Homicide Rewatch: Abduction

 

Written by Julie Martin and Anya Epstein

Directed by Kenneth Fink

 

In a sense this episode seems like it belongs in a different series altogether: it's closer to the kind of story Law & Order told in its early years or shows like Without A Trace would specialize in within a few years of Homicide's ending. But even in a season where the writers have been testing the boundaries of what the show was capable of 'Abduction' is remarkable.

It's a red ball, to be sure; but it's also the first time we've seen the squad dispatched this quickly to a single crime scene since 'Prison Riot' last season. (That was the last time we heard Giardello say: "Everybody goes" and this time he doesn't modify it for Frank.) It was mentioned almost in passing by Kellerman that homicide detectives deal with potential kidnappings but the series has never come close to deal with any crime that didn't involve a dead body on the scene. Indeed the detectives are doing something we've never seen on the show before and will only see one or two times in the future: they're trying to be proactive and stop a homicide from occurring.

It's a simple story by the standards of the show: there's a single investigation, we see how it begins and we carry through it all the way to the end. This comes as a contrast to Mercy, which dealt with separate stories for every regular; now we're seeing them all work as a unit. And it's the rarest of things for Homicide; it's a story with a happy ending, where the detectives can go to the Waterfront after a hard day's work and can say that they did more good then just lock up a killer.

The episode has a typically cinematic opening with a mother named Amy Marshall  deciding to put her four year old son on a carousel and debating whether to let him ride by himself. She talks with another mother about how hard it is to let it go, she looks down to try and find her camera and by the time she looks up her son is gone. She runs through the carousel and on the other side is her son's cap.

The episode begins with squabbling over desks: Frank and Ballard are still sharing after six months and Giardello finally moves her to the desk across from Gharty. Then Falsone gets the call from the kidnapping at the Inner Harbor.

They've searched and they haven't found here. They have a witness but it’s a five year girl who was behind him and Bayliss and Pembleton have no idea how to question a five year old. (Who would?) Falsone and Stivers (who are the primaries) start asking questions about day care and nursery school, babysitters and the ex-husband. Understandably this case hits home for Paul more personally then others and he's willing to justify more manpower for an extended search.

The first meeting reveals that they don't have much, all of the parents were watching their own kids and it was highly unlikely given their jobs that this could be about ransom. There's also the possibility that because the father has only partial custody and they can't reach him, that he could be involved.

This is the inevitable next step, particularly when it becomes clear that the Marshalls couldn't get long any better as shared custody of parents as they could married. When David shows up at the house around the police Falsone goes to him – and given what he just went through the last few months we know why he'd go this far – but it's clear very quickly that his alibi checks out. The next step is go to on the news. Immediately after Barnfather and Gaffney show their faces and it's clear that they're more upset about the publicity aspect then the actual missing child. This is Falsone's first exposure to pressure from the bosses. Stivers experience with sex crimes helps as both can state the alternatives: either this was a woman who wanted her own child, in which case he'll be fine for a while or it’s a pedophile in which case they have 24 hours – "or we'll be looking for a body." For once the blunt talk and perhaps the nature of the crime actually silences the bosses; they just walk away stoically.

Bayliss and Pembleton's conversations with nursery school offer a few grim laughs as the teacher assures them that she could pay perfect attention if someone suspicious showed up, while two three year olds begin fighting behind her. But we also get grimness from when Kellerman and Munch are talking with the Marshal's neighbor and he talks about seeing faces on milk cartons. "Every time I toss out that carton I wonder if that kid got back alive," he says. (Sadly even though the milk cartons aren't used any more we still wonder.)

Falsone follows the guideline. He tells the father to talk to the abductor, the mother to talk directly to her son. It's now I should mention that Amy is played by Elizabeth Marvel in what  was her official television debut (See Hey Isn't That…) In the scene where she delivers her plea to her son and assures her she'll be okay, you can see how she her trying desperately to hold it together. Marvel was about to become of the most exceptional character actors in 21^st century TV, most of her work for playing women with a backbone of steel so its stunning to see her play someone on the verge of breaking someone who keeps making her plea and has to be pulled away gently by her husband after they go to commercial.

Immediately afterwards Falsone and Stivers get a report on a sex offender who moved into a house just a few blocks away from the Marshals a few weeks ago. The scene that follows is excruciating as they the detectives try to solicit information from a man who has a history of abusing such children and they try to hold in their disgust. Then when the man sees the picture and begins to all but fondle it while saying: "He likes the swings." Falsone actually exercises remarkable restraint when he just grabs Ramey and Stivers has no more patience when she tells him about how his walls were found covered with pictures. The scene where Falsone tells him that there are going to be uniforms at his house until they find Sean is remarkable – you can tell he wants to take a swing at him but he manages to hold his rage in. The only emotion he shows is when he sees Ramey holding the photo – and then he walks back and snatches it away from him. It's only when he outside the box  and he learns that they're going to have to let him go that he reacts with anger – but not where you think.

