Homicide Episode Guide: Strangers and Other Partners

Written by David Simon, James Yoshimura, and Tom Fontana

Directed by Kenneth Fink

And so we have arrived at the end of another season of Homicide. This episode would show certain parallels with more high-profiles drama season finales. In 1997 The X-Files would end it’s season with Fox Mulder apparently dead of a shotgun suicide and NYPD Blue would end with Detective Simone being set up to look like a dirty cop in order to be used as an undercover operative while Detective Sipowicz woul be under suspicion for a murder. However ‘Strangers and Other Partners’ wraps up its more dramatic storylines by the end of the episode (after a fashion) and ends with one of the more banal cliffhangers that any series used.

But let’s back up. Homicide, IID and the Auto squad have to work together on Felton’s murder, trying to simultaneously find his killer and learn if his disguise remained intact. Needless to say, nobody’s very happy about this turn of events. Falsone is pissed at having to work with IID with the implication that he was part of the problem. Everyone’s pissed at the idea of working with Gharty, though with the Homicide squad the reasons are more personal --- they all remember ‘Scene of the Crime’ and Gharty’s refusal to get out of his car. But the squad has divisions within it to. Pembleton makes it very clear he doesn’t want Howard or the newly arrived Russert working different angles on the investigation, citing they are taking the case too personally. What comes as a surprise is that Giardello agrees with Frank and has both of them taken off the case in order to arrange the funeral for Beau.

This is out of character behavior for Gee. Looking back to how Gee let Crosetti look into Chris Thorman’s shooting in the first season, and how he let Lewis work Crosetti’s suicide (while Howard and Felton did his work for him), one can not escape the feeling that the lieutenant is operating on a double standard. Yes, Megan and Kay have personal reasons for wanting to lock up Felton’s killer. But personal issues have rarely biased Gee before. It is particularly puzzling, considering Gee has had the best relationships with the two women detectives. One wonders if Fontana had plans for the following season and was trying to give a suitable send off to Melissa Leo and Isabella Hoffman. While the show does give both actresses a chance to shine, it doesn’t seem keeping in with the realism of Homicide.

Simultaneously, it seems that the writers are trying to introduce two new characters to the series. Falsone and Gharty get to do most of the heavy work in this episode. They are the ones who figure out who the leak was: Eddie Dugan, Falsone’s informant and as, we find out, the man Gharty used to get Felton undercover. They handle the interrogation in a confrontation that smacks of classic Homicide. We also get some interesting background into both detectives. The biggest insight comes when we learn Gharty, so cowardly in his behavior one year earlier, finally found some guts while working another case six months earlier, in which he took a terrible beatdown. Despite the fact he finds his stones, several of the detectives will never develop respect for him when he joins the squad.

We also get a touch of Homicide when the killer is revealed--- when the detectives try to make the collar, the killer has skipped town. And he does not come back; Felton’s name remains in red forever. There may be some closure for the detectives but sometimes there is no real justice.

While the murder is being worked, two other key storylines from this season are dealt with. Frank finally talks with his wife (who we learn is now six months pregnant) and does something that we would honestly not think he could do; he says that he’ll give up his job for his family. He has finally chosen between the two passions in his life. Simultaneously, the seeds for his ultimate departure have been planted.

If things are improving for Pembleton, they’re on a definite down turn for Kellerman. He has begun to hit the booze a lot harder and now its effects are being felt: he is having blackouts of the nights before and he is having trouble doing his job (as we see when he loses an eyewitness at a crime scene.) Both of the major relationships he has formed are deteriorating: Meldrick is becoming openly hostile with him (doubtlessly because of the Mahoney shooting) and Juliana is openly having problems with him. What’s more, when he makes an effort to resurface from his haze, Juliana makes it very clear that she has no intention of stopping her wild ways. Unfortunately, things will only get worse for Mike from here on.

With all the angst and trauma going on, the cliffhanger of the episode comes after Gee has a talk with the commissioner about a new administrative policy for the Baltimore PD. From now on, detectives will be rotated through the various divisions every three months. Homicide is no longer the elite of the department and in a matter of months they may all be gone.

 This was actually in keeping with real life. In 1994 the new commissioner instituted a four-year limit on assignment to specialized units. He believed that rotating officers through departments would lead to a greater showing of knowledge and skill. Unfortunately, he did not consider if the detectives would have enough time to develop specialized skills before moving to  a different post. This led to a collapse in drug investigations, while many brilliant detectives (including some who appeared in Simon’s book) retired rather than leave the squad.

The rotation would signal a major change on Homicide as well. Melissa Leo departed the show while four new characters (three of whom appeared in the two-part season finale) would join the unit. It would be a symbol of the sweeping changes that would take place over the shows final two seasons.

So in many ways ‘Strangers and Other Partners’ is a fitting conclusion to the fifth year of this remarkable series. We (like the squad) prepare for a great change that is coming for a series. As Gee says in his speech given in honor of Felton, the  bodies still fall but they will remember who has fallen. The detectives aren’t perfect but they work for the best. The show aims high and hits the target most of the time.

My score: 4.5 stars.