10 Reasons Why Everyone Should Watch Homicide Life On The Street

The abilities of writer Tom Fontana were entirely on display in the extraordinary episode Three Men and Adena, in which Pembleton and Bayliss investigate the disturbing murder of 11-year old Adena Watson. Their prime suspect is an eccentric street merchant (brilliantly played by Moses Gunn).

The entirety of the episode is played out within "the Box" (the interrogation room), and not unlike a stage play, the drama unfolds through the interrogators' confrontational interviewing techniques. Initially, Bayliss is absolutely convinced that they've found their man. Yet Pembleton is unsure. At the end of the episode their attitudes are reversed; they are forced to accept the fact that they won't be able to elicit a confession from their suspect. We share the detectives' frustration and we mourn the grave sense of injustice.

Another example of Homicide's unique writing is The Subway, in which Pembleton must comfort a man who's been pushed by an unknown assailant and stuck under a subway train. This man (played by Vincent d'Onofrio) is destined to die within a few hours time. He can't be described as particularly sympathetic, but because of his predicament, we nonetheless feel for him. While Pembleton stays by his side, the other officers desperately try to find the person who pushed him.

Homicide offers a relatively philosophical outlook on all things relating to a murder. How do the members of a Homicide Squad actually cope with their line of work? How do they solve murders? Pembleton argues that one has to accept one's darker self in order to understand the mind of a murderer. Bayliss insists that as defenders of law and order they shouldn't have to.