffman's righteous fury the moment she says "I guess you decided not to take that pension" as well as her laying out Gharty's very real dereliction of duty completely vindicates the decision to bring her character back. When Howard and Russert realize the full scope of the fact that a man they considered guilty of cowardice has been responsible for the death of their friend, there's no way they can trust them. And when Falsone hears that Gharty is essentially trying to lay the leak on him he's even angrier and nearly takes a swing at him on their first meeting and when Gharty is foolish enough to tell him to go hell, Pembleton has to physically restrain him. Its only because of Giardello's doing everything he can to make this about Felton that he stops the unit from flying apart at the seams but Bayliss makes it clear he has no desire to work with Gharty and Pembleton looks at him as if he smells bad.

It doesn't help that Howard immediately decides to go over Frank's head and start doing her own thing. Pembleton makes it clear he understands the reasons why Howard and Russert want to get involved but he also makes it clear that he wants authority over this case. Frank can be a bastard but he's not wrong – and Howard's decision to erase Felton's name from the board and give herself and Russert priority is the most blatant abuse of power she's done since she became sergeant. Al is absolutely right when he calls her into his office.

In The Unofficial Companion Kalat writes about the perceived double standard by pulling two women off the case and sending them to handle Beau's funeral. However this is another example of Homicide being authentic. Giardello refused to let Bayliss get involved when his cousin was being investigated for murder and he knew he was wrong when he let Meldrick meddle in the investigation of Crosetti's suicide. Howard is in the wrong here and it is because she's taking it so personally that she doesn't see it as the episode progresses. Russert, who was a shift commander, can see it and even as she deflects that she was shift commander for long, she acknowledges that she sees it when Al points it out. And when you consider that in death Beth Felton has no more use for her husband then she did in life, it's fitting – if sad – that the two people who cared about him the most have to prepare for his death.

Howard proves it when she demands to be put on this case and basically tells Giardello that there's a double standard and he doesn't know what he's talking about. Howard and Giardello have a superb relationship throughout the series and her attitude towards her boss is very clearly that of someone demanding special treatment. It's not a good look even if you know where she's coming from.

The scene with Russert and Howard at Felton's last known address is beautiful. The two women were never friends and they never worked together that well and that they're together in this setting is incredibly awkward for both of them. Leo plays it with awkwardness and clumsiness as if she doesn't know the right thing to say or do in front of the mistress of her partner; Hoffman goes through the entire scene as if she is clearly in mourning, having to look at the last place of the man she loved and see his blood on the wall. Its only when Russert mentions that the suit is pointless because it will be a closed casket that Howard says the right thing.

To his credit Frank immediately takes charge of the investigation and settles the squabbling between Falsone and Gharty early. He starts giving assignments to his fellow detectives – and really doesn't like it that Gharty ends up with him.

As when we first met him Gharty is chatty and talkative and Pembleton has no more use for it then Russert did. He makes it clear he has no problem with IID. His issue is with the fact that based on his history he completely doubts Gharty would back him up if he needs it.  Pembleton chews Gharty out and talks about his fellow detectives having his back and being willing to fight for him. (As always the case with Pembleton he says his most respectful remarks for his colleagues when they're not around.)

We are unprepared for what follows as Gharty tells us a monologue of a brutality complaint he did four months ago that he had to go following a cop's response. This leads him to chase down a felon right into a Baltimore crack house – a dope fiend's convention where he makes it clear how scared he was. He tells Pembleton he took a beating so bad he had to spend eight hours getting stitched up and a broken rib. He knows the beating was bad but he acknowledges the fear was worse. Gharty says he needed to prove himself. Pembleton is willing to trust him here but as we'll see in the following season he'll never truly respect him. And as we'll see Gharty will give many reasons for this impression to be correct.

Its clear in this episode that Fontana and Simon are doing the work that will lead to Falsone and Gharty being regulars the following season. Both Seda and Gerety are more than up to the task. Seda has the more difficult job as we just met him and we don't have much experience with detectives from other units. It helps that he's initially partnered with the more open-minded Bayliss who is always good at smoothing over rough spots. Falsone genuinely seems curious about how Homicide works and treats him with respect and admiration. Bayliss's casual remark: "A lot more people care about their cars then dead relatives" is both cynical and admiring of what Falsone does.

