Another Dysfunctional HBO Family: Here and Now Review

Six Feet Under, despite being a vital part of the revolution that help lead television and HBO in particular into the current Golden Age, has never held up as well as the other great  troika of series or the three David's that ended up being considered icon of the television broadcast. There's a good reason for that: Despite being extraordinarily well acted and often very well written, Six Feet Under was by far the most erratic production of the HBO series to come up in the 21st century. It could never really make up its mind as to how metaphysical it was supposed to be, or how grounded. And despite having one of the greatest final episodes in the history of the medium, it never defined itself as well as The Wire or The Sopranos did as to what, exactly, it was all about.

Paradoxically, Allan Ball, the creative force behind Six Feet Under has been far more successful in his follow-up projects than either Milch or Simon has been. True Blood was one of HBO's greatest hits, even though it was barely a step above pornography. And because it was mainly an adaptation of a series of novels, one could hardly say that there was very much that Ball added. So, in a sense, Ball's most recent collaboration with HBO, is a return to basics. Sort of.

Here and Now deals with the story of Audrey Bayer and  Greg Boatright, a couple who have been together for nearly forty years, and have raised a very multi-cultural family. Audrey (Holly Hunter) is a therapist who specializes in dealing with the raising of empathy and a new form of psychiatry which she mainly practices among teenagers.  Greg (Tim Robbins, doing some of his best work in a decade) is a philosophy professor teaching at a university in Portland. Both are extremely troubled. Audrey is overbearing and incredibly politically active, but has no patience for her own family. Greg has been having a relationship with an escort for nearly a decade, and is on the verge of an emotional breakdown, which comes at his sixtieth birthday and seems to be accelerating.

Their children, three adopted from various troubled countries, and one biologically born teenager are all equally troubled. Duc (Raymond Lee) is a life-coach and psychiatrist on the verge of a major publication, but because of the trauma of growing up in a Cambodian whorehouse, has decided to remain celibate. Ashley, from an African country (Jerrika Hinton) is married with a child, but is so bored with her life, she decides to flirt with people she shouldn't.  Kirsten (Sosie Bacon) is the natural-born and most troubled. She is constantly at war with her mother, is troubled using drug, and decides to have her first sexual experience with a stranger, in which she contract an STD.

All of this would be enough material for a good series. Where the show seems to be putting everything in is its focus on the eldest son, Ramon (Daniel Zovatto) is from Colombia, a video game designer and gay. But the focus of the series seems to be on his seeing visions, mainly those where the numbers '11/11' keep coming up. When he sees them in fire at Greg's sixtieth birthday, Audrey immediately thinks he's having a schizophrenic break, and wants him to be medicated. When she takes him to a psychiatrist, who doesn't do what she wants, Ramon sees a photo of the man's mother and him - and it's the same vision he had in a dream in the opening episode.

Here & Now has a lot of intriguing ideas in it, and you really wish that Alan Ball would be more inclined to follow the real ones over the spiritual, because they're the ones that resonate the best. There was a brilliant sequence in last night's episode where Ashley took Kirsten to Planned Parenthood to get diagnosed for her STD. After dealing with it, they engaged a particularly unpleasant protestor (Ashley kneed him in the balls), they went to a police station, and there was a brilliant three minute sequence, which by showing how these sister were each treated by their booking officer eloquently demonstrated the way African American's and white people are treating by law enforcement.  And like Six Feet Under, its incredibly well acted, particularly by Robbins, whose emotional breakdown is far better to watch than the paranormal influences. What I am afraid of - and what I am pretty sure that Ball will do - is that he will try to emphasize the more unexplainable aspects of his story than the more grounded elements of his characters.  The Fisher family had so many facets, the fact that they kept seeing ghosts eventually became distracting, and ultimately did more to damage the coherence of the series.

Despite all this, maybe even because of it, I'm going to give Here and Now a chance. Because there are good ideas here, and there are characters that are more well drawn than what you see on so many TV shows these days. (I haven't even gotten to Ramon's doctor, who has a child who seems to be gender-fluid and has anglicized his name to try and withdraw himself from his Muslim faith). I'll probably end up regretting it, but I'm willing to go down the path. Maybe this will help solidify Ball's reputation more than a faerie-telepath waitress.

