Homicide Rewatch: Something Sacred, Part 1

 

Written by Anya Epstein

Directed by Uli Edel

 

This episode needs a bit more of an introduction before we get to the story.

Despite not having achieved its mandate from NBC to increase its ratings in January of 1998; outside factors, yet again, would lead to Homicide being renewed. During that period Jerry Seinfeld had made his historic decision to bring Seinfeld to an end that spring despite still being the number one show on television. While that was going on the network was in the midst of an extensive contract negotiation to keep ER now in its fourth consecutive season of being the highest rated drama on TV. Mad About You, which NBC had as a contender to replace Seinfeld on Must-See TV Thursday was threatening to jump ship to another network. And finally NBC would lose football as part of its primetime lineup to CBS and ABC (it would take over a decade before they got it back.)

With so much uncertainty NBC decided they needed to hold on to properties that were relatively inexpensive and safe. So Homicide got renewed for another season by the end of January of 1998.

During this period Andre Braugher made it official that he was going to leave at the end of this season. Nor would he be the only cast member. Michelle Forbes had become increasingly frustrated with her limited role on Homicide and had asked to be written out of the series. However for the first time in its entire run Homicide was aware of cast change before the season finale and had enough time to prepare an appropriate story arc. (This was not the only cast member who was planning to leave, as we'll see later on.)

You can see the origins of how Homicide is making its plan for the future when the episode begins. Stivers, who has been rotating from unit to unit all year, has now officially landed in Homicide. While the series won't officially make Toni Lewis a regular until Season Seven begins the fact that her name will be written on the board shows that she's now part of the show's future in a way we haven't seen.

The final factor is one of timing. Because Homicide had been interrupted the previous week because of figure skating coverage (the 1998 Olympics were just a month away) NBC decided to do something it had never done before and would never do again. It chose to air both parts of a two part episode in what amounted to a mini TV movie on January 30^th which is how all viewers saw it. However for the purposes of this guide I will review each episode on its own because, like all two-parters, there are smaller stories in the first episode that don't necessarily appear in the second.

Kellerman is concerned that Meldrick has disappeared without a trace since his suspension. No one in the squad has seen him, he hasn't been at the Waterfront, his wife hasn't heard from him. When Stivers show up as part of the rotation Mike is infuriated; no doubt because her presence reminds him of his actions. In his opinion her appearance in Homicide is not because of the rotation but because he believes her arrival is directly due to Meldrick's absence.  Their relationship has been frosty ever since Luther died, now that she's on his turf he will never regard her with anything but contempt. The number of allies he has in Homicide is getting smaller by the day.

There's no time Kellerman's attitude would be convivial to the squad. But he's still capable of not letting his personal feelings affect his work, which is good because the squad is about to get handed a red ball.

Father Michael Juneaux is found tied to a chair, beaten and stabbed to death and given a fatal blow with a can of chicken chow mein. His body is discovered by another member of the parish, Father Klasky. On the blackboard is a poem in Spanish that translates to 'Teach us how to truly  live. God of love, forgive, forgive." Gharty is clearly struck by both the poem and the scene itself. After reading the poem a second time, he looks at a crucifix and crosses himself. This sets the tenor that this case will be as much about Gharty's Catholicism as the murders itself.

Klasky runs the hospice next door and came home to find the door unlocked and Juneaux murdered. He usually locked the door, something his late colleague hated but that his colleague has accepted the reality. Ballard asks if its possible Juneaux invited his attackers in and Klasky admits its possible. He also tells Ballard that Juneaux was a member of the CFCA – Catholic Friends of Central America which helps refugees find jobs and places to live. Juneaux frequently let refugees stay at the rectory to live. Two Guatemalan teenagers Pedro and Luis – who we learn our also first cousins -  had been with them three weeks – and they are missing.

The case is a red ball in large part because Juneaux is a priest of immense stature within the state of Maryland itself. The Guatemalans are considered potential suspects and probable witnesses. Important is that $300 are missing from the rectory so it is conceivable this is a robbery that progressed into murder. This is the first red ball we've seen on the show in a long time and it’s the first one Gharty and Ballard are handling. Both acquit themselves admirably and Pembleton, who had little use for either at the start of the season, treats both detectives with respect.