The scene between Megan and Frank is wonderful as Megan, using the same tact she did when she was shift commander, gently talks to Frank about his marriage. Throughout the episode Pembleton treats Russert with a respect and kindness he doesn't treat Howard or real anyone else as he knows all too well where she's coming from – and confides a secret he hasn't even told Bayliss: Mary is currently six months pregnant. It is this conversation that leads Frank to, in the midst of a red ball, do something he would never have done even a few months ago: call his wife.

And when the interrogation begins and Mary shows up in the squad room Frank does something he wouldn't have done before: let his marriage come ahead of his job. It's a beautiful scene between Brabson and Braugher as we see the considerate, loving husband. When Frank tells Mary that he doesn't have a single good thing in his life without his wife and daughter, its sincere in a way we're not used to from him. When the man who spent half this season just trying to be a detective again tells Mary that he will give it all up if she'll just come home, it’s a side of Frank the show's never let us see in five seasons, as is the joy as he realizes why she's here. And I love how the man who's never been at a loss for words lets his wife half the last one.

Fittingly the investigation into Felton's murder ends up being brought down by the two men who have no connection to Homicide: Falsone and Gharty. It turns out that the man Gharty used to get Felton into the squad was none other than Eddie Dugan, Falsone's informant. Dugan was playing both ends against the middle. The confrontation between Falsone, Gharty and Dugan in the box  is a powerhouse and all the more remarkable because it involves two men who, as of yet, we have never seen interrogate anyone.

Falsone and Dugan start with a friendly conversation as if they were old friends, Falsone butters him up – and then without a word Gharty walks into the box. The look of shock on Dugan's face is incredible, particularly as he starts to squirm realizing every story he's told has no value. And when he makes one of the dumbest lies imaginable, saying the pager on his belt isn't his Gharty walks out dials the number they've found and immediately traps him.

Of course because this is Homicide the show gives us nothing. Dugan gives up Cantwell and when they raid his shop – with Frank giving the warrant to Howard and Russert – no one's there. Cantwell has fled the jurisdiction and Beau's murder will remain in red forever. They console themselves with the fact that Dugan will go to prison but there's no closure for the death of one of their own. There's a memorial service where Al has to speak for Felton because his family hasn't shown up.

If the episode has a failing its one that is only apparent in retrospect. Kellerman and Cox's relationship ends up falling apart by the end of it, in part because its clear that the relationship has only brought out the worst in both of them.

This truly seems like a cheat. Its understandable why this is the case for Kellerman; the episode shows that the aftermath of the Mahoney shooting is causing him to drown his sorrows in alcohol and its now affecting his work relationship. The writers are super in showing this as the catalyst for the following season where Lewis will essentially end his two year partnership with Mike.

What's harder to understand is why Juliana rejects it. The second half of the season has shown that she's been making more of an effort during Mike's struggles and was open to him even as recently as the previous episode. It seems like the writers, yet again, have failed a character who isn't a detective. We already know Cox's story of drinking too much and falling in love with the wrong men from her introduction but the writers have tried so hard to put her front and center with the detectives in a way they haven't with characters like Brodie when it comes to her professional life, you'd think they could try harder with her personal life. This was not the case – and it may have been one of the factors that led to Forbes deciding to leave the show the following season. 

So by the end of Season Five we've wrapped up every loose end that has been part of the show and all the detectives from Season 4 are having coffee and talking about what's next, while bitching they couldn't arrest Felton. And its after all of that that Al comes down with the real cliffhanger.

As his parting gift before he ends up leaving the series Deputy Commissioner Harris has announced a change in policy known as rotation. Every three months some detectives will be moved from one unit to another. Meaning when the series returns the following fall 'none of us may be here'.

This bureaucratic policy (which had a basis in reality) hits the unit harder then any death ever could. And as we'll see the ramifications will be felt almost immediately when the show returns.

 

NOTES FROM THE BOARD

 

This is the final episode for Melissa Leo and Max Perlich during the series run and the final appearance of Isabella Hoffman in any form.

