History Characters / HomicideLifeOnTheStreetMainCharacters

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Subverted at first, as Munch's eccentricities do ''not'' mask any sort of hidden competence and he's actually fairly useless without Bolander's help. It's played straight in later seasons [[TookALevelInBadass as he grows into a competent detective in his own right]].

* TheGrinch: Munch absolutely ''despises'' Christmas, as the expectation for everyone to be happy when the holiday comes around paradoxically makes him feel even more miserable. He similarly doesn't get why anyone believes in Christmas spirit, and finds it totally baffling.

* GeniusBruiser: He's both a good fighter on the rare occasions he has to engage a suspect, and quite cunning.

* {{Manchild}}: Downplayed. Lewis isn't childish, but he clearly hasn't matured out of young adulthood and is much less mature than his colleagues.

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: He makes a homophobic quip in "Hate Crime", though he's otherwise fairly progressive in his attitudes.

* CosmicPlaything: Life seems to enjoy piling misery on poor Bayliss.

* BeingGoodSucks: He strives to do the right thing, but it frequently tends to backfire on him. Most notably, his refusal to take bribes from Mitch Roland results in his reputation being ruined.

** Any case where kids are hurt will cause the usually jovial and snarky Gee to become deadly serious. When he encounters Gerry Uba, who had just killed six kids in a school shooting, Gee can barelt contain the urge to beat him to death with his bare hands right then and there.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Bayliss' real-life counterpart, Tom Pellegrini, had been working Homicide for two years and developed a knack for it when he got the [=LaTonya=] Wallace case, meaning he was more confident, skilled at his work and able to lead, even if the case ended up unsolved. Here, poor Tim gets stuck as primary on Adena Watson on his first day and is hopelessly out of his depth.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Bayliss is soft-spoken and compassionate, but it hides a nasty mean streak. It's repeatedly pointed out by characters that he has a hidden dark side he refuses to acknowledge, which leads to it coming to the surface in various explosions of violent rage.

* ExtremeDoormat: Bayliss is extraordinarily tolerant of people even when they're being quite cruel to him. He accepts all of Pembleton's verbal abuse with little complaint, and frequently accepts being insulted or his colleagues behaving poorly.

* FreudianExcuse: Bayliss's nasty temper and RabidCop tendencies stem from his traumatic childhood, where he was repeatedly raped by his uncle and emotionally abused by his father.

* HonorThyAbuser: He discusses this trope in "Prison Riot". Bayliss's father was abusive, but he reflects he still wishes he was able to settle his problems with him before he died and reach an understanding with the man.

* IdealistVsPragmatist: The Idealist to Pembleton's Pragmatist. Bayliss is a naive, sensitive man who has trouble understanding the senseless violence he sees over the course of his job and tends to take his cases deeply personally to an unhealthy degree. It's played with, as Bayliss is actually fairly good about understanding the shades of gray that he frequently has to deal with in the line of duty, unlike Pembleton.

* BrutalHonesty: In "Requiem for Adena", Pembleton tells Gee he wants Bayliss off the case because of its similarity to the Adena Watson murder, and he doesn't want it screwed up the same way that investigation was. When Bayliss angrily asks if Frank means how ''he'' screwed up, Pembleton bluntly replies that yes, that's exactly what he means.

* DeadpanSnarker: Pembleton has a very dry sense of humor, and is very happy to snark at everyone else for their perceived idiocy.

* EverybodyHasStandards: Pembleton can be quite a jerk, but he's generally quite polite to the VictimOfTheWeek's family and witnesses.

** His pride. For all his virtues, Frank is ''incredibly'' egotistical, overreacting to the most minor criticisms, carrying himself like others should be grateful to be in the presence of his brilliance and often genuinely unable to fathom that he could be in the wrong and bolstering his sense of self by treating everyone around him like shit. While everyone admits to his skill, almost none of his colleagues can stand him as a result, except Bayliss and even he has limits for how much of Frank's shit he is willing to tolerate. He also insists on being in control as much as possible and can't fathom being in the wrong or that other people could be better at something than him, leading to mistakes such as Glenn Holton escaping.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: With the exception of Bayliss and Howard, no one else in Homicide likes him that much and just barely tolerates him because of his skill. He is actually able to get along with them whenever he makes an effort to socialize, but Pembleton rarely does out of ego. Even Bayliss and Howard have their limits too. It is worth noting the unit does care about him; when he suffers a stroke, everyone heads to the hospital to wait for him to get out of surgery.

