Gone for Goode

“Gone for Goode” is the 1st 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.

The episode connects several subplots involving the detectives of a Baltimore Police Department homicide unit and establishes story arcs that continued through the first season. Among them are an investigation by Meldrick Lewis (Johnson) and Steve Crosetti (Polito) into a widow killing husbands for insurance money, as well as rookie Tim Bayliss (Secor) being assigned the murder of an 11-year-old girl for his first case. Both of those subplots were taken directly from Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, the 1991 David Simon non-fiction book from which the series was adapted.

“Gone for Goode” was seen by 18.24 million viewers, the largest viewership of the first season, although NBC was initially disappointed with the ratings. The episode received generally positive reviews upon its original broadcast. Barry Levinson won an Emmy Award for his direction in “Gone for Goode”, and was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award. Paul Attanasio received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for the episode’s script.

Plot summary
The episode opens with Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Crosetti (Jon Polito) looking for a projectile a few yards away from the body of a man shot to death. The man’s girlfriend (Oni Faida Lampley), who was shot in the head during the incident but survived, tells police during questioning that her aunt Calpurnia Church hired a hitman to kill her for insurance money. The detectives learn Church previously collected life insurance from 5 deceased husbands. Suspecting Church of murdering her husbands, Lewis and Crosetti have the body of her most recent husband exhumed for an autopsy, but reach a dead-end when it turns out to be the wrong body in his grave.

Felton (Daniel Baldwin) hesitates to take a new murder case because he fears it will be too difficult to solve, so it is taken on by his partner Howard (Melissa Leo), who has recently experienced a perfect streak of solving 11 consecutive cases. They investigate the body of a man dead in a basement, and much to Felton’s bewilderment, Howard solves the case easily. The owner of the house, Jerry Jempson (Jim Grollman), literally calls her at the house while she is investigating and agrees to a police interview, during which he acts extremely nervous and is eventually charged with the murder.

Munch (Richard Belzer) is reluctant to follow up on the case of murdered drug addict Jenny Goode, who was run over by a car. The case has been cold for three months, but he is made to feel guilty by his partner Bolander (Ned Beatty) into reexamining it. Munch makes no progress after speaking with the family and reexamining notes. Based on witness accounts of a man with long blond hair and a black car, Munch spends all night looking through suspect photos until he finds a man with a black car with front end damage and long black hair, but blond eyebrows. Munch and Bolander question him, believing the suspect (Joe Hansard) to have dyed his hair to change his appearance after killing the woman. He quickly confesses to having hit her accidentally while driving drunk.

Gee (Yaphet Kotto) tells Pembleton (Andre Braugher), an excellent detective but a lone wolf, that he must work with a partner. Pembleton ends up investigating the death of a 65-year-old man with rookie detective Bayliss (Kyle Secor). Bayliss initially believes the death to be a heart attack, but Pembleton correctly determines it is a murder because the man’s car is missing. Police later arrest a man named Johnny (Alexander Chaplin) who is found driving the dead man’s car. During an interrogation, Pembleton fools Johnny into waiving his Miranda Rights, then sneakily persuades him into confessing to the murder. Bayliss, although convinced of Johnny’s guilt, nevertheless questions the ethics of Pembleton’s approach, prompting Pembleton to yell angrily at him in front of the other officers. The episode ends with Bayliss responding to his first homicide as the primary detective: the brutal murder of an 11-year-old girl named Adena Watson.