Written by Michael Whaley & James Yoshimura
Directed by Clark Johnson
Note: For reasons that are unclear NBC chose to
completely scramble the order of the final six episodes of Season 4 of Homicide
and in the middle of them air the episode Blue Moon which I discussed
earlier. Fortunately aside from the
issues of the board there are no real continuity errors that even the most
devout nitpickers could pick up on.
With one exception I'm going to be reviewing the
final six episodes in the order they were filmed.
When Map of the Heart aired there was some debate
among fans as to its quality. David Kalat refers to it as 'a hard-edged episode
with plenty of comic relief' while Tod Hoffman calls it 'a rather confused,
convoluted episode'. Interestingly Kalat seems to enjoy the episode for the
reason Hoffman dislikes it; he believes for that reason it deserves multiple
viewings.
In actuality the story is relatively simple
despite the trappings and it adds a realpolitik air to the sense of the usual
lack of closure. My opinion of it after the most recent viewing is that is the
rare episode of Homicide that has actually improved with age,
rather than simply age well like most of them do.
This episode was filmed in 1996 and while the
aura seems more in place with that of The X-Files now that we are in the
midst of the War on Terror (which the detectives in Baltimore would know
upfront would go as well as the War in Drugs did) it is all the more pertinent.
Considering that so much of 21st century politics would be about
crimes being excused in furtherance of a so called greater good and the actions
of the people the government is sworn to protect being of less significant in
the geopolitical picture the story of the investigation into Edward Clifford's
death could not be more relevant.
When David Simon created The Wire he made
it clear practically in the Pilot that as soon as 9/11 happened the federal
governments interest in ending the war on drugs was cast aside. As the series progressed it was increasingly
made clear that the slingers and detectives were irrelevant to a city just
across the river from them and that many of the dealers themselves were able to
isolate themselves by offering token threats to the higher up in the FBI. In
turn Simon would later argue that the larger political issues that Washington
was involved in and that so much of the media and political sphere were
laser-focused were essentially irrelevant to people like McNulty who didn't
even bother to vote in elections. The
slingers themselves would turn it around by making just phrases as 'WMD's' and
'the Surge' just slogans to describe their new product.
Simon had no real role in this episode, of
course, but we can see the groundwork for both points of view being laid in
this episode. After 71 year old Edward
Clifford is found dead in his swimming pool Bayliss and Pembleton are called in
even though it's not yet clear this is a murder. However once they come back from the morgue
they find a weaselly figure at their desk claiming to be Richard Laumer. (He
almost certainly is but given the nature of the episode, you never know.)
He tells Bayliss that not only he said he would
kill Clifford and asks for a DNA test to prove paternity. He claims he did and
hands over a video will of his 'real father' that was made a year ago almost to
the day. Morris Laumer says he has left a trust in an offshore account in which
a year after his death will go to Edward Clifford. However if Clifford dies
prior to that one year-anniversary it will go to his son Richard. Richard was the trustee of the will.
Almost immediately after this Giardello goes to
his office and finds Captain Gaffney (in what is chronologically his first
episode in the unit after being promoted) with a woman who claims to be
Felicity Fenwick and almost certainly works with the NSA. She basically tells
Giardello, who tight-lipped passes the information onto Bayliss and Pembleton
that they are to locate Richard Lawler, hand him over to them and in return
they will receive all the information needed to solve their investigation.
By this point the detectives know that there is a
very good chance Clifford was a murdered in a very cute way. He had prostate
cancer that might have led to a heart attack. However the toxicology report
revealed the use of steroids which would inflame his cancer so badly it would
lead to a heart attack. Furthermore, given his age there are places he could
not have reached to inject himself. Someone had to have helped him.
Fenwick makes it clear in no uncertain terms that
the detectives are to leave this alone. But Bayliss is having none of this and
storms out of the box. "Since when do we make deals, Gee?" he says.
