End Game (Homicide: Life on the Street)

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"End Game"
Homicide: Life on the Street episode
Homicide life on the street end game.jpg
Steve Buscemi portrayed Gordon Pratt, the man accused of shooting three detectives
Episode no.Season 3
Episode 14
Directed byLee Bonner
Story by James Yoshimura
Henry Bromell
Teleplay byRogers Turrentine
Cinematography by Jean de Segonzac
Production code315
Original air dateFebruary 10, 1995 (1995-02-10)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
 Previous
"Dead End"
Next 
"Law & Disorder"
Homicide: Life on the Street season 3
List of episodes

"End Game" is the 14th episode of the third season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street . It originally aired on NBC on February 10, 1995. The episode was written by Rogers Turrentine and directed by Lee Bonner. The episode continues a storyline about the shooting of Beau Felton, Kay Howard, and Stanley Bolander.

Contents

Plot summary

Barnfather gives the homicide unit hours to solve the case of the detective shootings before it is handed over to Violent Crimes. The investigation, still led by Pembleton, leads to a new prime suspect: Gordon Pratt, the resident of the apartment the detectives had mistakenly approached when trying to serve a warrant to Glen Holton. Pembleton, Bayliss and Mitch Drummond search Pratt's home, his parents' house and his workplace before tracking him down in a massage parlor. Meanwhile, Bolander, Felton and Howard are in various stages of recovery following their surgeries. Munch and Bolander's ex-wife stay with Bolander to keep him company; he seems fine after his first surgery but awakens after his second surgery with no memory of who Munch is.

The detectives alternate interrogating Pratt, who reveals himself to be a racist loner pretending to be a highly educated intellectual with a grudge against the concepts of government and society. Bayliss, however, finds Pratt's high school records and discovers that his intellectualism is a ruse. Hoping to rattle a confession out of him, Pembleton tricks Pratt into attempting to translate a passage from Plato, but unlike Pembleton, Pratt cannot read the original Greek, and his radical misinterpretation of Plato's words reveals that he is a fake. Unfortunately, this strategy backfires on Pembleton when an angered Pratt demands a lawyer. The attorney arranges Pratt's release, leading to rising tensions within the homicide unit and a physical altercation between Munch and Pembleton. In the episode's epilogue, Bayliss is called to a crime scene and discovers that Pratt has been shot; reporters question Bayliss whether a police officer seeking revenge for the shootings may have been responsible.

Cultural references

While searching through Pratt's apartment, the police discover a photograph which echoes Lee Harvey Oswald's infamous "backyard photos," with Pratt himself mimicking Oswald's pose.

Related Research Articles

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. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Bolander</span> Fictional character

Stanley 'Stan' Bolander is a fictional character in the American crime drama / police procedural Homicide: Life on the Street. He is portrayed by Ned Beatty and appears in the first three seasons and the spinoff film Homicide: The Movie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Bayliss</span> Fictional character

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."

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References

1. Kalat, David P. (1998). Homicide: Life on the Street: The Unofficial Companion. Los Angeles, California: Renaissance Books. ISBN   1-58063-021-9.

2. Bonner, Lee. (2003). Homicide Life on the Street - Season 3 (episode "End Game"). [DVD]. A&E Home Video.