Television Review: The Same Coin (Homicide: Life on the Street, S7X12, 1999)

The Same Coin (S07E12)

Airdate: 29 January 1999

Written by: Sharon Guskin
Directed by: Lisa Cholodenko

Running Time: 43 minutes

One of the most unsettling realities of warfare is its capacity to sanctify violence that, in civilian life, would be unequivocally condemned. The act of killing, which in peacetime is a heinous crime, becomes a duty lauded as noble under the banner of patriotism. It is fitting, then, that Homicide: Life on the Street, a series renowned for its unflinching examination of moral complexity, attempted to grapple with this paradox in its Season 7 episode The Same Coin. Yet the script, written by Sharon Guskin, stumbles in translating its provocative premise into a cohesive narrative. The episode’s central conflict—a veteran’s death tied to the moral ambiguities of combat—holds immense potential, but its execution falters, leaving the audience with a disjointed meditation on guilt, duty, and the scars of war.

The episode’s primary storyline follows the investigation into the death of Robert Corrigan, a middle-aged man struck by a car fleeing the scene. Detective John Munch reluctantly takes the case, paired with FBI Agent Mike Giardello. Corrigan’s identity is slow to surface, with clues—a distinctive knife and a faded tattoo—eventually revealing him as a Vietnam War veteran. Despite obstacles, including a wrongful suspect and the absence of a clear vehicle lead, the case is resolved swiftly when a teenage boy confesses to stealing a car and accidentally hitting Corrigan while distracted by the radio. While the resolution is satisfying, the investigation’s procedural elements feel perfunctory. The episode’s true strength lies in its secondary narrative, yet the primary plot’s brevity and simplicity leave its deeper implications underdeveloped.

The episode’s emotional core emerges through the simmering feud between Detectives Stuart Gharty and Munch. As Munch researches Corrigan’s military history, he uncovers Gharty’s own wartime record: a citation for insubordination and accusations of cowardice. Gharty, a gruff, working-class veteran, reacts violently to this betrayal, confronting Munch in a bar—where Munch’s fiancée, Billie Lou, is injured in the ensuing chaos. Gharty’s outburst reveals the trauma at the heart of his actions: during the war, he witnessed his unit massacre Vietnamese civilians and intervened, threatening his commanding officer with a weapon. His defiance, though morally righteous, branded him a traitor in the eyes of the military hierarchy. Munch, a counter-culture liberal who avoided the war, admits his own guilt: he failed to dissuade a friend from enlisting, leading to the friend’s death. The episode frames their conflict as a generational clash—Gharty, the loyal soldier punished for humanity, versus Munch, the civilian burdened by inaction—but the script fails to fully reconcile these perspectives.

A secondary storyline follows Detective Renee Shepard’s return to fieldwork after a brutal beating. Lt. Giardello approves her reinstatement, but her partner, Falsone, deliberately swaps her onto a minor case—a “dunker” (a suspect who confesses immediately)—to shield her. When Shepard discovers this, she confronts Falsone’s partner, Stivers, accusing the department of gendered double standards. Stivers, however, interprets Falsone’s actions as overprotective paternalism, noting his rough handling of suspects. This subplot mirrors the episode’s broader theme of institutional failure: just as the military let down Gharty, the police department marginalises Shepard, reducing her competence to a matter of physicality. Yet the sequence lacks the urgency of the main narrative, feeling tacked-on rather than integrated into the episode’s thematic framework.

Aired in 1999 during Bill Clinton’s presidency, The Same Coin emerged in an era of American optimism about warfare. The precision strikes of the Gulf War and NATO’s interventions in the Balkans had fostered a belief in “clean” conflict—remote, clinical, and morally unambiguous. Against this backdrop, the episode seeks closure for the Vietnam generation’s unresolved trauma, positioning it as a bridge between Baby Boomers who fought and those who protested. Guskin’s script subverts expectations by reframing Gharty, the “patriotic” soldier, as the moral protagonist. His insubordination, though punished, reflects a higher ethical standard than Munch’s passive guilt. Yet this twist feels underexplored. The episode’s title—The Same Coin—suggests unity, but its conclusion offers only fragile détente: Munch and Gharty acknowledge their shared guilt without fully reconciling. The script hints at broader reconciliation between veterans and anti-war dissenters but stops short of addressing systemic accountability.

Despite its compelling themes, the episode is hampered by poor pacing and miscalibrated storytelling. The dream sequence that opens the episode—a surreal montage of Gharty’s patrol in Baltimore dissolving into a Vietnamese jungle massacre—is overly literal, stripping tension from the later revelations. Similarly, the subplot involving Munch and Gharty’s rivalry over Billie Lou feels gratuitous, reducing their ideological clash to petty jealousy. Red herrings, such as the wrongful suspect and the focus on the teenager’s confession, dilute the episode’s focus on wartime guilt. The script’s ambition—interweaving personal trauma, institutional betrayal, and gender politics—exceeds its runtime, resulting in a disjointed whole.

The Same Coin aspires to be a profound meditation on the moral compromises of war and its lingering effects on individuals and institutions. Its premise is bold, particularly in its portrayal of Gharty as a soldier whose humanity was criminalised by systemic brutality. Yet the execution is uneven, with underdeveloped characters, forced subplots, and heavy-handed symbolism undermining its potential. While the acting—particularly Peter Gerety as Gharty—is uniformly strong, the script’s hesitancy to confront its themes head-on leaves the episode feeling unresolved. For all its ambition, The Same Coin remains a near-miss: a story that touches on profound truths but never quite lets them resonate.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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