Giardello is angry because he's already short one detective, Bayliss is on vacation and Falsone as we shall see is taking a deposition. Apparently there hasn't been a murder by a priest in Baltimore since 1966 and Giardello has already heard from the Mayor, who's heard from the cardinal. He wants this case closed before the pope weighs in.

And its worth noting the episode makes a direct reference to the elephant that is the scandal the Catholic Church was dealing with very publicly. (With that reference and the refugees, this episode has improved with age.) Ballard and Gharty are told by the late local news, which is planning to run a story about Juneaux, about a tape received by a 'Swami' of a church called 'Holy Serenity'  who says that Father Juneaux came to him a year ago greatly distressed over 'physical relations with some of the political refugees'. Gharty immediately rejects this as crap and seems offended that they would suspect a priest but the fact is he has named eight or nine refugees and numerous other colleagues who can verify it. In evidence that takes place in a fictional world the TV executive has called the detectives first before airing the story.

Ballard, Pembleton and Stivers all admit that when they saw Juneaux's body they all believed this had to do with teenagers who'd been molested. Gharty seems to be living in a world of denial when he says "once in a blue moon a priest misbehaves' and Pembleton, as much a Catholic as Gharty is, reminds him that in the summer of 1997 the Archdiocese of Dallas gave a payment to ten altar boys abused by one priest. He admits there's an exception but he's a detective first and a Catholic second (if that) Ballard and Pembleton are actually in lockstep this time on what has to be done and Gharty seems petulant. That said it's more about what the episode is planning.

If Law & Order had done this story this would have been about molestation. In fact as soon the detectives investigate closely they find that every single person the swami named was not molested and that the swami, is in fact, not a swami or even Indian.  Stivers and Pembleton joke about this and it turns out Stivers is correct: the swami is Walter Norton, who has a rap sheet including filing a false report. Norton is running a fake religion, immediately demurs about having no records, and refuses to take a polygraph because his religion expressly forbids it. Norton did attend the same seminary as Juneaux in the 1960 but was never ordained. In fact he was expelled for the seminary referred to as 'mental difficulties'. (You really wonder it takes to get expelled from a seminary by that role.)

Munch and Kellerman are busy checking the train stations. Kellerman is deeply cynical of the idea that if Pedro and Luis can be found if they managed to sneak across the border undetected.  Munch admits to Kellerman he would rather be looking for Meldrick himself. At the station Kellerman confides he is worried they'll fish Meldrick out of the river (see 'Detective Munch') but because he wouldn't put it past Georgia Rae to put a hit out on Lewis which is not something we can put past her now. At that point they actually spot Pedro and Luis on a bus out of town and the two detectives do the squad a solid by bringing them in for questioning right about the time Giardello is getting annoyed.

Ballard and Gharty are about to interrogate Pedro and Luis. At that moment Sister Diane shows up demanding they don't talk. We met her briefly as a colleague of Juneaux but now she proves to be a force of good herself.  I love how she tells her next part:

Notre Dame Law School class of '89. Don't look so alarmed detectives. Though few of my colleagues show it is possible to practice law and still have a soul.

Gharty goes after Luis hard but Luis is adamant that he would never touch him. The blood on his shoe is from where he tried to help him and that message on the board was in fact a poem that Father Juneaux wrote because he wanted to give part of his sermon in Spanish. (Again something that seems vital to the case has no importance.) Pedro doesn't speak English so Sister Diane has to translate the questions and answers. 

Though Luis is more familiar to viewers today (see Hey, Isn't That) it is Pedro's story that is more haunting. He makes it clear he doesn't want to be deported that he loves Baltimore, America and MTV. There's something truly haunting about how that part has to be spoken through Sister Diane. When Ballard says unless Pedro answers her questions they will send her back to Guatemala, Diane is infuriated by the threat but Ballard holds steady. Luis and Pedro were upstairs watching MTV with loud music. Luis went to grab a soda and they found his body. Asked why they ran he says they were afraid they'd be blamed. What cuts the most is when Diane has to translate: "Please don't send me back. If you send me back, I will kill myself."