* HiddenHeartOfGold: Underneath his cold, arrogant exterior, Pembleton is a compassionate, fundamentally good man who truly believes in finding justice for murder victims. He increasingly shows it off in Season 5 following his stroke, especially after Bayliss briefly ends their partnership.

* InsaneTrollLogic: He's very prone to twisting people's words into something either moronic or cruel so he can mock them about it.

** Deconstructed early in Season 1, where Bayliss frequently ignores Pembleton's genuinely helpful advice ''because'' Pembleton is such an asshole. He only starts listening to him after they come together as partners in "Three Men and Adena".
** In "Requiem for Adena", Frank accurately points out that Bayliss's regret about not solving the Adena Watson case is influencing their current investigation of a similar murder. However, he's so rude about it and unsympathetic to Bayliss's emotional turmoil that he alienates his partner.

* KickTheDog: "Requiem for Adena" sees him at his worst. While [[JerkassHasAPoint he's correct Bayliss is emotionally compromised]], he's quite cruel to him and shows NoSympathy to the fact that Bayliss is clearly struggling.

* MarriedToTheJob: Pembleton is dedicated to his job and sees it as a higher calling, and by Season 5 it becomes clear he values it above his family. Mary leaves him midway through the season once she realizes Pembleton's work will always come first.

* NoSympathy: He can certainly empathize with the people around him, but Pembleton rarely has any sympathy to spare for people. He's quite judgmental of the people around him for their failings regardless of the factors behind it, and tends to be the first one to say FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse. He's typically apathetic to his colleagues when they undergo emotional turmoil, and whenever Bayliss is clearly struggling Pembleton rarely cuts him any slack and often is quite cruel to him.

-->'''Pembleton:''' I don't care about Bayliss. I don't care about you. I care about bringing justice to an eleven-year old girl who was murdered. If you don't, go home.

* BrooklynRage: He was born and raised in New York City and is ''very'' emotional, hot headed and abrasive.

* BrutallyHonest: In "Requiem for Adena", Pembleton tells Gee he wants Bayliss of the case because of its' similarity to the Adena Watson murder, and he doesn't want it screwed up the same way that investigation was. When Bayliss angrily asks if Frank means how ''he'' screwed up, Pembleton bluntly replies that yes, that's exactly what he means.

* DespairEventHorizon: During the investigation into the white gloves murders, Pembleton gradually loses his already waning faith and becomes convinced that his job will never allow him to accomplish any good beyond essentially cleaning up after someone is killed. [[KnightInSourArmor He still continues to do his damnedest to see justice done for the crimes he investigates in spite of this, in spite of his newfound doubts over his job]].

* DirtyCop: He occasionally borders on this, as his tendency to use loopholes in the law to solve his cases and his ambition causes him to drift towards unethical actions on occasion, much to his own disgust. Whenever he does so, [[LaserGuidedKarma karma will strike Pembleton almost immediately.]]

* HardHead: Wields his bald pate as a blunt instrument against suspects in the box. When he comes back from medical leave he's grown out his hair to cover surgical scars, and is also missing a few steps.

* HolierThanThou: Frank can be very self-righteous at times. He always sees himself as the good guy, and constantly acts as though he has the moral high ground in even the pettiest of arguments, which he uses as a short-hand to ignore his own failings. [[spoiler:He eventually quits when he can no longer can justify his actions to himself.]]

-->'''Pembleton:''' You know, every day I get out of bed and drag myself to the next cup of coffee. I take a sip and the caffeine kicks in. I can focus my eyes again. My brain starts to order the day. I'm up, I'm alive. I'm ready to rock. But the time is coming when I wake up and decide that I'm not getting out of bed. Not for coffee, or food or sex. If it comes to me, fine. If it won't, fine. No more expectations. The longer I live, the less I know. I should know more. I should know the coffee's killing me. You're suspicious of your suspicions? I'm jealous, Kay; I'm so jealous. You still have the heart to have doubts. Me? I'm going to lock up a 14-year-old kid for what could be the rest of his natural life. I got to do this. This is my job. This is the deal. This is the law. This is my day. I have no doubts or suspicions about it. Heart has nothing to do with it any more. It's all in the caffeine.

