Homicide: Life on the Street is the greatest television of all time

[Andrew1911]

Spoiler Warning: This is riddled with spoilers from the show. If you read them, your fault. Don't cry to me, ninny.

Homicide: Life on the Street has finally grown on me. Over the years since I first saw it in my Law class, it's been a regular feature in my ten best TV shows list, slowly growing higher. It's finally now taken the top spot from Seinfeld. Why, you ask? Well, for one, Homicide has had a run of seven seasons and one made for TV movie. Five of those seasons and the movie are absoutely incredible. Homicide has written some of the greatest characters in my humble opinion. Frank Pembleton and Tim Bayliss are completly fleshed out characters with an excellent dynamic which becomes a series arc. In the...

Final scene between these two characters in the movie when Bayliss admits he killed the Internet Killer to Pembleton. What I loved about that scene the most is that you can see where Bayliss came from because you've seen him go through so much from the series which all began with the murder of Adena Watson. Incredible scene. Incredible character.

Another great character would be Mike Kellerman, the series's tragic hero.

Kellerman is really never given the care and love his fellow detectives have for each other. During the fifth and sixth seasons, Kellerman is basically dragged through the mud. First off, Kellerman is accused of taking bribes when we know he didn't. But, he can't prove his innocence because his "friends" in arson are selling him out to get themselves out of prison. Kellerman barely manages to scrap himself out of that one by trying to do the right thing and tell the prosecution of the cops who were dirty.

After he gets out of that mess, he gets right back into another. Well, first, let's start at the beginning. Luther Mahoney is Baltimore's drug runner. He ordered tons of people to be killed but they are never able to pin the murder on Mahoney as he always manages to slip out. When they almost get him, he kills a man, a child, and escapes to a hotel room. Lewis, enraged, chases him down and beats the ever loving poop out of Luther. Here's where it all goes south for Kellerman due to Lewis's stupidity.

Luther grabs Lewis's gun and holds him at gunpoint. Kellerman and Striver get into the room and tell Luther to drop the gun. Luther doesn't but holds the gun at an angle not towards anyone, taunting Kellerman. Kellerman begins to read him his rights but when Kellerman says the word silence, he kills Luther.

They all write reports that say that the shooting was clean. After that, Lewis begins to not trust Kellerman anymore and refuses to be his partner. Luther's sister, Georgia Rae, comes in on the scene and threatens Kellerman. Kellerman only continues to go downhill as Lewis and Striver begin to wonder if they should tell the truth about the shooting. In the sixth season finale, Georiga Rae's son kills three officers and shoots Gharty and Ballard. Kellerman is forced to leave, disgraced, but saves Lewis and Strivers from being indicted for their false reports.

In my opinion, Kellerman did the right thing. The shooting was clean. There still was a clear and present danger when Luther held the gun. What makes this even worse for me is that Lewis is basically the one who caused all this to go down while Kellerman takes the heat for everyone. All Kellerman wanted to do was to be a cop and is now forced to leave due to Lewis and corrupt cops. It's a tragic ending for a tragic hero.

Homicide was one of the first shows to use previously recorded songs (Yeah, I couldn't figure out a better way to say it). It featured some of the best artists and songs like Jimi Hendrix, Joan Armatrading, and Tom Waits.

Homicide used 'What if God was One of Us' to the best use I've ever seen in Sniper (Part One) when a tired Detective Russert who just got demoted from Captain turns on the television to be horrified by seeing another sniper attack after they believe they finally closed the case.

I can name at least twenty moments from them that had me hanging on every word from the detectives, the victims, or the suspects. Of course, it wasn't all good. Season Six was a somewhat good season brought to a screeching halt by the inclusion of three terrible detectives. Specifically, Falsone. Every single moment he's on screen, I can feel my blood begin to boil.

The seventh season also continued the road downhill. More uninteresting detectives were introduced while great characters were written off. The sad thing is that there are great storylines but the terrible new characters kill them. The Ballard/Falsone romance is perhaps the worst thing to ever happen to Homicide. The season finale was a great send off for the season at least. It gave Lewis the last line. Fitting for it's the first line uttered in the series.

The made for TV movie, Homicide: Life Everlasting, is perhaps the strangest thing from the show and is bizarre but the two final scenes are what really make it brilliant.

The previously mentioned scene between Bayliss and Pembleton is one of them. The other scene is when Crosetti and Felton offer a chair to Gee. It's a creepy scene and the best way to end the series.

The series never took the easy road out as seen in the series's best episode, Three Men and Adena. The episode is where Bayliss and Pembleton believe they have found Adena Watson's killer and the entire episode is basically them interrogating the suspect in the box.

During the critical moment when the two detectives almost have a confession, the suspect finds their weaknesses and exploits them. In the end, they never get a confession and the suspects walks free. This haunts Bayliss for the entire series which leads to him murdering the internet killer.

As Pembleton said to Brodie in the standout episode The Documentary which sums up the series perfectly, "Homicide isn't a metaphor. Homicide just is." Indeed, Pembleton. Indeed.

[Hiei]

Munch doesn't even get a mention? For shame

[Andrew1911]

Munch doesn't even get a mention? For shame

I should have mentioned...

SPOILER ALERT

That he was the one who killed Pratt. I really never liked that the series never toyed with that storyline a little down the line. They basically left it hanging there. Of course, that does make sense because it's one of those little things that bog Bayliss down for the rest of his career.