Homicide Episode Guide: The Twenty Percent Solution

Written by David Simon

Directed by Clark Johnson

In some way, this episodes is one of the better ones of the seventh season. In other ways, it suffers tremendously compared to even the best episode. Most of that is because the writer is David Simon. And while the best part of the episodes are the kinds of things I'd expect from Simon, most of it doesn't even seem like it belongs in the same universe as the man who spent a year with the Baltimore PD.

Let's get to the major story cause that what's the big weakness. Ballard and Gharty are called in by Barnfather when the wife of noted writer L.P. Everett (pretty clearly a reference to the late Baltimore novelist Tom Clancy) is said that his wife has been murdered by his agent Jake Benedict.  They seem to present by a videotaped deposition of the author saying his agent killed him. The bosses foist this on Homicide because they feel like they have to go through the motions. The agent tells them he just received his latest draft of his novel, and that Everett is probably off with his mistress. Who, his actress wife, seems to know all about. It seems like Everett has run off - until the mistress shows up,  and says that Everett missed their rendezvous a week earlier.

All of this plays like a vaguely possible crime scenario, but the plausibility already stretched thin, starts getting pulled beyond recognition, when the investigation progresses, and the investigation leads to an ex-CIA man who claims that Everett plagiarized a manuscript that he wrote. It becomes increasingly clear that some kind of crime might have taken place - there are bullet holes in Everett's office - but there's no murder weapon, no blood spatter, and worst of all, no body.  This makes for some intriguing elements where it becomes hard to tell if a crime even took place. All of which would make for an interesting episode of Law & Order, but isn't something that David Simon would have the detectives touch with a ten-foot pole.

There are bits and pieces of the story that work well, but for some reason, in the final act, Simon turns the major story over to Danvers, as he takes on a role that would not be out of place for Jack McCoy. (Maybe last season's crossover rubbed off on him.) The prisoner, who can clearly see that the cards are in his favor, doesn't confess, and the case, however circumstantial, goes to the trial. And then, the entire case seems to turn when Russom, the sleazy Baltimore attorney who seems to represent every criminal in the city, gives a closing argument, in which he says L.P. Everett will wave at you. He doesn't show up, he says that everybody looked and that's reasonable doubt. The jury deliberates for twelve minutes, and then comes back with a guilty verdict! And they reveal that the only reason that they voted to convict was because when Russom made his closing statement, the defendants didn't bother to look.

Now, I'll admit, I've been waiting for six years for Michael Willis to get his ass handed to him, but it's just not realistic as far as any of the trials on Homicide work. Compared to 'Justice', this doesn't even come close to passing the smell test.  And I just can't buy Simon putting pen to paper and coming up with this.

What seems more like Homicide is the secondary story where Bayliss and Munch are called into investigate a suspicious death of an eighty-eight year old woman, who appears to have died a heart attack at the sight of an attempted burglary. It's only been a few episodes, but its already clear that the Bayliss-Munch partnership isn't going to be a match made in heaven. Munch doesn't believe that this was a murder, and is anxious to get the investigation closed so he can have a three-day weekend rendezvous with Billie Lou. Bayliss is his usual aggressive self, and wants an answer. Neither is helped immensely by the ruling of Grissom, the chief ME who has replaced Cox, and who is one of Homicide's better additions. A cheerful investigator into cause of death, he is both very thorough in his work, and, in a rarity for this, office, grimly funny. Austin Pendleton does a wonderful job, and makes us look forward to our visits to the morgue.

Eventually, the case is resolved when the burglar - a career criminal who cheerfully confesses to thirty-two robberies as long as he gets the same sentence - is caught, and asks after the fate of the old woman. Turns out, she scared him to death, and after she keeled over, he tried to make her comfortable and called 911. In a rare case of discretion, Munch and Bayliss decide that this is not a murder, and tell him the woman is alright. This is actually modeled after a case in Simon's book, and it has the feel of an old-school story.

There are some very charming bits in The Twenty Percent Solution - the opening montage where the squadroom tries to come up with the definitive list of Jewish and Hip, a list that ends up with Meldrick being declared as an unhip black man, which understandably wounds him. There's the moment when Munch makes a reference to The Maltese Falcon, which no one gets, and the fact that Gharty can't understand for the life of him why two gorgeous women would want to be with LP Everett - and they can't understand why they shouldn't be. But this is sort of overplayed by the fact that Falsone finally figures out that Ballard has the hots for him, and asks her out on a date, officially starting the series worst continuing storyline.

There are enough good moments in this episode to make it watchable, even enjoyable at times. But considering both the writer and director (Johnson directs his fourth episode so far), you've frankly come to expect a lot better. This seems like a much later police procedural, not the kind of thing that David Simon would produce, much less pen.

My score: 3 stars.