The mayor of Baltimore Kurt Schmoke makes his third appearance as himself in the final scene as does the then governor of Maryland Paris Glendening. Glendening served as governor between 1995-2003 and Schmoke would serve as mayor from 1987-1999.

The policy in question was a real one, one that Simon had reported on in Baltimore Magazine. Thomas Frazier became commissioner of police in 1994 and instituted a four-year limit on assignments to specialized units, Frazier believed that by rotating officers through departments it would lead to greater sharing of knowledge and skills. But he reckoned without the fact that detectives would have little time to develop specialized skills before moving to a different department. The quality of drug investigations would plummet when inexperienced detectives took over while many top Homicide detectives chose to retire rather than leave the elite squad. Frazier would eventually leave when Martin O'Malley was elected mayor and the policy was reversed in 2000 (which is no doubt why Simon doesn't use as a story line in The Wire.)

 

"Detective Munch: John is fittingly serious during the investigation. The closest he comes to snark is when he reads the toxicology report and "Believe it or not, Beau Felton left this earth clean and sober, no drugs, no alcohol."

 

MAHONEY PTSD: Kellerman comes in to the squad room late and Lewis tells him he's been wearing 'whiskey as last night's cologne' for the last ten days. When Lewis tries to ease Mike's conscience, Kellerman says they're even. Lewis saved him on the boat and he saved his ass from Mahoney. They're saved from brawling when they go out on a call. At the murder scene Kellerman is interviewing  a witness and while he's doing so she wonders off.  He also fails to take her name or vital information.  Meldrick, who's the primary on this case, is justifiably enraged at Mike.  After ascertaining he's 6 foot 1 he says: "I didn't know they piled crap that high."

Get The DVD: One of the very best mixes of music on Homicide can be found in the opening sequence as Soul Coughing's 'Super Bon Bon' is used to show the entire process of how Cantwell's crew steals a car on the street and ships it overseas. In the Waterfront where Juliana is  playing pool while heavily intoxicated we can  hear "Trepidation' and 'Only Onions' by Civil Tones.

Homicide Rewatch: Partners & Other Strangers

 

Written by Anya Epstein, James Yoshimura & Daryl Lamont Wharton

Directed by Leslie Libman and Larry Williams

 

In what has already been an incredibly dark season for Homicide the writers choose to end Season 5 with the darkest storyline yet: Pembleton being called to the scene of a suicide and learning that the dead man is Beau Felton, who was suspended along with Bolander way back at the start of Season 4 but whose absence has essentially been ignored by the squad.

Partners & Other Strangers begins a two-parter that is the most transitional episode in series history to this point. Felton's death will effective trigger events where the show more or less bids adieu to the 'old school' format in the first two to three seasons. That it should do so through Felton's death is a bitter irony.

When Crosetti committed suicide back in Season 3 it was a shock to the squad as much as the audience. But while Crosetti was respected and admired among his colleagues the same was never true of Felton. This is made clear when every character has flashbacks of their memories of Beau and with the sole exception of Howard, none of them are fond ones. Even Howard, who this affects the most, acknowledges she hasn't so much has said a word to him since he resigned. There's clearly guilt involved with his death – and the more the squad learns about Felton's activities it becomes clear they didn't know him as well as they thought – but the truth is they were always inclined to think the worst of him. His absence has not been mourned the same way Lewis has felt Crosetti's death or the way that Bolander's absence has clearly affected Munch. Felton wasn't a distinguished cop or even a very good one. No one has mourned his absence because they were never much fond of his presence.

So when Frank comes thinking it’s a shotgun suicide, he thinks its nothing and takes care of the officer whose struggling and when he sees who killed himself Frank is unnerved even taking his hat off for the loss of his fellow detective.

After basically sidelining Howard to desk duty for nearly two years Melissa Leo gets to shine for the first time in a long time. We see her going through the same denial Meldrick did when Crosetti died: in her case she can't accept its him. Meldrick takes it even harder  - this on top of what nearly happened to Mike is clearly hitting him like a ton of bricks. When Lewis begins chanting about ways to kill himself and then goes to Mike saying: "You're with me, aren't you?" it’s the biggest sign of Meldrick's nasty streak in a long time.

