The latest five-part documentary series by Law & Order creator Dick Wolf is called Homicide: New York. Premiering on Netflix on March 20, 2024, the show is produced by Wolf Entertainment and Alfred Street Industries.
This docuseries delves into the intricate details of some of the most infamous murder cases and provides a comprehensive account of the events leading up to the resolution of each case. The show features interviews with detectives and prosecutors who were involved in bringing these cases to a close giving an exclusive view on how various investigative methods were connected in order to catch those responsible.
Irma Rivera, Barbara Butcher, Bill Mcneely, Scott Wagner, Roger Parrino, Wally Zeino, Michelle Cramer, Anthony Veader, Steve Nuzzi, Richard Plansky, Rob Mooney, Al Titus PhD , Brian Mcleod , Barbara Coleman among others feature as cast members in Homicide: New York.
Homicide: New York Review
Each episode of Homicide: New York unpacks one of the famous and brutal cases that left an impact on the team of officers featured in the documentary. The first episode is centered around three deaths and two injuries after a shooting occurred at an apartment above Carnegie Deli forcing investigators to undertake non-stop search for criminals involved. Little did anyone know that two people had walked past this terrified building without looking back after committing such a heinous act? While it looks like a case without any leads or reasons why five people were shot in their heads everything becomes clear when two suspects are caught on CCTV camera footage. But what was missing from this equation was that they did not have any direct connection with Jennifer Stahl who owned an apartment.
Yet there were times when she would sell pot to her friends just enough to keep herself going creatively until finally she became an easy prey for one small criminal activity that got quickly out of hand. In terms of a first episode, it was an easier one since one suspect gave himself up and they had evidence against the shooters too. However, one can already see what this show would look like next.
It is treated in much the same way as Law & Order is: sound effects etc. The only difference is that these are real cases but even it starts to look a bit fabricated as the detectives often put on an overly dramatic account of events, giving out great punchlines, akin to an actor.
We move on to the next episode where we cut somebody’s belly open and find him dead in Central Park Lake because two fifteen year olds were implicated into this murder for some reason or another. In contrast with going into inner issues concerning why someone could have committed these crimes and so forth, the series tries establishing drama.
While still calling themselves detectives who thoroughly investigated them, all this stuff is shown from the surface level just like any other sensationalized cable TV show. If not for his solving every single case here all involved into detective work would feel like being shown crying with tears falling down their cheeks while speaking about how hopeless their job was.
The content of the Central Park Slaying episode, although it would make your blood run cold as fifteen year olds brutally murdered a grown man in what seemed to be a senseless act. While they did a good job, it has always appeared that their youthfulness often makes them lose focus on why someone was killed.
Instead of focusing on the criminals, we are more familiar with different ‘not-like-others’ and offbeat detectives who broke the case by reason of their strange characters. It would have been much better to know these officers personally than going in depth about the topic.
The third episode covers the disappearance of a janitor from Wall Street in an office building without any trace at all. This sharing by police officers about what they went through looking for missing Eridania seems like negligence when one looks at where her body was found within the building. The first thing that should have been done is to conduct a thorough search in every corner of each floor including such places as air vents hidden spaces among others since it is already known that Eridania didn’t leave the building whatsoever.
This could have led them to find its remains before they became too decomposed if only they had taken time to search and understand why sniff dogs were leading them back to a similar place again and again. Even just thinking about using helicopters for searching while inside buildings sounds absurd.
At least few had enough luck and wisdom which helped them catch the culprit. Fourth episode describes Howard Pilmar’s stabbing death, which remained unsolved for decades until two attorneys reconsidered his case.
Once again, despite however positive and diligent image do creators lure us into concerning NYPD, those particular cases showed how poor they are sometimes. They keep talking about “I knew” though twenty years ago this could have ended differently but still it didn’t work out even though something just happened regardless of their control over this issue. What these people made is not even close for those who know they did the right thing but for Homicide these things are more damaging than anything else.
To finish, this fifth episode takes on the case of a Harlem Serial Killer which targeted young women. This episode shows that this show is only out to represent the police in a positive image when we hear one officer blaming the media for not covering cases about POC as much as other races, but he differentiates the Police Department by saying they don’t care about anyone’s skin colour, be it a victim or culprit.
Needless to say, trying to put these false images into their heads will not help. To sum up, if you are looking for some old school crime shows that are no more than superficial and melodramatic entertainment, then Homicide: New York would be your best pick.
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