The subject of illegal refugees was just as polarizing in 1998 as it is today; they're just wasn't a 24 hour news network using it and social media backing it.  Still when Diane advocates for their release there's something just bit a fanatical about it. She paints a very pretty picture but Sister Diane refuses to consider the very real possibility that they murder Juneaux. To be fair all the detectives have is speculation, there's no concrete evidence tying them to the murder. Danvers wants to hold Pedro and Luis as material witnesses, arguing justifiably they are a flight risk.  Despite the fact they did flee the scene before they were questioned and were in fact trying to cross into Canada, Diane makes it clear the diocese will not except this.

Gharty, clearly impressed, says: "Why do I think the women means what she says?" Cut to the media circus of nuns and priests protesting outside the precinct. Ballard actually runs into Gharty and its here we get to the core of the issue. Gharty tells her that he thought about becoming a priest and Ballard actually compliments him by saying she could see him pulling it off. He tells Ballard he came from a family of butchers and that he worked in the meat lockers as much as school. But Sunday church meant a big deal to his family and to him. He speaks with reverence of Monsignor Garvey and Gharty said he thought he'd go from high school to the seminary but then he met his wife. (Speaking of which, where is Flora?)

There's something about Diane's devotion that really does smack of hypocrisy: the way she talks about the refuges as part of the cause for which 'Father Juneaux gave his life for' – while ignoring the very real possibility her clients might have taken that life – does make us question whether she is playing the religious card or the PR card. She has established a fund to raise the bond for the refugees and by this point many of the religious figures in the city themselves are calling for the release of Pedro and Luis. It's impossible not to see Sister Diane not so much as an advocate but as other religious figures of the era such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

Ballard and Gharty are tasked with the tip line and while they are tracking down false leads they run into a Father Thomas Walcott. After saying that they should let the Spanish boy go he tells them something pertinent. A week ago, someone knocked on his door. He answered with the chain on it and saw three young men. Two of them waited at the back while one of the door asked to use his phone. Walcott offer to dial the number. The one at the back objected saying "Forget it Rock Rock." He went to place the call, it was fake, and when he came back the boys were gone.  He knows the boys weren't Spanish but he doesn't know if he can ID Rock Rock. They find him – they know it’s a street name – and bring him to the church. However Walcott can't identify him definitively but its worth noting that Rock Rock is a little too adamant about not being the person who killed the priest.

 

Falsone is dealing with his deposition for his divorce case. He's astonished to learn that they will want his entire life story and it doesn't go well. We're not sure how seriously Falsone is taking this, questions about how much he shares with his son are called into dispute and he seems annoyed that his sense of humor is being taken literally. (Honestly I don't know if I buy he hasn't gotten laid in the past year as he claims.) It doesn't help matters that Janine's deposition goes better, mainly because she's broken up with the boyfriend that causes Falsone so much agita a few weeks ago. When Falsone shows up at the squad and tells Giardello why he was late (and critically Al didn't even know he had a son) he tells us Meldrick was going to be his character reference but that even if he could find Lewis, how much help would a detective charged with assault and prominent in a civil suit be? Al agrees to appear as his character witness but this part of it isn't followed up on (mainly because the story will be resolved by the episode following the two-parter.) It is worth noting that Giardello tells Falsone that after  he lost his wife he had to raise his three children himself and it was far from a picnic. He lays out the basic 'chicken pox, PTA meetings, broken hearts…and that's just the easy stuff." When Falsone says a kid needs his father it clearly strikes a cord with Al, who must be thinking of how badly his relationship with Charisse has gone. (And almost certainly without knowing it, the writers have foreshadowed one of the central storylines of the final season.)

By this point Pembleton has a conversation with Ballard who is expressing doubts about the case. Frank seems reassuring telling her to have faith and that triggers her. She says listening to Sister Diane half the time she thinks they're dead wrong about her clients and yet the other half thinks something's wrong with her.  She questions her own lack of faith. When Pembleton brings up how well she related to Rita Hale Ballard says: "Maybe its easier for me to see myself as a woman who is dying of AIDS then to believe in God."

