Homicide Episode Guide: Crosetti

Written By James Yoshimura

Directed by Whitney Ransick

                  During the third season, in an effort to get more audience friendly episodes of Homicide on the air, NBC executives would juggle the order in which episodes ere shown. Thus, in order to get the more sensational ‘Emma Zoole’ storyline into November sweeps, they bumped the next episode in sequence out of the lineup. As a result by the time ‘Crosetti’ aired, viewers of the show would  have already learned that Steve Crosetti was dead. Fortunately, neither of the episodes gave away HOW and the total dramatic effect was not sublimated. One wishes the NBC programmers had more faith because the episode is not only better than the ones that followed, it is one of the most brilliant episodes of the entire series.

                  The beginning is one of the most memorable that we would see, as the harbor police drag a bloated, decomposing corpse out of the water. Then we learn  that Crosetti has not yet returned from his vacation in Atlantic City. Meldrick Lewis is covering for his partner but has no more idea what has happened to him than any of the others. He is concerned but not afraid.

                  Then Bolander and Munch come across the body--- and the unit is changed forever. From the beginning, the evidence is overwhelming that Steve Crosetti has killed himself. Only Meldrick clings to the possibility that his partner was murdered. Because of his persistence--- and more likely, the fact that nobody wants to accept what has happened--- Bolander begins an ‘investigation’ which Lewis does everything in his power to circumvent. For most of the episode, Lewis stonewalls him mainly because he can not accept the possibility that his partner could do such a  thing

                  It’s pretty obvious from the moment that Meldrick hears the news that  he has been hit hard. The most obvious example of this comes talking about his partner. For the first two season, he referred to him as ‘Crosetti’; in this episode,  he calls him Steve. The difference in names is telling because it may indicate that for all the time that they worked together Lewis never really was close to Crosetti.   Perhaps his guilt in not knowing that his partner was in this kind of pain has caused him to overcompensate in death. Clark Johnson gives one of his most emotional performances. His final breakdown when it is confirmed that Crosetti did commit suicide is one of the most painful he will ever go through. For all the problems that he will have on the show, nothing will hit him this hard psychologically.

                  Lewis is going through the most pain but everyone in the  squad is undergoing their own kind of agony. The loss of one of their own, particularly in this fashion, is painful. Giardello feels it perhaps the strongest--- he pushes the investigation into Crosetti’s death--- because he doesn’t want to believe that he didn’t know the men who worked for him. For him, the wounds are deep. He will not find the strength to erase Crosetti’s cases from the board and distribute them for several months.  He has trouble telling Crosetti’s daughter about how her father died. It is clear that he is going through his own guilt. He is determined to at least send him off right--- which is why that he fights so hard for an honor guard and labors on his eulogy. Perhaps the next most effected man is Munch. He tries to cover his feelings with his dark wit (particularly in a very funny scene where he negotiates price with an undertaker who happens to be his younger brother) but he realizes what the implications are. He doesn’t want to face it (though on the scene, he calls it a suicide, he ‘rethinks it’ after learning who it is) but he knows that everybody must face this eventually--- whether they like it or not.

                  Though through most of the episode Bolander is considered  heartless for doing what needs to be done in order to say what needs to be said but he is going through his own kind of anguish. As he points out he sat three feet away from him for a couple of years and almost never bothered to say hello to him. He feels the pressure from everybody to write this up as murder  and take away some of the guilt. But he is too good a detective and too honest a man to do it. As he puts it: “If he chose to commit suicide, what right  do I have to make that go away? I don’t agree with what he did, but if that’s his final statement, should I wipe it clear for our peace of mind?” He also finds himself trying to push Lewis into accepting not merely his death but the fact that he didn’t know his partner as well as he did. When Meldrick finally falls to pieces, he is there to comfort him. The image of Bolander embracing a grief-stricken Lewis would be the episodes most memorable image--- but for one.

                  Naturally the brass do not want this suicide to reflect badly on the department. Barnfather is particularly contemptuous; when Granger mentions a recent suicide he responds “What’s to get upset about? He knew when he did it we’d find him like that.” He refuses to give a full honor guard at the funeral, being unprepared to answer the uncomfortable moral questions that Crosetti’s suicide brings.  But even more surprising is Pembleton’s reaction. Soured on the idea of the church (particularly after the white cotton gloves murders) he says that he will not go into church for Crosetti’s funeral and neither his partner or Gee can convince him otherwise. (In an earlier scene, he seems rather improper when he  uses the death of Crosetti to get a reduced price on cookies for the funeral). Pembleton seems like a selfish jerk for most of the episode--- until the funeral cortege passes by the police station. Then we see Pembleton in his dress blues saluting, a one-man honor guard. If this moment doesn’t  make a chill run down your spine, you’re not human.

                  Perhaps the most unnerving thing about Crosetti’s death is that we don’t have any idea why he did it. He didn’t seem to have any marital difficulties , financial woes or personal problems. Plus his religious upbringing would seem to teach him that suicide is a mortal sin. It is perhaps this fact that rocks the squad more than anything else. What is to stop any of them from doing the same thing? Meldrick will manage to get past Steve’s death but he will never get over it. And his ghost will stand over the show until its final episode.

                  ‘Crosetti’ is an extraordinary hour of television. A lot of TV shows have had to deal with the death of a recurring character but few have dealt with it with the extreme agony and wrenching pain  that this episode does. This is as gripping as TV gets yet for Homicide  this was business as usual Even almost a decade later, the episode still chokes me up--- like the best television should.

Rank by fans: 3^rd

My score: 10