Television Review: Hostage: Part 2 (Homicide: Life on the Street, S5X02, 1996)

Hostage: Part 2 (S05E01)

Airdate: 27 September 1996

Written by: Julie Martin
Directed by: Jean de Segonzac

Running Time: 46 minutes

The two-part episodes of high-profile television series, particularly when they serve as season openers, often carry the risk that the second instalment may pale in comparison to the first. This dynamic is palpably felt in Hostage: Part 2, the follow-up to the season five premiere of Homicide: Life on the Street. While Part 1’s gripping “red ball” case—a harrowing sequence involving a mass shooting—promised a story of profound emotional and narrative depth, its successor feels uneven, as if the momentum and tension established in the first episode have dissipated. Though Hostage: Part 2 still manages to deliver moments of intensity, its resolution feels underwhelming, leaving viewers to wonder whether the series’ ambitions outstripped its execution.

The primary issue lies in how the episode resolves its central narrative. Part 1’s enigmatic “pig” subplot—a darkly comic thread involving a man’s obsession with his pet pig—suddenly pivots into the main storyline when it is revealed that Jerry Uba (Geoffrey Naufts), the disturbed individual who takes a middle school class hostage, had previously killed his mother and is fixated on the pig’s welfare. This connection, while thematically coherent, feels somewhat contrived, as if the writers retroactively bolted the two threads together. The hostage crisis itself is poorly managed by the Baltimore Police Department, which appears paralysed by indecision even as Uba’s actions escalate. When teacher Donna DiGrazia (Anne Meara) is released and returns to the classroom, the police’s sluggish response to her re-entry—let alone their failure to act when Uba sets the room ablaze and fires at a pupil—undermines any sense of urgency or competence. The standoff’s conclusion hinges not on tactical brilliance but on Uba’s botched self-immolation, a resolution that feels arbitrary and anti-climactic. The police’s ineptitude, while perhaps intended as a commentary on institutional failures, rings more like a missed opportunity for a tighter, more emotionally resonant finale.

To fill the remaining runtime, the episode indulges in melodramatic subplots that feel superfluous. The father of one of the deceased students confronts Uba in a hospital corridor, requiring restraint—a scene that, while emotionally charged, adds little to the narrative. Meanwhile, the legal system’s bureaucratic inertia compounds the tragedy: the state attorney’s office delays charging Uba with multiple murders due to budget constraints, leaving Lieutenant Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) fuming over the unresolved cases on his infamous board. This plotline, while highlighting systemic flaws, is resolved too neatly when Assistant State’s Attorney Ed Danvers (Željko Ivanek) persuades a judge to expedite Uba’s arraignment. The suddenness of this resolution undermines the earlier tension, suggesting that procedural obstacles exist only to be handily overcome, a trope that risks diluting the episode’s gravity.

Pembleton’s (Andre Braugher) arc, however, retains its emotional weight. Struggling to regain his footing after a stroke, he engages in futile gestures—like sitting at his desk or arriving at the hostage scene—to assert his relevance. Braugher’s nuanced performance anchors these moments, particularly in depicting Pembleton’s aphasia and the colleagues’ shifting dynamics. A poignant scene sees Pembleton dumping his medication down the toilet, believing it exacerbates his condition, a choice that hints at future complications. Braugher’s portrayal avoids sentimentality, instead grounding Pembleton’s vulnerability in physicality and subtle expression, making his determination to reclaim his identity both inspiring and heart-wrenching.

The episode’s lesser threads, however, feel more like padding. Brodie’s (Max Perlich) homelessness—after being evicted by his cousin—leads him to sleep in the police station, a subplot that offers little beyond superficial character beats. While it nods to systemic issues, the inclusion feels rushed, as if the writers sought to justify his recurring presence without deeper exploration. Similarly, the return of Ed Danvers, while welcome for Ivanek’s commanding presence, is marred by his sudden marriage, a development shoehorned in to stir up “soap opera” drama with Howard (Melissa Leo), the Homicide detective whom he dated in previous seasons. Julie Martin’s script barely touches on this relationship, leaving it to linger as a half-formed idea that underscores the show’s growing reliance on episodic filler in its later seasons.

Yet, despite its structural flaws, Hostage: Part 2 is elevated by its acting. Geoffrey Naufts, as Uba, delivers a chilling performance, though his character’s motivations occasionally feel underexplored. The standout, however, is Anne Meara as Donna DiGrazia. Best known for her comedic work, Meara shifts gears masterfully, portraying the teacher’s quiet resilience and the raw grief she suppresses until the crisis concludes. Her restrained yet powerful performance earned a well-deserved Emmy nomination, a testament to the episode’s capacity for standout moments even amid its narrative missteps.

Hostage: Part 2 is a flawed but occasionally stirring follow-up to its predecessor. While its resolution feels rushed and its subplots uneven, the series’ strengths—particularly its acting and commitment to exploring complex human struggles—prevent it from collapsing entirely. Yet, the episode’s reliance on melodrama and underdeveloped ideas foreshadow the challenges Homicide would face in its final seasons, where ambition often outpaced cohesion.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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