Homicide: Life on the Street: Season 5

Pembleton returns to duty over the objections of the top brass, who want him shipped to a position with no responsibilities, but he has trouble coping with the physical and mental limitations placed on him by his stroke recovery. Gee learns that Russert might have moved to France to live with a diplomat whose baby she is carrying, while Bolander retired and Felton's whereabouts are unknown. With Pembleton on desk duty, this leaves the unit understaffed. Bayliss and Munch team up on the shooting

The middle school gunman demands that his pet pig be brought to him, then shoots and critically injures a female student and sets the classroom on fire after the police fail to do so in a short amount of time. After the hostages are rescued and he is taken to the hospital with severe burns, the squad connects this incident with Mrs. Uba's murder and realizes that her son Gerry committed both crimes. The injured student dies, and Gee is furious when D. A. Danvers initially holds off on charging h

At the state penitentiary, a cafeteria scuffle turns into a riot that leaves two inmates dead, as one of them killed the other. The whole squad (except for Pembleton) starts to investigate, looking for the second killer, but no one – including several murderers apprehended in previous episodes – is willing to provide any information. Gee orders the detectives to drop the case, which leads to Howard covering for Bayliss and Kellerman as they continue their investigation. Bayliss concentrates on i

Drug addicts all over Baltimore are dying from a batch of adulterated heroin, sold by a dealer in competition with Luther Mahoney. After the dealer is found murdered, narcotics detective Terri Stivers works with the homicide unit to build a conspiracy case against Mahoney and cut off the supply of bad drugs at the same time. The case falls apart when Danvers insists that there isn't enough evidence to indict Mahoney. The only witness, Stivers' informant, is killed soon after. Kellerman is put on

Dr. Julianna Cox arrives in Baltimore to begin work as Chief Medical Examiner and look after her ailing father, who soon dies due to his illness after refusing to go to the hospital. The FBI begins to question the Arson Unit detectives as part of the corruption investigation, setting Kellerman's nerves on edge. Gee allows one of the FBI agents to conduct interviews with his unit in the Box. As Bayliss and Lewis probe the death of a prostitute, a homeless man quickly confesses to both her murder

When an article on the corruption probe appears in The Baltimore Sun, Kellerman loses his temper and confronts Mitch Roland, the businessman who had been a suspect in the arson/murders that brought him into the homicide unit. Both of them take polygraph exams, but the results prove inconclusive after they both pass the test. Munch investigates the seemingly inexplicable death of a young woman, which continually frustrates him until Cox discovers the cause – a heroin overdose. The husband blamed

At a support group meeting for family members of murder victims, three of the squad's cases are described: a carjacking in which a young mother is shot (worked by Lewis and Munch), a brawl at the Waterfront bar that leaves a man dead (Gee), and a teenage girl found strangled and dumped in an alley (Bayliss). Gee and Bayliss both close their cases, the latter with Pembleton's help. One was an accident while the other was a murder committed by a pedophile, with confessions obtained in both cases.

Lewis and Bayliss work the murder of an African-American student at an exclusive, nearly all-white prep school. The case takes a political turn when their focus shifts to an arrogant, manipulative student named McPhee Broadman whose mother is a hardline Baltimore court judge. One of the victim's roommates confesses to the crime, but the detectives continue working to uncover the rest of the facts. Bayliss finds the case personal due to his cousin's rejection from the school and empathy for the b

With Bayliss as primary, Pembleton takes his first case since returning to duty: the murders of a woman and her two sons in their own home. The detectives have different theories about the case, with Pembleton favoring the woman's boyfriend and Bayliss focusing on her ex-husband. They have trouble following each other's leads, but eventually work together in the Box to catch the killer. A witness at a drug dealer's shooting points Lewis and Munch to Junior Bunk, Luther Mahoney's nephew, who read

When Danvers' fiancee is killed in a bridal shop robbery, Pembleton takes the case, his first as primary since his stroke. Danvers meddles in the investigation and insists that it be assigned to another detective, but Gee refuses to do so. A suspect is brought in and interrogated, then hangs himself after a distraught Danvers confronts him. Cox tells Kellerman that she does not want a relationship with him, sending him into a depression that only lifts somewhat after he learns that the grand jur

Brodie takes advantage of an unexpectedly quiet New Year's Eve to present the detectives with a documentary he has made on the inner workings of the homicide unit. The film reveals facts that everyone would prefer to keep private, including a case in which the killer has some bizarre personal habits, and captures a foot chase that runs right through a film shoot headed by director Barry Levinson. The identity of last season's "Lunch Bandit" is exposed - none other than Gaffney - and Cox and Kell

