Television Review: Lies and Other Truths (Homicide: Life on the Street, S6X14, 1998)

Lies and Other Truths (S06E14)

Airdate: 6 March 1998

Written by: Noel Behn
Directed by: Nick Gomez

Running Time: 45 minutes

The final two seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street are often regarded as a slow unraveling of a show that had once defined gritty, unflinching police procedural drama. Yet among the missteps, few moments feel as jarringly tone-deaf as the Season 6 episode Lies and Other Truths, which marks a clear nadir in the series’ attempt to balance realism with sensationalism. The episode’s most glaring misfire arrives in a soap opera-style subplot that prioritises lurid theatrics over narrative coherence, undermining the otherwise strong central storyline. While the show had flirted with contrivance before, this episode’s ham-fisted embrace of absurdity—particularly in its Cold War-era espionage farce—signals a worrying shift toward prioritising spectacle over substance.

Noel Behn’s script attempts to salvage credibility by anchoring the episode in its more grounded, realistic main plot, which stands in stark contrast to the distracting side storylines. The central narrative follows the aftermath of a road rage incident on a Baltimore highway. Jerry Dietz, a passenger car driver, grows frustrated with a slow-moving maintenance truck and recklessly swerves to overtake it, triggering a catastrophic collision. Both Dietz and the truck driver are killed instantly, while Dietz’s wife survives but is left paralysed. Detective Kellerman (Reed Diamond) initially dismisses the case as routine, yet it gains unexpected weight when Dr. Julianna Cox (Michelle Forbes), the chief medical examiner, becomes embroiled in a bureaucratic conspiracy.

The attorney for Dietz’s wife files a wrongful death suit against Maryland, alleging negligence by the highway department. Cox’s superiors pressure her to falsify blood alcohol levels to blame Dietz for being drunk, thereby shielding the state from liability. Cox’s refusal to compromise her ethics sparks a moral crisis: she leaks the information to the Baltimore Sun, leading to her abrupt dismissal. Her decision to leave Baltimore, severing ties with Kellerman and the audience, is rendered with quiet poignancy. Unlike many Homicide arcs, this storyline avoids melodrama, focusing instead on institutional corruption and the personal cost of integrity. Cox’s departure feels neither overdramatised nor symbolic—it is simply another consequence of a flawed system, underscoring the show’s signature realism.

The episode’s other major storyline, however, descends into farce. Detectives Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and Pembleton (Andre Braugher) investigate the bizarre case of a man allegedly buried alive on the grounds of Fort Holibird, a former Cold War intelligence training facility. The victim, a member of the Sons of Silent Service—a group of Cold War re-enactors—had been obsessed with espionage as a hobby. The trail leads to Nelson Broyles (John Glover), a charismatic leader of the group, who confesses to sabotaging the victim’s coffin out of frustration with his “lax standards.” To heighten the absurdity, Lt. Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) introduces a former KGB defector, Sam Dunn (Jerry Liden), who claims the group’s members are “wannabe spies” whose fathers worked in intelligence. The subplot culminates in Broyles attempting to blow up police headquarters with dynamite strapped to his body—a clichéd spectacle that feels lifted from a 1960s spy flick.

This storyline is not merely poorly executed; it actively undermines the show’s credibility. The Sons of Silent Service are presented as ridiculous LARPers, their obsession with Cold War theatrics feeling anachronistic in a world grappling with real geopolitical tensions. Worse, the introduction of Giardello’s mysterious past—revealed as a Vietnam War POW who supposedly convinced his KGB interrogator to defect—serves no narrative purpose beyond inflating his character into a James Bond-esque legend. Giardello had previously been a grounded, morally complex figure whose authority stemmed from decades navigating Baltimore’s racial and political minefields. By grafting this implausible backstory onto him, the writers strip away his humanity, reducing him to a prop in a juvenile spy fantasy.

The third storyline, following Detective Falsone’s (Jon Seda) custody battle over his son, is mercifully brief but equally underwhelming. A judge rules in favour of his ex-wife, Janine, only for the pair to negotiate a joint custody arrangement. This resolution is so formulaic it feels lifted from daytime television, offering no emotional depth or character development.

The episode’s greatest failure lies in its inability to reconcile its disparate tones. The main plot’s sober examination of institutional corruption and personal sacrifice is undercut by the Cold War subplot’s campy theatrics. Behn’s decision to frame the latter as a “counterbalance” to the main story backfires, as its absurdity drains the episode of emotional resonance. Homicide had always thrived on its unflinching realism, its characters grappling with the moral ambiguities of urban policing. By inserting a subplot that prioritises spectacle—complete with a live bomb threat and a KGB defector—Behn undermines the show’s core identity.

Lies and Other Truths is emblematic of Homicide’s decline in its later seasons. While the main storyline remains a poignant exploration of ethics and consequence, the episode’s reliance on over-the-top subplots signals a loss of confidence in the show’s signature style. The decision to transform Giardello—a character whose groundedness was central to the series’ appeal—into a Bond-esque figure is particularly jarring, marking a point of no return for the show’s tonal coherence. By the finale, Homicide would struggle to regain its footing, its once-rigid realism increasingly diluted by gimmicks and contrivances. This episode, more than any other, crystallises the moment the series jumped its proverbial shark.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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