Double Blind, in typical Homicide fashion, deals with shades of gray. In the first storyline, Pembleton (Andre Braugher) and Bayliss (Kyle Secor) follow the case of a domestic abuser killed by his daughter; in the second, Lewis (Clark Johnson) supports Thormann (Lee Tergersen), a police officer shot and blinded (A Shot in the Dark, season one) by Flavin, a criminal who is now up for parole after saving a prison guard.
The two plotlines are the thematic flip side of each other: in the first, the killing of a despicable man is seen through the eyes of the killer; in the second, a convict's possible redemption is shown from the point of view of his victim. As usual, the show raises problematic questions but gives no easy answers: the daughter is caught by the same legal system which had been unable to help her; Flavin's parole is denied and yet Thormann's former life will never be restored. What remains is just a great sense of loss.
In this episode Pembleton and Bayliss switch their trademark attitudes; far from being out of character, this is an example of smart characterization. The self-righteous public avenger Pembleton sympathizes with the daughter, possibly out of pity for his own neglected family, while sensitive Bayliss is inflexible: as a former victim of domestic abuse himself, morally condemning the girl is a defence mechanism against his own painful past.
8,5/10
The two plotlines are the thematic flip side of each other: in the first, the killing of a despicable man is seen through the eyes of the killer; in the second, a convict's possible redemption is shown from the point of view of his victim. As usual, the show raises problematic questions but gives no easy answers: the daughter is caught by the same legal system which had been unable to help her; Flavin's parole is denied and yet Thormann's former life will never be restored. What remains is just a great sense of loss.
In this episode Pembleton and Bayliss switch their trademark attitudes; far from being out of character, this is an example of smart characterization. The self-righteous public avenger Pembleton sympathizes with the daughter, possibly out of pity for his own neglected family, while sensitive Bayliss is inflexible: as a former victim of domestic abuse himself, morally condemning the girl is a defence mechanism against his own painful past.
8,5/10
