Homicide Rewatch: Closet Cases

 

Every so often I'll read a post about TV from an organization involving African-Americans or LatinX or any other group of identity politics which will rank the number of TV shows that have characters with major roles of that group. The pattern is always the same. If it has dropped by two to three percent, it's condemned; if it goes up four or five percent it's met with something like 'improving but we've got a long way to go."

My reaction every time I read one of these pieces is that the people who are currently making these rankings are 30 or younger if they are truly nitpicking like this. Because as someone who came of age in the 1990s I'm fully aware that when it came to television those were the bad old days for every minority group that existed. It said a lot about where TV was that during that period Homicide was by far the biggest cause for minority representation when it came to African-Americans – and it's now understood that was the reason it struggled to survive each season as well as never getting adequate recognition by the Emmys. This was true every part of the 'Rainbow Coalition' during that period. So it says something that arguably the most controversial storyline it did during its entire run began in this episode.

I remember 90s TV and if you were a gay man there were exactly three characters that were represented: AIDS victim, drag queen or serial killer. In all of those versions you had to play into the notion of being camp. And the idea of having a series where one of the main characters was gay. The networks wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole. And the few shows that allowed gay character – well on Melrose Place we had Matt Fielding, who was playing by a straight man and who was in many relationships but never once was allow to have a sex scene. That was it.

What's more there was no sign the viewers wanted gay character. One of the biggest events in TV history had happened in the spring of 1997: 'The Puppy Episode' of Ellen. It is one of the most groundbreaking episodes in TV history – but by the end the year the ratings were lower than they were before Ellen had come out and the show was going to be cancelled the following spring. And to be clear it's always been easier for women to explore their sexuality in America than men on TV and film.

So the fact that Homicide was going to have one of its male characters openly explore his sexuality was, in 1998, the equivalent of putting a blindfold before venturing across a minefield. And even more dangerous was that this character was Bayliss.

Now I have to get somewhat personal. Like every fan of the show I was always drawn to Kyle Secor's work. Bayliss was always the heart of the series as well as its moral conscience. He was our way into the squad when the show debuted and no matter how many new detectives joined the unit, he still seemed that way five years later.  So I won't lie: the idea of him rejecting the heterosexual norms that he himself has been embracing for his entire life, it made me uncomfortable at 18. I can imagine many long-time viewers felt the same.

Because the idea of a character being bisexual was somehow harder to accept in 1998 then just being a gay man or a lesbian. I had a lot of trouble accepting it in TV characters for a very long time – if I'm being honest, I openly accepted it as a reality in maybe the 2010s. I could accept the gay or lesbian characters far easier than bisexuality.(That's the term that was prominent until fairly recently and since that was what Bayliss himself used later on I'm going to do the same for clarity.) It very well might have been as groundbreaking when Bayliss called himself 'bicurious' as it was when Will & Grace came out in the fall of 1998 and became the first TV show of any era to become a cultural and commercial hit with gay characters as the leads.  Secor's arc in the final seasons of Homicide was less noted than the successes in comedies but there's an argument its just as important for TV dramas down the road.

And in keeping with how the show works that storyline basically comes up in the denouement of an episode that has spent the better part of forty-five minutes showing all of the horrible obstacles gay men face in 1990s Baltimore in almost every incarnation, not the least of which is the Baltimore PD itself. The storyline itself is groundbreaking enough; that it comes during an episode that is showing Bayliss every single bad thing that can happen if he goes down this path and that at the end of the episode he's still taking tentative steps to do so is among the bravest work Secor has done or will ever do on this show.

The episode begins with a anonymous man being found nude with his face nearly beaten off and left in a dumpster  behind the Zodiac, a restaurant prominently known for a gay clientele. We learn quickly that Bayliss and Cox's long-simmering romance broke up the moment it met reality. Cox thought it was a Christmas thing and is more concerned with what it will look like if her relationship is discovered. (She basically confirms this in a conversation with Meldrick during the episode.) After that they have a discussion with the proprietor Chris Rawls. Pembleton sees the aftermath of what's going on between him and Cox and its clear he's stunned not only that they had a relationship but now its over. This in itself shows how their partnership has shifted. Bayliss was always trying to get Frank to open up before and Pembleton refused to share anything. Now Bayliss is being closed mouth and Frank almost seems heartbroken. "You don't tell me anything," he says in a Bayliss like tone.

