Homicide Rewatch: Full Court Press

 

Written by Philip B. Epstein ; story by Philip B. Epstein & David Simon

Directed by Clark Johnson

 

On its own merits Full Court Press is a brilliant episode that deals with a subject that if anything is more pressing today then before. It argues that even before the era of social media, active shooter drills and the helicopter parenting that drives everything high school has and always will be a hierarchy that allows the athletically gifted to coast by because of their talent and let a multitude of other sins go unchecked. This is made clear even through the detectives themselves: Gharty is more than shocked about the death of a high school athlete who's literally called 'Mr. Basketball' while Munch is cynical throughout about how nothing has changed since he went there.

Underlying this episode is the fact that the Mahoney storyline is now taken up speed towards its horrific climax that is already starting to touch beyond those detectives who already know about and a brilliant comic subplot involving Bayliss and Pembleton who almost never get to have funny storylines during their entire tenure on the show.

We see Marc McCarron, senior at Mencken High in what is clearly a photo shoot for himself as Mr. Basketball with what is the entire faculty staring at him. Then we find him dead in the shower with two bullets in the chest.  We get the impression that Marc is a good kid from the janitor whose impressed by how early he comes into practice and how polite he is to him. His coach is impressed by how good a teammate he is  but he only knows about his grades and family casually – and it turns out not as well as he thinks. The McCarron's make it seem like everybody loved their son and that everybody wanted to be a part of his success. His father, however, tells them something interesting. Despite the fact that every single college was calling him with recruitment offers, Marc was planning to go pro right out of high school. It's there his father's subtle racism becomes clear as he says that the pros would want Marc because he's white, arguing that the scouts wanted the next Larry Bird more than the next Michael Jordan. Munch can sense this immediately but Gharty still fixated on the power of McCarron as a player, ignores it – maybe because of his own less then enlightened racial views.

Munch's attitude is genuine: he can't understand why his father's reaction is that its such a tragedy he didn't sign an NBA contract. Gharty actually seems more upset than Munch doesn't seem to think very highly of sports or of McCarron as an athlete.  Munch does care about sports but its clear he thinks that we spend too much time focused on athletes then we do intelligent or musical prodigies. I actually agree with him about our national priority about it, though I'm not sure I can tie it to the world coming to the end.

The larger truth comes when after talking to most of the students they learn that Mark has so prioritize sports that's he failed his SATs twice. When they go to the principal and point that this doesn't jive with his B average. It turns out the high school has been letting him coast for awhile because his extra-curriculars don't leave him time to study.  And the principal makes it clear they've also been covering up his disciplinary problems which neither Munch nor Gharty will let go. Talking to the other students they make it clear he was a jerk who just seemed to pick on kids at random because he knew he could get away with it. He seems to have random 'pals' and the most recent is David Ternowsky.

Its when they find David and they understand that Marc used to pick on him that David responds: "He can't pick on me anymore." David is the first person we've met who doesn't speak about Mark with reticence and they bring him into the box.

David is played by Steve Burns, who at the time was known to millions of preschoolers for his work on the Nick Jr show Blue's Clues. Here we get one of those senses of powerful performances from unlikely sources in a brilliant interrogation scene that is essentially a monologue from Burns. The detectives try to tell David about his rights about what happens and he doesn't seem to care that much. When they ask him to get a lawyer he says: "What's he gonna do? Take a beating for me? I'm protected. Now." He gives a sample of what had to have been weeks and weeks of bullying, how the principal prioritized the star athlete over the child he was bullying, and that his father wouldn't have a chance dealing with McCarron in a fight – and its clear who the school would back in that battle. He brings up an example of horrible bullying done by the entire team and humiliates him in front of the girls. He says how he got a gun just to scare McCarron.  David makes it clear he's been thinking of killing himself to end the bullying  and he just wants to scare him. Marc gave him the same smile he's given everyone else, that clearly has fooled everyone in school, the college recruiters, his parents – and then David just goes blank.

Munch tells him everything changes now. David just makes it clear he isn't sorry about a damn thing. And it's hard not to look at this nearly thirty years later and see that this kind of violence is fictional only in the sense that it ended with only one dead student and the shooter going to prison.

As we enter what will be the final phase of the Mahoney storyline I think it's important to keep looking how much the detectives at the center of it have changes. And by far the most notable one is Kellerman.

My own view has changed over time as well. Twenty years ago I could justify Mike's behavior during this period as a result of having been dragged through the system and coming out the other side. Now watching Kellerman with fresh eyes it’s a lot harder to make that argument.

The main reason Mike was so insistent on not being tarnished as 'a dirty cop' was because being a good cop was all that mattered to him. Now in the aftermath of violating his badge there's been a huge amount of collateral damage already and he seems increasingly indifferent not only to it but even being a cop at all. He doesn't seem that interesting in investigating the case of Calvin Barnes even before he knows who it is. Ballard who he's partnered with points out just how much of a bear he's been and she's genuinely trying to help him. Once again someone is offering him a chance to open up and his reaction is to tell her to go to hell.  His response to Ballard: "Screw the dead. What have their moldering asses ever done for me?" is arguably the most shocking line we've heard any detective on this show ever deliver and you can see just how shocked Ballard is to hear it.  Two weeks ago he told Meldrick that they were about to come out on the other side but now we genuinely wonder what that matters if the job itself is essentially meaningless to him.