\My score: 3.5 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: Blood Ties, Part 2

Written by David Simon; story by Tom Fontana and James Yoshimura

Directed by Nick Gomez

Many who watched both parts of ‘Blood Ties’ that we have seen before  were stunned by the behavior of both Pembleton and Lieutenant Giardello towards the Wilson’s, a wealth black family that has been a vital part of the community of Baltimore and whose domestic Melia Brierre was murdered last week. Frank, who has been a ruthless and unyielding investigator, a man who believes that  all victims deserve the same justice and that all suspects must be viewed through the same glass, seems unwilling or unable to look closely at this family as suspects in her murder. And Giardello, a man who believes that detectives should not be interfered with, in the course of this investigation goes to great length to protect the Wilsons, to the point of hamstringing Detectives Gharty and Ballard from getting  blood and fingerprints from the Wilson’s.

In a purely rational sense, Gee’s behavior is understandable, if not commendable. Regina Wilson is a friend; he admires Felix a great deal, this is the kind of thing some brass (including those on Homicide) would do. Furthermore, we have seen Gee run interference in some personal cases involving Pembleton (‘See No Evil’ in Season 2; the detective shooting in Season 3). But considering Gee’s  tendency to back up his detectives in a high-profile cases (from Adena Watson on up), it is somewhat difficult to believe that he would go to these lengths to  protect the Wilsons.

Frank’s behavior is more surprising--- even to him. At one point he and Bayliss are going to talk to a Haitian émigré at Felix cake plant, he talks for a long time about how he investigates all kinds of barroom brawls and drug killings involving blacks, so he knows the difference between bad black people and good black people. Tim agrees--- but it seems more like Frank is trying to convince himself that’s what he’s doing here. Pembleton has always been an aggressive, tireless investigator, even when the people he’s investigating are wealthy (see last season’s ‘Diener’) so it seems uncharacteristic of him to be tiptoeing around the Wilson family.

The other detectives (particularly Gharty) see it very differently. We didn’t get a good look at Gharty during last week’s episode but we sure as hell get one now. He has lived in Baltimore long enough to know that this is a black city. His view, however, is damn near close to bigoted. As he tells Ballard, he is sure that even if Frank wasn’t the primary the brass (from Giardello on up) would be working to cover up whatever transgressions the Wilson’s have committed. Though Ballard doesn’t see it that starkly, she does know that  Frank is not bringing his A-game against the Wilson’s. He and Tim spend several days trying to track down a vicious ex-boyfriend of Melia’s, rather than take even a quick look at the two male suspects right here in Baltimore. Ballard is particularly upset that Frank won’t even consider bringing them in, if only to eliminate them as suspects. The very idea of tainting the Wilson’s seems to gall him. And when Bayliss--- the man in the room with the clearest head--- tries to suggest that they just do this quickly and cleanly Pembleton sees this as a betrayal.

Finally, Frank brings in Wilson for a ‘discussion’ that in no way can be mistaken for one of his usual confrontations. This time, he’s the one who gets floored when Wilson reveals that he had sex with Melia the night she was killed. Even then, he seems reluctant to press the matter—until the Wilson’s

lawyer up and refuse to answer any further questions. Frank can’t ignore it but things are not going to move for another day.

With everything going on you think murder had stopped in Baltimore until Munch and Kellerman get called out on the ultimate ‘red ball’—a  fan has been murdered at Camden Yards in the middle of an Oriole day game. Turns out the deceased is an obnoxious Yankee fan from Long Island--- so the stadiums full of suspects. (It is  important to remember that this episode was shot in 1997, the one season in the Yankees strings of four world championships in five years that New York did not win in its division.).

