HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET: FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES {SERIES FINALE} (TV)
Summary
The final episode in this dramatic police series about a department of reflective homicide detectives in Baltimore, Maryland. In this episode, Bayliss and Sheppard are outraged when the charges against Luke Ryland, the Internet killer, are dismissed after a series of technicalities and delays. Bayliss blows up at Danvers, shoving him down the courthouse stairs, and he later refuses Gee's orders to apologize to the lawyer. Gee's daughter Teresa arrives for his promotion ceremony and is stunned to learn that Mike has quit the FBI, and Lewis expresses doubts about Munch's and Billie Lou's respective fourth trips down the aisle. Lewis and Falsone investigate the stabbing death of one Johanna McQueen, for which her disinterested mother-in-law blames her "druggie friends," claiming that her son Shane, Johanna's husband, is "in Alaska" on business. Bayliss continues brooding over Ryland's release, admitting to Sheppard that he greatly misses Pembleton's sage advice, and Mike tells his family about his intentions to depart Homicide for a quieter life in Property Crimes.
Falsone and Lewis learn that Johanna was having an affair with Shane's best friend, Teague Ford, and Mike offers his father some kind words of encouragement as Gee ponders his career change. Johanna's sister, a nun named Mary Catherine, arrives from Philadelphia to identify the body, and the detectives soon realize that she is entirely unaware of her sister's drug-addled criminal lifestyle. Lewis butts heads with Bayliss when he again brings up Sheppard's beating, with Lewis accusing him of not maintaining a healthy emotional distance from his cases. Munch and Billie Lou are finally married with Gee and Ballard in attendance, while elsewhere Teague Ford is also found stabbed to death and Shane is quickly arrested for both murders. Lewis and Falsone break the bad news to Mary Catherine, who surprises them by asking to meet her so-called brother-in-law so that she may express her forgiveness for his crimes.
Bayliss tracks down Ryland and vows to keep an eye on him, though Ryland mockingly reveals that he intends to continue his crimes in New Orleans. Munch's long-awaited wedding night does not go as planned, and Bayliss waxes philosophical about his "killer's instinct" before visiting Danvers and offering a sincere apology. Back at the precinct, Ballard and Falsone hint that they will continue their secret affair as Lewis and Sheppard finally resume their partnership, and Bayliss quietly packs up his desk, reflecting on his many memories over his seven years at Homicide. Later, Ryland is found shot dead with no clues to be found at the crime scene, and Sheppard calmly remarks that "life is a mystery." Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: 1999 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:44:44
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:56834
- GENRE: Drama, police/detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/detective; Murder; Weddings
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1993-1999
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Barry Levinson … Executive Producer
- Jim Finnerty … Executive Producer
- Tom Fontana … Executive Producer, Writer
- Julie Martin … Co-Executive Producer
- James Yoshimura … Co-Executive Producer
- Eric Overmeyer … Supervising Producer
- David Simon … Producer, Based on the book by
- Sara B. Charno … Co-Producer
- Gail Mutrux … Consulting Producer
- Anya Epstein … Consulting Producer
- Alan Taylor … Director
- Paul Attanasio … Created by
- Douglas J. Cuomo … Music by
- Lynn F. Kowal … Theme Music by
- Richard Belzer … Cast, Detective John Munch
- Giancarlo Esposito … Cast, Agent Mike Giardello
- Peter Gerety … Cast, Detective Stuart Gharty
- Clark Johnson … Cast, Detective Meldrick Lewis
- Yaphet Kotto … Cast, Lieutenant Al Giardello
- Toni Lewis … Cast, Detective Terri Stivers
- Michael Michele … Cast, Detective Rene Sheppard
- Kyle Secor … Cast, Detective Tim Bayliss
- Jon Seda … Cast, Detective Paul Falsone
- Callie Thorne … Cast, Detective Laura Ballard
- Jessica Hecht … Cast, Sister Mary Catherine
- Audra McDonald … Cast, Teresa Giardello
- Sagan Lewis … Cast, Judge Susan Aandahl
- Ellen McElduff … Cast, Billie Lou Hatfield
- John P. Whitesell … Cast, Judge Devilbiss
- Zeljko Ivanek … ASA Ed Danvers
- Benjamin Busch … Cast, Luke Ryland
- Robert Carlson … Cast, Officer Denys
- Dan Morgan … Cast, Deputy Watson
- Michael Willis … Cast, Darin Russom
- Sharon Ziman … Cast, Naomi