Season 4 was phenomenal, featuring both the Bayliss-Pembleton couple at its best and the onset of the Lewis-Kellerman partnership, with their easy chemistry and relaxed tone. This is one of the best episodes of the Meldrick-Mike duo.
Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Kellerman (Reed Diamond) escort an elderly suspect, opera-obsessed, chatty Rose (Lily Tomlin). The detectives take their time, move at a leisurely pace - even stopping to visit an aquatic park - eat at a diner, and fatally underestimate the seemingly harmless lady.
The episode includes two intriguing subplots. Brodie (Max Perlich, whose character I was not particularly fond of, but he is used well here) discovers on a tape evidence of a procedural mistake on a crime scene. Munch (Richard Belzer), primary of the case, tells him to lose the tape, as it could allow the suspect to go free. Brodie refuses to comply.
Meanwhile, Al "Gee" Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) seems close to his long overdue promotion; his detectives prepare a party for him, but a bitter surprise is coming for all the Homicide unit.
Johnson and Diamond complement each other perfectly, with the latter starting to show hints of Kellerman's darker side - a prelude to his character arc over the course of three seasons, with the happy-go-lucky detective morphing into a cynical, broken man.
Along with Stakeout, Requiem for Adena and Hate Crimes, this is one of the season's best.
8.5/10
Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Kellerman (Reed Diamond) escort an elderly suspect, opera-obsessed, chatty Rose (Lily Tomlin). The detectives take their time, move at a leisurely pace - even stopping to visit an aquatic park - eat at a diner, and fatally underestimate the seemingly harmless lady.
The episode includes two intriguing subplots. Brodie (Max Perlich, whose character I was not particularly fond of, but he is used well here) discovers on a tape evidence of a procedural mistake on a crime scene. Munch (Richard Belzer), primary of the case, tells him to lose the tape, as it could allow the suspect to go free. Brodie refuses to comply.
Meanwhile, Al "Gee" Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) seems close to his long overdue promotion; his detectives prepare a party for him, but a bitter surprise is coming for all the Homicide unit.
Johnson and Diamond complement each other perfectly, with the latter starting to show hints of Kellerman's darker side - a prelude to his character arc over the course of three seasons, with the happy-go-lucky detective morphing into a cynical, broken man.
Along with Stakeout, Requiem for Adena and Hate Crimes, this is one of the season's best.
8.5/10