The way he is seems so willing to mock Calvin Barnes is repulsive and you can appreciate how much is must be taking for Ballard to withhold her disgust. To be fair the fact that Barnes, who was alive when they got there, doesn't seem to care who killed him is kind of impressive. When he says he doesn't deserve a cop standing over him if he won't bother to speak for himself and Ballard reminds him its not about deserving, he just brushes it off. And the way he decides to take a picture with 'the birthday boy' with a big smile on his face and whistling Happy Birthday is a level of mockery that we've never seen any detective show. Even Beau Felton had the common courtesy to wait to the safety of the squad room to talk this meanly about the dead.

He doesn't care about solving Barnes' murder even for the perspective of his job even when Ballard points out that he worked for Mahoney. She tells him five bodies have fallen and that this might be a drug war. Kellerman's reaction that we're just the garbagemen. This causes Ballard to be genuinely appalled: "Are you out of your mind?" is practically mild at this point. It begs the question why Mike is still so determined to hang on his badge. If he's not even interested in doing what he's paid to do as a homicide detective, then why is he even showing up to work?

Stivers and Ballard made it clear that the people dying in the shootings aren't soldiers but lieutenants. Kellerman seems fine with the street law working better than the law of the land. Then Falsone comes in with a double murder in what seems to be a firefight at a Mahoney stash house. It appears the two victims shot each other.  This seems to indicate the Mahoney organization has turned on each other and Kellerman actually says, in front of his lieutenant, that they just let it play out and let them kill each other. Giardello has no illusions of their being any innocent bystanders but he's more worried about someone winning it then losing it. When he tells everyone to "work their cases…hard" he's looking right at Kellerman when he says it. But as we see Kellerman doesn't even bother waiting to go along with it. Kellerman actually seems to blame them for not wanting to make his life easier and seems perfectly fine letting Ballard talk to the victim's mother herself.

Kellerman then goes to the FBI determined to play both ends against the middle. He plays the recording he made. The FBI points out that this tape is almost certainly inadmissible in court and they tell him what Meldrick did: that it's hardly definitive. Kellerman now seems determined to make the FBI do their jobs and they treat him with more courtesy then he deserves. One of the Feds then tells him that they have Gibbons under investigation for four months and that they think he can give him Georgia Rae. They're actually polite when they tell him this and Kellerman gives his first genuine smile all season as he seems to get proof things are finally turning a corner.

But for who? At this point Mike has essentially burned his bridges with much of the squad save for Munch, who still has no real idea of how much his partner is drowning. The only people he hasn't isolated yet are the ones who haven't worked closely with him this season – and perhaps not coincidentally, have not handled any of the cases dealing with the Mahoney family during the last two years.  He's now officially torched his relationship with Ballard and by the time this case comes up again its clear they're not even speaking any more.

Which brings us to Lewis and Falsone. During the episode  we see that Lewis has been following the Mahoney organization around with the photos Falsone gave him. When Paul meets with Meldrick he points out what we've already suspected: that the names that are on the board in red are some of the very names Paul has been giving to him ever since the two met in secret a few months ago.  Falsone asks him outright if he's killing them himself and Meldrick says he's a cop and doesn't play by those rules. When Falsone asks what rules he plays by Meldrick seems perfectly fine by saying he's letting information be told to other members of the crew. No matter how you slice it, though, Meldrick is essentially killing  the Mahoney organization by proxy which in itself is a violation of the badge – and doesn't seem bothered by it.

But just as appalling is Falsone's actions. If he was able to engage in willful blindness that what he was doing was shady before he acknowledges during this exchange that he is aware of the consequences. His involvement to this point is at the best conspiracy and at worse could make him an accessory to murder. And yet he still came to Meldrick with more information on the Mahoney's and despite his clear reluctance as well as knowledge of the consequences of his actions, he still gives Meldrick another group of files.  The only thing he says is to tell Meldrick to be careful. He knows that people are dying as a result of his partners actions but he cares only about Meldrick's safety. This episode wipes off most of the shine on any halo Falsone had at the start of the season and in a few more episodes, it will be gone forever.

Because of all this tension we're grateful every time the writers cut to Tim and Frank. At the start of the episode they're under pressure from Gee to close the murder of Reggie Gaynor. They have a suspect Manuel Rendeiros but the suspect has never been arrested as he's only been in Baltimore a year. but they have only a vague description of him, an idea of where he hangs out and his pager number. (This case, I should mention, could only work in the 1990s.) They don't have a picture all they know is that he hangs out at the Derby on the East Side where every thug in Baltimore does, according to Frank. Finally Bayliss comes up with a clever plan. When Frank mocks him, as he does, Bayliss's response of: "Do you have a plan?" causes Frank to admit he has no plan.

