"Zen and the Art of Murder" is an episode of the seventh season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It originally aired on NBC on April 2, 1999. The episode was written by Lloyd Rose and directed by Miguel Arteta. The episode is significant in the story arc of Laura Ballard's romance with Paul Falsone; fearful that their secret romance will be discovered, Falsone ends the relationship.
Plot summary
A spoon is the only trace of evidence left over after John Munch and Meldrick Lewis find a well-respected Buddhist monk bludgeoned to death. Because Det. Tim Bayliss has become active in Baltimore's Buddhist community, Lt. Al Giardello orders him to join the investigation; as a result, Bayliss replaces Munch—a move that frustrates Lewis, who rightfully points out that Bayliss, who knew and respected the victim, tends to lose professional perspective in cases which involve an emotional investment.
Bayliss and Lewis immediately clash in the investigation: Upon learning that the victim often worked with the homeless, Bayliss immediately intuits that a homeless person killed the monk, while Meldrick is convinced that the monk was murdered by one of the monks who lived with the victim, since they would have had greater access. Bayliss objects that Buddhists are, by their very nature, non-violent, but Meldrick dismisses this as bias. When a witness claims to have seen a mysterious black man lurking around the house, Meldrick is offended that Bayliss chooses to pursue the lead, which Meldrick sees as nothing but "some housewife's racist fantasy." This disagreement motivates Bayliss and Lewis to split up, each pursuing the investigation according to his theory.
While Meldrick continues to interview the victim's fellow monks, searching for a motive, Bayliss searches for Larry Moss, a homeless man who fits the eyewitness's description, and encounters him by chance on the street. Bayliss pursues Moss into an abandoned building, where Moss reveals his paranoid motivation for killing the monk: the monk had offered him a spoon at a soup kitchen, and Moss interpreted the casual act of kindness as an act of disrespect, since, in Moss's words, "I can get my own damn spoon!" Bayliss is forced to kill Moss when Moss starts shooting at him. Although everyone tells Bayliss that it was a "clean shoot," Bayliss is devastated by his actions. He is not comforted by a contrite Lewis' apologies for assumption and statement that Bayliss' emotional approach to the job has actually made him a good cop, and says he is left without any identity as he is no longer worthy of being a Buddhist.
In a parallel investigation, Det. Laura Ballard and Det. Stuart Gharty respond to a street shooting witnessed by the victim's mother, sister, and neighbor. The sister identifies the shooter as a local hood named "either Jacko or Jocko," but when Ballard and Gharty track Jacko down, the neighbor who witnessed the shooting mistakenly insists that Jacko is not the man who shot Williams. The cops know that Jacko did it but when he gives an alibi for being in another location, they are unable to prove he is lying because the timeline for running between the two locations is unclear. In the end, to the horror of the victim's family, Jacko gets away with murder.
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police drama television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Unit. Created by Paul Attanasio, it ran for seven seasons and 122 episodes on NBC from January 31, 1993, to May 21, 1999, and was succeeded by Homicide: The Movie (2000), which served as the series finale. The series was created by Paul Attanasio and based on David Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991). Many of the characters and stories used throughout the show were based on events depicted in the book.
John Munch was a fictional character played by actor Richard Belzer. Munch first appeared on the American crime drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street on NBC. A regular through the entire run of the series from 1993 to 1999, Munch is a cynical detective in the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide unit, and a firm believer in conspiracy theories. He is originally partnered with Detective Stanley Bolander. Munch is based on Jay Landsman, a central figure in David Simon's 1991 true crime book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.
Detective Michael Scott Kellerman is a fictional character on the television drama series Homicide: Life on the Street portrayed by Reed Diamond. He is a main character from seasons 4–6 (1995–98).
Timothy Bayliss is a fictional character on Homicide: Life on the Street, played by Kyle Secor and one of the few main characters to last the entire run of the show. He was loosely based on real-life Baltimore homicide detective Thomas Pellegrini, featured in David Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, though Pellegrini was reportedly not at all a fan of his fictional alter ego. The character also appeared in the Law & Order episode "Charm City."
Meldrick Lewis is a fictional character on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street, played by Clark Johnson. The character is loosely based on Baltimore detective Donald Waltemeyer and appeared in the series for its entire run. Lewis had the very first and last lines of the series.
