Homicide: Life on the Street

Season 1 Episode 1

Gone for Goode

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1
9.0
out of 10
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60 votes
5

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Episode Summary

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Gone for Goode
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Lewis and Crosetti uncover a woman who's been killing her husbands for insurance money. Howard tries to keep her cases-solved record perfect, but she is reassigned with Felton as her partner. Bolander convinces Munch to help him finish up an unsolved case. A new guy, Tim Bayliss, from the mayor's office gets his first case in homicide, the murder of an 11-year-old girl. His partner Pembleton, we find out, is less than enthusiastic to work with him or anyone else in the unit.moreless
FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (5)

SUBMIT REVIEW

  • First Days on the Street for Pembleton and Bayliss

    8.0
    By BigB11, Dec 05, 2012
    In the first scene,we meet Detectives Lewis and his partner Crosetti walking through an ally to find a dead body who happens to be a married later found out that he was murdered for they investigate the so-called 'Black Widow' the end of that first scene,Crosetti said the 'Life is a dialogue. That's on a roll. Then,we meet newbie Bayliss who's first day won't be so easy. Then,we meet Bolander and his sarcastic partner Munch. Munch is funny in his first scene as he hates being compared to Montel Williams (who was a talk show host at that time). There's funny dialogue when Bolander pokes fun of his partners last name at their unit. Then another newbie,the arrogant,Pembleton, who's first day is partnered with Felton who a bully making him find a squad about humiliation. Later,Pembleton is paired up with Bayliss when they pick up a suspect and put him in the box. Pembleton throws the hammer of justice on him hard,but Bayliss thought he should go easy on him. When Bayliss confronts him afterwards,Pembleton responds "Stay outta my face!" What a Jackass, but I like his acting. In the end,Bayliss would investigate his first serious case of a girl that would carry on for the next few weeks,and her name will be revealed in the next episode.



    It was a good premiere. I like the long opening credits (the whold theme)in this pilot. I played it over and over on my VCR. Got a lotta interesting characters. Sorry I left out Howard and Giradello,the black man with an Italian-American name. This one is funny and addictivemoreless

  • Lewis and Crosetti investigate a shooting. Bayliss is welcomed to the precinct and is put into action almost immediately. Pembleton is informed he can no longer work solo. Bolander and Munch revisit a case.moreless

    9.2
    By vegancrusader, Jul 09, 2007
    The scene at the lobster shack is very well done, all the detectives are seen having a laugh at the absent Pembletons expense. This scene where the detectives are shooting the breeze, eating lobster, is key, and introduces and starts to develop the characters in this premiere episode.



    Bolander can be heard repeating "Detective Munch" at various times in the episode, this is done to give Munch confidence and it works. Munch pulls an allnighter, working on a dead end case. Bolander's words rub off and Munch can later be heard uttering the same words "Detective Munch". Munch's hard work pays off as he notices something odd in an old booking photo, leading to a suspect.



    You get the sense right off the bat that Bayliss isnt much of a people person, mistaking Crosetti for Giardello. Bayliss is put into action right away, gaining some tips from the experienced, conceited Pembleton. Bayliss isn't afraid to take a stand even though he is still wet behind the ears, as he questions how ethical Pembletons interviewing tactics are.



    Overall this is a great opening episode and does a good job introducing the characters, but at the same timekeeping the viewer entertained with four cases.moreless

  • There is no way you could watch this episode and not be hooked on the greatest drama series to ever be on television.

    10
    By 187Sheild, Jan 18, 2007
    While the flip way this series deals with death may be off-putting for some, this is the most real show to ever grace television. The pilot that aired after the supper bowl was all one needed to become a life-time fan of this show. While you may have learned very little about the main characters in this first showing, you were inexplicably drawn into the 'life on the street'. The day this series hit DVD was a dream come true. While no show has been able to out-do Homicide, the Shield (with many Homicide allums behind the scenes) has come close and I would reccomend all Vic Mackey fans pick-up copies of Season 1-2 and enjoy the show that made the Sheild possable.moreless

  • As \"goode as it gets\"

    9.8
    By zappfra, Feb 07, 2006
    With DavidB226Morris in depth review, there is no need to go into great detail, other than it is an excellent pilot episode that sows the seed for this great show. After reading Simon\'s novel I revisted this opening episode and it had a far greater impact than the numerous times i had watched it before. It is interesting to see a dejected Munch looking for a way out of the force in this opening episode, but we still see him in the force in SVU some ten years later. This Pilot episode sets the scene for a long running gritty and excellent show.moreless

  • A brilliant start right out of the box

    10
    By DavidB226Morris, Jun 18, 2005
    The Pilot episode for any television show must accomplish several things.

    It must establish characters that we have never met before. It must explain what these characters are going to do. It must set a tone for how the show will take things--- serious, humorous or otherwise. It must establish the atmosphere of the series—particularly in place and time. And it must establish the basic stories the show will be telling. This is difficult depending on the number of characters that you are introducing, more so if you intend to tell more than one story at once. And it is very difficult depending on the tone that you take.



    The pilot for Homicide succeeds at all of these in spectacular fashion. The series has to introduce nine distinct characters and what they do. It isn’t perfect

    (we don’t get a real sense of Detective Howard or Lewis and Lieutenant Giardello, for example.) but it’s close. They make the job easier by splitting the detectives up into pairs, but we get an idea of how each pairing works too.



