Homicide Rewatch: Requiem For Adena

 

Written by Julie Martin

Directed by Lee Bonner

 

Ever since the first season the ghost of Adena Watson has hovered around Tim Bayliss. Her murder has been mentioned at least once a season by Bayliss and just two episodes ago we heard him mention that he was considering quitting the unit in large part because the Araber passed away and now he must deal with the fact the case will forever be open.

Now for the first time both Bayliss and Homicide confront the spectre of Adena Watson in the most direct fashion they have to date with the murder of yet another African-American preadolescent girl. In a daring but typical move Homicide gives no closure to Tim at any level, either with Adena's murder or even his ability to let her go.

Its worth another reminder that Homicide was for all intents and purposes a contemporary series to The X-Files. While I never drew the parallel directly at the time, it's worth noting that Bayliss does have a clear parallel to Fox Mulder: both men are irrevocably changed by their experience with an adolescent girl; in Fox's case, it's the abduction of his sister is Samantha. (There are other parallels which I'll go into detail in later reviews.) This is perhaps made the most clear in Requiem for Adena where Bayliss is clearly trying to find a link that while finally bring him closure with Adena's killer.  We see a self-destructive aspect to him in this episode that we really haven't seen him demonstrate in a while. His relationship with Frank is stormy at best but in this episode they come the most to verbal blows then they have at any time since Frank insisted on going after Tim's cousin for murder at the end of Season 3.  And as is usually the case Pembleton is absolutely right but Tim won't admit it even at the end of the episode.

The main reason that I'm bringing up Fox Mulder is that eventually the series will attempt to give Mulder closure (if you read my reviews on The X-Files you know how ham-fisted I thought that was). Requiem for Adena is more realistic not just because it's a cop drama rather than  sci-fi but because it resists the idea that closure can be found so simply. This is a conclusion, paradoxically, one got with the majority of stories on The X-Files; cases might be explained but they were rarely resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Homicide tends to deal with the reverse: the detectives job is not to come up with the why just the who, what and how. This has never been good enough for Bayliss with cases he closes; it's never going to work with his first case.

Janelle Parsons's death immediately reminds Tim of Adena Watson's murder and its clear Frank knows that. He spends most of the episode splitting between determined to solve the case his way and trying in a ham-handed way not to tell Tim that. Of course because he is Frank Pembleton he makes it all about him, though again he's absolutely right.

The murder and possible sexual assault of a twelve year old girl gives Giardello agita, with good reason: he was in this exact situation four years ago and he knows just how badly things went with the Watson murder.  So when Frank tells him he wants complete control of this investigation – no extra shifts, no bosses everywhere, no red ball – he's willing to listen. When he adds that he wants to work alone – immediately after Tim says he wants to see if there's a connection between Parsons and Adena Watson's murder –  it seems like he's stepping on an open wound. For Frank he's remarkably delicate about not bringing Adena into the mess and won't even acknowledges whatever mistakes were made in the original investigation. He says, for now, he's dealing with a fresh crime.  But Bayliss, as always, takes it personally.

As Frank goes on his track Bayliss goes on his own. Al is willing to hear Bayliss out with more compassion then he did the first time around: "Go with your gut but watch your step."  He's just been through the ringer with the bosses defending Frank's process and then Pembleton has made clear he's not available. He wants to cover all the bases. The problem is Bayliss turns out to be a bull in a China shop, determined to make the case about him.

The episode makes the most clear when Bayliss goes to talk with Mrs. Watson and we see a searing flashback of the unforgettable moment when he informed her of her daughter's death. While initially civil Mrs. Watson quickly turns harsh. It's clear she believes the Araber was the killer. We see photographs of Adena on her mantle and a beautiful drawing, all of which Bayliss looks at and we're yet again reminded of the picture of her on his desk. She tells him in no uncertain terms that she has been able to move on from her daughter's death in a way that Tim has never been able to. In other shows this would be a clear sign of just how unhealthy Bayliss's fixation is and he might be able to let go of it, at least of the end of the episode. Instead he just keeps moving forward – or in circles.

Bayliss seems determined to find a connection where there isn't one throughout the investigation. When Frank comes in after a hard day of getting nowhere Bayliss takes it as proof that he is right when he isn't. Right about then Munch comes in with information of an anonymous tip about a Lorena Lester seen running from the crime. Munch knows this is a joke but Bayliss takes it seriously. Pembleton tries to instruct him about how to get a confession and yet again Bayliss makes it all about him. Again Frank walks away.

