Homicide Episode Guide: Red, Red Wine

Written by Sara B. Charno

Directed by Ed Bianchi

Well, we're getting better by increments at least.

In many ways, this episode is a strange beast. Usually, Homicide's stories that deal with serial killers are among the least realistic. This one works a bit better because there are at least a couple of shifts. The deaths are not showy, they are brought to the attention of the detectives by the ME's office instead - they are poisonings that nearly slipped by under the guise of influenza. (There's also a subtle nod to this by having a couple of the detectives suffering from the flu as the episode progresses.) The realization that this is the work of a mass murder is interesting, because the killer is clearly doing this under the guise of not being found out, which goes against the grain of a lot of murderers.

This story also benefits by having the newcomers to the series do some of their best work so far. Because Munch is at the doctor (we'll get to that) Bayliss teams up with Sheppard to begin the investigation. Frankly, Secor and Michele have a better back and forth than he has with Belzer, and it works to the episode advantage. There's definitely a quasi-flirtation going on for some of the episode (the fact that it takes place in a cemetery is a nice touch for the series), but they also work surprisingly well as a team. Bayliss has been painted as the rookie for so long, its rather fascinating to see Tim now as the veteran detective, and its long overdue for the series.

But even better is how Mike Gee ends up being utilized in the investigation. When it becomes clear that is going to be a red ball, the local feds get involved, and put Mike at the head of the investigation. Now its clear that Al would never get along with any body who takes charge over him, but he clearly chafes at the idea of his son being put in charge. And when it becomes clear that the poison is being distributed through wine, he looks at this more as an issue for the greater good over keeping the investigation in control. It's bad enough that he challenges his son over this in private, but when he chooses to go to Dawn Daniels, who has been sniffing around the story since the beginning, it becomes even messier. Al had gone against the bosses to the press repeatedly over the course of the series, and its always been painted as the right thing. This is the first time we actually see the negative connotations of what Al has been doing all these years, as hospitals get filled up and people start staying away from bars. When Mike calls him on it, his reaction is to sanguinely go home, as if none of this is his concern. We're so used to seeing Al as the bulwark of virtue that its rather stunning to see him so brazenly doing something that seems marked with ambiguity.

The investigation itself actually has an interesting wrinkle as it proceeds. We're given an obvious suspect early on (and he has all the trappings of a mad scientist), but in true Homicide fashion, he's just the decoy. The real mastermind turns out to be a truck driver named Wally Flynn, who seems to be almost a throwaway when we first meet him.  When Sheppard and Bayliss interrogate him, he doesn't even need to confess, and its really stunning when we learn why he did. He's no sociopath, he's an old man who wanted to give his life meaning, and decided to go on a murderous rampage after his wife and son died. When he tells Bayliss he doesn't matter (and using the same kind of Buddhist reasoning that he's been using this season) Tim gets angry we haven't seen this season. And when the denouement is revealed that Flynn is dying of cancer and there's no threat they can throw at him, it's truly unsettling. Credit must be given to the late character actor Pat Hingle for created something relative new in Homicide: a little man who has chosen murder as a way to be big.

This is a much more satisfying episode than the others we've had this season, and its filled with little touches that make it seem that the series might finally be getting on track again. Stivers and Falsone catch a murder where another brilliant Baltimore citizen decides to kill his wife with arsenic in order to cash in on the poisoning craze - but leaves the arsenic in his glove compartment. Mike and Al have an argument in the teaser about laying flooring (apparently Mike is continuing his repair work on his cousin's home) and when the investigation is over, he tells Al that he was right - about the flooring, not what Al did. And the general bond between Bayliss and Sheppard is actually one of the better ones the series will do.  And Charno (in her script for the series) manages to lay foreshadowing for what will happen near the end of the season exploring both Bayliss' anger towards the job and how Al and Mike's relationship will not work professionally.

But there's still some general flab around the corners throughout the episode. Munch's story with health issues involved in last week's bedroom romp with Billie Lou has an engaging ending, but there's so much talking about that it starts to become irritating. And unfortunately, the Ballard-Falsone relationship has finally begun, and rather than try and keep it under the radar, every detective in the unit is asking about the details. Which is bad enough, except than we get the details.

Overall, though, Red, Red Wine is the first episode this season that actually plays like an old-school Homicide. I'd say that's things are going to go up from here, but we still have a couple of detours to make.

My score: 4 stars.