Kellerman, who has no idea of who Felton was, asks the question that no one wants to: why had no one spoken with him in so long? When Frank tries to absolve himself saying that the man left the department of his own accord, he makes it clear he doesn't care. Howard walks in just in time to hear him and makes it very clear that if he did it takes the burden of all of them. Then a new face walks in and says he can explain why Felton killed himself.

This is our introduction to Paul Falsone currently working for auto theft. Falsone would almost immediately become one of the most polarizing characters in the show's history, something I didn't know at time and don't understand now. In his tenure on Homicide there would be reasons to find his character problematic but in his introduction he comes across as a good investigator. He knows that Felton is working for a major operator named Frank Cantwell.  The squad's had an operation into Cantwell for months with the feds until it became clear that there was someone in the department working with him. At the time of his death Falsone makes it clear that Felton was working with Cantwell. Howard takes this extremely personally and Falsone doesn't endear himself by saying that just because Felton worked Homicide doesn't mean he walked on water. He doesn't know until she tells him the two were partners.

Howard refuses to accept that Beau could be dirty. She admits he was deeply flawed but she also knows being police meant everything to Beau and that he wouldn't sell out the badge.

Frank spends the first half of the episode acting far worse then he did when Crosetti committed suicide. He refuses to take his fellow detectives concerns seriously and when Al makes it clear that he's trying to figure out why it happened Frank says its irrelevant. He doesn't care why Beau might have killed himself. When Bayliss shows up in the squad he acknowledges how messed up the suicide was and he's clearly angry that Tim wasn't there.

It's only because of the diligent work of Juliana Cox when she's doing the final autopsy report that she realizes that Beau might not have killed himself. She and Dr. Dyer spend the next forty eight hours essentially putting Felton's skull back together. She figures out that he was shot at close range and then his head was blown off to disguise it.

Pembleton and Howard go to Felton's room and Frank is awkward for the first time, We know Frank always respected Kay and he knows that while he never liked Beau, he and Kay were partners and he understand that bond better than he wants to admit. Howard is still not able to deal and she's upset that 'the bastards killed him in his own bathroom'. Its telling that he uses Beau's term: "They murdered him. Beau believed there was a distinction between murder and killing."  She admits she believed that Felton was capable of it because she always knew that Beau was capable of the worst possible behavior when they were partners.  She makes it clear she doesn't want anyone to know she cried.

After that Pembleton and Howard agree to meet up with Falsone. As is his wont it takes all of ten seconds for Frank to start pissing on the territory of other cops. For once however, he meets someone who gives as good as he gets, who makes it clear that he has an informant but he's going to talk to him on his own. Howard has to stop this measuring contest and makes it clear that an ex-cop was murdered in cold blood. That carries enough weight to have Falsone bring him in and meet.

Before the investigation even begins its put on hold and then we meet the other detective and this face is familiar: Stu Gharty, who's now been promoted to detective and is working for IID (Baltimore's Internal Affairs). We will realize the full consequences of Gharty's involvement in the next episode but we're busy with the biggest revelation: at the time of his death Beau Felton was still a cop, working undercover for IID. Someone was tipping Cantwell around last April. Felton was coming up on the end of his suspension and made it clear he didn't want to go back to Homicide. Gharty decided to use Felton and find a way to figure out who was tipping Cantwell off about customs.

When Al learns about this – and even more upsettingly that Bonfather knew about this – he is furious: he believes it is because of Gharty's work that Felton was killed. He has less use for Gharty who has another problem: if they bring in Cantwell's crew which is the next step, they will never find out who the leak was and Felton will have died for nothing. Bonfather splits the baby and makes it clear Homicide and IID will work together to solve Felton's murder. Al is already furious the decision was made without him – and he's going to be even angrier in the finale.

