Closet Cases
Directed By: Leslie Libman and Larry Williams
Story By: Julie Martin and James Yoshimura
Teleplay By: Christopher Kyle
Bayliss and Pembleton investigate the murder of a gay man, which leads Bayliss to struggle with his own sexuality, especially when he becomes attracted to Chris Rawls (Peter Gallagher), the owner of the club near where the body was dumped. Falsone continues to battle with his ex-wife over custody of his son. Kellerman decides to call Georgia Rae Mahoney's bluff, and she admits she doesn't have a tape of the shooting, but she's convinced more than ever Kellerman did murder Luther.
This episode contains examples of:
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: A downplayed version - when Lewis runs into Dr. Cox at the Waterfront and asks about her day, she mentions that she cut open some bodies, filled out reports, and broke up with Bayliss. Of course, it's the last part Lewis reacts to.
- Call-Back:
- Dr. Cox and Bayliss hooked up after they kissed at the Waterfront before Christmas, but she decides to break it off when he won't let her keep things at his place.
- After Bayliss interviews Chris Rawls for the first time, Pembleton compliments him on how he's improved in dealing with gay people.
- Creator In-Joke: At one point, Giardello gets into an argument with Lt. Neal (Joe Grifasi), another shift commander, who accuses one of Giardello's detectives of messing around with the laptop of someone on his squad, which apparently is a reference to the Homicide: Second Shift web series.
- Everyone Has Standards: Pembleton, who is notorious for the shady tactics he'll use to get a confession in the Box, looks like he can't believe what's going on when Bayliss calls Fields' bluff and says he likes his "hard, tight ass".
- Homophobic Hate Crime: Not that there's much doubt, but the murder Bayliss and Pembleton are investigating turns out to be this.
- Secret Test of Character: At the end, Georgia Rae makes a tape for Kellerman to say she has no tape showing him shooting Luther, but she wanted him to think so in order to see how he'd react, and the way Kellerman reacted proved to Georgia Rae that he did, in fact, murder her brother.
- Smug Snake: Peter Fields, the hustler who's responsible for the murder Bayliss and Pembleton are investigating, comes across as this, manipulating Bayliss into praising his body before he confesses to the murder.
- Too Much Information: When Bayliss tells Pembleton because they're two guys, they can talk about borrowing each other's clothes, Pembleton responds that Bayliss should pretend he's a woman so he doesn't share that information.
- Waxing Lyrical: When Ballard is telling Falsone to be more diplomatic when dealing with his ex-wife, she tells him, "Give peace a chance."
- What the Hell, Hero?: Stivers does this to Lewis when she finds out how long he and Kellerman have known about the tape Georgia (supposedly) has.
