Homicide Rewatch: Scene of the Crime

 

Written by Anya Epstein & David Simon ; story by Henry Bromell & Tom Fontana and Barry Levenson

Directed by Kathy Bates

 

Scene of the Crime is a daring episode in many ways. Not only are we introduced to a character who will become a series regular in two seasons (and whose very introduction is the most direct criticism any writer has made about policing on the show in a long time) but we see the introduction of a theme that will become critical in Tom Fontana's show on HBO OZ: Black Muslims.  More importantly the episode looks at two very different forms of racism: the blunt and angry (but justified) contempt the African-American community holds for white America and how many white policemen casually view the deaths of young African-Americans particularly when it comes to their own safety.  And in both cases the show walks a moral line, inhabiting a grey area – though in hindsight it's very clear the story involving the white cop has far less ambiguity then it did at the time.

Now I should mention the first time I saw this episode –  it was as I mentioned one of the first ones I saw in the show's original run – I had a very visceral reaction to how both these plots played out and while I can see the gray area to an extent I still believe my original reaction is morally the correct one. But we'll get to that.

I should mention this subtle bias is clear in Tod Hoffman's reading of how Gharty responds to what happens in the terrace. And worse it shows a clear bias of sexism and excuses what Gharty chose to do.

Under questioning from Russert Gharty readily admits "I pulled up to Boston Homes, I heard gunfire and I waited until it was safe to go in.

Hoffman leaves out Russert's next line: "Yeah, until two people were dead. Instead Hoffman writes 'Gharty is nonchalant, Russert is accusatory.'

In what is clearly the most dated section of the book Hoffman goes out of his way to defend Gharty's dereliction of duty:

"I'm six months away from a nice, cozy desk job. What are my options? I step inside that building they shoot me then finish each other off.  Or worse, I kill a kid. His mother points her finger at me. He's black, I'm white. The whole neighborhoods raging against me, my face is on the front page, my whole family's dragged through hell. I can't take that risk."

Now the cynical answer is, with years of distance, Gharty could have just as easily killed both kids, been acquitted by a jury and walked away with a few lost vacation days.  When he's put through the board of inquiry (we'll get to that) we know from the benefit of time that nothing will happen to him. We never hear Gharty's testimony about whether he called for backup or not but it's irrelevant. To be sure his character was just making a guest appearance and he very well could have been written out of the show at this point. But even in the 1990s it was almost certain there would be punishment, though we might have been less cynical about it as an audience then we are today.

The real problem I have with Hoffman's reading is that he makes it clear Russert's decision to put Gharty before the board of inquiry a flaw in her character, comparing her to one of the bosses. He argues that Giardello would have stood by his men or at least give them the benefit of the doubt. He leaves out the fact that Giardello not only stands by Russert in her decision but when he is talked about it by Gharty's commander he tears into the patrolmen. "Haven't you ever had a moment of doubt?" he's asked. "For a split second, maybe. Not for thirty minutes. The minute I stall that long, it's time to retire!"

It's impossible not to see Hoffman's interpretation as sexist as well as showing his own clear bias for the police as heroes. Just this season we've seen how Giardello has been more than willing to go after the Baltimore PD when one of them commits a murder of someone not far removed from the two boys in this shooting.  When Pembleton did the same thing in Season 2 Hoffman went out of his way to praise Andre Braugher's work. That Hoffman chooses to do condemn Russert for doing something which is far milder than the kinds of things that other detectives have done if cops break the law shows the kind of sexual bias that's not clear in any other characters – and that he won't show for any of the male ones.

This is particularly jarring considering that Russert is the only one who sees Cyrus Dunham and Justin Hermos as victims. Munch dismisses two drug dealers killing each other in the same dismissive breath that Gharty does, that all they should do is file the paperwork. Russert actually goes out of her way to notify the victims and make it very clear that two mothers have lost their children. (That they called the police for help and that this might have saved their children is also ignored in Hofman's write-up condemning Russert for being wishy-washy.) When Lt Galvin comes in after Russert makes a decision not only does he defend Gharty when Giardello tells him two people died he says casually: "Drug dealers." Giardello makes it very clear where he stands on this and after that Galvin walks away – and asks if Russert would have dinner with him. (What a peach.)

 Russert looks at these dealers in the same way that Pembleton does: that every life has meaning, something that her partner clearly has cast aside this week. And it's not like Russert immediately throws Gharty under the bus: she gives him a chance to explain himself and he admits his dereliction. Munch is willing to throw him a rope and asks if he called for backup but he won't say it. And she agonizes about putting him before the board: he has a clean jacket and two citations for valor. For Pembleton it would be a simple decision – for Howard it's very clearly an easy one, but Russert has to agonize before decides to the difficult but still right thing.