Laura Ballard is a fictional character in Homicide: Life on the Street, played by Callie Thorne. She is a police detective in the homicide division of the Baltimore Police Department.
J.H. Brodie is a fictional character in the television series Homicide: Life on the Street. He appeared in a recurring role in the show's fourth season and was a regular in the show's fifth season, after becoming an official crime scene videographer.
"Took" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of the HBO original series The Wire. The episode was written by Richard Price from a story by David Simon & Richard Price and was directed by cast member Dominic West. It aired on February 17, 2008.
Stuart Gharty is a fictional character played by Peter Gerety in the television series Homicide: Life on the Street.
Rene Sheppard is a fictional character in Homicide: Life on the Street, played by Michael Michele.
"Blood Ties" is the three-episode sixth season premiere of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. The episodes constitute the 78th, 79th and 80th overall episodes of the series. They originally aired on NBC on October 17, 24 and 31, 1997, respectively.
"Gone for Goode" is the first episode of the first season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 31, 1993, immediately following Super Bowl XXVII. The episode was written by series creator Paul Attanasio and directed by executive producer Barry Levinson. "Gone for Goode" introduced regular cast members Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty, Richard Belzer, Andre Braugher, Wendy Hughes, Clark Johnson, Yaphet Kotto, Melissa Leo, Jon Polito, and Kyle Secor.
"A Shot in the Dark" is the fourth episode of the first season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on February 24, 1993. The teleplay was written by Jorge Zamacona based on a story by executive producer Tom Fontana, and the episode was directed by Bruce Paltrow. In the episode, Crosetti focuses his investigation into the shooting of Officer Thormann on one suspect, while Lewis continues to investigate. Meanwhile, Pembleton and Bayliss pursue different leads in the murder case of 11-year-old Adena Watson.
"Law & Disorder" is the 15th episode of the third season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It originally aired on NBC on February 24, 1995. The episode was written by Bonnie Mark and Julie Martin and directed by John McNaughton. The episode concludes elements of a storyline about the shooting of Beau Felton, Kay Howard, and Stanley Bolander.
"Fallen Heroes" is a two-part episode that concludes the sixth season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It comprises the 99th and 100th overall episodes of the series, and originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 1, 1998 and May 8, 1998.
"Finnegan's Wake" is the 21st episode of the sixth season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It is the 98th overall episodes of the series, and originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 24, 1998.
Paul Falsone is a fictional character in Homicide: Life on the Street, portrayed by Jon Seda. He is a police detective of the Baltimore Police Department. Born on October 14, 1968, Falsone was introduced as a long-time member of the Auto Squad at the end of Season 5, where his natural talents proved useful in solving vehicle-related crimes. However, when the department began a rotation program, in which detectives would be periodically reassigned to new units, Falsone was transferred to the homicide shift commanded by Al Giardello. After three months, Giardello expressed satisfaction with Falsone's work and requested that he remain with the unit.
"Self Defense" is an episode of the seventh season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It originally aired on NBC on April 9, 1999. The episode was directed by Barbara Kopple and written by cast member Yaphet Kotto, who also plays Lt. Al Giardello. The episode is significant in story arcs regarding the romance between detectives Laura Ballard and Paul Falsone and Lt. Giardello's continued difficulties in his attempts to get promoted to a captaincy.
"A Many Splendored Thing" is the second season finale of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street, and the thirteenth overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 27, 1994. In the episode, Pembleton and Bayliss investigate the S&M-related murder of a young woman, which forces an uncomfortable Bayliss to confront his darker side. Meanwhile, Lewis is disturbed when a man commits murder over a $1.49 pen, and a despairing Munch crashes Bolander's date and ruins it by venting his own romantic woes.
"Fire" is the season premiere of the fourth season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It originally aired on NBC on October 20, 1995. The episode was written by Julie Martin and was directed by Tim Hunter. The two-part story centres on Pembleton and Bayliss' investigation into a pair of arson-related homicides, and introduces a new regular character, Arson Squad detective Mike Kellerman, who subsequently transfers to Homicide and partners with Det. Meldrick Lewis. This episode also flagged the permanent departure of regular characters Stanley Bolander and Beau Felton.
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