Homicide: Life on the Street (TV Series) Crosetti (1994) User Reviews

Maybe he did say goodbye

[petra_ste · 10/10 · 15 September 2007]

A personal favorite, this is a touching episode with powerful drama and strong character work.

Detective Crosetti (Jon Polito, sadly missing from this season on) is found dead. His distraught partner Lewis (a great Clark Johnson) refuses to believe his friend killed himself, in spite of Crosetti's recent suspicious behaviour. Bolander (Ned Beatty) investigates the case; his methods anger Lewis. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) and other detectives deal with the death of their colleague, each one in his own typical fashion.

I love how the show's gritty realism prevents any sort of sappiness. Lewis's denial about his partner's suicide is motivated not only by affection but also by a sense of guilt. A member of the Crosetti family hits on Howard (Melissa Leo) during the funeral procession, complimenting her red hair. Bolander admits he didn't particularly care about Crosetti but the suicide bothers him, inviting a reflection about his own failures. Best of all, usually sensitive Bayliss (Kyle Secor) learns that Crosetti's favorite pastries for the post-funeral reception will cost him a lot of money and blurts out: "That silly man and his silly cookies".

There are two big emotional payoffs. In the first, Lewis finally accepts that Crosetti committed suicide. In the second, Pembleton (Andre Braugher), who refused to attend the funeral for personal reasons, gives Crosetti a memorable goodbye as the procession passes by.

10/10

Excellent episode of the Best Show Ever on Broadcast TV

[Bry-2 · 10/10 · 8 September 2008]

If Clark Johnson never acted in another episode, play or movie, he could rest comfortably knowing his performance in this episode was simply the best ever, in a show known to raise the emotional heights higher than usual on television.

His work has always been understated and cool, which made his explosion all the more unexpected, realistic and moving in this show. Highly recommended; kudos, Mr Johnson!

Padding for length Padding for length Padding for length (silly rule -- who's fault is it that I don't have a full 10-lines worth of kudos for Clark Johnson here?)

Cried my eyes out

[fv-bauer · 10/10 · 5 October 2012]

Unbelievably moving. Best example for what a good ensemble cast can do. If you grow to like them that way, you really care when one of them goes down. Everyone did great in this episode. After the church murders, that did indeed seem to be a bit too focused on Pembleton's crisis of faith, and had a quite unsatisfying resolution in the end, this one is 10 out of 10 again. Although you could see right from the beginning where this was going, that caused no problems, cause most of the time, with HOMICIDE, it's not about the "Who did it?", but about the "How do things unfold and how does everyone cope with it ?" The little details, like e.g. the relatives at the funeral, or the quarrel about the price of the funeral cookies, are what makes everything so real and believable. You feel like you're watching real people in real life situations, and that's a terrific achievement by Levinson and his team.

One of the best

[Pertierra1949 · 10/10 · 3 December 2018]

This is such a powerful exploration of how people used to dealing daily with death deal with death. The final image of Pembleton always brings tears to my eyes. This series was one of the top 3 ever produced for network television boasting incredible acting from season 1 to season 7. And this episode is a must see example of why!! Thank goodness for DVD. I have watched them all 9 times. No Homicide No Wire

Crosetti

[Sunshine4121960 · 4/10 · 29 July 2009]

I remember the part when crosetti drowned in the lake. And munch and his partner had help pulling him out. They almost could not recognize him without his badge, when they got back to the department thats when Lewis got the news that his partner had been dead. They wanted to know was his death a suicide or was it a homicide. At first Det. lewis didn't want to believe that his partner died accidentally or a suicidal. But he did not take it very well. So lewis gather all of his belonging and put it to the side for his family member to have for keep sakes. his daughter had arrive and the other detective were asking the daughter about her father, then thats when Det. Lewis came to the car by the department building asking her a lot of questions about her father. Lt.Giardello wanted to salute crosetti with honor and respect, for the dedication he deserve to the department. Thats when he had asked the col. Barnfather thats what he wanted to do, and the col. had said no because his death looked like a suicide. and he said that he wanted somebody to find his body like that in the water. To look like a suicide, that was floating for three to four days.