The detective eventually stumble on the killer--- another Yankee fan from Long Island, who murdered his friend and then came back to watch the game. When the detectives interrogate him, he promises he’ll confess if they get him a dog and a beer. (Nice to know that criminals are as stupid in New York as they are in Baltimore). We learn that the fan came to New York hoping to see a rained out Yankee-O’s game but his friend made a mistake. He then compounded the error by saying that the Orioles were a better team than the Yanks. (Clearly not a great judge of his home team). The sequence is darkly amusing and shows the rivalry of the two teams. We even get a quick cameo by two members of the O’s pitching staff. Not bad even though the Oriole’s had been eliminated from contention when this episode aired, making it a bit out of date.

Just as last week, Peter Gerety and Richard Belzer were given short shrift, this time Clark Johnson and Jon Seda get pushed to the back bench. In his few scenes, however, Falsone reveals he isn’t through looking into the Mahoney shooting. Now he gets on Stivers bad side (particularly ironic considering what will happen later this year) The crimes stain isn’t going to go away, no matter how much Lewis and Stivers want it to.

Ultimately,  ‘Blood Ties, Part Two’  brings us closer to the real Homicide than the top heavy, action-packed season premiere the previous episode. We are getting what we usually find--- good acting, rife with tension (particularly between Gerety, Thorne and Braugher) troubling issues and behaviors, and quirky humor from unlikely places (what else would you call our meeting Bayliss’ eighth grade French teacher). It’s not the grade-A prime we’re used to, but this new unit with its new cast is really coming together. Good things seem to lie ahead.

My score: 4.25 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: Blood Ties, Part 1

Written by Anya Epstein; story by Tom Fontana and Julie Martin

Directed by Alan Taylor

‘Blood Ties, part one’  begins with Pembleton and Bayliss  returning to the Homicide unit fresh from a three month rotation in robbery. They are certain that Gee (like the television audience) will be glad to see them and the unit is in a shambles after their departure. Turns out, however, that the ‘experiment’ of rotating detectives between departments has been a spectacular success—the radically revamped unit has the highest clearance rate in years. This is really hard to believe (especially since the clearance rate was so high last year) but it is symbolic of the big change that  has overtaken the squad. The new breed consists of former Auto squad detective Falsone, former IID detective Gharty and  Laura Ballard, fresh from the Seattle Homicide unit. Giardello and Munch (the only detective to remain in the unit the whole time) don’t seem to have missed their fellow detectives that much.  

But then they don’t have much time as this episode is particularly top-heavy. All sorts of changes have occurred in the meantime. Kellerman is coming back from Auto, Lewis is coming back from Vice, and Howard is still in the Fugitive squad, never to return. Brodie has gone to Hollywood (in a  very tongue-in-cheek reference, the documentary that he shot last year aired on PBS and he won an Emmy). Kellerman and Juliana Cox have broken up, Mary Pembleton has yet to give birth, and issues like Frank’s stroke and Tim’s child abuse, are no longer issues (though they are gone but not forgotten).

All of this is dealt with rapidly while two major story lines come into focus. The first involves Pembleton and Bayliss’ first case back—a murder at the Belvedere Hotel. A black woman is found in the men’s room, strangled while a black tie event honoring snack cakes manufacturer ‘Fabulous’  Felix Wilson’s  charity work to the black community. Giardello is an old friend of Felix’s wife, which is critical when we learn the victim is Melia Brierre, a Haitian expatriate who was the Wilson’s domestic. Because of the size of the case, Ballard and Gharty are called in as back-up and therefore have the pleasure of clashing with Pembleton.  Though he tries to remain dispassionate, its clear Frank admires Felix Wilson and he seems very reluctant to consider that  Wilson or someone in his family might have slept with Brierre, much less killed her.  When Bayliss tries even to hint at this possibility at the hotel, he brusquely brushes Tim off. He is far colder with Ballard when she makes the suggestion (then again, he may just be pissed that she’s taken over his desk). This will be made clear as he spends an entire episode chasing down a very vague lead on Brierre’s boyfriend. This is unusual behavior for Frank that will become even more notable in the next two episodes.

