Homicide Rewatch: Birthday

 

Written by Julie Martin

Directed by Alison MacLean

 

For the first time Since Season 4 NBC did some juggling of the order of episodes of Homicide. 'The Subway' was meant to air immediately after the three part opening season, ended up being pushed all the way back to December while this episode, which was scheduled to air sixth ended up following the conclusion of 'Blood Ties'.

Given how serialized Homicide was going to be during this season this could have wrecked the continuity. Yet oddly the shifting of episodes by the network actually helped make Season 6 unfold in a stronger fashion. The first is to immediately allow the Mahoney storyline to gain added importance to the plot of Season 6 in a way it very well might not have had it aired as it was scheduled. And the second is to start the broader theme about the crimes we'll be dealing with during this season into a more brash relief.

Birthday, like The Subway, dealing with the detectives being called to a crime scene with a victim who isn't dead yet. But it's a far less traumatizing one that with John Lange because in the case of Grace Rivera she's taken away by paramedics mainly because she's on the brink of death but still can be saved. Our victim therefore spends most of the episode alive and everyone involved thinks this is just an assault, rather than a murder.

Grace has been brutally raped, assaulted and left for dead. In fact Stivers, who has since rotated to Sex Crimes, is called to the scene along with Falsone and Lewis. This is the same combination that we've seen in regard to the Mahoney storyline but in this it's territorial rather than the agita of that subject. None of the three detectives even bring it up during the investigation, though to be fair there's a lot of other problems with it along the way. Not the least of which is Falsone calls Cox first and she's royally pissed by his: "I thought I had a homicide," line. (It comes up but there's a bigger storyline that's dealing with it.)

Stivers reasoning is sounder that Falsone's: there's a serial rapist on Federal Hill who's already suspect of three rapes. At the hospital Cox's description would imply that the methodology fits the pattern of the previous  victims.

Watching at the time I still think this was the right call by NBC. The Subway is an extraordinary episode but its such a powerhouse moment that had Birthday aired after it original it would have seemed like Martin was giving us a weaker version of what Pembleton had to endure with John Lange a few weeks ago. By coming ahead of that masterpiece 'Birthday' manages to take a more conventional approach and one that amazingly we haven't seen on Homicide in the past five seasons: what's the procedural when you're called to a crime and the victim's alive? That it is a more 'conventional' kind of crime then the one that we saw on The Subway probably eased the viewers minds a bit more.

Giardello wrestled with head of Sex Crimes Kate McLendon for jurisdiction. With the death of the woman a possibility he lets Falsone take lead as primary with Stivers assisting. If Rivera ends up recovering the case will go back to Stivers.  Clearly this is a version of CVA: if the victim dies, he wants to make sure nothing was missed in the investigation. The problem is Falsone immediately guarantees Giardello a closed case, something Meldrick immediately tries to back away from.

 Falsone shows the eagerness of a rookie who thinks he can solve anything. It's almost adorable to see this earnestness; we haven't seen someone like this in the unit in a long time. It helps that we learn that Grace has no father, her mother has Alzheimer's and her roommate, who calls herself 'the only family she's got',  seems more upset being interviewed by the cops then whether her roommate dies. Falsone perhaps takes this to heart. It's also interesting to know that Falsone doesn't have much experience talking to women in auto and when it comes to his wife: "You notice we're not married anymore." It's unlikely, but not impossible, Falsone hasn't had to council any grieving wives and mothers during three months on the job. There's also the fact that while she's regained consciousness, she's endured a significant brain injury and has no memory of what happened to her.

Grace is cheerful at first, joking about how she doesn't want to be asked what year it is, or what day it is and that Falsone being here isn't to tell her she's dead. But she actually thinks she was in a car accident and the last thing she remembers is waking up the morning before the attack. Falsone and Stivers clearly are reluctant to tell her but she lets them off the hook: "I know the story doesn't have a fairy tale ending." Jon Seda is super as he awkward tells her everything that happened to her. We're not prepared when she says: "I guess I was right. Being a good day. I mean, I'm still here." Perhaps that why Falsone is so determined to investigate all 56 bars on Federal Hill and refuses to accept that despite being so vicious manhandled there is no physical evidence. The detectives then do search every bar in Federal Hill and while many of them do recognize Rivera none remember her from the previous night. Giardello then promptly tells Falsone now that Rivera's conscious he wants to let Sex Crime handle this particular black hole. "We have actual murders to investigate." When Falsone says he can handle the heat Al stops being nice and makes it very clear that he can't handle the kind of supernovas the lieutenant can bring.  And when Stivers brings Falsone and Lewis along for a suspect in the Grace Rivera rape – a rapist who just served fifteen years – it very quickly goes wrong. As the interrogation progress the moment he starts talking as if he did it Falsone slugs him – and immediately afterwards all three detectives feel the wrath of their esteemed lieutenant. (By this point Stivers has to be wondering if her problems will be solved by him being transferred.)

