Former detective Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin, missing from season 3) is dead: it looks like a suicide. The primary of the case is Pembleton (Andre Braugher), who famously did not get along well with Beau.
Kay Howard (Melissa Leo, who was utterly convincing as a Homicide cop, unlike the other actresses who came after her), former partner and friend of Beau, is shocked and incredulous, and so is Al "Gee" Giardello (Yaphet Kotto).
Meldrick (Clark Johnson) is also shaken, as he has not yet accepted the loss of his own partner Crosetti - plus, he, Kellerman (Reed Diamond) and Stivers (Toni Lewis) have just faced in the previous episodes the dramatic Mahoney shooting and are still trying to cope with their decisions.
Pembleton also faces his partner Bayliss's (Kyle Secor) recent secret. Megan Russert (Isabella Hoffman in a guest star appearance) comes back from France and, much to her chagrin, finds out Munch (Richard Belzer) still hasn't solved her open cases.
This magnificent episode - great scenes: the final Pembleton-Bayliss dialogue; the detectives' flashbacks about their difficult relationship with Beau - also sadly marks the introduction of Falsone (Jon Seda), who in the next two seasons will become a regular and, with the help of Gharty (Peter Gerety, who also has a role here) and other weak characters, will really harm the series. In fact, the second episode of this two-parter is nearly unwatchable for the emphasis put on Falsone and Gharty.
9/10
Kay Howard (Melissa Leo, who was utterly convincing as a Homicide cop, unlike the other actresses who came after her), former partner and friend of Beau, is shocked and incredulous, and so is Al "Gee" Giardello (Yaphet Kotto).
Meldrick (Clark Johnson) is also shaken, as he has not yet accepted the loss of his own partner Crosetti - plus, he, Kellerman (Reed Diamond) and Stivers (Toni Lewis) have just faced in the previous episodes the dramatic Mahoney shooting and are still trying to cope with their decisions.
Pembleton also faces his partner Bayliss's (Kyle Secor) recent secret. Megan Russert (Isabella Hoffman in a guest star appearance) comes back from France and, much to her chagrin, finds out Munch (Richard Belzer) still hasn't solved her open cases.
This magnificent episode - great scenes: the final Pembleton-Bayliss dialogue; the detectives' flashbacks about their difficult relationship with Beau - also sadly marks the introduction of Falsone (Jon Seda), who in the next two seasons will become a regular and, with the help of Gharty (Peter Gerety, who also has a role here) and other weak characters, will really harm the series. In fact, the second episode of this two-parter is nearly unwatchable for the emphasis put on Falsone and Gharty.
9/10
