Friday, April 11, 2025

Homicide Rewatch: A Model Citizen

 

Written by Noel Behn; story by Tom Fontana & Jorge Zamacona

Directed by John McNaughton

 

You’ve got to hand it to Tom Fontana. NBC asks for more life-affirming storylines; here’s the first episode since Night of the Dead Living with no murders or even dead bodies. NBC asks for stories that are more sexual; he gives them the first episode with an on-screen sex scene. Two in fact. And he does both of these things in an episode that is, in many ways as bleak and morbid as anything else and puts death front and center in a way it really just isn’t.

Let’s start with one real crime in this episode which is sadly even more pertinent today that it was in 1994. A black teenager named Lennox comes into the squad and tells Munch a long story about his brother getting shot. Except he didn’t see the shooting, no one’s dead and there’s no body. Munch, usually short-tempered, is angrier than usual. “You just wasted five minutes of my life. Five minutes that when I’m on my deathbed I’ll be wishing I had.”

In hindsight the major crime in this episode features what will be one of the more interesting trends when it comes to Richard Belzer’s character. Most of the best episodes that show Belzer to his best dramatic ability will not be the kind of murders that we will see the majority of the other detectives. Rather they will be crimes that have a hook that it built on rumor and deception and then leads to the kind of eerie case we don’t typically get with Munch. This is keeping with the nature of John overall, particular at leads to the kind of tragicomedy that is centered on the man.

Like most of these same cases he has to be dragged into it. He’s being driven by Howard to an alcohol awareness seminar (we’ll get to that) and they drive by the bus stop Lennox the kid mentioned. There’s no sign that anything happened but there’s a neighborhood clinic. Munch and Howard go in and they learn there was a shooting. Lennox shot Prescott, his brother with his own gun.

Munch ends up going to the hospital where Prescott is in a coma. His mother doesn’t know what happen and his two sisters are nearby. Munch and Howard go to the home where they find the evidence of the shooting but Lennox is still prevaricating, insisting there’s no gun. For the first time we see genuine anger. “When your brother dies, we’ll be back to charge you with murder,” he says as he storms out.

That night Munch, who can normally laugh off most murders, is melancholy. He thinks about the two sisters, who are still in grade school. He’s focused on how dead their eyes were and how they know they were next. Howard decides to turn the car around and go back.

When Munch goes into Lennox’s room he’s angrier than we’ve ever seen him in all season. He storms at Lennox and tries in his deranged way to reason with, telling him that next time it could be his sisters. Lennox says: “You want the gun? Take it. It don’t matter. They’ll just be another one tomorrow.” Munch smashes his fist in the wall, leaving a notable dent and walks out of the house. Both Lennox’s sister walk out with absolutely no emotion in their eyes.

Munch and Howard then get drunk with Munch saying, not for the first time, he’s going to quit. He intends to run the Waterfront, maybe go into business with his brother. Munch then gives another one of his rants, this one more on point then usual:

 

“We’ve got enough guns in Baltimore to fight World War III. But you know what, it’s absolutely fine. You know why? The right to bear arms. It’s in the bill of rights. You start messing with that, you might as well hold up a sign on the Statue of Liberty that says ‘Welcome to Iran’

Now it’s worth noting during this episode a character named Sam Thorne has shown up earlier and talked about a program called Toys for Guns and has been trying to get the detectives involved in it. “Guns go off, you get involved. Am I the only one who sees the connection?” (We will deal with the man and his fate in the next episode.) Munch has spent the entire episode proving the futility of that very statement. He’s done exactly what was asked of him and nothing changed. Even he admits he has no answers.

The episode also deals with another storyline that came across one way in 1994 and may have others with a different read on it now. Annabella Wilgus the white cotton glove killer, has been sentenced to a padded cell but is now suing the city of Baltimore for violating her civil rights. Named in the suit are Frank and Russert. Frank spends the entire episode incredibly angry because in his mind he sees nothing wrong with what he did. Annabella Wilgus got away with murder in his eyes and the fact that she’s now demanding money for it is the cherry on the crap sundae.