This episode marks the first appearance of Peter Gerety as Stu Gharty, now a patrolman. I find it fascinating that he is referred to in Kalat's guide as 'a kind of Bolander substitute" because it's clear from the moment we meet him that he is nowhere near as 'hardboiled' as Munch refers to him in this episode. Rather we are reminded of Beau Felton (in an unintended irony) when it comes to his sloppiness and his bigotries. If anything his attitude in this episode is mild compared to what he will be when he becomes a regular. When he acknowledges to Russert that he didn't call for backup, his explanation makes it clear that his actions were a cowardice based in the kind of racism that so many white men his age feel about 'the city changing."  When he says that bosses will understand: "They know how it is," he could be saying a lot of things.

When Gharty is cleared Russert can't pretend to be shocked. There's a sad resignation in her final remarks to Howard: "If the people can't trust the police and we can't trust each other how can anyone trust anyone?" It's a question that haunts so much of the decades to come and it's telling that the show still doesn't have an answer.

The parallel to what is going on involves the murder in the Highland Terrace Complex where a dealer named Antoine Giles has been thrown off a balcony. From the moment Lewis and Kellerman arrive on scene it's clear that theirs almost a riot in the making, bottles being thrown and epithets thrown. Then a group of Black Muslims show up and their voice Brother Ishmael (a young and relative unknown Victor L. Williams talks in a loud tone that would not be out of place on a preacher, claiming that 'the brother's remains will be protected'. He calms the residents.

The Highland Terrace is being policed by a private security firm that is policed by Muslims. They have been given a HUD contract by the city of Baltimore, one of the blackest cities in America. It is telling that most of the black law enforcement has little use for it: when Lewis makes it clear that there hasn't been a murder in the Highland Terrace since they took over Giardello points out that they've done nothing to solve the crimes, they've just pushed it down a few blocks over.  Barnfather clearly has little use for them either but he also knows there's growing opposition to these kinds of policing decisions in Washington. He believes that if they sit this out they will win the war. But it is worth noting when Giardello brings up the murder of Giles he is as dismissive of his death as – well, it has to be said – Gharty's lieutenant about two people died in the terrace who were drug dealers. Galvin is white, Barnfather is African-American but neither of them give a damn about human life the way that Giardello or his detectives do.

Lewis has a certain initial sympathy with the Muslims given his upbringing in the Terrace. But when the Muslims go to great lengths to obstruct the investigation he as frustrated as Kellerman.

There's a critical moment when Kellerman and Lewis (accompanied by a narcotics detective) go to talk to the Muslims and Ishmael goes out of his way to not only be confrontational but to shove Kellerman in resistance.  When Lewis freezes both the detectives are stunned: "He just laid hands on your partner. Who's side are you on?" "An excellent question," Ishmael sneers.

It's worth noting that Ishamel only tolerated Lewis because he's a black man, privately he considers him a 'buck dancer', which is this close to 'Uncle Tom'.  In his mind Lewis is a race traitor because he's a part of 'the system' (again both illustrating present and future racial attitudes held by African-American figures). However for all his appearance of being clean-cut and wearing a black suit, he is himself an ex-con who did six years in Hagerstown and converted to Islam then. It's clear this position will fascinate Tom Fontana and it will become a major factor in much of what will make his follow-up series OZ such a groundbreaking drama. And its worth noting much of the rhetoric that Ishmael spouts is a mix of conspiracy theory and cherry-picked history that would not be unheard of out of the mouths of Kareem Said – though he has a much calmer attitude then the Muslims here.

When I saw this in 1996 like most seventeen year old white people I knew almost nothing about the Nation of Islam. (The Million Man March had happened not long before the taping of this episode.) And while I'm far more informed then I am today and while I am not unsympathetic to the attitudes displayed here, the fact remains that for all his rage and demons Ishmael has the exact same views of Baltimore that Stu Gharty does and in a funny way they both blame the system. They just disagree which part of the system has failed its residents and who the victims are and are willing to manipulate it. For Gharty the police system will protect its own if they are given the right fig leaf and can say it is in the public good. For Ishamel, the murderer of Antoine Giles should be allowed to escape justice because the prison system doesn't need another black man.

