HOMICIDE - LIFE on the STREET

S01E04 - "A Shot in the Dark" (C+)
                                      or:
"The One with the Whore in the Doghouse"

          This is not a bad episode, nor is it a great one.  This episode does, however, set up the next one, and for that we can all be thankful.  But enough about "Three Men and Adena", I'll be doing that one tomorrow, seeing as NBC doesn't have any new episodes of the four I'm covering.
          Bolander and Munch find themselves at the scene of a drug deal gone awry.  Bolander is all focus, but Munch keeps pressing him for details regarding his date with Dr. Blythe.  His inquiry is met with much irritation, leading Munch to presume that the date did not go well.

          One of the officers canvassing the scene finds something unusual, a lady of the evening cowering in a doghouse.  It turns out she was in the bathroom during the shooting, was unnoticed by the shooter, and in a state of shock, sought shelter in an unlikely place.  Bolander questions her, and in the process takes her out for dinner at her insistence, gentleman that he is.  She compliments his haircut (?) and even tries to seduce him (?).   Bolander has quite the animal magnetism, it seems.
        
         And, of course, we have the ongoing Watson case.  Bayliss wants to question the neighborhood arabber, but Pembleton thinks otherwise.  Pembleton and Felton track down a different suspect, hoping to find his car, which might contain incriminating evidence.  They eventually locate the car, only to find there is no evidence to support Pembleton's suspicions.
          Bayliss plans to interrogate the arabber, seeking a warrant.  He has an ace up his sleeve, in the form of undisclosed evidence, being the metal pipe which was used to violate the young girl.  Before he can use this to his advantage, he discovers that Capt. Barnfather has leaked this information to the press.  Bayliss gives Barnfather a rather nasty phone call, and by rather nasty, I mean he goes as far as to call him a butthead.  Ouch.
          A lab report shows that soot from Adena Watson's dress matches the wood type of the arabber's barn, which had recently burnt down.  Bayliss learns this from Pembleton, who swallows his pride and reluctantly admits he was wrong about the rookie.

          Officer Thormann awakes from his coma, and continuing his miraculous recovery, manages to speak.  The prime suspect of his shooting has turned himself in, certain that he is doomed, being an African-American suspect in the shooting of a white police officer.  He admits to merely taking Thormann's wallet, which would explain Thormann's blood on his shoes.  Crosetti doesn't believe his story, but Lewis is skeptical, digging deeper into the informant who led them to their suspect in the first place.  He finds an elderly woman in the neighborhood of the shooting who says their informant has been bragging about shooting a police officer with his own gun.  The informant-turned-suspect's girlfriend gives him up, and the case has been brought down.

          Oh, and Munch sings a karaoke version of "Mack the Knife", which elevates this episode from a C to a C plus.

Potent Quotables

• "He's like a grizzly on barbituates." - Munch, regarding Bolander's irritability.
• "You do whatever the hell you want, you butthead!" - Bayliss, to Barnfather.

Familiar Faces

Fans of The Wire will recognize Flavin, the informant-turned suspect, as he is played by Larry Hull, the witness-turned-murder-victim from the very first episode.

Tags: Homicide: Life on the Street, NBC, David Simon, The Wire, Richard Belzer, John Munch, Clark Johnson, Meldrick Lewis, Yaphet Kotto, Al Giardello, Kyle Secor, Tim Bayliss, Andre Braugher, Frank Pembleton, Melissa Leo, Kay Howard, Jon Polito, Steve Crosetti, Salami Brain, Fat-Headed Guinea, Ned Beatty, Stan Bolander.