The courtroom scene that follows between Russert and Darin Russom is interesting now. Given what we already know about both the attorney and who he represents we naturally assume he’s just being another sleazeball. When he deposes Russert and gets her to tell exactly what we saw between Pembleton and Wilgus, right up until the moment she burned herself, and then asks her if he would have let Frank throw Wilgus on the floor to get a confession and Russert says of course not. “Burning is okay. But throwing someone on the floor is not okay. So much for civil liberties at the Baltimore Police department.”

Because this is a procedural we naturally want to hate this guy. But for what will be the only time in his entire career of representing the reprehensible Darin Russom is actually on the right side of history. The case is held over for trial but the city settles rather than have it go to that point.

This is also one of the few episodes in Homicide’s entire run where Frank looks something like a prick in a way that’s not flattering.  He refuses to acknowledge at any point that there might be some truth in what he’s done. His first reaction is to blame Russert (something I should mention a contemporary author later would) but in this case when Russert says Frank went over the line, she has a point. The fact that she was liable for what happened makes little difference to Frank (or some viewers) and he storms off and goes to the box.

Gee initially tries to humor him with the news (“The city actually thinks your worth $100,000) but Pembleton then turns on Gee. In what will be a sad recurring theme for Homicide the detective is more concerned what this means for his reputation rather than any consequences.

“I thought I had resolved all this when I first put the uniform on,” he tells Gee. “You do what you have to do to get to the truth.” He actually seems more upset that Annabella Wilgus manipulated him than the idea of having done anything wrong.

But no one’s exactly behaving well in this episode. The main story of A Model Citizen is ostensibly a love triangle and betrayal. In actuality it’s a story of two very creepy approaches to romances that bring certain ugly truths to life. And one of them unfortunately is about Meldrick Lewis.

Lewis meets a woman who does models for crime scenes named Emma Zoole, who’s here to work with him on a murder. Lewis is instantly taken with her and its clear Emma isn’t. He walks her through the crime scene and it becomes obvious to us that Meldrick is smitten and Emma isn’t. When they’re in the coffee room, Meldrick then tries to hit on her and ask her on a date. Emma politely declines and Lewis keeps pressing it even afterwards. You can see thirty years later just how badly Meldrick’s behavior is and the fact that Emma has soundly rejected him doesn’t change the fact he feels that he has a claim on her that no one else should touch.

It’s during this storyline that the show starts to subtly hint at an unpleasant personality trait of Meldrick: when he feels he’s crossed he can hold a grudge and he wants that trust reciprocated without having to give any in return. This is clear in a scene near the end of the episode where Munch, still depressed about everything involve Lennox is watching some children play basketball. For one of the few times on the show he actually tries to open a part of his soul – and Meldrick is so encased in the supposed slights against him he doesn’t bother to see the man who is partnering with him is in such pain. It’s clear that despite being partners with Munch in a bar and on the force, he can’t seem to see him as capable of the same problems he does. When he tells Munch he doesn’t want to partner with Bayliss anymore because of his ‘betrayal’ he doesn’t even bother to give an explanation. It’s another example of his selfish behavior. This time its relatively harmless. In later seasons it will have repercussions on the job.

Bayliss knows about Meldrick’s crush on Zoole but it’s clear the moment he sees her there’s a spark between them that’s immediate. After their first conversation, it quickly becomes clear that Emma’s has a view of death that is kind of creepy. The way she talks about how “you must find death fascinating” and the way she talks about seeing him on TV about Adena Watson is a little unsettling. When she invites him into a gallery where the art has been done entirely by criminals, he’s actually kind of repulsed. With good reason, Annabella Wilgus has a couple of pieces in there. When she says: “What if you could see inside the head of whoever killed Adena Watson?” it’s the kind of thing someone who didn’t know Tim as we do would recognize as poking a sore point. It’s only because of his attraction to Emma he goes in and he can only take so much before he’s invited to her place for a drink.

There of course, the infamous sex scene takes place and we learn Emma has sex in a coffin. This is unsettling in 1994, but as we now know Emma is just slightly ahead of the curve. (To be sure, many of the people who do are devoted to vampires, but still…) This truly unsettles Bayliss but after she takes off her top he gives in. (“You’re not gonna close the lid on me are you?”)

