"Homicide: Life on the Street" Double Blind (1997)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Uli Edel

Writers:

Paul Attanasio (creator)
Jeanne Blake (story)

TV Series:

"Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993)

Original Air Date:

11 April 1997 (Season 5, Episode 18)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Police | Baltimore Maryland | Murder | Police Detective | Based On Book

Cast

Richard Belzer	...	Det. John Munch
Andre Braugher	...	Det. Frank Pembleton
Reed Diamond	...	Det. Mike Kellerman
Michelle Forbes	...	Dr. Julianna Cox
Clark Johnson	...	Det. Meldrick Lewis
Yaphet Kotto	...	Lt. Al Giardello
Melissa Leo	...	Det. Sgt. Kay Howard
Max Perlich	...	J.H. Brodie
Kyle Secor	...	Det. Tim Bayliss
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Bornarth	...	George Bayliss
Edie Falco	...	Eva Thormann
Ray Felton	...	Renaldi
Larry Hull	...	Charles Flavin (as Larry E. Hull)
Zeljko Ivanek	...	ASA Ed Danvers
Monica Keena	...	Billie Rader (as Monica Kenna)
Maureen Kerrigan	...	Lucille Rader
Gary Lee Leventhal	...	Desk Sergeant
Susan Lynskey	...	Bonnie Tiles (as Susan M. Lynskey)
Paul Meshejian	...	'Mack' Reich
Jay Spadaro	...	Officer Salerno
Lee Tergesen	...	Chris Thormann
Letha V. Walker	...	Lillian
Michael Anthony Williams	...	Roy Sayles
Michael Williams	...	Sayles

Filming Locations:

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

When Bayliss and Pembleton switched places

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Easily one of season five's bests, Double Blind, in typical Homicide fashion, bravely juggles with many shades of gray. In the first storyline, Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and Pembleton (Andre Braugher) follow the case of a man who used to brutally beat up his wife and was killed by the exasperated daughter; in the second, Lewis (Clark Johnson) has to support Chris Thormann (Lee Tergersen), a police officer who was shot and blinded (A Shot in the Dark, season one) by Charlie Flavin, a criminal who is now up for parole after saving the life of a prison guard.

The two plot lines are the thematic flip sides of each other: in the first one we have the killing of a despicable man, seen through the eyes of the murderer; in the second, the prospect that a redeemed convict might go free is shown from the point of view of his victim. The show, as usual, raises a lot of problematic questions but gives no easy answers. Once again, there are no facile solutions or self-congratulatory epilogues. Ultimately, the daughter is caught by the same legal system who had been unable to help her; Flavin's parole is denied, and yet Thormann's life will never be the same again. There are no winners: what remains at the end is just a great sense of loss.

Intriguingly, in this episode Bayliss and Pembleton switch their trademark attitudes. Far from being out of character, this is an example of sharp psychology from the scriptwriters. Pembleton, the icy, self-righteous public avenger who usually cares only about the victims and is as hard as possible towards the killers, for once actually identifies with the girl, possibly out of pity for his own neglected wife; on the other hand, sensitive "good cop" Bayliss becomes more and more detached and inflexible - as a former victim of domestic abuse himself, morally condemning the young girl is a way to distance himself from his own painful past.

8,7/10