Then Bayliss gets drunk at the Waterfront and he confides in Munch that after four years he's actually starting to hate Adena a little. Right then the local reporter walks in and Tim tries to chat her up. She walks him to his car…cut to Pembleton screaming "Bayliss!" Tim has officially said the killer is a mastermind to a reporter for the Sun.

Not long after this sex crimes reports to Frank and they get the break. A twelve-year old girl was sexually assaulted with a serrated edge knife. And the attacker was her mother's current boyfriend Carter Dooley.

Dooley is a repeat sex offender who just got out of Jessup four months ago. "So much for the reforming power of the Maryland Penal System", Munch comments. The dots connect so they prepare to raid Dooley's home. That's when Bayliss shows up.

We've seen Frank disagree with Bayliss before but usually he keeps their arguments relative within the confines of the squad. This time he's clearly outraged beyond belief and he orders Bayliss to stay behind. "You have jeopardized this investigation once already!" he says as he physically shoves him.

Now is where I tell you that Dooley is portrayed by a very young Chris Rock. (See Hey, Isn't That…to see just how young.) I mentioned in earlier articles that Homicide has a superb track record of getting actors known for their comic roles and getting searing dramatic turns out of them. Rock's performance as Dooley is not one of them. In fact Rock actually changes his comic persona to the point is unrecognizable even to those who knew him at the time. Gone is the smart talker with lots of clever things to say and it is his place is 'the dimmest bulb I've ever seen," according to Munch.

This is perfectly in keeping with how so many of the criminals in Homicide are ridiculous stupid. But Dooley's a special case as he's so incredibly dim that Pembleton is clearly losing patience very quickly. As Munch says: "He doesn't know whether to laugh or take a swing at him." He spends time denying that the knife they found under his mattress is his, only after there are fingerprints on it says that he lent it to a friend (who didn't tell him what he was going to do with it, of course) says if he tells the friend will hurt him and then when asked says he only knows his street name. "He's not that good a friend," he assures Pembleton.

Eventually Bayliss goes in and for a time he manages to manipulate Carver into admitting certain things. He gets him to admit his complicity in raping his girlfriend's daughter and admits to knowing Parsons. But then Bayliss decides to make it about Adena Watson and Carver completely backtracks. Again the episode cuts between the box here and in Three Men and Adena. Finally Pembleton hauls Bayliss out and all but throws him into the locker room.

The scene between Kyle Secor and Andre Braugher is another one of their masterpieces. Both of them are magnificent in this episode (this is arguably Secor's best performance of Season 4) but in this episode they talk about Adena Watson in a way they really haven't since the Araber walked out of the box three years ago. Bayliss makes it clear that he needs to get another chance, that he's never gotten over his first case never being closed. Pembleton makes it very clear that the Watson case was over the moment Risley Tucker walked out of the box and that Tim has never accepted it. "You are a liability to this case because you are a liability to yourself," he makes it clear. He tells Bayliss this is about Janelle Parsons, not Adena Watson and not about Tim Bayliss. And it is in that sense that Tim allows him to get the confession.

The episode features a conversation between Bayliss and Giardello which starts with him asking how he sleeps. Bayliss admits he sleeps lousy mainly because of nightmares. Giardello seems fine with this: "Do you know anybody who gets a good night sleep?" Considering the job Bayliss admits the point. He tells him that it is only when you can't separate the nightmares from reality that you're no good to yourself (foreshadowing accidentally or on purpose how Tim's arc will progress and eventually end on Homicide.) Then Tim asks the real question: "How do you know when to stop caring?" And its telling that Giardello, who has been a cop a long time, can't give an answer to that question.

This episode features magnificent performances across the board. I speak not just of Secor and Braugher but for the superb work of Yaphet Kotto who remains remarkably patient for this. An added bonus is the work of Belzer who gets the show his range in  a way we too rarely see. We don't just see the comic part of Munch but also a fairly dedicated investigator. For once he is an asset by working from the sidelines, doing research, finding the knife and offering moral support. And as Dooley is interrogating we actually see a sign that he cares about certain things. When Dooley starts being disruptive he actually throws the interrogation room door and tells Dooley that if he doesn't shut up he'd take a swing at him. And its telling that when Bayliss thinks that Dooley might have killed Adena Watson he considers Tim's facilitating just as bad, threatening to swing at him too. This is not the easy going Munch we saw laughing at the start of the episode.