* KarmaHoudini: When Annabella Wilgis presses charges against the police department because he tricked one of her alters into burning herself, the city settles out of court with her and Pembleton faces no real consequences over it. However, because of his pride he's outraged that the city even settled at all, before eventually admitting to himself that he crossed the line.

* KnightInSourArmor: Pembleton is deeply pessimistic and, after crossing the DespairEventHorizon, genuinely believes everything he dies for the sake of his job is pointless. He still puts his all into every case and genuinely tries to see justice down whenever he can, [[{{Determinator}} no matter the consequences]].

* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: He frequently gets very up close with suspects during interrogations, in an almost seductive manner, as a means to make himself [[FalseFriend look like he's their friend.]]

* RageAgainstTheHeavens: As he slowly starts to lose his faith in God over the course of the investigation into the white glove murders, Pembleton starts raging against God for [[CrapsackWorld creating a world where senseless, brutal violence and death happens every day.]]

** After crossing the DespairEventHorizon, Pembleton becomes convinced that everything he does on the job is entirely pointless, since he's never able to actually prevent any of the death he sees, only play clean-up after the fact. [[KnightInSourArmor He still does his damnedest to see justice done whenever he can, and always tries to do the right thing]].

* VirtueIsWeakness: Pembleton views needing emotional support as a weakness, making him often unsympathetic to his colleagues when they're struggling. Bayliss gets the worst of it, with Pembleton rarely showing him compassion and generally bullying him when he shows vulnerability. After suffering a stroke, Frank lashes out at any efforts his loved ones make to support him because can't bear being vulnerable himself.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Barnfather and Granger secretly offer him a promotion to shift commander, at the cost of replacing Giardello. Pembleton is tempted, but he ultimately chooses not to accept it and confesses to Giardello. However, Giardello already knew, and [[DisappointedInYou and is disappointed it took him this long to confess.]]

* AbusiveParents: Bayliss is not in good terms with his father, and bluntly tells Pembleton that the man had only ever really saw Bayliss as an inconvenience. The man was physically and emotionally abusive, and his immediate reaction to Bayliss telling him his uncle had been molesting him was to accuse him of lying.

* ButNotTooBi: Bayliss is never shown with a boyfriend, despite having been stated to have had sex with at least one man. The closest we come is Tim being rejected by one black, closeted, uniformed officer, and going on a dinner date with a man who runs a mostly gay restaurant. It even takes the show a season to actually ''use'' the word bi(sexual); before that, Bayliss just says he's 'not strictly heterosexual'. As counterpoint, Bayliss is shown to have had at least one girlfriend whom he had a full blown love scene with. He also had brief affairs/flirtations with at least three of his female co-workers (Cox, Ballard, Sheppard) and [[Series/LawAndOrder Claire Kincaid]]. Somewhat {{justified|Trope}}, though, in that Bayliss doesn't fully acknowledge his attraction to men until season 6, just one before the last- and by that point he doesn't strike up a serious romance with ''anyone'' for the remainder of the series.

* TheCasanova: In Season 3, Bayliss becomes increasingly promiscuous and makes a habit of asking any women he sees out. He has a somewhat mixed success rate, but he does get into a lot of relationships over the course of the series even if many of them don't last.

* ComingOutStory: In Season 6 he comes to realize his attraction to men, although not exclusive to men.

* DefectiveDetective: He has deep-seated emotional problems and identity issues, and is dogged throughout the series by [[MyGreatestFailure the Adena Watson case.]]

* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Frank who even says that Tim is the only persons he trusts other than his wife.

* ItsPersonal: He takes cases involving children being harmed very personally, due to [[RapeAsBackstory his uncle sexually abusing him when he was five.]]