Because this is a season finale Homicide spends much of the two parts resolving storylines that have lasted much of Season 5. The biggest one in 'Partners & Other Strangers' is the on again, off again rift between Pembleton and Bayliss that has been going on basically since Frank returned to the squad. Bayliss is off on another one of his errands when Frank gets the call that leads him to learn of Felton's death. He's already pissed at Tim for doing this and he lets him have it with both barrels in the aftermath of Felton's shooting. He makes it clear how truly angry he is at how Bayliss has been gone from the squad all this time and how indifferent he seems to have been to the job. When Bayliss again pushes him aside for another errand for the first time Pembleton tails Tim – and sees that he's been taking care of his Uncle George.

In keeping with the grand tradition of Homicide the writers resolve the story by revealing the secret but not providing closure for anybody. Frank knows what's going on and Tim can't explain if this has resolved anything for him. But it's enough to finally heal the gap between them. Tim makes clear he went there he hated him and he wanted revenge to take away from him what he took away from me. And now he can't take away anything he hasn't already lost. Bayliss wanted to talk to him and try to understand why he did what he did. He understand that he has to forgive him and his father before anything can change. And when Frank asks Tim never answers.

The other major storyline from last week is told. Gaffney tells Giardello that the letter he wrote to the Mayor has been carried out and Deputy Commissioner Harris's career is now under investigation from the U.S. Attorney. While its never followed up on after this season Harris is never heard from again, so the assumption is he's been forced out of office, perhaps only in retirement. Gaffney makes thinly veiled warnings about Al not writing any more but its clear he's unnerved – he knows his involvement in the interference with Burundi Robinson and he doesn't want to end up in jail. Gaffney survives, of course – he's a cockroach after all and will be back to his nagging self soon.

Before Pembleton enters the squad room Munch is reading the news of the memorial for Luther Mahoney. Even as Howard jokes that they all wanted to make sure he was dead when Munch tells them that 300 people showed up to view a man many viewed as a leader Lewis and Kellerman are appalled.

The eulogy that Kellerman reads where the reverend says: "there were many sides to Luther Marcellus Mahoney. While we reject and renounce his criminal activities, we must at the same time recognize his countless good works."

Of all the things that all the writers ever wrote this in many ways is the most prescient as it illustrates the most clearly how so much of today's African-Americans are willing to push aside the often horrible things so many of the leaders have done in the past and do the day in service of a greater good. One almost wonders if before he died Luther's youth center had collaborated with Robinson's movement considering that both men's public face excused a huge amount of corruption, wrongdoing and murder.  The viewer knows all too well the horrible things Mahoney has done and that so much of Baltimore seems willing to complete set it aside makes one wonder if Mahoney might very well have ended up in Congress had he not been killed – or perhaps become a version of Clay Davis.

One wonders how much of learning this will lead to Kellerman's downfall. Not long after reading this eulogy he starts going to the bar and getting drunk, something he will do on a regular basis until the season ends and then will resume doing during Season 6. He's been willing to carry this because he thought he did the right thing and he can live with Stivers judgment. But the fact that so many in Baltimore will still look on Mahoney as a hero despite that – well that's a lot for a man who just wanted to be a good cop to bear.

It's clear how much this is beginning to weigh on Mike. He and Cox are on a date, something he's just admitted to Lewis is a relationship. However its clear very quickly that Kellerman isn't interesting in listening or sharing or even having sex with Juliana. He wants to brood and get drunk. It's telling that immediately after this we see a flashback from 'Nothing Personal' when Felton is getting drunk; it’s the clearest prophecy yet of Mike's downfall.

But the biggest revelation comes in the final minutes when we see the final familiar face. Megan Russert has returned from Paris with brown hair and dressed all in black. When she reenters the squad to see Howard and Munch she makes it clear she planned to grieve for Beau in Paris until she learned he was murdered. She's come back to help with the investigation. Howard isn't thrilled with this – she and Russert never had the easiest relationship – and then we see that in over a year Al never got around to erasing her name from the board.

The final scene has Bayliss talking about Felton and reminding Pembleton he didn't like him. Frank says he doesn't have to work this case. When Al tells them that the squad is back investigating Felton's murder Frank and Tim go back in united. Their partnership has endured. Others won't be as lucky.

