Written by Edward Gold;
story by Henry Bromell and Tom Fontana
Directed by Darnell
Martin
Initially I thought that the second part of
the sniper shootings was a brilliant continuation of what had taken place
during the first part. I thought it was cinematically magnificent, tensely
written with some brilliant work done by Braugher, Yaphet Kotto and Hoffman.
Reviewing it seven years later, however, one sees some very intense moments and
solid work but it’s a lot shakier than the show at its best or even some of the
better moments of this season.
The parts that work best is seeing all of
the detectives worn pretty much to a frazzle which isn’t that surprising
considering they’ve all been up twenty-four hours straight and now they are
forced to investigate a crime that they thought was closed. Gee is showing the
most strain. He gets ultra pissed at everybody--- the public relations woman
(by now the story has gone national), Lieutenant Jasper of QRT, the idiots who
are flying helicopters over the crime scenes. The only ones he doesn’t get mad
at are (not surprisingly) his own detectives. Despite all the pressure that the
squad (particularly Pembleton, now the primary) is under for the continuation
of these shootings he knows pushing them will not make the investigation go
faster. Even when they finally have a suspect in custody, Gee practically
orders Frank and Tim to go home and get some sleep. (They refuse, of course)
Furthermore, now that Russert has been double demoted, he’s now feeling most of
the heat from the bosses—which is SOP for him. Giardello isn’t the typical
commander and this episode is a prime example as to why.
The detectives are worn to the nub too---
for different reasons. Bayliss is still reeling from the first sniper’s
suicide, as well as the fact that he has to be the one to go to the widow’s
house and ask if her husband had any accomplices. Kellerman, still getting his
sea legs is getting used to interviewing the families of the deceased. Munch is
finally beginning to show some of the stress of the memories of his being in a
police-involved shooting last year. Even Pembleton is more afraid than he lets
on. Halfway through his shift, he goes to his pregnant wife’s office and tries
to get her to leave work. However, this is one of the few people on earth that
he can’t intimidate—and at work she stays.
Because the detectives suspect, not
surprisingly, that this sniper is an accomplice of the first they spend eight hours following
this lead. Almost in typical ‘Homicide’ fashion the sniper then practically
falls into their lap—he is present at both crime scenes and practically walks
into the police station offering to help. Alex Robey, the shooter, is no master
criminal--- he seems a modest, unassuming, almost dull young man. When Tim and
Frank interrogate him there is very little electricity. He is so bland. It
takes a more modest, gentle leaning from the now-Detective Megan Russert to
finally get this almost nobody to break.
All of this is entertaining and intense at
times. Yet it all seems unreal for a cop show--- fourteen murders, all linked to one case
solved by the most popular detective team on the show, with an assist from an
on-the-money interrogation by a detective on her first day back on the job Furthermore, the alleged copycat of the
killer could never have amassed all the information that he got on the first
shooting which took place yesterday—certainly
not from the newspapers and magazine which don’t publish that fast even now.
Even
for television this is hard to believe.
What you admire most about the show
is Hoffman’s work. For the first time in nearly two years she gets a real
chance to show her acting chops in a way her role as a superior never allowed
her too. Plus we have the memorable scene after the case is put down in which
Russert exchanges a cold look at Colonel Barnfather who didn’t even want her back in the office.
One she’s definitely earned. Braugher and Kotto do fine work too, but at this
stage that’s par for the course.
Perhaps the most bizarre elements of
‘Sniper, Part 2’ is the final sequence
in which Pembleton delivers a grumbling rant at the overall lack of originality
in our society. This is meant to be some kind of humorous link in re the case
of Alex Robey but it could just as easily serve as a complaint about the now
almost-formulaic plots of Homicide. At this point even the cast was beginning to complain about them.
However--- partially because of the fallout from Russert’s demotion--- there
are some better moments and improved stories ahead of us. The detectives
struggles with the brass are about to get tougher and this will be one of the
reasons why.
My score: 3 stars.
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