Homicide Episode Guide: Prison Riot

Written by Tom Fontana; Story by Tom Fontana and Henry Bromell\

Directed by Kenneth Fink

As I have mentioned in other writings I am reluctant to ever refer to anything as ‘the best episode’ or ‘the worst episode’. Other publications are less reluctant.  So in July of 1997 when TV Guide published a list of ‘the 100 best episodes of television ever’ I was very skeptical of some of the choice they made. I had doubts about their choices for shows like The X-Files  or Law & Order. But the episode that really caused my eyebrows to raise was their selection of ‘Prison Riot’ as the choice for Homicide.

    Now I’m not saying this isn’t a very good episode but the best ever? I’m not even sure if it was the best episode of season 5.  One would think episodes like’ Three Men and Adena’ or ‘Every Mother’s Son’ would have a much greater claim to the title. (In fact if the editors had waited six months I’m almost positive they would have picked ‘The Subway’ instead, which really does have a legitimate claim to being one of the all time greats) For a show that produced many, many remarkable moments it is odd that the editors would have focused on this one.

That’s not to say that ‘Prison Riot’ isn’t a great episode because it does show some brilliant ideas and some very startling character portrayals. For one thing it has a daring idea--- to revisit the fates and lives of several criminals that the detectives have put into jail over the past year. As we see in the opening sequence, James Douglas (one of the murderers in ‘Autofocus) kills wife-killer Claude Vetter (from ‘Requiem for Adena) because he banged into him at the cafeteria. This sets up a fight which leads to a riot, and when its over James lies dead too.

When the squad (sans Pembleton) goes to investigate the riot, nobody (especially Munch) is particularly eager to solve this killing. Gee tells the detectives to fill in the paperwork and then come back home. He, like everyone else, doesn’t give a damn who killed James Douglas.  However Bayliss (the primary on the case) wants to solve it. Part of this is because during the investigation, he becomes convinced that Elijah Sanborn, a lifer for the murder of the drug-dealer who killed his wife, saw the murder and wants to tell him. He learns that Sanborn’s son, Kingston (barely a baby when his father went to prison) is under arrest for robbery. So, in one of his more ruthless acts, he manipulates both the state attorney and the mans family to get Sanborn to tell what he’s seen in exchange for reduced time for Kingston.

But when Sanborn sees his son and daughter (neither of who has visited him in prison) and realizes that neither of them even care about him anymore, he confesses to the murder even though Bayliss is convinced he is lying.

Bayliss is convinced that Sanborn is looking for redemption but ultimately (in true Homicide fashion) Sanborn never gives up the murderer. The killer is revealed when Trevor Douglas (James’s cousin) is beaten into a coma by fellow inmate Tom Marans (the murderer of Erica Chilton way back in ‘Hate Crimes). Marans explains that Trevor killed his cousin over a pack of cigarettes and he tried to kill Trevor because he was James’s ‘wife’. The killing is down, and even though Marans will doubtless become a target by Trevor’s friends, the days work is done.

The show is one of Fontana’s best scripts, partly because it deals with several old plotlines from seasons past but also because it deals with prison life, a subject the show has never really explored. We get an idea of the claustrophobia, the brutality and how people’s lives are contorted and bent on ‘the inside. The subject would fascinate Fontana so much that a year later he would develop Oz , a  series for HBO centered entirely around life in a maximum security prison. Many of the ideas in ‘Prison Riot’ would appear in the show--- the oppressiveness of the prison, the separation of felons into cliques based on race and creed, the homosexuality that occurs when straight men are locked in a building with straight men for the rest of their lives, the long circle of endless death to avenge one crime after the other.  The most startling  character in the episode is Tom Marans, played by Dean Winters (who would go on to star in Oz) Marans was as an average person, a normal guy on the outside but since he went to jail a year ago, he has changed immeasurably. His hair is dyed, his body tattooed, he has begun smoking and twisted sex, and has become a stone cold killer. When Fontana created Oz, one of the major characters was Tobias Beecher, a middle-class man receiving a harsh punishment for   involuntary manslaughter in a DUI. One can see many of Beecher’s characteristics in Marans.

But as fascinating as this is, the most brilliant character is Sanborn, played by Charles Dutton, one of the great actors of our time. Known for his work in August Wilson’s plays, and  in movies such as Menace II Society and Mississippi Masala, Dutton would do some brilliant work on television, winning four Emmys for work both in front and behind the camera. (He directed the HBO miniseries, The Corner, based on another book by David Simon). Dutton lends enormous range with his anger and energy behind Sanborn. Elijah has been beaten and damaged by the system but remains a strong man and despite his absence from his family, a loving father. If it seems that Dutton is channeling something personal in this role, it’s because he is--- Dutton spent seven and a half years in a Baltimore prison for stabbing a man in a street fight. This is brilliant work and the fact that Dutton didn’t even get nominated  for an Emmy is just another reason why the judges were so narrow-minded against the show.

it takes a great actor to match scenes with Dutton, but in case we’ve missed it before, Kyle Secor is one such actor. No one else would care about a case like this or a man such as Sanborn but Tim Bayliss does. We also get a very good insight into Bayliss personally as he talks about his troubled relationship with his late father. It is clear that they had a lot of issues (though we are still a few episodes away from learning the biggest one) but we also know that he still cares for him despite everything.

Though Bayliss is at the center of this episode, we also get some good work from Reed Diamond as Kellerman. He seems more open, friendly and congenial to his fellow detectives--- which is moving because of what is about to hit him.  There is also a fascinating scene between Brodie and Pembleton about Frank’s halting in taking his meds, in which he (like the rest of us) realize we’ve underestimated the young man. And, though it’s very serious, we do have a few laughs, particularly when Kellerman, trying to substitute for Frank’s wisdom, offers to give Tim a hug.

‘Prison Riot’ is one of the most brilliantly shot episodes of the season and features three superb musical set pieces, which come together at the episodes end where Bayliss looks over the bay at sunset as ‘Down to Zero’ by Joan Armatrading plays in the background. It’s still one of the best moments in the show’s history. So even though ‘Prison Riot’ isn’t one of the greatest episodes ever or even the best episode of Homicide,  it’s still one of the most emotionally and dramatically wrenching episodes of the series and one that will not quickly fade from the memory.

My score: 5 stars.