A far more important storyline is unfolding in the background. A man on motorcycle using a 50mm gun, starts taking shots at Baltimore plains-clothes detectives. Very specific detectives—Lewis, Kellerman and Stivers (who has now been rotated to Robbery) Falsone, who has just begun to partner with Lewis, puts it together— they’re being targeted by someone in Luther Mahoney’s organization. The investigation eventually leads to Junior Bunk (who we met in last season’s ‘Control’). Apparently he’s upgraded from dealer to sniper, though when  the detectives find him he is still as quick to bolt, cry and snitch (in that order). This time he’s facing far worse charges (while shooting at Stivers, he hit a witness she was interviewing, killing her) but it doesn’t take much for him to give up who ordered--- his mother and Luther’s sister, Georgia Rae.

This is a subplot that will plague the squad (particularly Lewis and Kellerman) for all of season 6. The lie that Mike told and Meldrick and Terri backed up has now come back to haunt them, big time.  The trouble also come from within--- Falsone takes it upon himself to reopen the file on Luther’s shooting and finds the three versions of the story too close to each other. He knows that something is up with Luther’s shooting and is going after Kellerman very aggressively. The two detectives will become very agitated by each other throughout season 6. There are also signs that the lie is troubling some of them. Meldrick asked to partner with someone other than Mike--- most likely because he doesn’t want to bear the guilt he’s feeling.

This is all very strong stuff. The problem is its severely diluted by a lot of flashy action. We have bullets flying into cars and from rooftops, a race between police helicopters and a private jet, and the arrival of an  evil sister who greets Kellerman by kneeing him in the groin and ominously telling the detectives this isn’t over. Also  in trying to introduce us to detectives Ballard and Falsone and focusing on the tension between Kellerman and Lewis, as well as Pembleton and Ballard, regulars Kyle Secor and Richard Belzer are given very little to do.  Many of the problems of season six involved balancing the ‘old’ detectives with the new cast members, something that the writers would improve at but never quite master.

It’s a pity because there’s a lot of good talent on display. The great James Earl Jones makes a marvelous first impression as Felix Wilson. We get a good sense of Wilson as a philanthropist and human being--- yet not quite right as a husband or father. Joining Jones is Jeffrey Wright, best known for his performance on stage and TV in Angels in America, eventually becoming one of the best character actors in any medium, as Hal Wilson and the late Lynne Thigpen as Regina Wilson. Equally impressive is comedienne Hazelle Goodman as Georgia Rae., who will prove she has as much style Erik Todd Dellums did. And Mekhi Phifer continues to entertain as Junior Bunk , though he’s about to stop being fun to watch.

There’s little that’s wrong with ‘Blood Ties, Part One’ --- it has a lot of the fine acting, dark humor and superb camerawork that Homicide usually does. Perhaps the biggest problem is that is obviously part of a greater whole.  When Georgia Rae tells us in the last scene, “This isn’t over’, in more ways than one this is true. There’s good stuff but you want next week to come sooner.

My score: 3.75 stars.

So That's How Jack Died: This is Us' Big Reveal

For almost a year, the millions of people who have avidly been following This is Us - I include myself in the number - have been dealing with one big question. How did Jack die? People were pissed when the first season ended, and the reveal never came, and for the last six months, the writers have been very carefully parsing out details. We knew that there would be a fire that burnt down the Pearson family home. For the last month, we have been getting clues as to how the fire started. First, they forgot to buy batteries for the smoke detector. Then, two weeks ago, we actually saw the fire start - in a way that will no doubt have Crock Pot manufacturers making apologies for the rest of their lives.

But the final reveal came yesterday immediately after the Super Bowl.  And to the very last, it seemed like This is Us was going to continue to defy expectations. We saw the fire blaze. We saw Jack, Backdraft like dodge flames to save Kate and Randall. We then saw him jump back into the house to rescue the family dog with a very long pause that made us think, oh no - and then emerge carrying it and a few family mementos.

Jack and Rebecca went to the hospital, and the family patriarch seemed remarkably fine, just smoke inhalation and a few burns. He was even well enough to make jokes about the smoke detector. Rebecca left to call for a hotel reservation, and then the series played its final card. While in the background, we could see doctors running off-screen, our focus was on Rebecca as she called for a reservation, and checked in on Kate and Randall,. She then went to get a candy bar from a vending machine - and the same doctor who moments ago had told her Jack was fine, now told her that her husband had suffered a massive cardiac event and had died. The next moments were all about Mandy Moore as she took a bite out of her chocolate bar, floated in denial, and then exploded in grief.