What has been suggested indirectly is made direct when he goes to Janine's house and practically begs his wife to stay home from work rather than send his son to day care. For once we see the concerned parent in Paul and its striking to see how things have changed when Janine doesn't really put up a fight.

Around that time things take an unlikely turn as Jeff Andrews shows up. Jeff Andrews is very clearly modeled after John Walsh and America's Most Wanted (he's even dressed the jacket and shirt combo Walsh used during his broadcast) as well as the same backstory. Falsone has no use for him even given his success rate but Al makes it clear that they can't afford to lose the help.

Just then they get a call from someone demanding ransom. He seems to know all he can about their son. But it turns out he's just a wannabe who just wants to be on television. What's more interesting is the discussion Falsone has with David Marshall during this period. David begins to panic and needs to get air and goes out into the cameras. He starts talking about despite his expenses he's got maybe $600 in the bank. Falsone actually jokes: "That's about what I got." When he says he's never done another thing to hurt another human being, Paul turns serious: "I don't think it works that way." More interestingly when QRT comes to the house to get there with all guns raised Giardello says its his call "but think of the child." Jaspers then immediately lowers the weapons.

The next day Bayliss tells Frank that in some way he'd rather be working a murder, that it's easier to deal with this rather then thinking about a child being tortured, at least that way the victims at peace. Bayliss admits he wants to be a father some day and have kids. Frank immediately jumps on this as if he's thinking of ending his experimental phase and the eagerness in this is rather telling.

Just as telling is Al's energy is less about rage but more about concern. When his detectives tell them about the complete lack of progress and that they need to start over you can here a quiver in Giardello's voice we almost never do: "The next time I see Sean Marshall's face, I want to see him in his mother's arms," is delivered with the energy of a parent, not a commander.

Not long after a series of reinterviews of everyone on the merry-go-round they find a five year old who actually remembers Sean, the horse he was on and when he got off. But when Falsone and Stivers try to question her, they hit a stone wall with a child who can only focus on purple. At that moment Andrews suggests a hypnotists who's done some work for them, local departments and the FBI. Falsone all but explodes into mockery: "Why don't we just turn this case into a circus?"  Giardello then tells them how fifteen years ago they had a serial killer with a living victim and with hypnosis they remembered enough details to catch the man.

Under hypnosis the girl remembers a dark blue car with the license plate beginning TXQ. Falsone is upset about this but at least they have a place to start. When Andrews starts to air the program Falsone starts shouting at him: "What the hell do you know about police work?" Andrews just says: "I know you're under a lot of pressure, detective." Then Stivers tells him that Andrews' daughter was abducted ten years ago and was never found. Falsone deflates like a balloon.

Ballard and Gharty then knock on the door of Bailey Reynolds, whose just left the house with suitcases and 'her new son' according to the neighbor, to see her family in Montreal. They split up, airport, bus station, and train station. When Andrews says he wants to be there when they find Sean, a more polite Falsone says: "Don't you mean if they find them?" but otherwise he's polite. It's only when he's forced to stay as the primary monitoring the investigation we see just how much this has worn him down. He's also thinking like a father more than a detective. Not longer after state police find Reynolds and while she's clearly deranged she doesn't even have a weapon and when confronted with police released Sean to his parents.

Reynolds is clearly delusional: she's been watching 'Matt' basically his whole life from the merry-go-round, who watched the Marshalls fight from a distance. She truly believes she was a better mother for him because it was so easy to take him. Falsone doesn't know if she's competent to stand trial but for once he cares less about but punishment as long as she's off the street. Sean is scared and confused but Stivers thinks he'll recover.   Andrews gives him a tape and Falsone is puzzled why he's still going to air the sequence. "Sometimes we want to do happy endings," Falsone is honest saying that his job doesn't give him much room for happy endings.

For the first time in a long time we have a conversation between two women from the squad as Ballard and Stivers discuss whether they'd ever want to have a baby. I don't know if the Bechdel test existed in 1998 but this is an interesting variation as Stivers makes it clear she never wanted children and the two of them talking about 'the ticking clock'. And considering how rarely Homicide discusses gender issues specifically (it was always more ahead of the curve on race) it's actually welcome as Ballard admits she would have wanted a good man and a baby. Stivers says she would be open to marriage or a baby but only if they came along: she doesn't actively crave it. Ballard actually calls her lucky for not having unfulfilled desires and Stivers admits she doesn't know about that. It's a fascinating insight to two women who are working in a male dominated profession and have been fighting for it among their peers every day and it's not the kind of thing we were used to when Melissa Leo was the only woman on the squad.

