Homicide Rewatch: End Game

 

Written by Rogers Turrentine; story by James Yoshimura & Henry Bromell

Directed by Lee Bonner

 

In February of 1995 Steve Buscemi was not yet the household name he is today.

At that point he was relatively early in his long career but it was still entirely in independent films. He was already a recurring character in the world of the Coen Brothers but in 1995 aside from the world of critics no one knew who the Coen Brothers were. (Not long after this episode Fargo began to be filmed and after that everybody knew who the Coen Brothers were.) He had made an impact in Reservoir Dogs but until Pulp Fiction had premiered no one really knew who Quentin Tarantino was either. So when he appeared in Homicide Buscemi was still in the level of vaguely familiar.

But if you saw his work in 'End Game', you'd have known within two minutes you were looking at a star. In hindsight it's clear to me when that moment would be. Buscemi is cast as Gordon Pratt, who is now the prime suspect in the shootings of Bolander, Felton and Howard. He has been arrested twice previously and has an outstanding warrant out for him. Most importantly he lives in apartment 201, which was the address the detectives mistakenly approached when they were set upon.

Pratt almost from the start has all the earmarks of being the guy you know is guilty even if Steve Buscemi wasn't playing him. (If we saw him in this same role two years earlier, you'd automatically assume he did just by reading the opening credits.) He lives alone in a dirty apartment with a lot of old books by Greek writers. He has a picture that has him posing like Lee Harvey Oswald. His parents, who are very old, don't believe he's capable of violence but he hasn't talked to them in two years. They think the world of him but it's clear they just believe everything their son says.

He works at a cement factory where its clear he's not only a racist but someone who can only find sexual companionship at massage parlors. He proudly roots for the Yankees in Baltimore. The term 'incel' didn't exist in 1995 but just looking (and listening) to Pratt you wouldn't have been surprised to see his picture next to the term online.

None of this is what makes Buscemi remarkable. It's when he is hauled into the box by Pembleton and Detective Walker. They suspect this man is a racist but are waiting him to talk. He engages in some vaguely polite banter. Finally Walker says: "I have to advise you of your rights."

Pratt says calmly. "I know my rights. They were written for me September 25^th 1789." Walker responds: "And I suppose your ancestors were there for the signing. Pratt doesn't alter his tone one bit. "I know for your sure yours weren't."

It is the calm, matter-of-fact delivery in which his character delivers some of the most blatant racist rhetoric we've heard on Homicide to this point by any of the criminals on the show so far that makes it clear we are in the process of watching one of the greatest actors of all time ply his craft. Even at this point in the show's run Andre Braugher, Kyle Secor and Clark Johnson (who do the brunt of the interrogation) have already established themselves as incredible talents and they are far more comfortable in this atmosphere that Buscemi should be. And it's clear even if this man were not the man who had shot three of their own, none of them want to spend more time breathing the same air as him.

Buscemi shows his craft by not going over the top in the way he sometimes would in so many of his later roles. It's worth noting that while it is likely that Pratt did this, the detectives have no hard evidence. There are still no witnesses that saw Pratt  nearby and they couldn't find a gun. They can hold him on the outstanding warrant but he can plea to that easily and get out. The only chance they have to hold him is if he confesses. And Pratt spends the entire interval denying his culpability and only close to the end giving a hint that he's guilty.

Nevertheless for the length of the interrogation with every detective Pratt gives them nothing they sink their teeth into. He doesn't ask for a lawyer for many reasons but I think it's clear why: he likes the attention and he's enjoying the dance. He knows everyone of the detectives in the squad room wants to beat the living snot out of him giving the first opportunity but the moment they lay hands on him any judge will throw what he says out. So the interrogation is basically him pressing all the detectives as far as they will go until they break.

And he does so by baiting them all with the kind of racist rhetoric that would be the kind of thing you would expect from Pat Buchanan (then the most virulent right-wing political figure of the era). He tells them he's in favor of blacks in police because they should be able to police themselves, he tells them they have smaller brains then most people, and he goes out of his way to argue that the reason he is not higher-up in life is because of affirmative action. He argues that he is intellectually superior to them, even though he's never gone to college and that the solitary life he lives (there are no male friends either) is all that he needs.

It isn't a huge shock to learn that Pratt dropped out of high school but what is the episode's best piece of theater is when Pembleton finally lays bare Pratt's posturing. He holds up his copy of Plato, which is in the original Greek. He says he's never heard it and wants Pratt to read it to him. Pratt demurs, saying he couldn't understand it. Finally he succumbs and gives an infantile precis that has nothing to do with the text. Frank whispers to him: "Let me show you what the Jesuits taught me" and proceeds to translate for him.

The problem is Frank is a human being and a black man in a white world. He has managed to spend the last two episodes doing his best not to show the effects of the trauma, pressing ahead dispassionately. Now face to face with this virulent bigot who shot three of his friends, his emotions swell up and he taunts Pratt. "You're a fake, you're a fake, Nyah, Nyah, Nyah." It's not clear if Pratt would have confess had he kept going normally but this taunting and mocking tone causes Pratt to finally call for a lawyer, ending the interrogation.