Bayliss becomes the primary in the case of an abused young girl whose body was dumped along I-95. His bad experience with child victims affects his mind so severely that Pembleton has trouble keeping him under control long enough to close the case, and he is distraught when Pembleton helps the girl's mother avoid full responsibility for her child's death. Afterward, Bayliss reveals to Pembleton the reason he has trouble with these cases - his uncle sexually molested him as a child, and his fathe

Kellerman returns to duty after his suspension, still bearing resentment toward the press and his colleagues over the corruption probe. His first case - a Korean shopkeeper shot to death in the doorway of his own store - appears to be the work of Luther Mahoney, but it falls apart due to a lack of evidence and witnesses. Kellerman's frustration leads him to consider suicide; Lewis is able to talk him out of it, remembering how Crosetti took his own life without asking for any help. Bayliss maint

With Bayliss working alone and Kellerman taking time off, Pembleton and Lewis reluctantly partner up to work the bludgeoning death of a wealthy middle aged woman. They concentrate on her brother, but the case stalls when he claims that her diamond ring has been stolen by the police. Cox realizes that victims' jewelry has gone missing in several other cases, so she and Brodie set up cameras in the morgue to catch the thief - one of her staff members, who is quickly fired and arrested. Mary sugges

Elizabeth Wu, the new police reporter for The Baltimore Sun, becomes an annoyance to the homicide unit as Pembleton investigates the case of an off-duty police officer killed after a drug buy. After she mistakenly destroys the victim's reputation and leads the detectives to her source (who turns out to be the shooter), Barnfather takes advantage of a press conference to get her thrown off the police beat. Meanwhile, Kellerman gets an unwelcome surprise visit from his two delinquent elder brother

After a man is found dead in the apartment of one of Brodie's graduate school classmates, Munch is ready to write it off as a suicide, but Brodie refuses to let him drop the matter. Munch and Howard investigate further and, with Brodie's help, lay a trap that exposes the classmate as a murderer. Kellerman and Bayliss uncover the connection between a pair of bombing deaths - the trial of the man who killed the Korean shopkeeper in "Have a Conscience" - and race to stop the perpetrator from comple

The strangulation death of a woman in a parking garage stirs up childhood memories for Munch, since she, her ex-husband, and her current boyfriend all attended high school with him. As he and Kellerman work the case, which shows connections with a series of recent attacks on other women, the Jewish rituals surrounding the burial cause him to think about his own lapse of faith. After Pembleton's interrogation skills fail him in the Box, he looks in vain for comfort in a dinner with Bayliss and at

Charlie Flavin, the man who shot and blinded Officer Chris Thormann four years ago, has become eligible for parole, and the news has left Thormann unable to think about anything else. His wife and Lewis try to help him past this moment; at the parole hearing, Thormann makes a statement that results in Flavin being put away for another five years. While investigating the death of an abusive husband at his daughter's hands, Bayliss and Pembleton sharply disagree over the question of whether abuse

The death of a Nigerian drug courier brings the homicide and narcotics units together in a plan to smash Luther Mahoney's organization. Mahoney shoots one of his own men and a bystander in a panic and is then executed by Kellerman in cold blood, with Lewis and Stivers also on the scene. All three write up the incident as a case of self-defense. An ex-convict calls Munch with information on an old murder; this turns out to be a ruse so he can find the "victim" and kill him. Bayliss agrees to re-p

A murder suspect fleeing from police takes shelter at the headquarters of the African Revival Movement. Interference by both Barnfather and Gaffney leads the unit to realize that someone is pulling strings to stall them. That person is ARM leader Burundi Robinson, who initiates an armed standoff when the police try to serve an arrest warrant. He tells Gee about his time on the force, serving with Deputy Commissioner Harris and losing his job due to Harris' misconduct after a drug bust. Robinson

Pembleton responds to a shooting call and is shocked to find that the victim is Beau Felton, who has apparently committed suicide. Auto Squad detective Paul Falsone visits the squad room and voices his theory that Felton was leaking information to a car theft ring he was trying to bust. Cox's autopsy reveals that Felton was in fact murdered, and Gee learns that Stuart Gharty (now a detective working in Internal Investigations) sent Felton into the ring undercover to find the leak--a fact that en

Gee brings Falsone and Gharty in on the Felton murder, irritating the rest of the detectives at first, but Pembleton relents somewhat after Gharty reveals that he took a beating while serving an arrest warrant to prove he was no longer a coward. Howard and Russert are taken off the case so they can plan the funeral, since they are both too emotionally involved. Falsone and Gharty realize that they have been using the same informant, who brought Felton into the car theft ring, then blew his cover