 

 

 

 

NOTES FROM THE BOARD

It was the 90s: In describing what turns out to be Felton's body Juliana Cox jokes about what was then the brand new TV ratings system between TV-PG and TV-MA. Believe it or not in 1997 this system was relatively new to television and most network TV was crossing the line between TV-PG and TV-14. No one dared to think of an era where the best shows on TV would exclusively be rating TV-MA – though in a few months' time Tom Fontana would help usher it in.

Daniel Baldwin only appears in flashbacks in this episode. In chronological order:

'Nothing Personal' plays while Howard is reeling from the news of Felton's suicide.

'Dead End' plays when Howard's at the morgue.

While Lewis is playing pool we see an excerpt from 'See No Evil'

When Giardello is discussing the shooting we see Felton being shot in 'The City That Bleeds'

Bayliss remembers their horrible conversation in 'All Through the House'.

Before Howard learns that Beau was murdered we see their last interaction in 'From Cradle to Grave'.

Pembleton remembers their volatile discussion in Last of the Watermen.

Kellerman starts to get blitzed as Felton did in Nothing Personal.

Russert's return to the unit is bracketed with her memory of Beau in 'Fits Like a Glove'

Mahoney PTSD: In addition to everything else Lewis calls Stivers to the Waterfront because she's been avoiding him. Lewis makes it clear that Mahoney is dead and what good will it do to have Kellerman up on charges, Stivers and him off the force and Mike going to jail for murder. He seems willing to make peace with it. He asks Stivers if she can carry this. "I don't have a choice," she says. Not long after that he has his flashback about Felton.

 

"Detective Munch" Interestingly – and hysterically – the best description of Munch comes from Dr. Alyssa Dyer in what is the character's first major interaction with Cox since she took over the morgue. As the two of them work on stapling together Felton's skull the two discuss what Felton looked like when he was alive and then Dyer describes what it was like to date a cop. "Gloomy, cynical, completely devoted to their own misery." Beat. "Alyssa please tell me you didn't go out with Munch?" In one of the best inside jokes ever Dyer tells Cox she has sworn off dating cops. Instead, she's dating a stand up comic. Harlee McBride must have loved delivering this line and Richard Belzer must have loved hearing it.

The other jab comes from the other woman in John's life. When Russert passes him she slaps him on the shoulder. "What was that for?" Munch demands. "You couldn't close Bongi and Sabatino while I was gone?" (Her two open cases are still on the board.  "I knew you were coming back; I wanted you to feel at home  when you got back," Munch says.

FUTURE INMATE: Scott Winters, as the credits identify him, plays Eddie Dugan the spotter for Cantwell with a distinct southern accent. Just as his brother Dean made his debut in Homicide Scott made an early appearance here though you'd remember him better for Clark the man Matt Damon famously says, "How do you like them apples?" in Good Will Hunting. He'd take the middle name William when he took on the role of Cyril O'Reilly, Ryan's younger and brain damaged brother in OZ a role, like Dean, he would play to the series ended.

Scott has been very prominent in television ever since, ironically often as a cop. He played Matt Jablonski on the short lived series 10-8: Officers on Duty, Stan Hatcher, a cop who becomes a thorn in Sipowicz's side in Season 11 of NYPD Blue and Detective McNamara in Season 1 of Dexter where he shared the screen with Lauren Velez, David Zayas and Erik King, all of whom had been on OZ while he was there. His most prominent roles have included Agent Samuels on Day 6 of 24, Rafaele Riario Sansoni on Borgia (where he co-starred with John Doman, another OZ alum) Detective Joe Dumas over multiple seasons of Law & Order: SVU, Nick Fischer on Berlin Station and Westley Clark on six episodes of NCIS in 2018-2019. He played Todd Hastings on the first two seasons of City on a Hill (written by Tom Fontana), Eric Dawicki on the miniseries The Girl From Plainville and Detective Marty McGee on Memory of A Killer. And in case you were wondering, yes, that is him playing the younger brother of Dean Winters as Mayhem in an ad for All-State.

On the Soundtrack: In the scenes in the Waterfront when Kellerman is getting drunk with Cox you can hear 'Never Change' by Love Riot.