The next day Bayliss is overwhelmed with guilt both about Emma’s fetish and the fact that he betrayed Meldrick. He intends to confess and come clean. But because the squad leaks like a sieve, Meldrick learns before Tim can confess – and its pretty clear that even if he had, it wouldn’t have mattered. “You’re a disloyal son of a bitch,” he tells Bayliss before storming off. One wonders if Meldrick had gotten to know Emma he would still have been as enamored of her or if this is just macho posturing. But the fact he still behaves like a child.

And it turns out Emma has been lying to Bayliss, she’s in the middle of a relationship already. (Open relationships were something that would have to wait until cable came around for television to deal with and even then it would be another twenty years before they dipped their toe in.) This bothers Tim even more, especially when he learns she’s dating a cop. By now it’s clear how messy things are going to get with this but he ends up back in the coffin with her by the end of the episode.

Yet even that is not the most haunting image. Before the end Felton has a conversation with Russert where he lets her know that things between him and Beth have been tense since he came back. Russert wonders if Beth knows he was sleeping with her. We’ll never get a clear image of this but we do see the results. The final moments of the episodes show Beau walking through his home to find it empty – not just of his wife and kids but all the furnishing and clothes, except for his in a pile. The final scene shows him walking into his bathroom to see the word “GOOD BYE” written on the mirror in lipstick. The image of Daniel Baldwin breaking down is one of the best scenes he will do on the show. (It would have more of an impact were it not for how Peacock does it…but it’s still powerful.)

 

NOTES FROM THE BOARD:

“Detective Munch” Munch’s major comic subplot is when he attends the alcohol awareness seminar so that they can serve liquor. He shows up having told the leader: “It’s not every day one’s mother is crushed by an elephant.” (Apparently investigating a shooting isn’t a good enough excuse.) Munch behaves very much like a class clown in this seminar and ends up getting expelled – and banned for life. (Though to be honest given the way she talks about it, I’m kind of stunned this doesn’t happen more often.)

It was The 1990s: The opening teaser deals with Howard being upset that Romper Room; a TV kid show that had been filmed in Baltimore for more than 40 years is being cancelled. Howard mourns its passing while Munch seems to be miffed at its place in Baltimore’s culture (Romper Room, Bromo-Seltzer, the Star-Spangled Banner). Felto actually quotes the show but seems kind of bitter that his name was never seen in the magic mirror. “She never saw Beau.” Munch then opens up and shares his childhood memories with Judy Splinters who won the first Emmy. When he is mocked, he says: “Remind me to share more often.”

This incident, with the requisite name changes, can be found in Simon’s book. And just like on the show, the detectives never got the gun out of the house.

Hey, Isn’t That… By the time Joe Morton had made his first appearance on Homicide as Sam Thorne, the crusading newspaper man he had already starred as Jason on the 1974-75 series Feeling Good and as James Foster on the soap opera Search For Tomorrow. He spent much of the 1970s on TV series, including Sanford and Son as well as soap operas such as Guiding light and Another World. His breakthrough role in the world of film came in John Sayles’s brilliant sci-fi movie The Brother From Another Planet, though it didn’t lead to instant success. He was still doing small roles in films and TV until 1991 when he starred in another John Sayles film City of Hope and played Miles Dyson in Terminator 2. After that he would be cast in the short run series Equal Justice and played Byron Douglas III in A Different World. Not long before he appeared on Homicide he had just played Capt. McMahon on Speed. (I’ll cover the rest of his career in the next episode.

First Appearance: Laurie Kennedy as Felicity Weaver, one of the states attorneys for Baltimore. Kennedy had been actin in television for nearly twenty years during this period in such shows as Police Woman, and Emergency. She made the acquaintance of Tom Fontana in St. Elsewhere but her career started to take off when she played Pat Lawford in the mini-series Kennedy that same year. She was married to D. Keith Mano which helped to. She has also had recurring roles on all of the Law & Order franchises and appeared both in Oz and City on A Hill, both of which were written by Tom Fontana as well.

 

 

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