Homicide Episode Guide: 'Black and Blue'

Written By James Yoshimura

Directed by Chris Menaul

         One of the more notable cases  in David Simon’s book involved the shooting of John Randolph Scott, a small time drug dealer who got shot on Monroe Street, one of the more notable drug streets in Baltimore. At first, it seemed that a police officer had accidentally killed the man, but it soon became very clear that he was not the culprit. Unfortunately for the detective in charge, it would never become clear if a police officer or a civilian had killed the suspects.

         The central story of ‘Black and Blue’ takes a look at a similar shooting. Detective Pembleton runs into many of the same obstacles that  befell his equivalent in the book: little cooperation from the neighborhood (because of the possibility of police involvement) and little cooperation from the police force (who don’t like being accused of witnessing a cop  do anything wrong)  Adding to the problems is the fact that Lieutenant Giardello is defiant in Pembleton’s apparent  disloyalty to his fellow officers. However, a key difference occurs when detective work by Bayliss and Howard manages to turn up a friend of the deceased C.C. Cox, Lane Staily (played by a very young Isaiah Washington)

            We then witness one of the most wrenching scenes that the writers of Homicide would ever do. Pembleton enters the Box and by sheer verbal manipulation by the use of race, rage, indignancy, sorrow and finally the guilt that Staily feels that his friend end up dead because of him manages to elicit a confession out of an innocent man. When Pembleton comes out of the box with the confession, he is soaked with sweat and absolutely disgusted with himself and what Gee has made him do. “Look at him.” He says “he didn’t shoot Cox but… he’s proud that he signed.”  This is one of the most emotionally raw moments that James Yoshimura would ever do, and in his tenure on Homicide, he wrote some honeys. What is even more stunning is that Gee seems initially willing to accept this confession before his conscience  makes him turn to Staily and get the truth--- the real truth--- out of him. Something very critical in Gee breaks after he witnesses Pembleton’s extraction of the confession. He no longer is quite as willing to give  those people in police-involved shootings the benefit of the doubt. This will surface on several occasions as the series progresses

            More importantly to the series is the fact that for the first time Andre Braugher dominates the episode in a way that he hasn’t before.. This would lead to some major  changes in the way that the series worked. For the first thirteen episodes, Homicide could clearly be called an ensemble show with no one character being a bigger presence than the other. However, Braugher (and to a lesser extent Kyle Secor) would be thrust into the limelight more and more often as the writers realized the power and charisma  that Braugher really had as well as the balance between Bayliss and Pembleton.

            When the truth about the shooting comes out, and it becomes clear that Lieutenant Tyron (the commander of the man who was originally considered to be the shooter) there are a couple of painful touches. For one thing, we see the consequences of arresting police for any kind of shooting involving the career and the reputation of a good cop.. For another, Howard once had  an affair with  Tyron. There isn’t a great deal made of these (we don’t see Howard break up when she learns that Tyron was the shooter) but we do see the theme that the detectives on this show do not live in a vacuum.

            Two other romantic subplots are of minor importance in this episode. Munch’s on again, off-again relationship with Felicia reaches its peak and valley simultaneously. When the episode begins Munch is positively glowing about his happiness , by its end the relationship is deader than a doornail (along with an entire tropical fish tank of Felicia’s) and Munch his convinced that romance is dead. Ironically his partner Bolander has come to a complete about face on romance as well.  His relationship with Dr. Blythe has apparently come to naught. And he is pissed at Munch’s apparent happiness. However, in the course of this episode he meets a waitress named Linda (played by Juliana Marguiles, a year before she would be slingshot to stardom on ER), a woman who is half his age and who is far more optimistic. They share little in common but a musical hobby (she plays the violin and he plays the cello) but there is clearly something in her spirit that appeals to Bolander because by the end of the episode they are making beautiful music together, literally and metaphorically. This has an effect on The Big Man that will last in

to the next episode.

            One of the more critical things about the episode is how the show is shifted off balance. In ‘See No Evil’, all nine characters got an even shake. In ‘Black and Blue’, Felton, Lewis and Crosetti (who were at the center of the last episode) get virtually nothing to do. In the past shows, some characters would dominate one episode while other characters faded into the background but this imbalance did not usually last more than one episode. However, as the show progressed this would happen less and less often as characters like Pembleton and Bayliss got more exposure and characters like Munch and Howard fell to the background.

            But this is an issue for later. For now, ‘Black and Blue’ stands as a  fine episode showing how the most emotional drama can come from lies as much as they can from truth. This is fine stuff.

My score:8.75