Rating: - police show for the thinker
Having had first-hand experience observing the personal and professional dynamics of a major police force, "Homicide" failed to produce the jaded attitude I experience with most police stories. I loved this show because it consistently exhibited the frailities of the human condition without being maudlin. Everyone made mistakes and no excuses were made for them; police perform a difficult job and a constant diet of observing the lowest of the human denominator and often macabre situations will ultimately change anyone. Homicide makes this subtle point clear. One of the most powerful episodes was called "Shades of Gray." It came a little later in the series but I don't think I have ever viewed a show that involved the complexities racial tension juxtaposed against a fatal human error in which no harm was actually intended. A Jamaican woman was hit by a city bus driven by a white bus driver and the community was ready to react in outrage when police determined it was an accident. The woman rode this bus every day and was friendly with the driver. An extremely unfortunate incident but one that often happens in everyday life. Everything that happens is not always what it seems to be; "Homicide" writers were excellent at delving deeper into "gray" areas in which there is no right or wrong. We are forced to admit we just don't know why something happened. More than many police shows "Homicide" showed real life without glossing over the real issues.