* NaiveNewcomer: Despite already being an experienced investigator and a former SWAT team member, Bayliss is almost cripplingly naive and unprepared for the realities of being a homicide detective. Pembleton eventually calls him out on it, [[{{Deconstruction}} and points out that his supposed naïveté stems more from Bayliss's self-righteousness and arrogance than anything else. He caps it off by bluntly telling him that the doe-eyed routine only hinders his effectiveness as a detective.]]

* NotSoAboveItAll: For the first two seasons he frequently positions himself as inherently more moral than his colleagues, but after he mellows out after Pembleton calls him out on it he starts getting actively involved in the squad's shenanigans. Memorable instances of this include trying to hustle everyone with a game of Hearts and buying the Waterfront with Munch and Lewis.
* TheOneWithAPersonalLife: Most of the detectives are shown to have absolute wrecks of personal lives and don't have anyone in their lives with the exception of their (often estranged) immediate family and in some cases not even that. The only exception is [[NaiveNewcomer Bayliss]], who has a fairly stable personal life and frequently mentions hanging out with friends in his off-time. Of course, [[DefectiveDetective he has deep-seated emotional problems and violent outbursts]] [[DysfunctionJunction to make up for it.]]

* TallDarkAndHandsome: At 6"5, he's the tallest character in the show and is boyishly handsome.

* BadLiar: After he misses an alcohol awareness meeting because of a case, he arrives to another meeting claiming he missed the first one because [[BlatantLies an elephant stepped on his mother.]]

* TheCynic: Used to be idealistic and naive as a teen in the early 60's. The adult Munch is quite the opposite.

-->''"I remember when I was first comin' up as a patrolman, and my sergeant says that sometimes you gotta clear the corner. No big thing, you just invite everybody to move on. For most people that's enough, you know, the ''po''lice tell you to move along, that's what you're gonna do, you're gonna move along. Except every once in a while he told me there's gonna be some knucklehead '''fool''', that's gonna want to stand there on your corner talking trash. And then he told me, he said don't you ever...'''ever'''...let no knucklehead stand there. Because the minute you do that, the minute you let somebody shame you, you're finished as a beat cop. And what he suggested that I do is that I take my nightstick and I pop him upside the head '''so hard''', that everybody who hears it knows who had the last word... You're on my corner."''

* ItsAllAboutMe: Downplayed; he does care about his friends and fellow detectives, but his interests and own well-being come first and foremost.

* StandardCopBackstory: He grew up in a crime-ridden housing project in a one-room apartment, and his brother had a mental illness that made him lash out around the neighborhood. Lewis is haunted by having intentionally let his brother attempt suicide,w high destroyed their relationship.

* ToBeLawfulOrGood: Being a ByTheBookCop, Lewis is frequently faced with decisions that force him to decide between the law and the code the police abide by, or the right thing morally. Often it's left morally ambiguous what the right choice was.

* FamousForBeingFirst: Averted -- it's not until the final season that we hear from his son that Gee was the first African-American Lieutenant in Baltimore.

* FrontlineGeneral: It's generally averted, as Giardello mostly stays in his office, but he'll occasionally go out into the field or assist in interrogations. He serves as the primary in "The Wedding", which ends in tragedy as he's forced to shoot a suspect who pulls a gun on him. He also is one of the responding officers to the hostage situation in the "Hostage" two-parter.

* HidingYourHeritage: Inverted, he is a proud African-American, but also very proud of his (invisible) Italian ancestry, often alluding to it or using Italian phrases.

* LoveObstructingParents: Downplayed. He never outright interferes with his children's love lives, but he's quite overprotective of them. He is enraged when Charisse marries a man without letting Gee meet him, and almost refuses to go to their wedding out of spite. He also once mentions having threatened one of his daughters' boyfriends with his service revolver.

* TheMentor: He serves as this for the unit as a whole, always willing to give advice and counsel to his subordinates. He's especially this to Pembleton, who he takes on as a sort of protege; notably, Giardello is one of the few people Frank respects.