I remember looking at Rawls and thinking that this isn't the kind of gay man I'm used to from 1990s TV. He goes against the flamboyant nature that was sadly common, asks if this is a hate crime or sex crime and is remarkably calm given the circumstances. In one of the best lines of the episode he's asked if he has any enemies. "Besides Jesse Helms?" Rawls says with a deadpan that would do Munch proud. He asks whether this could be related to the murder of a gay bartender that was similar.  And in a portent of a later scene he offers to tell him that certain aspects of his community don't hold the police in high regard but his clientele does. We're going to see examples of both sides before this episode is half over. And before he leaves Rawls compliments Bayliss on his tie.

Its Pembleton who notes that Rawls was flirting with Bayliss and says he handled it well. For Frank this is a comment of professional courtesy as he remembers just how badly Bayliss handled the murder of Zeke Lafeld in Hate Crimes which took place in a similar neighborhood and where he was incredibly uncomfortable to the point of homophobic.

There are no identifying marks on the body so the victim is initially a John Doe. Bayliss and Pembleton are forced to go to missing person with a description of "a well-tanned muscular white male who liked linguini." Bayliss puts his foot when he asks: "Was there any indication he was gay?" Cox: "I don't think they have a test for that." Clearly she's an ally.  This leads them to Higby, who has been transferred to Missing Persons and longs for the days of Homicide when he was disguising murdered hookers as OD's. (That's what was going on the last time we saw him.) And the moment Higby learns that the victim is gay. "I'm here after quitting time busting my hump for some (fag)!"  Higby's bigotry is deep in the roots (maybe he learned it from Gaffney when they worked the same shift) Immediately afterwards we see a group of protestors outside the squad saying that familiar chant: "We're here, we're queer, get used to it!" Again its hard not to see that there's been some progress in America these days that many people of a certain age consider this a statement of Pride and not one demanding action. Giardello, interestingly, seems somewhat more on Higby's side. He's clearly annoyed that the bosses are leaning on him because of the protestors and let's not kid ourselves, if there were no protestors the bosses wouldn't care

Eventually they figure out that the food in the stomach was served at the Zodiac and Rawls identifies the victim as Allan Costello a regular who owns a nightclub. Allan was there the previous night with one of his 'hustlers' – a young man he was trying to help. He was reported missing by his 'brother' Sam – and we quickly learn Sam was his lover and the two of them live together. Sam is still afraid of what will happen if people learn his sexual identity. (Again a sign of how far we've come that this makes this story almost  a period piece.) Pembleton thinks that Sam lied about his relationship. Rawls points out he probably did it to make sure people would look for him and he doesn't trust the police. Rawls actually comes with the detectives to the nightclub where Sam does the books in order not to scare him.

The nightclub scene is interesting: while its somewhat stereotypical for the era it's less offensive then the overwhelming majority of shows on the subject would be at the time. More interesting is that Bayliss actually seems more at ease then we've seen him  in a very, very long time. And for a man who called Bayliss out on his homophobia and will call out racism time and again, its fascinating to see how uncomfortable Frank is seeing two men dancing together. Does he not have the open mind we've always believed?  Well, when asked if the two of them are together he jokes "We're joined at the hip." (Ain't love grand?)

Sam is very reluctant to come in, he pointedly doesn't want to ID  his lover's body and he resists Chris's entreaties. He makes it clear he didn't know who Allan was seeing and its clear he long lost patience with his lover's interest in saving these boys whether they wanted saving or not. Sam's instincts, unfortunately, are dead on. When he identifies the body he says something even more shocking for 1990s audiences: "I want you to find the sonofabitch who killed my husband!"

Bayliss then points out that 12 years together is longer then most marriages. He actually says that maybe these gays have the right idea, actually suggesting that two men might be able to get along better then couples of the opposite sex. "They got the same anatomy, the same hormones, they wash the same body…Same with the conversations they'd be easier, more direct." Of course immediately afterward he compares that to the relationship he and Frank have which hysterically undercut his entire argument and undoes his own argument by saying with a woman "You've got to censor yourself." Then he goes even further saying two men can borrow each other clothes as an advantage to same sex relationships. (Yes Timmy that's exactly why couples of the same sex want to get married. They want to save money on wardrobes.) I'm not going to reveal how Frank ends the conversation, because it's just too good a line.

Then we get to see the gay hustler culture in Baltimore and its just as unpleasant as with female prostitutes. They end up running into the new guy who says "Things are so much better in San Francisco" named Peter Fields at the club Floss who even the owner thinks could be dangerous. Fields was wanted as a material witness for a murder in Venice Beach and he was arrested in Baltimore for solicitation a few weeks earlier but somehow the old warrant never came up. It turns out Hoskins ran the check but California wouldn't pay to extradite him. He released Fields because he had nothing to hold him on – and more importantly California considered it a low-profile case. (Again I can't imagine this happening as often today.) Fields is rousted at Floss and the clientele doesn't bat an eye – I imagine this kind of thing happens more often then they want to admit, though not for these reasons.