He then has another discussion with Rivera, whose memory is still a complete blank. Falsone goes out of the way not to blame her for what happened but she does a good job. "It's not about being bashed in the head. They all start to blur together. That's Grace always had lousy luck with men." What's disconcerting about this is that she's chuckles more than being depressed. Whether this is the painkillers or shock is never clear.  Then she finally gets mean. "This is sick. You're trying to make me remember the worst thing that ever happened to me so you can do your job."

Ironically none of Falsone's diligence does anything. Its when Lewis and Stivers recanvas they find out one of the bartenders lied to Lewis. She wasn't on duty that night, she needed Matt to cover for her. Matt knows Grace, in fact he bought her a tab that night. The detectives then corner him, first plying him about one suspect and then asking about a bite on his hand. The detectives question him, then are about to leave and ask him casually about his dog bite. Then he runs. When they catch him they find that Grace bit him. "I like that woman," Paul says.

Paul's last exchange shows that Grace still doesn't seem that upset. She talks about what its like to be single and that sometimes its easier just to have sex with a lousy guy then to say no…and then feel bad in the morning. There's a part of her that really doesn't want to deal with her own lifestyles of kissing a lot of frogs. She seems more determined to move on than Falsone is with what happened.  Matt refuses to give it up and the state's attorney makes it clear that they'll have to settle for sexual assault and a lesser charge. There isn't enough evidence and Grace still doesn't remember the attack. Falsone tries to press his luck, even saying he'd beat a confession on it and at that point Al says he's off the case and is one word away from being out of the unit.

Afterwards Cox is in a brown study at the Waterfront. She admits that Grace's blood alcohol was so high. She knows it shouldn't make a difference but in some finger pointing corner of her mind. Cox then admits it could happen to her. There but for the grace of God.  When Munch says he'd never let that happen to her Cox goes: "Because there's a difference between drinking and being drunk. I'm going to go on believing that because right now I'm not in the mood to believe anything else." It's a brave statement that makes us wonder yet again why the writers haven't given Michelle Forbes nearly enough to do for more than half a season.

What she does to prove that this is attempted murder would be more impressive were it not for what happens in the final minutes. Falsone goes back to the hospital and learns that Grace is dead. Her hematoma erupted and she had a massive hemorrhage. They rushed her back in but she didn't make it. Falsone just goes quiet.

 

The real storyline starts when Kellerman meets Georgie Rae outside her late brother's building.  He's pissed and he doesn't know how she made bail and he expects her to be back.

It's here that we finally get a real sense of Georgia. Unlike Luther who toyed with Kellerman and Lewis about his involvement with the trade she's more direct. She says she'll be fine in prison, almost considering it a vacation and talks the only she misses is her VCR and watching movies. (This did take place in 1997 but as you'll see she's not talking about going to Blockbuster.) Then she says she loves one tape in particular. When Kellerman says he doesn't care she says: "You should. You're in it." She reminds Luther was an intelligent man. "Do you think he wouldn't live without surveillance cameras?" Mike goes cold the moment he hears that because its clear in the heat of the moment and with no formal investigation, nobody bothered to check the crime scene.  

Kellerman then starts doing police work, first talking to the estate realtor about the Mahoney condo. (The way he says how the new owners were 'bitching about the blood stains in the walls' is a comment so surreal I wouldn't hear anything like it until Breaking Bad came along.) He then learns that Luther's place was completely wired with surveillance in the walls in every single room. He asks if they were all torn out and it turns out that they were all in the storage room. The way Kellerman is clearly lying about them 'being helpful to our investigation' is the first overt sign this season as to how Kellerman has been corrupted by his own actions. Naturally he brings it to a surveillance expert who tells him what he doesn't want to hear: that if there was a tape in the machine, it would have picked up everything in living color – including Mike acing Luther when he was surrendering. And there's no tape in the VCR.

After that Kellerman goes to the cemetery where Georgia is looking at Luther's headstone. Mike knows what's coming and says you're going to play the game 'torture the detective'. And its then the one inch of high ground Georgia has comes up when she sneers: "Like you enjoyed torturing my brother? You didn't show him any mercy! You didn't make his life or his death any easier." Kellerman wants to know what's coming and then Georgia makes it clear: "If I wanted you dead, you'd be in the ground already."