As we see the Muslims have been chasing Giles off the terrace for a while and he has never gotten the message. They aren't technically guilty of being involved in his murder but they knew who did it and allowed him to escape, mainly to protect what they had – and perhaps because they didn't care about a dead drug dealer any more than the cops did. For all their rants about the evils of the system, they want to police their terrain as much as the cops want to police the streets of Baltimore. It's as political for them as it is for the brass.

Giardello, of course, will have none of this. When Barnfather steps in and orders Ishamel released after assaulting and officer because of the political sway they hold 'an anonymous but ranking officer' leaks a story to the Sun. The following day Barnfather has a change of heart. After the investigation resumes Barnfather tells Giardello that if he ever finds out who leaks the story he'll be walking a foot patrol as far from Baltimore as he can. "That goes without saying sir," Gee says cheerfully. (Barnfather has to know who it is but he can't prove it.)

The major throwback to past events is that throughout the episode Munch is eagerly looking forward to the return of Bolander from suspension. The fact that he hasn't seen or spoken to him has done nothing to change his blind faith in this fact. Later in that episode when Russert is angriest as Munch, she tells him to call him. Munch gets his machine and confides something very sad: he's called Stan 26 times with no response.

In the middle of the episode Munch is cheered by the fact that 'The Big Man' is coming back to the Waterfront and gushes about him to Kellerman, who has never met him. Then Bayliss gets a call from Stan who says he's not coming and pointedly doesn't want to talk to Munch. This clearly wounds John but at the end of the episode he's still clinging to the hope that he will see Bolander again. (Homicide will not resolve the issue until the start of Season Five by which point we're…distracted by other things.)

Now for my guttural reaction which hasn't changed. Gharty was clearly in the wrong when he chose not to call for backup and is responsible for the death of Justin Hermos. The Muslims were clearly wrong in their obstructionist behavior which has led to a murderer going free. I'm not surprised the trial board let Gharty off nor am I surprised things get immediately worse at the Terrace the moment the Muslims leave. But that doesn't mean I approve of the former decision or that I really thought the Muslims presence was a solution that was helping the entire city.  I realize that there are shades of gray in each area and which side you come down on will depend on how you view Scene of the Crime. But in this case I'm inclined to come down the same place I usually do: on the sides of the murder police. Frank Pembleton has a very small role in this episode but its clear that Russert and Lewis would do him proud when it came to how they approach equality in death and how these deaths must be avenged. (Though in Lewis's case, that won't always be the way.)

 

Notes from the Board

We'll never find out how exactly but by the time the season ends Antoine Giles's name will be written up in black. Sometimes the system works.

'Detective Munch': Asked why they call Bolander 'The Big Man', Munch rhapsodizes about his partner. "Granted Stanley Bolander is not svelte. But he is a man of magnitude. Tremendously fair and a whale of a detective." He then goes to get light beer and appetizers. By the time he comes back with the Big Man's favorite Stan has said he's not coming. "Remember what I said about being a man of magnitude? Skip it," he tells Kellerman as he downs a drink.

He says to Russert he thinks Stan was hardboiled. "You make him look like a cheese omelet." Oh John you don't know how soon Megan will be gone too.

Hey, Isn't That… This was Victor l. Williams first serious acting role and it was going to be awhile before he made his name. He would play Roger McGrath the stepfather of Peter Benton's baby for four seasons before he would be recast  inexplicably by Vondie Curtis-Hall in Season 8 of ER. In large part that was because in 1998 he had been cast in his breakout role as Deacon on The King of Queens a role he would play for eight seasons.

He would make appearance in Flight of the Conchords, Blue Bloods and The Leftovers before being cast in the recurring role of Detective Jeffries on The Affair. He would later play Richard on Sneaky Pete, D.A. Hutchinson on Season 2 of The Sinner, Gerald on Happy Together, Coachman Jim on the miniseries The Good Lord Bird and played Wendell Robinson in Justified: City Primeval

I don't think I have to tell anyone who Kathy Bates is but you should know this is where she made her directorial debut for TV. She would later direct episodes of OZ, Everwood and Six Feet Under. She was actually nominated for an Emmy for directing the HBO TV Movie Dash & Lilly.

It's worth noting that the narcotics detective who helps Lewis and Kellerman with their investigation is nicknamed 'Hemp' Mears. It's yet another case of Meldrick encountering someone with an appropriate name for their job or a play on words.

On the Soundtrack: For once DVD and streaming didn't cut the music. Over the final cuts you can hear Jef Lee Johnson's Jungle which really makes the final scenes sing.