Fields is unrepentant. When Frank asks what Costello's watch and wallet were doing in his apartment and doesn't bother to talk about the hammer. Bayliss asks why he dressed him up in lingerie and he admits it. Finally after endless pressing Fields basically says that Bayliss is only doing this because he finds him attractive. You can see the disgust going through Bayliss's eyes: he's had to do some difficult things to get a confession but to tell this narcissistic prick that he likes his 'nice, hard ass' – and then have to endure his laughter – clearly turns his stomach. And why did Fields kill him? "Because he was a flaming f----t. A queer!" And he is very clear that he is 'not like those freaks. I'm a red-blooded, heterosexual man!"  There will be no answers for Bayliss here then out of any other murder and its painful.

 

We're not allowed to forget what's going on in Mahoney-land. Lewis encounters Stivers in the squad and the two of them can barely talk. (How far we've come since the two of them were flirting over a stakeout.) Then Lewis goes to Kellerman and demands to talk. That Kellerman seems so untroubled – his dismissive "Oh, that again?" – justifiably pisses Meldrick off and he all but drags him into the box for a private conversation. Lewis actually says: "Maybe you're too stupid to panic!" which makes sense because he's been ducking even talking to Meldrick ever since he told him about the tape Georgia Rae had at Christmas. Kellerman doesn't want to tell her because Stivers has never been onboard with either the killing or the cover story and in his mind that makes her weak.  In addition to everything else there's now a distinct misogynistic streak developing in Mike that's going to become all the more prevalent in the rest of the season. Lewis, like Cox, reminds Mike that Stivers is in this as deep as the two of them.  Despite what Mike says he is panicking; it's just coming out as angry bluster more than terror.

Meldrick ends up telling Stivers the truth about the tape. Stivers reaction is perfect: "For all you know the videotape will show Kellerman executing Luther and the two of us standing by doing nothing?" She refuses to believe the delusion that Kellerman has been telling himself: she knows what she saw and the viewer did too. Stivers is justifiably pissed Kellerman's been holding out on her for weeks and has no use for Lewis's deflecting. She demands the three of them meet to know how they're going to handle Georgia Rae.

It’s the first time the three detectives have been in the same place for an extended period since the immediate aftermath of the shooting and the tension is thick. Kellerman is more concerned about being turned into Internal then the fact he's being blackmailed by Georgia Rae or for that matter having killed Luther. To Kellerman losing his job is as bad as facing criminal charges. When Kellerman says that he'd never compromise his badge he is thinking solely of being on the take of Georgia Rae. The possibility that he compromised himself when he shot Luther down and then relied on the blue wall to keep him safe is not considered the same thing  is as close to copaganda as Homicide has yet gotten. He makes it clear he plans to force Georgia Rae's hand. That Kellerman can't conceive Georgia Rae could outsmart them shows a combination of naivete and arrogance that makes you wonder if he learned anything from all the times Luther outsmarted them.

Kellerman's solution is to confront Georgia Rae and dare her to show the videotape. The problem is how: "As long as your bastard brother is still dead, its worth it." He thinks this means he's called her bluff. He's forgotten how the Mahoney's work. "Killing him meant that much to you?" Georgia Rae says. Kellerman: "Yeah. I guess it did." He practically dares her to do whatever she's going to do next. Though he's right: the two of them never see each other again.

In a smaller storyline Falsone is upset his wife took his son away for him over the holidays. He brought his old train set in to work and he wants to drive over to drop it off. He's still considering suing for custody with Janine. As with Meldrick Ballard tries to urge him as his wife to talk it out. He assures they don't know his wife – and today we're finally going to meet the former Mrs. Falsone. Paul knocks on the door and seems territorial about the man's his ex is seeing. And its clear within one minute exactly why this marriage ended. Janine then heads back inside before Paul tries to course correct. They agree to meet for lunch and we see an awkwardness we're not used to from the ultra-confident detective. Falsone wants to discussed increased custody – he only sees him every other weekend  - and immediately the meeting turns into them spitting at each other. It turns out Janine had an affair with another man who she's not seeing anymore and it degenerates to him deciding to sue for joint custody.

 

The real confrontations come in small moments. Kellerman has a conversation with Lewis and asks him if he was wrong. "I'm not saying you were wrong," he admits. "I'm just saying I wouldn't have done it."  To Kellerman this somehow cuts deeper that what happens in the final scene.