What little humor there is comes from the subplot where we learn Brodie has a crush on Howard. Munch overhears it, he tells it to Kellerman and Kellerman passes it on to Howard. When Kay meets Brodie and tries to gently let him down, Brodie tells her its work related. Howard then turns on him and thinks he's be engaging in locker room talk, something that brakes poor Brodie's heart.

The episode ends with Frank turning on the mobile in the crib he's prepared for his new child and we watch Bayliss in the office, taking out the carnation he's been wearing all week (to hide the smell of death) and putting Adena's picture in a manilla envelope. He seals it, considers putting it in his desk, then gets up and throws in the trash. On another show this would be an act of closure. As we shall see in future seasons, all he really did was throw away a physical reminder. The mental stuff is harder to get rid of.

Perhaps in the last moments we really do see the difference between Frank and Tim. He's looking through the slats of the crib, something that Bayliss mentioned at the start of the episode when Mary comes in and tells him dinner's ready. Frank gets up and walks out not a second thought. We don't know how Frank sleeps at night but we know he'll wake up next to someone in the morning.  He may claim he doesn't need a partner at work but he has one at home. (Of course…no, I'm not going to spoil anything just yet.

 

NOTES FROM THE BOARD

The plot for the murder of Janelle Parsons is taken directly from an investigation in David Simon's book with almost no details changed. The case involved the murder of a Jennifer Savage, was investigated by Harry Edgerton (the inspiration for Pembleton) and was indeed handled entirely by him as a 'one-man red ball'. Much of how it was handled and indeed the dialogue of some of the witnesses and even the suspect are basically word for word from the case. The only difference is the investigation took place within months of the Latonya Wallace murder (the inspiration for Adena Watson) instead of the four years difference and at no point did either Edgerton or any other detective look for connections between Savage's murder and Wallace's.

"Detective Munch" In addition to both the serious investigator and the angry cop we see on display we get a sense of Munch's wit when he learns of Howard's crush on Brodie. It's clear he finds the idea of Howard as hot puzzling and when Kellerman says the same thing, he actually seems offended by the idea. "She's a woman," Kellerman says as he walks off. "She's a sergeant!" Munch says in exasperation.

Claude Vetter's blasé confession and his lack of remorse may just seem like a typical Homicide storyline. In fact, we'll be dealing with this again in Season Five.

Hey, Isn't That… Believe it or not at this point in Chris Rock's career he was relatively unknown. To be sure he'd appeared on Saturday Night Live for three seasons and a few episodes of In Living Color right before it was canceled. He'd also had roles in New Jack City, Boomerang, and CB4. But he was still mostly known for his standup to the average (white) viewer. Then in 1996 came his first HBO comedy special Bring The Pain. The following year he won two Emmys for it. The rest, as they say, is history. For the purposes of this article I'm going to concentrate solely on Rock's work for television which is a lot.

Not long after this HBO gave him his combination Variety/Sketch Comedy Show The Chris Rock Show. In the four years it was on the air, he would win one Emmy as part of the writing staff and be nominated for both that and Outstanding Variety or Music Comedy every year it was on the air. He received Emmy nominations for each of his four follow-up HBO specials, Bigger and Blacker, Never Scared and Kill The Messenger, winning the Emmy for writing the last one. In 2016 he would be nominated for writing both the 2016 Academy Awards and directing Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo.  He was also nominated for his most recent standup special Selective Outrage. (He would also win two Grammy for the Comedy Album for Never Scared and Bigger and Blacker.

In 2005 he would create and do the voiceover work for the UPN/CW comedy series Everybody Loves Chris based on his life growing up. He appeared on Louie multiple times (Louis C.K. was a co-writer on the Chris Rock show, Empire, and the Jim Gaffigan show. His most recent live action appearance was a complete change of pace as Loy Cannon in Season Four of Fargo, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination and a Critics Choice Award nomination for Best Actor in a Limited Series in 2021. He recently produced an animated follow-up to Everybody Hates Chris called Everybody Still Hates Chris where he continued to do the adult voice. He is currently in pre-production for a TV series known as Kara.