When Gaffney says this is insubordination Giardello with a special kind of
quiet anger: "God bless!" He has no more use for this then the
detectives do.
The scene between Pembleton and Fenwick is superb
as neither shows any side of backing down. Pembleton is perfectly calm
throughout but completely agrees with his partner. He also realizes that Laumer
has gone completely off-books. Lawler is a cartographer who draws maps that
predict the future. To that extent he is valuable to people like the NSA. But
it's clear he went off the grid and he's managed to elude them. (The fact that
the detectives later track him down while the NSA can't, may be a subtle
in-joke as to just how bad the feds are at tracking their own.) Fenwick tries
to threaten Pembleton without doing so but as someone who could teach a class
on how to elicit a confession without torture Frank is having none of
it.
Eventually Pembleton and Bayliss track down Laumer
not far from the Baltimore Aquarium, one of the great tourist attractions of
the city. Lawler denies any knowledge of Fenwick but admits he works for the
NSA and that they don't like it when their employees are unhappy. He tells him that Edward Clifford came to him
three years ago, said he had a relationship with Laumer's mother and that he
wanted to reach out. Clifford, it should be noted, was a divorce attorney who
loved to humiliate those he had raked off by dropping his pants and one could
argue he was taking an opportunity to do so now. Laumer says that he never told
his father about this and its clear he genuinely wants to believe this, despite
the very real fact that the will would pretty much imply Morris knew and was
basically trying to test his son to do so. Richard maintains his arrogance
façade. (See Hey Isn't That…to see why this is foreshadowing of the actor's
career.)
By this point Gee asked Russert to look into
things with intelligence and not one hour later Clifford's trainer comes into
the squad to confess that he did it. He says that he injected him with steroids
and offers a 'free and full confession', even though he didn't say anything
when he talked with the detectives yesterday. He will do 3-5 for negligent
homicide.
The final scene in the Waterfront is a
masterpiece, particularly for Secor. Lawler has spoken in poetic terms that he
could be found anywhere they serve a good burger and a waitress 'with nice
gams'. Bayliss tells him about the
Waterfront. He and Frank then go out of their way to not serve Lawler a drink
while they tell him in no uncertain terms that even though they can't touch
him, they know exactly what he did.
During this scene we see Laumer's arrogance façade begin to crumble
though he tries to be stoic about it. He will not confess to what he's done, he
refuses to even acknowledge any responsibility for it. What finally gets to him as when Bayliss and
Pembleton argue that for all his cleverness and his desire to be seen as a
puppet-master, he's just a little man who was completely manipulated in a war
between the two men who claimed parentage of him. "So what was this?"
Bayliss asks casually. "Murder for profit or patricide?" Once this is
clear Lawler drops the envelope with the DNA results he's worked so hard to
get. Pembleton twists the knife: "Don't you want to know if you killed
your real father?" Laumer says:
"I have a trust fund coming. I'm a rich man." Like every other time
the detectives have asked them a question he deflects: the fact he chooses to
leave immediately afterward shows he knows that they've seen him.
This is a dark storyline so it's good that
there's comedy going on, much of it involving the Three Stooges: Munch,
Kellerman and Brodie. Munch brings into the unit a VCR he bought from Kellerman
that has bells and whistles but some miles on it. Brodie needs to repair and
finds out that there's no serial number on it. Eventually its confiscated
because Kellerman basically pilfered from arson and sold it to Munch.
This terrifies Munch into thinking he will be
snatched up by IAD for corruption. (In a hysterical scene when everything going
on with the detectives is unfolding he's certain its about him.) At that point
Kellerman and Munch run into Brodie and they engage in a hysterical
conversation that sounds very much like the intelligence talk that we expect in
the NSA about what's going on. "There is no VCR. We never had this
conversation. And if we did we're not here." Brodie is completely baffled
by this but tries to play it cool. "Reality is just a guess for me, I
think." When he tries to play off
it at the end of the episode he sounds completely ridiculous.
