Homicide Episode Guide: Happy to be Here

Written by Julie Martin; story by Tom Fontana and Julie Martin

Directed by Lee Bonner

                           It’s hard to say what you would call ‘A Model Citizen’ and ‘Happy to be Here’. They aren’t a two part episode but  two episodes isn’t long enough to be considered a storyline. I imagine that the NBC executives referred to them as the ‘Emma Zoole storyline’ The thing of it is, Emma is the least successful part of both episodes. She never really gels as a character or even a love interest.  Despite this fact both episodes are engaging and enjoyable.

                           Perhaps the reason that they work is the presence of the other character who appears in both episodes, Sam Throne editor of a community newspaper called ‘the Black Voice’.  Thorne (played by the very skilled Joe Morton)  is  an oddity; on one hand he seems utterly depressed and cynical of the drugs that are crowding the Baltimore streets, on the other hand he genuinely believes that the articles he is writing on the Columbian cartel can lead to change. The reason that he works so well is his relationship with Al Giardello. We get a real measure of insight into Gee through this. It is clear that the two of them are old friends and that  despite the disparities between their jobs they do respect each other. It really does come as a huge blow to him when Thorne is murdered. For the rest of the episode, he seems as if he is in shock--- which he probably is.

                           Perhaps even more shocking thing about  the death is the shooter. Matt Cameron, a boy  barely out of pubescence, kills Sam Thorne in broad daylight in a crowded restaurant  Then he goes to the counter, picks up a mint and pays for it.  When Lewis and Bolander interrogate Cameron (who breaks with very little pressure) and ask why he paid for the mint, he replies that he isn’t a thief. In his mind, the  murder has been only a job, but the mint is a thing of value.

                           An even more powerful scene occurs when Giardello goes to Cameron in jail and asks him why he  did it. Cameron says he did for $500—to buy a mountain bike. With the tone of a man who is crushed inside, Gee says: “There are no mountains in Baltimore.”  For him this is simply one more grim irony in a world that is filled with pain.

                           And nothing will come from the murder being solved. Cameron will go to prison for life, the man who ordered the hit will get put into Witness Protection and the cartel head who ordered the hit will still be at large. Like Gee said in an earlier scene with Thorne, nothing ever changes.

                           If Gee’s is upset by the events of this episode, Felton spends it in a state of total despair. Not only had Beth taken his kids, she had managed to move the entire house without anyone’s help and he has no idea where Beth could have gone. In the final brutal fact, when he talks with Russert and asks him there is any chance for the two of them to get back together, she gently but firmly tells him no. With nothing to sustain him, he begins to drink heavily and disintegrate.

                           For all of the grimness that these two storylines deal with, the episode is very funny at times.  For one thing, there is the case of Sadie Balantine, an old woman who death from a heart attack has not made her husband bring her to the morgue. The neighbor seem surprised and when we finally meet Arthur Balantine  he seems slightly deluded. (Bayliss and Pembleton have to tell him gently that he can not bring his wife back home) He just wasn’t ready to let her go. This seems to be taking things to an extreme.

                           Also taking things to an extreme is John Munch, still determined to try and get the purchase of the Waterfront to almost any extreme. There is a very funny sequence when Munch not-very-subtly tries to get out of Kay whether Danvers (who she is apparently still seeing) has any money and whether or not he’d like to invest. He tries everybody from Lieutenant Russert to Bolander’s ex- wife to try and find the money, a task at which he fails spectacularly. Finally, he is reduced to lying to both Lewis and Bayliss that the two of them to fix their friendship. This too, will take work. Eventually Tim and Meldrick will become partners in the bar again but it will be a  while before they resolve their differences.

                           Maybe the reason that they manage to finally get past Emma is because she breaks up with Tim before this episode is over.  It is hard to imagine that Bayliss would be attracted to  her, especially when she tells him that  she is still seeing her old boyfriend (another policemen). Tim doesn’t seem to mind this a great deal but he gets out his aggressions by finding him and getting in a fight.  This upsets Emma not so much because he didn’t get into a fight as he wasn’t willing to fight with her. Taken at face value, it is very possible that she is a masochist and likes getting hurt. Whatever the case this gets to Emma and she breaks up with him.

 This leads to one of the most famous and funniest scenes in the shows history. Tim goes to a convenience store and  tries to buy beer and cookies. However, when he has to pay he is eleven cents short. He finagles, pleans and raves at the cashier who calmly decides to void the sale. Bayliss pulls out the gun and holds up the store for $10.78. (My favorite moment from this scene occurs when Tim asks for a bag and he says: “Paper, not plastic.” Lets be eco-conscious when we’re committing armed robbery) Eventually  Bayliss is rescued from this by Frank who manages to resolve the situation by saying Tim will be a security guard at that store three nights a week.  The big laugh comes when Frank tells Tim: “By the way, you owe me eleven cents.

                           This is a very funny scene. Whether it is the most believable is open to debate. Of all the detectives Bayliss seems to be the least likely to bend when put under pressure and distress (one could see Munch or Felton doing it) But then again Tim hasn’t been thinking very clearly the past couple of episodes so maybe its not hard to believe.

                           On reflection the title ‘Happy to Be Here’ seems like another in-joke. Mainly because no one is happy where they are in this episode. Bayliss isn’t happy because of his break up with Emma, Munch is upset because his enterprise is in jeopardy, Felton is unhappy because of his wife’s departure and so on. The only happy people  are probably the viewers because, after a couple of weak episodes, the show is back on track and in good form.

My Score: 4.5 stars.