I can't think of any other series that would build itself around a single defining moment for two years - and then not actually show us when it happened. As we now know, everything about This is Us only measures the past as it affects the present. So now we saw how they handle the anniversary of Jack's death in how they deal with the Super Bowl. (One could be a true nitpicker and say that's not the real anniversary, because the Super Bowl always happens on a different Sunday, but that's a level of heartlessness I don't want to engage in.) Rebecca deals with it by making Jack's favorite lasagna and waits for her husband to 'send her a laugh'. Kate watches a video of her father recording her sing. Kevin usually gets drunk and bangs a model, but considering he just got out of rehab that ain't gonna happen. And Randall overcompensates by throwing a Superbowl children for his daughter's friends, who really aren't the games target audience.

Naturally, nothing goes according to plan. Kate's viewing of the videotape ended in possible disaster when the tape exploded. Randall's celebration dissolved very quickly when he stepped on his child's pet lizard, and kind of collapsed eulogizing it. Kevin spent much of the day trying not to drink. But because the series has spent the last year showing how much the Big Three have grown, we saw how much they've changed. Toby got the video uploaded to a cloud, and Kate realized just how much she owes to her fiancee. Randall went to see his daughter afterwards, who had been struggling, and told her in no uncertain terms how much he loved her. Kevin, who has struggled the most this season, went to the tree where his father had been memorialized, and gave a very impassioned speech in which he apologized for not being the man Jack was, and that he would make it better, 'even if it takes me another couple of decades." And for the first time, we got a glimpse at the future. For the last few episodes, we've been seeing a boy that looked like it was going to be Randall and Beth's next foster child. Turned out this was the series first flashforward, and that the social worker was Megan. The episode ended with the return of Deja.

Most episodes that follow the Super Bowl are usually huge disappointments. This is Us' 'Super Bowl Sunday' may have been the most powerful one, and engaging one since The X-Files aired its episode of Leonard Betts. (Check my blog.) This is Us has spent the last month picking up award after award. It would not shock me if this is the episode that every cast member submits for Emmys this spring as Moore, Sterling Brown, Crissy Metz, and particularly Justin Hartley, were all magnificent in it. 

Some might wonder where does This is Us go from here, now that the elephant has been revealed. But so much of this series has been about every corner of the Pearson's lives that I think that there might be an endless amount of material to mine. And given what we saw in 'SuperBowl',  maybe the future might have some great moments. This is Us: The Next Generation - there's a spinoff I'd actually look forward to.

Homicide Episode Guide: Strangers and Other Partners

Written by David Simon, James Yoshimura, and Tom Fontana

Directed by Kenneth Fink

And so we have arrived at the end of another season of Homicide. This episode would show certain parallels with more high-profiles drama season finales. In 1997 The X-Files would end it’s season with Fox Mulder apparently dead of a shotgun suicide and NYPD Blue would end with Detective Simone being set up to look like a dirty cop in order to be used as an undercover operative while Detective Sipowicz woul be under suspicion for a murder. However ‘Strangers and Other Partners’ wraps up its more dramatic storylines by the end of the episode (after a fashion) and ends with one of the more banal cliffhangers that any series used.

But let’s back up. Homicide, IID and the Auto squad have to work together on Felton’s murder, trying to simultaneously find his killer and learn if his disguise remained intact. Needless to say, nobody’s very happy about this turn of events. Falsone is pissed at having to work with IID with the implication that he was part of the problem. Everyone’s pissed at the idea of working with Gharty, though with the Homicide squad the reasons are more personal --- they all remember ‘Scene of the Crime’ and Gharty’s refusal to get out of his car. But the squad has divisions within it to. Pembleton makes it very clear he doesn’t want Howard or the newly arrived Russert working different angles on the investigation, citing they are taking the case too personally. What comes as a surprise is that Giardello agrees with Frank and has both of them taken off the case in order to arrange the funeral for Beau.