The scene where Pratt leaves the squad room is one of the most painful we've seen to date. Walker and Drummond leave the squad room, their work finished and having nothing to show for it. Pratt walks out with his attorney, not giving anything away in his expression but clearly loving all of the attention on him. Every cop in the precinct shoots daggers at him with his eyes and Pratt doesn't shy away from anyone of them. It's not so much a shock what his fate is at the end of the episode; you almost wonder if this the kind of attention he's wanted his whole life.

It's worth noting that so much of 'End Game' is remarkable even around the edges. Richard Belzer continues to give another masterful performance where he gets to show a far wider range of emotions of wisecracking. We see him at Stan's beside with Margie watching as he regains consciousness to talk him with them. Then Stan dozes off and not long after his monitors go crazy. Munch is clearly stunned and unable to process. We see him trying to give comfort to Margie in his back-handed but effective way and then he heads into the squad room because he can't be in the hospital anymore. He shows up to lead the raid that puts Pratt in custody and spends much of the interview watching barely able to hide his contempt, even in his wisecracks. (I'll get to the best one below.)

And in the aftermath of things going wrong he fixes his wrath on Frank, who he accuses of being too cute. Frank, who's no doubt pissed at his failure, argues that Munch failed to find the gun and that he spent too much time at the hospital. Quietly Munch says for all the good he's done investigating he might have bothered to show up, In response Frank shoves Munch hard and yells at him about his mouth.

(This may not have been faked. During the filming Braugher got carried away and really shoved Belzer so  hard. "I went flying, I got a cut on my arm, a cut on my face." Belzer would lake tell TV Guide. "And he was so sweet. He felt so bad, I thought: 'Thank God I like him. Because if I didn't, I would've flipped out.")

In a twist on reality we see videotaped footage of reporter Dawn Delgado, individually interviewing each of the detectives in the aftermath of the shooting at different points in the episode. Bayliss is the most diplomatic, Lewis the most virulently angry (most of his remarks are clearly censored) and Russert wonders if the detectives will come back to work. The most interesting interview is when the reporters find Munch and he is clearly stressed about having to relive his trauma for the cameras. When Delgado asks him who cops talks to about stressful situations and he says "Reporters," he's actually being mean and not funny.

The detectives are beginning to recover. Felton is actually about to be discharged and before he goes he visits Howard again. This scene is a sweet one. Howard is still dealing with being shot twice and Felton is feeling guilty. He tells her next time he wants to go in first. Howard tells her she is the primary and she wants no favors. This leads to sweetness as Felton gives his partner a stuffed giraffe, stays with her and falls asleep by her bed. Bolander is dealing with having to have inter-cranial pressure on his skull relieved and seems to be on the verge of recovering.

What happens at the end of the episode is the only part that might be considered conventional: Pratt is found shot in the lobby of his apartment building two hours after being released from the custody. What is more striking is that 9-1-1 was called three times and that the surveillance that was covering the building is gone. There are no beat cops. The owner had to call Homicide directly to get someone to show up.

So when the episode ends with Bayliss entering the squad room and is around a group of reporters having to deal with the prime suspect in the shooting of three cops ending up dead, he answers the questions honestly. Then Delgado asks if a cop could be responsible. Bayliss says the last two words anyone wants to hear: "No comment." There will be one more episode wrapping this arc up but there's nothing conventional. The story will end but there will be no closure.

 

NOTES FROM THE BOARD

Detective Munch: Most of Munch's best comments are nastily funny. Perhaps the most telling comes when Bayliss asks, looking at Pratt,  what would happen if Hitler was accepted into art school. Munch doesn't take the bait: "He would have painted the camps in pastels.

When Pembleton makes the reference to 'The Getaway. Munch says there were two movie versions and that one of them was a classic. "I don't remember another one," Bayliss says. "It wasn't worth remembering." He's referring to the 1994 remake with Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger.

Ironically the producers had repeatedly told the press that Alec Baldwin was going to make a guest appearance during the four episode arc. At the time Alec was still more of a movie star than anything else and would likely have done so out of respect for his brother Daniel. But it fell through and we'd have to wait another five years for Alec to start making regular appearances on NBC.

Hey, isn't that…Rather than regurgitate Steve Buscemi's film career since Homicide, I think I'll deal with Buscemi TV career which is by now even more impressive. Three years later Buscemi would make his TV directing debut on Homicide and then direct two episodes of Tom Fontana's follow up series Oz. He then followed it up by directing the classic Pine Barrens episode of The Sopranos (for which he received an Emmy nomination) and directed four more episodes of the show two of which came after his one season arc as Tony Bundetto which earned him an Emmy nomination for acting. Buscemi is one of the few actors who have nominated for directing and acting in the same series.(

He then had a recurring role on 30 Rock before finally being cast as Nucky Thompson on Boardwalk Empire, a role that earned him  one Golden Globes, two SAG Awards for Best Male Actor and multiple Emmy nominations. He would play Pete on Louis C.K.'s comedy series Horace & Pete, had multiple roles on the IFC comedy Portlandia and played multiple characters in the TBS anthology series Miracle Workers – including God. He will soon be seen on both Poker Face and Wednesday and if the latter role isn't inevitable casting, I don't know what is.