The episode ends as you might expect: Falsone visits Janine and tells her that even though Daniel's asleep he just wants to see him for a second. He wakes his son just to tell him he loves him. And we see how this played out on videotape as Andrews tells them how it played out, and he says it’s a chance to believe in love and luck 'and the hard work of the men and women of our nation's police forces." And honestly given everything that's already happened to the squad this season – and spoiler alert, there are even worse things to come before it's over – can you blame the show for wanting to give us a happy ending for once?

 

NOTES FROM THE BOARD

It's worth remembering that this episode aired in 1998, just two years after the Amber Alert was officially coined in 1996. I don't think it's a coincidence the witness who breaks the kidnapping is a girl named Amber.

Mahoney PTSD: Just a brief tussling over Kellerman demanding that Stivers be moved from Lewis's desk. "Thanks for caring," Stivers says. Giardello tells her to stay where she is.

Bonaventura and Johnson, who are referred to a couple of times in this episode and seen on the screen were two members of Homicide: Second Shift; the online spinoff of the series that aired on the internet during the final three seasons of the show. There was actually a crossover segment done immediately afterward but it's not canon and you probably couldn't find it.

It was the '90s: When Al Giardello says "At this stage in the game I'd take help from the woman on Profiler he's referring to the 1990s NBC Saturday night drama of the same name which featured Ally Walker in the title role. A prototype of later 2000s FBI type shows such as Criminal Minds, the show deal with a team that was tracking serial killers, particularly one known as Jack of All Trades, who had killed Walker's husband and had been stalking her for years before. The series ran from 1996-2000 before it as well as almost all programming running on Saturday nights was cancelled. The show was released on DVD but was never released on streaming despite featuring a super cast including Robert Davi, Roma Maffia, Julian McMahon and Dennis Christopher in the unbilled voice over of Jack.

"Detective Munch'  No jokes. He and Kellerman actually find the one child who noticed Sean get off the carousel.

Hey, Isn't That…Elizabeth Marvel was making her television debut in this episode. Two years later she would get a badge of her own as Nancy Parras in the CBS drama The District in which she appeared in all four seasons before the show was cancelled in 2004. One of the most reliable character actresses in TV, she's appeared in Law & Order and all its spin-offs and played Rita Calhoun a defense attorney on SVU since 2010.

She has had roles in Nurse Jackie, The Newsroom, White Collar and played Alicia Corwin across three seasons of Person of Interest. She played Constance Heck in Season 2 of Fargo. But she is best known for her work in two very different DC set shows: Heather Dunbar, a legislative council who becomes Frank Underwood's rival for the Presidency during Season 3 and 4 of House of Cards and President Elizabeth Keene, the controversial head of state in Seasons 6 and 7 of Homeland. She has also starred in multiple Emmy nominated and award winning limited series, including Unbelievable, Love and Death, The Dropout, Mrs. Davis and Presumed Innocent. She is married to the equally talented character actor Bill Camp and the two of them have appeared in many films and TV shows together, in fact she played the wife of his character Brian Horgan in Presumed Innocent! She is scheduled to appear in the upcoming season of The Gilded Age.

Robert John Burke was already an established character actor in such films as Rambling Rose and had played Robocop in the third film of the franchise. This was actually one of the first TV shows he'd done in a while. Later that year he would appear as Bill Anders in the Emmy winning miniseries From The Earth to the Moon and would play Frank Drummond in the HBO TV movie A Bright Shining Lie. Fontana would cast him as Special Agent Taylor, the man determined to make Chris Keller face justice for a series of gay killings in OZ over four seasons.

He has a fairly successful TV career mostly playing law enforcement officers on shows such as Law and Order, CSI Miami, and The Sopranos. He also played future White House administrator James Mattis in Generation Kill, and played Mickey Gavin across almost the entire run of Denis's Leary Rescue Me. He had the recurring role of Bart Bass on Gossip Girl; General Clarke on the Lifetime Series Army Wives, Patrick Simmons (part of HR) on Person of Interest, William Fairchild on the one season history channel series Project Blue Book and Ed Tucker across nearly 18 years of Law and Order SVU. Fans of The Last Of Us will remember him as Seth, who Joel punched out  at New Year's in Season 2.