This is out of character behavior for Gee. Looking back to how Gee let Crosetti look into Chris Thorman’s shooting in the first season, and how he let Lewis work Crosetti’s suicide (while Howard and Felton did his work for him), one can not escape the feeling that the lieutenant is operating on a double standard. Yes, Megan and Kay have personal reasons for wanting to lock up Felton’s killer. But personal issues have rarely biased Gee before. It is particularly puzzling, considering Gee has had the best relationships with the two women detectives. One wonders if Fontana had plans for the following season and was trying to give a suitable send off to Melissa Leo and Isabella Hoffman. While the show does give both actresses a chance to shine, it doesn’t seem keeping in with the realism of Homicide.

Simultaneously, it seems that the writers are trying to introduce two new characters to the series. Falsone and Gharty get to do most of the heavy work in this episode. They are the ones who figure out who the leak was: Eddie Dugan, Falsone’s informant and as, we find out, the man Gharty used to get Felton undercover. They handle the interrogation in a confrontation that smacks of classic Homicide. We also get some interesting background into both detectives. The biggest insight comes when we learn Gharty, so cowardly in his behavior one year earlier, finally found some guts while working another case six months earlier, in which he took a terrible beatdown. Despite the fact he finds his stones, several of the detectives will never develop respect for him when he joins the squad.

We also get a touch of Homicide when the killer is revealed--- when the detectives try to make the collar, the killer has skipped town. And he does not come back; Felton’s name remains in red forever. There may be some closure for the detectives but sometimes there is no real justice.

While the murder is being worked, two other key storylines from this season are dealt with. Frank finally talks with his wife (who we learn is now six months pregnant) and does something that we would honestly not think he could do; he says that he’ll give up his job for his family. He has finally chosen between the two passions in his life. Simultaneously, the seeds for his ultimate departure have been planted.

If things are improving for Pembleton, they’re on a definite down turn for Kellerman. He has begun to hit the booze a lot harder and now its effects are being felt: he is having blackouts of the nights before and he is having trouble doing his job (as we see when he loses an eyewitness at a crime scene.) Both of the major relationships he has formed are deteriorating: Meldrick is becoming openly hostile with him (doubtlessly because of the Mahoney shooting) and Juliana is openly having problems with him. What’s more, when he makes an effort to resurface from his haze, Juliana makes it very clear that she has no intention of stopping her wild ways. Unfortunately, things will only get worse for Mike from here on.

With all the angst and trauma going on, the cliffhanger of the episode comes after Gee has a talk with the commissioner about a new administrative policy for the Baltimore PD. From now on, detectives will be rotated through the various divisions every three months. Homicide is no longer the elite of the department and in a matter of months they may all be gone.

 This was actually in keeping with real life. In 1994 the new commissioner instituted a four-year limit on assignment to specialized units. He believed that rotating officers through departments would lead to a greater showing of knowledge and skill. Unfortunately, he did not consider if the detectives would have enough time to develop specialized skills before moving to  a different post. This led to a collapse in drug investigations, while many brilliant detectives (including some who appeared in Simon’s book) retired rather than leave the squad.

The rotation would signal a major change on Homicide as well. Melissa Leo departed the show while four new characters (three of whom appeared in the two-part season finale) would join the unit. It would be a symbol of the sweeping changes that would take place over the shows final two seasons.

So in many ways ‘Strangers and Other Partners’ is a fitting conclusion to the fifth year of this remarkable series. We (like the squad) prepare for a great change that is coming for a series. As Gee says in his speech given in honor of Felton, the  bodies still fall but they will remember who has fallen. The detectives aren’t perfect but they work for the best. The show aims high and hits the target most of the time.