    Detectives Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Steve Crosetti (Jon Polito) have a kind of comically abusive relationship; Lewis is continuously mocking Crosetti’s philosophy and his heritage while Crosetti thinks deeply about things that often come out as non- sequiteurs (his line about the difference between men and women when going to the bathroom is the best example of this). Detectives Kay Howard(Melissa Leo) and Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin ) hold a partnership where they are well a balanced despite the fact that she is a much better detective then him. Detectives Stanley Bolander (Ned Beatty) and John Munch (Richard Belzer) have the feel of a veteran influencing a younger cop (a bit odd considering that they are close to each other in age) Finally there is the mecurial lone wolf Detective Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher) and the rookie Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor). This might have a veteran-rookie relationship if it wasn’t for the fact that Pembleton has absolutely no desire to mentor this detective or anybody else. Supervising them is Lieutenant Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) who has a blasé attitude as well.



     Then there is our introduction to the squad, which in its own way is as much a character as any of the detectives. There are the detective’s desks with a phone whose rings would become one of the shows trademarks. There is the interrogation room (or ‘the box’ ) where some of the shows greatest drama will occurs. And there is ‘the board’ listing open and closed investigations. This is so important that the show focuses on it at least a dozen times in this hour alone.



    And though we don’t see many examples of it, the fact that we are in Baltimore seems to resonate a certain way.

     A bigger difference in this show is how crime and criminals are displayed. Even in good police dramas like Law and Order and NYPD Blue criminals are mostly portrayed as intelligent and shifty. They are lying but they are clever about it. Here the criminals have a great naivete and foolishness. The murder of Henry Biddle for example. The killer is so idiotic that he calls his own house when the police arrive. And then when the cops ask him to come in for questioning, he does. This would be unbelievable, but it has been directly lifted from Simon’s book. Just as astonishing is the killer Munch and Bolander are questioning in the first act. His story is so badly shuffled that it’s no wonder that Munch gets ballistic. The intelligence (or lack of It) would be the rule rather then the exception. As Pembleton puts it so succinctly, “Crime makes you stupid.” We also get to see what would be a staple of the show; the interrogation. We see the way that police illicit a confession without violence. As Pembleton puts it, it is more a job of salesmanship than anything else. It also involves manipulation of the facts and the truth. Though the scene is not particularly dramatic, we do get a glimpse of just how dramatic and suspenseful a simple conversation can be.



     This is one of the reasons that the show is funny. There are also any number of humorous moments. Pembleton’s refusal to go back upstairs when he can’t find the right car. And the sequence in the bar where Crosetti takes his revenge on Lewis’ mockery of him . They sound like how real cops behave or at least the cops in Simon’s book.



     We also have the idea that some stories are not going to be resolved, not right away and possibly ever. We get started with the investigation into the ‘Black Widow’, a woman who has been murdering her husband for the insurance money but the story just seems to run aground halfway through. But the writers haven’t forgotten this; they are just waiting for the right time. And the little murdered girl that we see. Many shows would have just gone from this murder to a little while after. Homicide not only dealt with it, it would become the backbone of the first season, if not the entire show.



     Also notable is the cynicism that envelops these detectives. In a fine moment near the end, Munch, Lewis and Crosetti are discussing getting out of the homicide business. Then they notice that they are being cased by a young thief. Munch walks up to him, takes out his badge and says: “We’re murder police; go rob somebody else.” No taking the would- be criminal in for questioning; no lecture. Just a plea to get out.



     This cynicism is also critical in the idea of justice. After Pembleton elicits the confession, he gives a great speech on what will probably happen to the killer he has just coerced. There is no real justice; there is only what you can find.

    This comes as a great shock to Bayliss who is still flushed with idealism about how homicide works. We will soon see how quickly he loses this. Though Kyle Secor doesn’t have a lot of dialogue, he will come to be the most understated actor on the show. In the final scene, as we see a little girl lying dead in the rain, he emerges from a small crowd, holds up his badge and says ‘Homicide’. In that one word, Secor carries more anguish and emotion then any dialogue could. For most of the shows run, Bayliss would be our window to the Homicide unit mainly because of his sensitivity and empathy.



     Very few pilots have done so much in a single episode at creating memorable characters and atmosphere. There’s a lot we don’t know but we have a basic understanding of the characters and how they approach the business of murder. Even after the series was over, fans of the show as well as the creator would rank it as the best episode of the series. It is certainly one of the best pilots that any TV show (with the possible exception of The West Wing and Buffy) at setting the tone and describing the characters. This is the first of many great moments in TV that this show would provide and there would be quite a few. There are a few nits to pick (one doesn’t understand how the cases are being numbered, for example,) but this is brilliant on almost every level.



    Rank by fans: 1st

    My score: 10

    moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

Andre Braugher

Andre Braugher

Det. Frank Pembleton
Kyle Secor

Kyle Secor

Tim Bayliss
Richard Belzer

Richard Belzer

Det. John Munch
Jon Polito

Jon Polito

Steve Crosetti
Ned Beatty

Ned Beatty

Stan Bolander
Daniel Baldwin

Daniel Baldwin

Beau Felton
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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

Alexander Gaberman

Alexander Gaberman

Johnny

Guest Star

Leonard Jackson

Leonard Jackson

Cemetery Manager

Guest Star

Mary Joy

Mary Joy

Mrs. Jempson

Guest Star

Wendy Hughes

Wendy Hughes

Dr. Carol Blythe

Recurring Role

Ralph Tabakin

Ralph Tabakin

Dr. Scheiner

Recurring Role

Sharon Ziman

Sharon Ziman

Naomi

Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Season 1 Episodes

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Ep 9
Night of the Dead Living
Ep 8
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Ep 7
And the Rockets Dead Glare
Ep 6
A Dog and Pony Show
Ep 5
Three Men and Adena
Ep 4
A Shot in the Dark
Ep 3
Son of a Gun
Ep 2
Ghost of a Chance
Ep 1
Gone for Goode

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