Homicide Episode Guide: I've Got A Secret

Written by Maria Legaspi; story by Tom Fontana and Henry Bromell

Directed by Gwen Arner

     After the recent string of high profile murders, Homicide returns to its root in one of the more entertaining—and character driven--- episodes of the season. In an all too rare occasion we get insights into almost every major character in their attitudes towards life, love and justice.

     The first secret relates to Kay Howard. When Munch gets an eyeful of his sergeant  in a major lip-lock with an unknown man, he becomes obsessed with finding out who this man is to the point of searching Kay’s desk. Kay is bothered by this but she is equally determined that the squad not know who he his. She does a very good job of that, the man is never identified. In another show Munch’s actions could be read as some kind of secret jealousy. But Homicide is too good for that. This is who John Munch is, he has to know everything.

     The other secrets are more case related and far less trivial. Lewis and Kellerman spend half the episode trying to track down Peter Wolsky, a gigantic he-man who has killed his father. In there first two attempts to capture him, they get knocked around severely It is not until the third time that we realize the true nature of Wolsky, a violent schizophrenic who has lost everything. But the real shocker comes when Meldrick reveals to Mike that he sympathizes with Wolsky because  his brother suffered from  a similar disease and had to be institutionalized after a suicide attempt. As we learn, Lewis was in the room when that attempt was made. This development explains his pain and anger when Crosetti committed suicide two years ago and his attitude towards suicide in general.  The kicker comes, however, when Meldrick decides to visit his brother only to be turned away. Though he hides his pain is considerable.

     The main story of  the hour centers of Bayliss and Pembleton, investigating the death of a hardened criminal who got shot but did not die from those injuries. Tim and Frank ignore this at first to try and track down his shooter. The deceased is a truly reprehensible criminal, arrested five times before his death and who regularly whaled on his girlfriend. It is revealed that his partner, a white collar crook nicknamed Mister Clean, accidentally shot him. However, he then proceeded to drive him to the hospital where he got stitched up well enough to pick a fight with an orderly. It is the belief of his mother that her son was killed because the hospital did not provide adequate care. Bayliss and Pembleton  try to check the emergency room’s culpability.

     The show then does a glorious sequence in which Bayliss rhapsodizes over the skills of the ER doctors. The more realistic Pembleton says their job is more important but they get less credit for it. As he puts it: “You want glory? Go work at ER. Homicide’s fine by me. This is delightful not merely  because it satirizes the difference between NBC’s far more successful hospital drama and this show, but also because it spot on reflects NBC’s attitude towards the two shows. (Homicide, remember, had ER’s time slot for a  while.) This is illustrated  with a non-chronological overlapping o past and present that  the more conventional ER wouldn’t even try.

     However the show then turns to a more serious subject. At first, the detectives center their attention on Nurse Sherman, an arrogant, caustic man who got into a fight with the deceased and who clearly doesn’t mind that he’s dead. It is then, however, revealed that his physician may have done shoddy work. Part of this is due to an attack on her husband that nearly blinded him. But part of it comes from the frustration that almost every ER doc must feel when they have  to treat the stream of criminals that pass through their doors on a regular basis. In an expression more out of frustration then guilt, the doctor confesses to negligence. As is always the case Frank says that every lie has value and she took the victims. Tim, however, is more emotional. She has saved hundreds of lives could probably save hundreds more and the victim was little more than a thug. This is a difficult conflict to resolve—so the writers don’t, letting the show fade out. We never get a clear answer to what happened. The murder is written up but it is never revealed who was tried and for what.

     ‘I’ve Got a Secret’ mixes low comedy and thorny drama, shocking character development and a perhaps unsolvable problem. This episode is closer to the old kind of ‘Homicide’ than the new one but no matter what you’re comparing it to, it’s damn fine television.

My score: 4.5 stars.