* PapaWolf: He cares deeply for his detectives, and will not allow them to be endangered. When Barnfather and Granger try to cover up the presence of asbestos in the station, Giardello threatens to leak the story to the media if they don't reveal this to the detectives and pay for any medical complications it may have caused. When Barnfather [[ItsAllAboutMe angrily demands to know why Giardello is inconveniencing him,]] Gee coldly threatens to kill him if he ever pulls a stunt like this again.

* AmbiguouslyBi: Blink and you'll miss it, but in "Autofocus", Munch invites her to come to the Waterfront while he's bartending that night. Howard turns him down, saying she has a date, and when Munch tells her she can bring 'him' along, she simply responds with, [[ButchLesbian "Who says it's a guy?"]] It's unclear if she's joking or not. [[note]]Towards the end of the episode we find out she actually made the entire date up, but the point still stands.[[/note]]

* HeroicBSOD: After Crosetti's suicide and being called to the scene of the brutal murder of an elderly woman, Howard snaps, puts in her vacation days, and goes back to her family home in the Chesapeake Bay to get away from the violence of her job. [[BusmansHoliday After she winds up roped into catching a murderer amongst the community of oystermen she grew up in,]] Howard returns to work with a better understanding of herself and her relationship to the job.

* HypercompetentSidekick: She's noticeably sharper than her partner Felton even before a combination of [[TheAlcoholic drinking]], divorce, and his getting shot turn him into a mess. She got a more severe bullet wound, but it hardly slowed her down. When Felton leaves she aces the sergeant's exam and fulfills this role for Gee.

* TheAlcoholic: Starts drinking heavily when he is left by his wife. By the end of season 3 it's bad enough for him to lose vital evidence while out on one of his nightly benders. It is however implied that [[spoiler:Felton had stopped drinking by the time that he's found dead at the end of season 5.]]

* AwfulWeddedLife: His wife Beth is a needy, unstable woman prone to mood swings and destructively lashing out, while Felton for his part is somewhat callous towards her emotional needs and frequently neglects her. It eventually drives him to have an affair with Russert, which in turn gets him kicked out of the house. By that point, it's clear he's lost all passion for the marriage and he only really cares about how his kids are doing. He eventually decides to go back to his marriage so he had continue to take care of them and not out of any real love for Beth.

* JerkassHasAPoint: As much of jerk as he can be, Felton isn't always wrong about things:

** In "Crosetti", when Lewis comes to him to talk him into convincing Bolander that [[spoiler:Crosetti didn't commit suicide]], Felton snaps at him to accept the obvious and calls him an idiot. He ultimate attempts it anyway, but immediately gives up once he learns Bolander won't listen.

A veteran homicide detective and the oldest member of the unit. Bolander is gruff and taciturn, but frequently shows off a softer side. Coming off of a nasty divorce at the start of the series, Bolander is deeply lonely and extremely insecure as a result. However, he eventually proves to be something of a chick magnet, [[KavorkaMan against all odds.]] He is respected and somewhat feared by his fellow detectives as a result of his experience, and he backs up that reputation with a no-nonsense attitude and extreme competence.

* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Bolander is extremely insecure and has a low sense of self-worth, leaving him paranoid that anyone he lets get close to him will leave him, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy which results in him pushing people away.]]

* MoralityPet: Bolander seems to be the one who encourages Munch's work ethic and morality the most, and occasionally guilt trips him whenever he lets his desire for a good clearance rate get in the way of solving murders.

* StepfordSmiler: He's upbeat, but frequently shows signs of deep seated depression and insecurities beneath the surface. [[spoiler:It reaches the extent that he [[DrivenToSuicide ultimately takes his own life.]]]]

An accomplished police officer and former member of the Naval Intelligence Service who takes command of the second shift after the previous commander retires. Russet occasionally gets into conflicts with Giardello and his detectives due to her "softer" approach to her job. She is promoted to Captain after Granger's firing, only to be demoted back to Detective during one of Barnfather's fits of pettiness.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Russert refuses to let Matt Rhodes do an expose on the White Glove Murders on the grounds that it may cause a panic, only to do the exact opposite and try to raise public awareness about the sniper, which Barnfather us vehemently against in the same grounds. In Russert's defense, her main gripe against Rhodes is the fact he's going to expose crucial evidence more than anything else.

