Homicide Episode Guide: Kellerman, P.I. (Part 2)

Teleplay by Sean Whitesell, Story by Eric Overmeyer & Tom Fontana

Directed by Jay Tobias

In a bizarre twist, the conclusion to the final Homicide two-parter falls during the Christmas season. It would be an exaggeration to call the conclusion of Kellerman, P.I. another Christmas themed show, but it is definitely fitting well within the (all too brief) tradition of those brilliant episodes.

This two-parter is different from most, if not all, of the other two-parters that have come in Homicide's run. Technically, the murder of Baby Straub has been solved, at least under the standards of how the series has worked. (In an interesting side note, there is a significant amount of testimony in the case about just how procedure works in the Homicide unit.) Much of the episode deals with the trial of Craig Halpern, who by the end of the opening sequence has been blamed for the murder of his son by Debbie.

But Falsone, who has taken this case more personally than many other investigations, seems determined to prove that the wrong person is on trial. However, he is not helped by the fact that Craig, for most of the episode, seems blind to the fact that Debbie is going to throw him under the bus, even though he should know better. Falsone can't understand why, even after he has been convicted, that Craig seems to believe that Debbie has been communicating with him somehow, and seems to think that he has deluded himself into thinking otherwise. Jon Seda gives one of his more emotional performances, for the first time almost all season, playing a Falsone who doesn't seem to be chasing his tail or chasing tail.

Admittedly, a lot of the reason he may be obsessed with trying to prove that Craig is innocent is because Kellerman has been working with the Straub case. If the unit was hostile to him before, they're downright aggressive now. When Mike Giardello tries to get some information from the unit about him, Kellerman's former partners don't want to say anything. Lewis has practically nothing to say, and Munch, who would rhapsodize about Stan Bolander at a moment's notice, compares Kellerman's departure of the unit to Nixon's leaving the White House. Gharty, who was pissed before, now trashes Kellerman when Sheppard even tries to get basic information about to Mahoney shooting, and when she keeps pressing, pulls his shirt open and show his scar. But that's positively mild to Kellerman's encounter with Stivers at the courthouse, where all the residual bitterness about how everything involving the Mahoney shooting and its bloody aftermath practically explode to the surface. It's one of the more hostile scenes that the series has ever done, and it actually seems deserved. Even Danvers, who is working in tandem with Kellerman about the Straub case, seems to still have a little bitterness towards how everything went down. When a bit of information comes up that might help exonerate Craig, Kellerman leaves the notes out of the file because he doesn't want to hurt the case. Danvers says: "I can remember when the truth meant more to you than your paycheck."

Other detectives are more understanding. Sheppard and Kellerman have a drink at a bar, where Mike actually seems upset that Gharty now hates him so much. Sheppard asks, perfectly honestly, just how everything with the Mahoney shooting went down. And I almost wish the writers had stayed at the bar to play it out. A bigger surprise come from Bayliss. When Falsone points out just how ugly his relationship with Kellerman was, and that Tim, perhaps more than anybody else in the unit, has a reason to hate Kellerman, Bayliss tells him that in his hospital bed, he managed to find a way to let all of the bitterness go. He even shakes Mike's hand before saying goodbye, which is more than any of the other detectives will do.

The trial proceeds with the certainty that tends to come with every trial. Debbie sells out Craig, and Craig convicted. Before he can be sentenced, he confessed what really happened in the motel room to Falsone - that Debbie murdered her own son. It's the denouement that is truly shocking. Craig hangs himself in his cell, which leads to another, more subdued, exchange between Kellerman and Falsone about what really happened. Then Kellerman pursues Debbie, and finds out that she left messages on his voicemail, telling him not to believe anything that he hears from the courtroom.

However, in true Homicide tradition, this new information resolves nothing. The plea agreement that Debbie Straub made was not violated, and there's no way that she can go to prison. The wrong person is dead, and the guilty party can just go on with her life. What gives this a kind of resonance is the final scene where Kellerman and Falsone talk, in vague terms about what happened, and they come as close to rapprochement as they never could when they were in the same unit together. The fact that Falsone calls Kellerman 'Detective' is probably the highest compliment he can pay. There's also as interesting call back in the final shot. The last shot of Kellerman in Season 6 was him looking at himself in a bar mirror, after he had handed in his badge. In this episode, he looks in a restaurant mirror, and his image is fuzzy and hazy. In the final shot, he looks in another bar mirror. His expression doesn't change, but the message is clear. Having done the right thing, he can look himself in the face again.

Kellerman, P.I. is one of the best two-parters the series would ever do. The case is compelling, and far more emotionally wrenching rather than dramatically overplayed. Reed Diamond gives a performance that serves as a fine farewell (almost) to the character he did so well for three seasons. Extra credit should also be given to Jena Malone and Chris Gunn as the teenage killers, whose reaction to their guilt plays out in dramatically different ways. And the constant Christmas Muzak gives a brilliant counterpoint to the starkness of the case before them. It now seems that Homicide is finally back on track.

My score: 4.5 stars.