Homicide Rewatch: Autofocus

 

Written by Bonnie Mark ; story by Tom Fontana & Henry Bromell

Directed by Alan Taylor

 

At the start of the episode Lewis asks everyone if there's something in the air, something weird. This is clearly meant to serve two sly in-jokes. The more direct one is that minutes later an alarm sounds to indicate there's a gas leak in the building and the unit will have to relocate to what appears to be either a very primitive police station or some kind of financial office (considering that Pembleton will have to do his interrogation in a 'safety deposit box' I'm unsure whether that's true) The other joke is to no doubt make fun of the fact that so many television shows use these kinds of symbolic lines as eerie portents before some kind of horrible change where on Homicide it's business as usual.

The thing is, either by accident or design, Autofocus represents the biggest change in how the show will operate from this point forward. Some of the changes are notable improvements while some sadly never pan out.

The most obvious one is stated directly after Lewis makes his remark. Munch points out that Lewis is nervous because Kellerman is the new detective and that means if he partners with him and it doesn't work out, he's screwed. Munch then reminds Meldrick that he partnered with everyone in the unit last year and each one was more disastrous then the next: a relatively accurate statement. (He partnered well with Bolander on a couple of occasions but since Stan's gone now, that can't work in his favor.) And it's clear Lewis is nervous.

This episode puts Kellerman and Lewis together for the first time and it is one of the best decisions made in Season 4, mainly because we have yet to see one like it. Every partnership has been a kind of marriage, either between an older detective or a younger one, rookie and seasoned cop, serious cop and lazy one. Kellerman and Lewis bring a different kind of dynamic, one that is demonstrated the first time they go out. They need a squad car to get to the site of the murder and Pembleton pulls up in a car, runs out and leaves the keys in it. Lewis and Kellerman look at it for a moment, then break for the car. Pembleton comes running out just to see Meldrick cry: "Grand theft auto, baby!" as they drive off. To see Frank running after it in frustration is honestly one of the funniest things we've seen Braugher do and it's a good move. As magnificent a character as Pembleton is, it's nice to see him humiliated or his ego punctured.

Indeed the change of the layout is hysterical in many ways, mostly because of how much it clearly annoys Pembleton the most. When he finds out where he's going to have to do his interrogation, it's hilarious as well as the fact that he tries to smoke outside a building with a gas leak. When he wants to go back to the squad ("I'll take my chances!" he says) also funny.

There's also a fair amount of amusement watching Bayliss interacting with his partner; one of the better running gags of Season 4 will be the fact that Tim seems to be looking forward to Frank having a child then Frank is. Pembleton spends most of the season in denial about how being a parent will change his life and his talking with Tim about how 'nothing will change' is also quite funny as Frank, in Tim's words, 'reduces the miracle of life to redecorating'. It's not clear until at least halfway through the season whether Frank is in denial about the changes in his life, but Bayliss is more than willing to cover for him. When Frank storms out and begins to bang the refrigerator door in irritation, Tim covers for him by saying how the new interrogation room is throwing off Frank's rhythm. "It's like watching Pavarotti sing in the shower," he says calmly.

Initially there's fun to be had watching Lewis and Kellerman awkwardly work through the dances of becoming partners but there's a darker side to it as well. We've seen more than a few times during Season 3 the uglier side of Lewis when he feels personally portrayed but in hindsight Autofocus is the first episode to indicate that this might also be part of who he is as a cop. He visibly chafes when Howard comes down to the crime scene to supervise him and will turn out to be the most visibly combative with Howard as she settles into being the sergeant. More important when he goes to get a warrant signed by Judge Aandahl she makes it very clear that he has a habit of embellishing evidence he has for warrants that just isn't there when it comes to trial. Kellerman manages to cover for him in this circumstances but we'll see this come up repeatedly over the rest of the series when it comes to his fellow cops – and in some cases, other criminals. (And while there's no way that the writers could have known it at this point, Kellerman's lines of not needed second chances with the judges will eventually come off as hubris when one considers the arc he will follow.