And the thing is we know the Mahoney family. If they want to get someone, they don't dick around. Luther almost certainly could have had any of the detectives who went after him killed if he'd really wanted it: we know this from everything we saw him do. And there's no reason Georgia would be any different.  When she says she hasn't decided what she wants we believe her. As well as her final warning before she walks away. Unlike her brother Georgia always gets the last word.

The title reference is actually surprisingly direct: it basically deals with the long, long awaited birth of Frank's second child. Homicide rarely shows good things happening to its characters so to spend the series with Frank and Tim not investigating a murder but anxiously waiting for Mary to finally give birth is a nice change.

I love this exchange in particular:

Frank: This baby has temperament. This baby is stubborn.

Tim: I wonder who's gene pool he gets that from.

And I actually think that's another reason moving this episode ahead of The Subway was the right call: Andre Braugher gets one of those rare opportunities to show Frank's human side as loving husband and expectant father. Frank grousing about his in-laws being here and taking into consideration the idea of a salad that might induce labor quicker, sending his in-laws home, then having that salad with his wife, almost begging her to finish it.  But we also get the sincerity when he tells Mary that he intends to slow down and that as much as he loves his job, his family is now his top priority. The way Mary says simply: "I know that" assures us that tranquility has been restored.

 Considering just how horrible his domestic situation was last season; he very well might have welcomed to change to play off his wife as if they were a normal couple again. And when his wife goes into labor he is overjoyed and then afraid when he learns Mary needed an emergency C-section and he can't get a straight answer if either his wife or the baby will be okay.

We get to see Frank and Tim in a sympathetic place. Tim tries to be good to his partner and when Frank says he's never been in a waiting room before Tim is honest, bringing up that he and Mary were in a room just like this when Frank had his stroke. "Most people my age have been here," Frank says. "Grandparent, parent, somebody about to pass." When Tim says he's been lucky Frank doesn't take comfort. Later on he talks about the easier hours at robbery. When Bayliss says Frank was bored, Frank counters: "I was bored. Mary wasn't bored having her husband home at six." When Bayliss asks if he's going to quit Frank says to his partner: "I'm a husband and a father. I should have been with her tonight." Then the doctor shows up and tells Frank his wife and son are fine. We've never seen a smile that big on Frank's face in five years and Tim knows it as much as we do.

I think the real reason we spend so much time with Frank about the birth of his son is so that it can contrast with Grace's sudden death. The scenes of Frank looking at his baby son and Tim handing Mary flowers in her bed are here to contrast with Falsone writing Grace's name on the board in black. We've rarely gotten a contrast of life and death so bluntly on Homicide and its done to show the real balancing act of life in a way we never see.

And the end of the episode shows Kellerman walking into the Waterfront where he hasn't been in a while. He asks for a drink. Munch asks Mike if something is bothering him and seems genuinely inclined to help. But Kellerman says he's got it under control. He doesn't. And in the episodes to come we'll see that he's headed into a dark, dark tunnel.

 

NOTES FROM THE BOARD

Billie Jackson repeats her role from 'Kaddish' as Kate McLendon from Sex Crimes. In the months between those episodes she's been promoted to shift commander (following in the path of Megan Russert).

 

"Detective Munch" Bringing in Grace's roommate Ivy considers her time with Munch 'police brutality'. When Falsone offers a cup of coffee Munch replies: "If you bring her a cup of coffee, she's liable to spill it on your shoes."

Ivy: "That was an accident."

 Munch: "There are no accidents."

Ivy: "I was aiming for your socks."

(Dick Wolf saw this and thought Munch would be suited for a unit involving sex crimes?)

 

ON THE SOUNDTRACK: On either the streaming or DVD as the detectives go through every bar on Federal Hill you hear Big Head Todd and The Monster's Circle. Only on the DVD in the final minutes will you her Kristen Barry's 'God in The Box'. It doesn't make much of a difference but it had an impact when I watch it.

Despite her good looks and memorable work as Georgia Rae Mahoney, Hazelle Goodman had even less of a career then Erik Todd Dellums. Her biggest role other than this was Cookie in Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry. She played Evelda Drumgo in Hannibal and Hazelle Black in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close but she hasn't acted since 2019 when she played Evelyn in the anthology film Brooklyn Love Stories. (Why do the actors who created the Mahoney family never have the careers they'd deserved?)

Alison Folland who plays Grace was only 19 when she appeared on Homicide. She'd already appeared as Lydia in To Die For and Claude in the independent film All Over Me. She'd have roles in such brilliant independent films as Boys Don't Cry, Finding Forester and She Hate Me and eventually played Grace in I'm Not Here. Her last major role was as Laurie Carroll in The Fighter. Incidentally she was a high school classmate of Mindy Kaling, who should really give her a job.