Bayliss has a conversation with Rawls at the end of the episode and decides to go on a date with him that night. When Tim tells Frank this his partner is baffled considering just a few days ago he broke up with Juliana. (Frank goes out of his way to make sure the two of them are alone before they talk.) Tim admits something very clear. He doesn't know what he's doing. "I don't know if you've noticed this Frank, but I haven't really been happy for a very long time. So I'm going to have dinner with Chris Rawls who I find it intelligent and funny and we're going to drink some wine and we're gonna laugh…and talk…enjoy ourselves…be happy. There something wrong with that?"

Frank says: "No."

Tim: I don't think so either.

I would argue, in a more ambiguous but no less crucial way, that this statement of Bayliss is as important to the idea of a portrayal of bisexuality on TV as the Puppy Episode was for gays and lesbians a few months earlier. Even braver we never see Rawls again and this is just the start of an ongoing discussion that continues for much of the remainder of the series. Homicide is too simple a show to argue that anything has been resolved by this decision and it will emphasize just how much trouble Bayliss will get on the job for taking it. That's brave, too.

At the end of the episode Kellerman gets a videotape in the mail that is delivered to him. He goes into the next room to look at it. Georgia Rae is on it. She's made a videotape to tell him there is none. Georgia Rae gave her brother the surveillance system but he never turned it on. He didn't like the idea of being recorded. (Which…kind of makes him the sensible one on the family tree.) Georgia Rae put him through all this because she wanted to see what Kellerman would do: to know if he really killed her brother. Now she knows because Mike told her. And she makes it very clear she will avenge her brother's death.

"I will have my revenge" are the last words of the episode. And she will. Not even she knows yet how much it will cost Kellerman, her and everyone in both their orbits.

One last thing: the next time you read a story from someone in the LGBTQ+ community about how America is descending into a fascist states because of the rights its taking away from part of this community (I read at least one at this site every other day) you'd do well to show them Closet Cases. This is an episode that aired on January 2^nd 1998 yet so many elements are so anachronistic it almost feels like a period piece. Are things bad for the gay and lesbian community today? Of course. But consider this. Back then a story like the one that the writers did for Bayliss was so controversial NBC was skittish about even airing publicity about it. Today stories like this are almost considered old-hat on shows like Grey's Anatomy and Will Trent. Characters of all sexual preferences are allowed to be on TV and be defined not by who they sleep with but how good they are at their job. (I can't imagine a show like Brilliant Minds where a character was openly gay would have been greenlit on NBC even five years ago, much less in the 1990s on HBO.) More people are allowed to just be happy and more of us say there's nothing wrong with that then they would in 1998. If that isn't progress, I don't know what is.

 

 

 

 

NOTES FROM THE BOARD

'Detective Munch': Discussing the Philip Robson murder Munch makes it clear that in fact it was a straight-up robbery. When Giardello says Robson was gay, Munch responds: "I don't think the shooter knew that."

If you're wondering about the reference to the laptop and the argument Giardello is having its actually an in0joke. In another of the way's Homicide was groundbreaking there was actually an online spinoff of the show called Second Shift which unfolded as a web-based serial and frequently used characters who were online personas as well as cameos from regulars such as Reed Diamond and Erik Todd Dellums. Walter Neal, the lieutenant on that show, appears as Lt. Neal. We'll actually be dealing with this in later seasons as actual crossovers take place.

Hey, Isn't That… Peter Gallagher who plays Chris Rawls had broken on to the scene as John in the classic Sex Lies and Videotape. He had primarily worked in TV before that most notably as Leo Frank in the miniseries The Murder of Mary Phagan and  the ABC version of An Inconvenient Woman. For much of the 1990s he was a major figure in indie films such as The Player, Bob Roberts, Short Cuts, The Hudsucker Proxy and Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. He was never quite able to become a leading man and by the end of the decade was back to character actor status and was working in TV.

He would eventually achieve mainstream success when he took the role of Sandy Cohen, the patriarch on the hit 2000s series The OC. From that point on he was a fixture in TV in cable and streaming playing Dean Stacy Koons on Californication in 2009, Father Phil in the penultimate season of Rescue Me and Arthur Campbell on the USA spy drama Covert Affairs. He played Larry on Togetherness, Benedict Ryan on The Gifted, Deputy Chief Dodds across five seasons of Law and Order: SVU and Mitch, the Parkinson's afflicted father in Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. He played Nick, Grace's billionaire boyfriend and eventual husband on Grace and Frankie and David Hamilton on Season 17 of Grey's Anatomy. His last major role as Axel on The Beauty.

On the Soundtrack: At the night club where Bayliss and Pembleton meet Sam Patti Labelle's New Attitude can be heard playing.