Homicide Episode Guide: Bones of Contention

Teleplay by Jason Yoshimura, Story by Eric Overmeyer

Directed by Brad Anderson

The investigation of cold cases is not one that Homicide went into that frequently, which considering how often the Law & Order, CSI et al would go into it, is actually rather refreshing. Indeed, paradoxically, the few times that they went into it, they mostly seemed to involve Munch, a fact he makes clear as the episode opens. It's actually rather good that they have done so; we've seen precious little of the already underused Belzer this season, and to see him actually work a case with his trademark wit is actually a good sign.

Partnering with Meldrick because Sheppard has only recently returned from the hospital (we'll get to that in a bit) is also encouraging. We've had so much focus on the newer faces of the show the last couple of years that to do an episode where two first season detectives work a case together shows that the writers are willing to get back to basics. And the case is an intriguing one - a construction job unearths the skeletal remains of a Jane Doe, so the detectives have to work in order just to find out who their victim is. This involves the new Chief ME Grissom, who actually gets irritated when Munch picks on him for the lack of evidence he seems able to unearth. But after a bit of work they manage to find out that there dead body came from the mid 80s, and was involved in a bank robbery. Mike Giardello earns his keep in this episode by helping them narrow the field still further to come up with the name of Carrie Reeves.

It becomes clear that Carrie was a bad girl. In addition to being part of a bank robbing gang, she also had convictions for prostitution and drugs. When Lewis and Munch present her mug shot to her mother, she can't even say with certainty that its her daughter, and neither can the detectives. They also find out that Carrie had a child of her own, who used to meet with her many times after leaving her with grandmother, and Kara never got over having this gap. It quickly becomes clear that she was better off not knowing.

Carrie was part of a gang of four who was responsible for robbing the Pimloco S & L in 1987. Of the others, one man is dead, another is in a Williamsburg Penitentiary serving consecutive life sentences, and the third is out on parole.  Sykes, the federal prisoner is incredibly creepy, and has no problem saying he was involved in the robbery or that the dead man was responsible for killing Carrie Reeves. They end up arresting Mancini, the parolee, and it becomes clear that there's a deeper meaning to it. Carrie stole the money from them, and Sykes beat her to death to get the location of the money out of her. Mancini, who had been clean for five years, had a steady job, and a girlfriend who wasn't in the life, is nevertheless going back to prison. There's a certain sadness to this, but when Munch tries to philosophize on it, Meldrick, who probably takes enough of his crap on a regular basis, just doesn't have the patience. It also becomes clear that Carrie used the money to set up a trust fund for her daughter, but rather than chase down the funds, they shrug it off, reflecting that the bank itself folded during the corporate raiding days of the eighties.

It's a satisfying and very simple investigation, and its good to see Belzer back into the spotlight, reminding us what a good actor he can be, and how solid a detective Munch is. God knows the man did comedy so well for Homicide, its always a good reminder to see how good Belzer can be.

The two minor stories floating around the episode will carry over the rest of the season. The more interesting one is that of Sheppard. Pissed that she's been handed back to desk duty, she's also despairing about the incident that landed her in the hospital and nearly got her and Meldrick killed. The episode flits back to a line Lewis had last week in the idea that female police go to their guns too fast because they're too small to tackle the perp. She's aggravated at becoming 'a secretary with a gun', and she's beginning to think no one in the unit will want to partner with her again. Tellingly, Lewis doesn't even talk to her until the end of the episode. When he does, things suddenly get very dark fast. He hands her bag which he says "is a welcome back... present" And in it, is the hat that got shot off his head. Meldrick has always had a quietly vindictive streak in him that has been present throughout the series. It turns out that Sheppard is right when she says that Meldrick won't want to partner with her again, at least for the rest of the series. Michael Michelle starts to demonstrate that she is far more than just a pretty face.

Unfortunately, the other major storyline is still going on, and its about to get worse. Falsone and Ballard's relationship has clearly been heating up, and despite the warnings from Gharty and Stivers about this kind of fraternization (which considering that they both pushed for this kind of relationship earlier in the season is ironic) they continue to show it. Gee finally calls them on it,  and tells the two detectives that they either have to end their relationship or one of them has to transfer to the other shift. They agree to break it off in front of Gee, he tells them point blank "no second chance"... and then, in one of the last scene, they engage in a clandestine rendezvous, which they will continue to do for much of the rest of the season. Even now, I can't understand why Simon and company would allow this to happen. Bad enough to allow the relationship in the first place, but then to have the bosses find out about it, and then flaunt it?  While I'll admit that it's something that Jimmy McNulty might do, I just don't think it something that fits in with the tenor of Homicide, especially because there's no really chemistry here.

This mess aside, Bones of Contention is basically a solid episode in the old school style. From the flashback to Higby, stuck in Missing Persons and trying desperately to get back to Homicide, a cameo from the commissioner of Prison - authentic, because Homicide always used really cops in unbilled cameos, and (mostly) good performances from everybody, this is what the series should have been doing all season.

My score: 4.5 stars.