I'd already been familiar with this show,and had been trying to catch up with it again when this episode,part of a three-part arc,kicked off. The energy and urgency of this story invigorated my interest in this show,giving the central characters of this brilliant show a vulnerability that was never quite fully addressed before(save the episode "Crosetti"),though it was always lurking beneath the surface.
Detectives Bolander,Munch, Howard and Felton are charged with serving a warrant on a suspected child-molester and murderer when they are ambushed by a gunman one floor above the apartment they are staking out. All but Munch are seriously wounded,and the Homicide unit is thrust into crisis. Soon,this becomes a thinly-veiled hunt for vengeance as well as a manhunt for an established suspect. All of the detectives in the unit are touched,whether from mere association or from abject guilt(Munch is particularly disturbed and haunted by not only surviving unscratched but not reacting the way he THINKS he should). Detectives Pembleton and Bayliss are primarily charged with the search and capture,with Bolander's former partner(Tony Lo Bianco) and a sex crimes expert(Gloria Reuben,pre-ER)aboard to aid. Lt.Giardello is particularly despaired by this event and relates to Det.Lewis an incident from years before that brings the pain back.
A sequence of events that will have reverberations for the rest of the show to come--though,in truth,this series was one of the best in keeping a memory of past events--I got to see these shows again for the first time in(I'm figuring)over thirteen years,and the emotional distress and tangibility was STILL strong even though I KNEW how the events would turn out! THAT'S the sign of a TV series that is effective as well as affecting.