Then Frank smiles and says: "So you're lucky. Let me and Gharty and the rest of us trust in God box with God because in this line of work whether it be a murdered priest or an overdosed drug addict, faith only gets in your way and twists you up. So if you don't have the all mighty to reckon with, you're fortunate…Ignore everybody else. Work this case the way you need to. And consider yourself blessed."

This is not something Frank has ever said to Bayliss and we can't imagine him saying it to anyone even a year ago. One wonders if he envies those who don't wrestle with the angels the way he does. It's another superb scene for Braugher and yet again demonstrates why Callie Thorne is very much becoming a force on this show.

Bonfather makes the decision on the second day to have Pedro and Luis released after another discussion with the cardinal. He has no use for the fact that Ballard has had a conversation with Klasky about the refugees making him feel uneasy, which is vague. He also points out that in 24 hours the CFCA has raised a substantial amount of the bail and by the end of the week they'll have the rest, so either way they'll be walking. Pedro and Luis have signed affidavits that they will be staying in the country. Giardello and the other detectives are very aware that these papers are meaningless  but for once Bonfather is closer to being on the right side of this. The evidence is circumstantial, the grounds to hold the Guatemalans is shaky and inevitably this release is happening.

Of course that doesn't make what happens next any less inevitable. Pembleton gets a call and he takes Stivers as a secondary. She's hoping the next case will be more her style. Franks says he doubts that and tells her to look up. Monsignor Bernard Jaeger has been stabbed the death. Gharty, Ballard, Pembleton and Stivers end up on Sister Diane's door. Diane assures them that Pedro and Luis are asleep upstairs and have been there all night.

But of course when they go into the bedroom, Pedro and Luis are gone.

(End of Part 1)

 

NOTES FROM THE BOARD

The spelling I'm using of Father Juneaux is how his name is written on the board during these two episodes. However in later episodes when the camera pans past it the name will be spelled JUNEAU. There's no explanation as to why.

The title of the episode refers to a show that was on ABC during the 1997-1998 season called Nothing Sacred. It aired on ABC and featured Kevin Anderson as Father Ray, a priest wrestling with his vocation. It was highly acclaimed at the time and featured such superb actors as Ann Dowd and Bruce Altman as regulars. Anderson was nominated for a Golden Globe and the show won many awards including a Peabody as well as a WGA prize. But not even the powers that be could convince viewers to watch it and it was cancelled at the end of its first season. Like so many one season shows it was never released on DVD and cannot be found on streaming.

'Detective Munch': In a nod to his sensitivity Munch remarks on Lewis's absence "Of course the last time a detective in this unit went missing we ended up fishing his body out of the harbor."

Understandably Mike is pissed when Munch says this.  But it's worth remembering that Munch saw that particular detective's body being fished out of the harbor and it shook him as badly as everyone else in the unit. Realizing he went too far he goes out of his way to assure Mike that Meldrick isn't the type. (No doubt he still has no idea about how sensitive his new partner on this subject.)

Hey, Isn't That…Michael Anthony Pena (as he was known then) was making just his third TV appearance when he played Luis on Homicide. Like far too many Hispanic actors (as was the term in the 1990s) he was receiving very few roles worthy of him at the time. He played Brian on the second season of Felicity and had small roles in such films as Gone in Sixty Seconds and The United Staes of Leland. It was not until 2004 that he began to get more notable roles working with Paul Haggis in Million Dollar Baby and Crash. He would play Armando Renta in the fourth season of The Shield but it wasn't until he played Agent Nick Memphis in Shooter that recognition began to trickle in.  By the 2010s he was associated with many brilliant films such as American Hustle and Fury  and by the time of 2015 he was a feature in blockbuster films most notably as Luis in Ant Man .

His work in television has been substantial. He played Mr. Cisneros on Eastbound in Down, Mark Solano on Gracepoint and Kiki Camarena on Narcos: Mexico. He would play Domingo Chavez on the final season of Jack Ryan. Earlier in 2025 he received a Critics Choice nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his superb work as Detective Alcaras in the Emmy nominated limited series All Her Fault.

From the soundtrack: On the boombox Rock Rock is playing you can hear Public Enemy's  Lost at Birth. The montage at the end of the episode is scored (appropriately) to 'Wish I Was in Heaven Sittin' Down by John Mooney.