My score: 4.5 stars.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace Review

When The People V. O.J. Simpson premiered in February of 2016, it did a revelatory job of looking at one of the most shocking crimes in the twentieth century. and in such a way to make it resonate even more than it had more than two decades earlier. In a season of brilliant limited series, it dominated the awards circuit, winning at the Emmys, the Golden Globes and the Broadcast Critics. It has taken FX and Ryan Murphy nearly two years to come up with a follow-up in their American Crime Story series, and even if it was as good as the first season, it would still be an anticlimax. Yet The Assassination of Gianni Versace  has moments of brilliance,  is just as good at grasping the Zeitgeist, and even has some moments of being superior.

Unlike the O.J. Simpson case,  Versace murder didn't quite grab the medias attention the same way. It did have a certain grasp in the world of fashion, where Versace was king for more than two decades, but his murder never made the same impact. Part of it had to do with what is clearly unspoken - Versace was gay, his killer was gay, and there was a still great tendency to ignore that part of our society. And in a sense, that was what led to Versace's murder in the first place. Andrew Cunanan had been stalking Versace for years - we see their first meeting in the opening episode. In the gap between their meeting and Versace's murder, Cunanan killed four other, middle aged gay men, many of whom were closeted homosexuals. Indeed, last night's episode demonstrated just how dark the world was, focusing on the murder of Lee Miglin, an elderly  Chicago architect who Cunanan had been meeting with secretly with Cunanan for years. After the killing, when the details of Miglin's death became public, his wife allowed details of the crime to be made public, putting the reputation of her family above the safety of the public Even afterward, when the FBI began hunted Cunanan in earnest, the Bureau never seemed to pursue their quarry with the zealousness they usually do for serial killers.

Perhaps the only real flaw in O.J. Simpson  was that the circus of the trial made the victims get lost in the media glare, and to an extent, so did Simpson himself. In a sense, Versace tries to course correct by showing us the killing, and before that, the lives of both victim and perpetrator. It's a daring approach, and in some ways it works very well. In addition to his work as a designer, Versace (Edgar Ramirez) was a revolutionary. He lived a traditional gay lifestyle with his partner Paul (Ricky Martin, kind of a revelation), but during their life, he became HIV positive. The fact that he managed to emerge from this not only alive, but with a sense of optimism in his work is remarkable, and does add a level of tragedy to an already dark story. It certainly astonished his sister Donnatella (Penelope Cruz), who had her only problems with him near the end.

All of this intriguing, but it pales in comparison to the portrait of Cunanan. Darren Criss, who represented all that was good on Murphy's Glee, is a revelation playing a monster. Everything so often you can see parts of Cunanan that were charming, but most of that comes from the lies that he has no problem spinning. Its clear from almost the very first moment that we see him that there is something missing from Andrew.  As he told us at the climax of the second episode, he  can be whatever someone wants him to be - except a human being. The only time he seems complete is when he's humiliating someone, and that's usually before he kills them. Criss automatically goes to the frontrunner position for Best Actor in A Limited Series.

Assassination of Gianni Versace is not nearly as perfect as People Vs. O.J. Simpson.  But there are far darker aspects to it, and there is a certain level of realism that wasn't present in the first season. It's more about the ugliness of gay sexuality and the true danger of being in the closet that no doubt millions of people still live in. It's well acting and seems to be focused on telling more than one story than the previous series did. This may be the most personal story Murphy has told since Glee, and its definitely one of his more spartan ones, despite all the accoutrements.  More than that, it proves that the first season of American Crime Story was no fluke, and that hopefully more daring, vital stories of our nation's criminal history can be retold. Otherwise, how can we learn?

My score: 4 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: Partners and Other Strangers

Written by Anya Epstein, James Yoshimura and Darryl Lamont Wharton

Directed by Leslie Libman and Larry Williams

Homicide was never really about being easy to follow for the casual viewer. With its interconnected storylines and characters, combined with the long memory that this show has it requires more than a little thinking. Put in the thought, though, and the rewards were great. This is made very clear in part-one of the fifth season finale ‘Partners and Other Strangers’ Not only do all kinds of issues from the past season come into play but we find ourselves revisiting characters and storylines from years past. It’s complicated, but it’s worth the effort.