What's fascinating is that when she sees the VCR
Howard's first assumption is that Kellerman comes from money something we the
viewer knows isn't the case and that when Howard tries to tell him this he
righteously gets mad. "Tell my father that because he's still working
double shifts bottling at the distillery!" he tells Howard with something
close to anger. Kay, oddly enough seems puzzled as to the idea so Mike drives
it home: "You think I'd be working here if I did?" Howard is left
speechless at this.
But the more interesting comic subplot is when it
is revealed Kellerman has been 'victimized by the Lunch Bandit', the longest
open case in Homicide history. For the past two years someone has been stealing
food that is left in the refrigerator and somehow the detectives are baffled by
it. "You've done surveillance?" Kellerman asks Russert.
"Interrogated suspects? And nothing." Kellerman then makes an effort
to set a trap for the bandit by leaving ribs in the fridge and preparing a dye
pack from robbery. He tells Munch this but not Brodie – and you can guess what
happens. (Max Perlich's casting almost pays off in this episode.)
'Map of the Heart' ends very much like an episode
of 24 or Homeland in one sense: while a horrible crime has taken
place and the perpetrator has gotten away with murder, his connection to the
federal government leaves him untouched. But it also very much a Homicide ending
too. Left with the DNA results Pembleton asks Bayliss if they should open it
and he says know. "The guy got away with murder and I'm supposed to
care?" he says simply. The events
of future geopolitical turmoil don't amount to a hill of beans to a homicide
detective. They see things in black and white – or red and black in this case –
as opposed to the shades of gray that people like Lawler and Fenwick live in.
Once you understand its understandable how we've clearly screwed up on the War
on Terror and why people who lead it won't acknowledge to change things any
more than they did on the War on Drugs.
NOTES FROM THE BOARD
This episode is the first one to be directed by a
cast member of Homicide and represents the directorial debut of Clark Johnson.
He would go on direct four other episodes of Homicide and after he left the
series would have a more successful career as a TV director. Most notably he
directed the first and last episodes of not only The Wire but The Shield and
would be nominated for his only Emmy for directing the latter.
Now's as good a time as any to talk about Clark
Johnson's career as a director. He directed episodes of The West Wing, Third
Watch, Sleeper Cell, The Walking Dead, Person of Interest, Copper, several
episodes of Homeland, Orange is the New Black and Your Honor. While most of his
directorial credits are for TV he did direct the film adaptation of S.W.A.T and
The Sentinel,
Hey, Isn't That.. Terry Kinney was best known
for his work as Steve on the first two seasons of thirtysomething. He'd played
Lamar Quinn in The Firm and had starred in Last of The Mohicans and Devil in a
Blue Dress. However this role brought him to the attention of Tom Fontana and
not long after this he would be cast in his breakout role as Tim McManus, the
unit manager of Em City on OZ.
He's been a prominent figure in many fascinating
short-lived TV series ever since. Julianna Margulies Canterbury's Law, Sgt
Brown on the still very much missed The Unusuals, Sam Bosco on the first season
of The Mentalist, Owen Morely on the medical drama Black Box. He also played
the recurring role of Christian on the TNT series Good Behavior with Michelle
Dockery as a con as well as Barry on Inventing Anna. His longest recurring role
and the one that has the greatest parallel her is on Billions where he played
the shadowy government figure Hall who served as an influencer and protector
for all those at Axe Capital for the entire run of the series.
'Detective Munch': A great episode for Munch. My
personal favorite comes when Brodie tries to talk to him in the bathroom about
the VCR while he's on the commode and he starts throwing rolls of toilet paper
to force him to go. Of course after that he asks Brodie to give it back and by
that time Brodie has gone.
Get The DVD?
If you see this on streaming you will not hear the music. In particular
I found the use of Dire Straits 'Your Last Trick' in the final scene of the episode
a very good contrast. But it wasn't as vital to my enjoyment of the episode as the
other music this season. (This will change starting with Season Five. Trust
me.)
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