The case itself, the murder of Martha Gould, is frankly shocking and like so many episodes, now smacks of foreshadowing. Martha Gould is the victim of Trevor and James Douglas, two teenagers who have been recording their crimes on videotape for the last year and a half. They have been guilty of small juvenile offenses to this point but Lewis is quite accurate when he argues about how these things work: it is like a high diving board with each new offense testing how far they can take it. The cousins are both seventeen but even by the standards of what we've already seen on this show watching the two of them react as if they are watching an Orioles game as they look at the recording they made of Trevor murdering an old woman in cold blood with joy is one of the most frightening things we've ever seen so far. And the fact that all of these tapes are in the Douglas home and have that they've been rewatching their past crimes like the average American would watch something from Blockbuster is similarly chilling. At the end when the unit watches the recording of the murder it's clear this is appalling to all of them, though most of them are able to hide it. Giardello's reminiscence of how originally children used to play imaginary games is a sad reflection on how much the world has changed – and in many ways will only get worse from here.

Autofocus works the best when it is establishing the new partnership of Lewis and Kellerman. Diamond would later resent Fontana's description of the two partners as 'frat boys with guns', and while that is glib it is notable that for the first season the crimes the two of them will investigate will often have a lighter tone that the ones that Bayliss and Pembleton do. This isn't a bad thing, by the way; the show has established (and will continue to do so) Bayliss and Pembleton as the classic dramatic go-to movement and while this leads to extraordinary television, it can also often be relentlessly grim. Watching so much of their work in Season 4 Johnson and Diamond will serve as a nice counterbalance to the established partnership, comfort food to the filet mignon of Braugher and Secor. Of course because this is Homicide the writers will never let us get that comfortable with any established order and this will be changed in future season.

The second major transition is that Kay Howard has been promoted to sergeant. And here we see a major step backwards for her character. It doesn't seem this way in Autofocus as we see Howard trying to find her way forward in her new position and we quickly see her isolating every single one of the detectives she used to work alongside with the same intensity she did as a detective. In this episode it works very well, particularly with the main plot. Lewis and Howard got along just fine when the two of them were detectives but now that she's the sergeant he chafes at her authority and it very quickly becomes combative. Bayliss and Pembleton are less strident but they quickly dismiss her. Only Munch is genuinely happy for her, and it's telling that by the time he compliments her, she's so pissed at everyone she thinks it's another gag.

When Howard comes to the Waterfront that night, Munch pours her a drink and tells her that being a bartender is a lot like being in the box: people have this overwhelming desire to bare their souls. Howard finally lets go of everything she's been carrying all day as we see the very real doubts of her new position. (Belzer's utter silence during this period as he just lets her tell everything is also hysterical, and you wonder why he doesn't try this in the interrogation room more often; he might have a higher clearance rate.) The moment where Munch and Howard dance at the bar is also sweet.

The problem is for the rest of the series Howard's role is diminished immensely. For the remainder of her time on the series we never see her investigate another case as primary and we only see her in essentially back-up roles or quasi-authoritative ones. As a result Melissa Leo, who was at the start of the series one of the most dynamic characters on the show has less and less to do each season to the point that eventually she will be written out of the show in Season 6. I mourn this decision more than almost any other character departure on the series: Kay Howard was unlike any detective I'd ever seen on television in the 1990s and I've rarely seen one like her since.

The most unfortunate change comes with a character who might have initially been considered a one-off but will eventually become a series regular: J.H. Brodie. As we'll see later on there are candidates for the most hated character on Homicide that I vehemently object to. Brodie, however, is the only character in Homicide's entire run I could never stand.

Brodie's role in this episode is as a videographer, somewhere to get footage of crime scenes for Channel 8 news. From the moment we meet him it's clear the detectives view him as a pest on their lives and can't wait for him to leave. (Gee's decision to throw Brodie out of the squad is utterly hysterical and even though it's made to be seen like the wrong call, you really wish he'd gotten the message.)