* BreakTheComedian: In Season Four, he's introduced as a snarky, amusing guy, and his and Lewis's cases are often more light-hearted or at least less depressing than the other characters'. During Season Five, being falsely accused of corruption and distrusted by many of his colleagues, and his repeated inability to pin anything on Luther Mahoney, sends him permanently into a very dark place.

* FunPersonified: Kellerman is the most jovial and fun-loving of the detectives, almost always looking for a good time and partying hat nightclubs in his spare time. It's deconstructed, as it's used to demonstrate Kellerman's immaturity and refusal to grow.

* GeniusBruiser: Kellerman is the most willing of the detectives to use physical force, and he's a quite intelligent detective.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: In Season 5, he's accused of being a DirtyCop in a highly publicized case. Both this and Kellerman's obvious nervousness gradually convinces many of his colleagues that he actually is guilty, driving Kellerman further towards the brink.

* InnocentBlueEyes: He has blue eyes, and he's one of the most idealistic and friendly of the detectives... [[TookALevelInJerkass at first.]] And even after he becomes a much more unlikable character, he still has moments of sympathy.

* TokenGoodTeammate: He was the only honest cop in Arson, and was the only member to refuse to take bribes from Mitch Roland. However, he never reported his colleagues out of fear or ruining his reputation.

* AmazonChaser: He develops a crush on the tomboyish Howard, which she gently turns down and [[ObliviousToLove assumes to have been a prank by Lewis and Kellerman.]]

** The detectives call him out for portraying them in a negative (albeit honest) light in his documentary, and accuse him of sensationalizing their lives and jobs. Brodie responds that he simply portrayed them warts and hall, and that he was simply getting to the truth like they do.

* RunawayBride: In "A Case of Do or Die" she reveals that she was engaged to be married but took off two weeks before the wedding without saying anything to the groom.

* LoveObstructingParents: Downplayed. He never outright interferes with his children's love lives, but he's quite overprotective of the. He is enraged when Charisse marries a man without letting Gee meet him, and almost refuses to go to their wedding out of spite.

--> '''Pembleton:''' I don't care about Bayliss. I don't care about you. I care about bringing justice to an eleven-year old girl who was murdered. If you don't, go home.

--> '''Pembleton:''' Bayliss, if the kid had been ''white'', do you think anyone would have cheered?

* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: His basic philosophical approach. In hs mind, every murder is wrong and every victim deserves to be avenged. Acknowledging a middle ground doesn't come easy to him.

--> '''Pembleton:''' I watch my weight. I watch my diet. I watch my blood pressure. Every eight hours, no matter where I am, or what I'm doing, I hafta take a little white pill. If I don't follow the rules, I die. I'm not going to treat you differently. I won't. 'Cause that's not who I am. And who I am is all I have left.

--> '''Bayliss:''' Frank, go home. You're, I dunno, discombobulated.\\

--> '''Kellerman:''' You know what I don't like?\\

--> '''Pembleton:''' You know, every day I get out of bed and drag myself to the next cup of coffee. I take a sip and the caffeine kicks in. I can focus my eyes again. My brain starts to order the day. I'm up, I'm alive. I'm ready to rock. But the time is coming when I wake up and decide that I'm not getting out of bed. Not for coffee, or food or sex. If it comes to me, fine. If it won't, fine. No more expectations. The longer I live, the less I know. I should know more. I should know the coffee's killing me. You're suspicious of your suspicions? I'm jealous, Kay; I'm so jealous. You still have the heart to have doubts. Me? I'm going to lock up a 14-year-old kid for what could be the rest of his natural life. I got to do this. This is my job. This is the deal. This is the law. This is my day. I have no doubts or suspicions about it. Heart has nothing to do with it any more. It's all in the caffeine.

--> '''Pembleton:''' Damn Him!\\

* RudeHeroNiceSidekick: Pembleton is an abrasive InsufferableGenius with a HairTrigger temper, while Bayliss is an affable and empathetic NiceGuy.

* SourInsideSadOutside: Beneath Pembleton's arrogance and abrasiveness, he's constantly struggling to keep his faith in a CrapsackWorld. It gets worse after his stroke, as Pembleton holds on to his abrasive personality to cover for the fact his stroke has destroyed his sense of self.