The plan is for Bayliss to go in and use the pager – but when he finds out the clientele of the Derby is all black – he immediately goes back out and says: "Change of plan." Pembleton goes inside places a drink order and Bayliss uses the pager. A black man answers the phone then goes outside. Bayliss and Pembleton are in pursuit. They could snatch him up right now, but they want to find out where he lives so with an address they can find a murder weapon.

Ah the best laid plans of mice and homicide detectives. They follow Renderos for hours and he stops and starts with countersurveillance. This finally irritates Frank and Tim and they decide to haul him in. They arrest Manny who doesn't know what they're talking about. They've actually arrested Bernard Weeks and made the biggest drug bust in Baltimore history – by accident. This utterly astonishes Weeks, who can't believe that this happened to him after such hard work, nonplusses are two detectives who realize what's happened. And sure enough after taking a photo op with Bonfather (during which he argues that this has been planned for months, of course) as well as commendations in their jacket. Giardello congratulates them – and send them back out on the street because they've done nothing to help him. (Spoiler: The Gaynor case is never close and Bernard Weeks will be back on the street in less then two years. No doubt he ended up working for the Barksdale's after this.)

The episode ends with Gharty and Munch at the Waterfront decompressing after the case. But this is different then usual. Munch says he completely gets where David was coming from, that it wasn't a picnic for a Jew going to high school in the 50s.  Munch tells Gharty in a bit of earnestness we rarely see just how frequently and often he was bullied at high school. Gharty essentially says its part of growing up and is actually open about how when he was growing up he was a bully. It was testosterone. Munch says he hated morons like him.

What happens next is shocking. Gharty seems willing to let John take his best shot at him. We're used to Munch being a lightweight, the first guy to hit the floor when things get tough and its clear Gharty doesn't take him seriously. So when Munch grabs an ashtray and says: "You said my best shot!" it stuns the viewer as much as Gharty. And yet amazingly we're on Munch's side: both Gharty and Munch are cynical men roughly the same age, but Gharty's has always been mixed with a kind of bigotry and we wonder if John has sensed it as well. Gharty manages to calm him down but this represents a fissure between the two men and they'll never get along after this.

The episode ends with Stivers having caught a triple homicide. The Mahoney killings just hit double digits. What she doesn't know – but the viewer does – is Lewis is watching from down the block. What the viewer knows is that things can only get worse from here.

 

 

NOTES FROM THE BOARD

Calvin Leroy Barnes's saying 'Stick it" for his last words when asked who shot him actually comes from Simon's book when one citizen was killed and a detective asked. To be sure he used language that couldn't be broadcast on NBC but it was part of a larger trend of how those who were found on the verge of death never had anything useful to say to help arrest their killers.

"Detective Munch": Those two words, emphasized with a  big slur, come from Dr. Dyer who has by far the best moments involving Munch in this episode. She clearly hasn't gotten over their relationship. "This is one hunky specimen," she tells Munch. "Kind of refreshing to see one who's in shape. If you had this kids pecs, you and I'd still be an item." When Munch says: "At least I'm not stone cold dead," Dyer responds: "Matter of opinion."  She delivers the response of the body result as if she's about to start crying.  It ends with Munch asking Dyer to call him if she finds anything new on the autopsy. "You call me," Dyer says. Munch is honest with Gharty. "I'm always put in the position of having to make the first move. Then I learn there's no percentage in that." Gharty's reaction is absolutely perfect: "You're a bitter man. A bitter, bitter man."

 

Hey, Isn't That…Reg E. Cathey who plays Bernard Weeks began his acting career in 1984's A Doctor's Story. His most prominent TV role (and the one this viewer grew up with was) his work on PBS's brilliant math related TV Show Square One TV which aired from 1987-1992. After that he made appearances in films as diverse as Airheads, Clear and Present Danger and The Mask with his most famous appearance as the ME in Seven.

However once you made the acquaintance of both Tom Fontana and David Simon they don't forget. In 2000 he appeared as Martin Querns who briefly took over running Em City on Oz and Scalio in The Corner. While he kept working in film in TV Simon used him to great effect again in The Wire as Norman Wilson the campaign advisor to Carcetti's political career. He had a role in the FX series Lights Out in 2011. But the world really took note of him as Freddy, the man Frank Underwood buys ribs from for the first two seasons and who becomes emmeshed in the political rise of Underwood. He received three Emmy nominations for Best Guest Actor in A Drama winning in 2015. His career was truly hitting meteoric status – he'd starred in the Cinemax series Outcast and had been cast as James Lucas in Like Cage. Sadly he passed away from lung cancer in February of 2018 at the untimely age of 2018. He is much missed.

NOTE: There have been some very changes to the soundtrack between the DVD and what you get on streaming and syndication just as with the rest of the series. But honestly I can't in good conscience say any of the changes have affected the atmosphere the way they clearly did in past episodes. I'll let you know going forward if my opinion changes and if so which episodes.