Pembleton goes out on what appears to be a straight-up shotgun suicide but quickly becomes more complicated. First, there is the identity of the victim: Beau Felton, who no one in the squad has seen since he resigned from the department. The death sends shocks into the unit, particularly for Howard who can’t believe her partner has died. Everyone else is depressed, but Lewis is particularly angry when he learns that another cop on his shift has killed himself. He is so upset that even makes a cruel allusion to Mike’s attempt a few months ago. (But then it’s clear he’s still feeling shock over the Mahoney shooting two weeks ago)

Then the revelations start coming. First off comes Paul Falsone of the Auto Squad. He tells Howard and Gee that he believes after being ousted from the force, joined forces with a car-theft ring that he had been investigating, possibly gave the boss tips on police raids, and then killed himself out of guilt. Howard gets very pissed when she hears this but later admits she almost believed it.

Then Dr. Cox’s autopsy reveals that Felton was murdered. (She has to find out the hard way, though, literally taping together all the pieces of Felton’s skull.) The investigation than begins with the reluctant assistance of Falsone who begins to take them inside the world of car theft. The investigation has hardly begun, however, when Gee is called away to find out the final revelation from   the Internal Investigation Unit (IID). Here we run into another familiar face--- Stu Gharty, last seen as foot-patrolmen in ‘Scene of the Crime’. He has since been promoted to Detective and was in charge of a case investigation the car-theft ring.  After Felton came off his suspension, he announced that he didn’t want to return to Homicide, and Gharty assigned him as an undercover operative in the auto-theft ring. Felton did excellent work and was close to finding the leak before he was murdered. Now, in order to see whether or not Felton was compromised Homicide and IID must work together.

A lot of familiar faces are around in this episode. Daniel Baldwin is present, but only in flashback as the other detectives on the squad remember their fallen comrade.  Harlee McBride returns as M.E. Alyssa Dyer, who helps Cox put together Felton’s skull (She also reveals that she has broken up with Munch and is now dating a stand-up comic, an in-joke to the fact that she is Mrs. Richard Belzer.) We also see again Megan Russert after she returns from Paris to help with the investigation. In addition, we meet two other detectives who will end up working at Homicide—Paul Falsone, played by Jon Seda and Stuart Gharty, played again by Peter Gerety.

Falsone was hated by a large constituent of fans of the show. I have never understood why as he struck me as interesting character--- not a natural detective like Bayliss or Pembleton, but one who needs to work hard to prove he was a real police. I actually had more problems with Gharty’s character--- he did not impress me as being the kind of man who should be carrying a detective shield. (I actually think he got assigned to IID to get as far from the street as he could) Both, however, were interesting characters and would be a strength to the show in its last two seasons.

  This episode is most notable for giving Melissa Leo, who has had almost nothing to do this season, a chance to show again what a good actress she is. Watching her pain as she sees what has befallen her former partner is very effective and makes us wish that the writers would have remembered how to use her properly.

However, a lot of this season’s storylines are played to a conclusion while other doors are opened. Giardello had followed through with his threat and has sent a letter to the Mayor on Deputy Commissioner Harris’ wrongdoing. It appears his career is over. Frank finds out that Tim has been leaving the squad room to care for his infirm uncle. Bayliss admits he has been trying to understand what made his uncle do what eh did but admits that the man who molested him is gone beyond his vengeance. Stivers is still upset over the Mahoney shooting but manages to put it aside, even though the problem won’t go away. And most notably, we see the beginning of Kellerman’s descent into oblivion. First, he is pissed at Mahoney being admired by certain community leaders. Then, after pursuing Juliana for most of the year, he seems to be laying the groundwork to wreck that relationship. Finally, we begin to see Mike is falling into the same snare that got Felton: the bottle. (A brilliant use of camera work is demonstrated when we cut from Mike drinking and smoking at the Waterfront to a flashback of Beau getting drunk in an anonymous bar.)

There’s a lot going on in ‘Partners and Other Strangers’, and its tough enough to puzzle even the most hardcore fan of Homicide.  But the actors are good enough and the story is interesting enough to engage us. The casual viewer might be isolated, but few viewers of this show would call themselves ‘casual’.

My score:4.5 stars.