--> '''Bayliss:''' You're my best friend.\\

--> '''Bayliss:''' You never say please, you never say thank you.\\

--> '''Bayliss:''' Frank, we are Homicide! Homo as in Homo sapiens! We're not investigating the death of a goddamn dog!

-> ''"[[EstablishingCharacterMoment I've been a murder police for ten years. If you're gonna lie to me you lie to me with respect. Now what is it? Is it my shoes? Is it my haircut. Got a problem with my haircut? Don't you ever again lie to me like I'm Montel Williams! I'm not Montel Williams!]]"''

--> '''Detective John Munch:''' You're saving your really good lies for some smarter cop, is that it? I'm just a donut in the on-deck circle. Wait until the real guy gets here. Wait until that big guy comes back. I'm probably just his secretary. I'm just Montel Williams. You want to talk to Larry King.\\

'''Munch:''' I've been in murder police for ten years. If you're going to lie to me, you lie to me with respect. What is it? Is it my shoes? Is it my haircut? Got a problem with my haircut? Don't you ever lie to me like I'm Montel Williams. I am not Montel Williams I am not Montel Williams!\\

--> '''Munch:''' You still walk on water, don't you Frank?

--> '''Danvers:''' [[SarcasmMode Nice going, Munch.]]

--> ''"I remember when I was first comin' up as a patrolman, and my sergeant says that sometimes you gotta clear the corner. No big thing, you just invite everybody to move on. For most people that's enough, you know, the ''po''lice tell you to move along, that's what you're gonna do, you're gonna move along. Except every once in a while he told me there's gonna be some knucklehead '''fool''', that's gonna want to stand there on your corner talking trash. And then he told me, he said don't you ever...'''ever'''...let no knucklehead stand there. Because the minute you do that, the minute you let somebody shame you, you're finished as a beat cop. And what he suggested that I do is that I take my nightstick and I pop him upside the head '''so hard''', that everybody who hears it knows who had the last word... You're on my corner."''

* ItsAllAboutMe: Downplayed; he does care about his friends and fellow detectives, but his interests and own well-being comes first and foremost.

* ManChild: Downplayed. Lewis isn't childish, but he clearly hasn't matured out of young adulthood and is much less mature than his colleagues.

--> '''Giardello:''' We reach a certain age where we realize we know less about life than we did when we were seventeen. When I was seventeen, I remember… I believed in life. I trusted life. I believed there were answers to questions. I had… hope. Right now, I'm gonna tell you: I hate myself. I don't have any friends to speak of. All I have is this… ''job''. And it ''disgusts'' me.

* GentleTouchVsFirmHand: He's the Firm Hand to Howard's GentleTouch. He's hard on his men and refuses to accept screw-ups or disrespect, where Howard tends to be much more gentle and accepting.

--> '''Giardello:''' Tim, I enjoyed watching you come into my office to persuade me to play a game I was unfamiliar with and for money no less. Let me give you a little advice for the future, ''never'' try to hustle a Sicilian.

* DeadpanSnarker: His go to method of dealing with his shitty life, besides booze, is bitter sarcasm.

--> '''Felton:''' You think people get things because they ''earn'' it? No. The more you think you deserve, the less you get.

* ShellShockedVeteran: He suffers PTSD after being shot, and unlike Howard and Munch he never really recovers from it.

--->'''Munch:''' Name one miracle that's happened in your lifetime.
--->'''Bolander:''' How 'bout the fact that I haven't killed you yet?

--> ''"Life is a mystery. Just accept it."''

--> '''Giardello:''' I wouldn't expect you to understand, being a woman. And white.

* ManChild: Kellerman is in a state of arrested development and frequently still behaves like a teenager. His ex-wife admits she cheated on him because he just wasn't mature enough for her. It's most evident in "The Hat", where he derails his and Lewis's assignment so they can visit a crappy amusement park from his childhood he's genuinely excited about seeing.

* AudienceSurrogate: After Bayliss became too [[TookALeveInCynic adjusted]] to Homicide to serve as this anymore, Kellerman was introduced to serve as the new rookie and everyman.