Homicide: Life on the street

Before there was 'The Wire' before there was 'The Shield', there was Homicide, the rough, gritty look into the homicide department of Baltimore. The show has lost none of it's power over the years.

Frank Pembleton is a gift for any actor but Andre Braugher just keeps on giving, pulling back conceptions of who you think he is, the requisite hot shop cop who has to learn to be a team player, and accept he needs someone like Batliss, his scenes in the box are stuff of legend, like watching a craftsman or as Frank puts it a salesman selling a product to someone who has no use for it.

Although Andre get's the big scenes, the rest of the cast do an excellent job, Melissa Leo and Daniel Baldwin as Howard and Felton, Jon Polito and Clark Johnson as Crosetti and Meldrick and Richard Belzer and Ned Beatty as Munch and Bolander. No-one get's placed to the side, I love their conversations and musings as much as I love them actually solving murders, it makes human completely human and multi-dimensional.

And then there's Yaphet Kotto as the chief and mentor Giardello. to his squad, he's always there to support or kick ass when needed.

I'm reminded how much Bayliss seems like the forerunner to a character Dutch from the shield, a character who starts out as kind of a joke to the squad but slowly earns their respect and also reveals he has a darkside.

God, I love Munch.

Bolander sitting alone in a bar singing to himself is just a great human moment, Beatty is so good, his constant back and forth with Belzer is great, like an old married couple. It was really nice to see Bolander find some happiness, him playing the Cello with that waitress while Pembleton and Bayliss brought in the cop was just fantastic.

This also reminds me how many familiar faces appeared on Homicide, Julianna Marguiles, Robin Williams, Dwight Yoakam in a bad wig, Wendy Hughes with an atrocious accent (to be fair, it was explained she was from Sydney) Isaiah Washington, the list goes on.

I was surprised to see Jake Gyllenhaal playing Robin William's kid in one of the episodes.

The shooter ended up being Steve Buscemi if I remember correctly.

I picked up Season 2: Further adventures of Munch, Meldrick and Stanley 'The dancing bear' Bolander. Amazing stuff. The first half of the season, all of the characters get their time but after Howard, Felton and Bolander got shot, Howard and Felton seemed to drift into the background which is understandable I guess.

Munch's reaction at getting kicked out of the alcohol awareness seminar is fucking priceless, Belzer actually does strong work over the season, Munch looking after that kid at christmas was deftly played.

Of course, the major storyline was Howard, Felton and Bolander getting shot, Giardello's breakdown by the side of the park was quite moving. I like Meldrick laying it down cold to the media.

This season really had a great balance of humor and drama, it made the characters feel totally human. Munch's relationship with Bolander is totally endearing, seeing Bolander in the rocky getup while Munch coaches him was hilarious.

That's kinda weird, the DVD I got says the complete second series.