Even in his initial appearance Brodie is jarring and annoying. It's not just that he's so earnest both about his craft and doing the right thing that bothers me, it's the fact that tonally, it's off for a show like Homicide which by necessity must exist in a gray area. The way he chatters about filmmaking and his craft to his fellow detectives is established from the start and you can tell just how badly they wish he would shut up and get to the point. I certainly did. I could have lived with this because for this episode he serves a purpose that is relative to the plot.

I could even have seen theoretically this working if Brodie had just served as a freelancer from this point forward. Homicide has always had background characters as news reporters and the combative relationship with them and I could see Brodie being a part of that world. The problem will come down the road when the writers decide to have Brodie as part of the unit instead. I'll deal with that when we get to it in a few more episodes.

That all said and done, the final scene works well because it sums up exactly how the police view the press in general. They're grateful for their help today but now that the case is over they're back to being a nuisance. It's a fun gag. I just wish it had been the final word on Brodie.

 

 

Notes From The Board

"Detective Munch": Aside from the scene in the Waterfront, the funniest recurring gag is Munch picking up the phone over and over shouting "Hello!" and then hanging up.

Get The DVD:  Yet again streaming hurts it with the music choices (from this point on this will be a recurring theme). The casual strings that greet us while Kellerman and Lewis try to track down Trevor and James Douglas are really out of touch with Morphine's 'Buena' , whose heavy beat really plays in as we cut to the Douglas's reveling at the recording of the murder. The other change at the end of the episode is less central, though fans of Tony Bennett might enjoy hearing his 'I Thought About You' as Kay and John dance.

Oddity: Apparently in the original episode there was a scene where Kellerman and Lewis haul Trevor into the box and he denies his involvement, saying: "I'm not signing nothing." Kellerman says: "We don't need anything from you. We've got you on tape." This scene will be included in the 'Previously On' segment for 'Riot' next year. This is unavailable on either the DVD or streaming, so it's hard to know why they including it in a recap but not the original.

We will see Trevor and James Douglas again in prison in the episode Riot next year.

Hey, Isn't That… I left out the two witnesses who are on a blind date in this episode because by and large they have nothing to do with the case. That said, both guest stars are very recognizable then and now and I imagine both were big gets for Homicide in 1995.

Illeana Douglas is descended from Hollywood royalty. Her grandfather was two-time Oscar winner Melvyn Douglas and her grandmother Helen Gaghan Douglas was once a Senator from California, who famously was defeated by Richard Nixon in 1950. At the time of Homicide she'd already had small roles in several Martin Scorsese films, including The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfella and Cape Fear. That year she had played Janice Maretto in To Die For.

She has been one of the best character actresses in television ever since, starring as Wendy in the brilliant but canceled one-season comedy Action and receiving an Emmy nomination for her work in Six Feet Under. She had recurring roles in ugly Betty, Entourage, The Cape, Welcome to Sweden and Goliath. She's also a writer and director, most notably of the TV series Easy To Assemble.

Fisher Stevens was best known at the time of his appearance on Homicide for his controversy role as Ben Jabituya in the Short Circuit films. He had already appeared in Reversal of Fortune, Bob Roberts and Hackers by the time of his appearance on Homicide. After his appearance here, he landed the regular role of Chuck Fishman on Early Edition, which featured Kyle Chandler in a lighter role. He would have guest shots on all shows in the Law and Order franchise, Numbers and play George Minkowski on Lost. In the last decade he has been a recurring figure on many of Peak TV's best shows, playing Saul on The Night of, Brian on Vice Principals, Marvin Gerard on The Blacklist and most famously Hugo Baker on Succession. He is also a skilled documentary filmmaker having been nominated for six Emmys for directing in non-fiction programming, winning last year for Beckham. He has also been nominated for Producing the limited series Tiger King.