Frank Pembleton

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Francis Xavier "Frank" Pembleton is a fictional homicide detective on the television drama series Homicide: Life on the Street portrayed by Emmy Award winning actor Andre Braugher. He is a primary character of the show through the first six seasons. He is based on Baltimore Police Department Detective Harry Edgerton who like Pembleton was an eccentric New York bred African American detective in the BPD homicide unit featured in David Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, though one observer quipped that the only similarities between Pembleton and Edgerton are that they are both African-Americans and both were Detectives in the BPD's Homicide Unit.

[edit] Early life

Pembleton was born into a Catholic family in New York City. It was implied that he had siblings, but they never appear on the show. He was educated first in a Catholic elementary school and then in a Jesuit high school, a reference to Braugher attending a Jesuit school, St. Ignatius College Prep, in Chicago. Frank later said that "the Jesuits taught me how to think," which comes up on the show from time to time. He knows Latin and Greek and is well versed in Catholic theology. He met his future wife, Mary, on the Great Lawn in Central Park shortly after graduating from the Police academy when he was 24. He claims that he knew as soon as he met her that she was "the one." They married sometime afterwards.

Frank and Mary moved to Baltimore because Frank wanted to be a detective and felt there was no room for advancement in the NYPD. According to Frank, the move caused a permanent rift between him and his in-laws, since he had moved "their little girl" so far from home. He loved working in Baltimore, however, and Mary got a job as a lobbyist (making more money than him) and often took trips to Washington, D.C. where her family lives.

[edit] Pembleton the detective

[edit] Frank's attitude

Pembleton became a detective at a fairly young age (compared to some of the other detectives), getting into the Homicide unit by his early 30s. Frank was completely devoted to his job--he often called it a calling and vigorously pursued justice. Nothing infuriated him like seeing justice go unserved (i.e. a murderer getting off was unbearable for him). The world was black and white for Frank, and he was almost never swayed by mitigating circumstances. He mentions in an early season episode that he speaks for the dead, because there is no one else to speak for them.

Pembleton is a notably unwavering and dedicated detective, disinterested in the background of the deceased victim with regards to how he approached the investigation into their deaths (he would, for example, investigate the death of a drug dealer with as much dedication to finding the killer as he would a priest). In this vein, he notably disagreed with fellow detective Beau Felton (with whom he had a long-standing enmity) as to which cases mattered. Although they agreed that a murder was the wrongful death of a person who mattered whereas a killing was the death of someone who did not matter, Pembleton believed that everyone mattered (including, for instance, drug dealers) but Felton did not (he believed that elderly women, for instance, mattered but drug dealers did not). He was also uncompromising in the investigation of a doctor who deliberately performed substandard surgery that led to the death of a gangbanger who routinely beat up his girlfriend and committed robbery and fraud owing to his similarity to a hoodlum who mugged her husband; whereas Det. Bayliss wanted to let her go, Frank replied simply that "a man is dead" and implied that she should be arrested, though the story ends without showing whether Frank's or Bayliss' opinion carried the day.

Pembleton's fiery attitude and his ruthless pursuit of justice frequently put him at odds with his fellow detectives (many of whom he considered amateurish) and his lieutenant, Al Giardello. This was notably apparent in the episode 'Black and Blue', involving the investigation into a police-related shooting of a young African American man. As it became apparent that a White uniformed police officer was the most likely suspect, Giardello - a firm believer in the brotherhood of police officers - pressured Frank to find a civilian culprit. To stress the brotherhood of the police force, Gee told Frank a story about how during his first few weeks on the job in the 1960s, African American leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and riotting broke out in every Black neighborhood in Baltimore. Gee told Frank that as a Black officer on the mostly White BPD, he had to decide which side he was on during that night and that Frank was now faced with a similar decision. Frank then interrogated a subject both he and Gee knew was not guilty for the crime and got him to confess to it; he was then free to arrest the guilty police officer for the crime.

[edit] Pembleton and Bayliss

When Det. Tim Bayliss was assigned to the homicide unit, Lieutenant Giardello partnered him with Pembleton, much to Frank's chagrin. Pembleton had no patience for a rookie, but Tim eventually managed to win his respect. For most of the series, the two would be partners, though Frank never allowed Tim to get too close to him. Their relationship was strained more than once, but they always eventually came back to working together and being an effective team.

The first major "breakup" occurred when Pembleton was investigating the shooting of a foreign exchange student accidentally shot by Tim's cousin, Jim, to whom Tim was as close as a brother. Pembleton was convinced that Jim, if only in the few seconds before the shot was fired, was motivated by racism (the victim was Turkish and Jim's brother had been killed in the Gulf War) and vigorously pursued the case, not cutting any slack just because of Tim's relationship. Frank was outraged when Jim was acquitted at trial, though he told Tim he was furious that crowds erupted in cheering at the news.

They split again midway through season 5, after a painful case where Frank is sympathetic to a pregnant woman who allowed the father of her child to beat her stepdaughter to death. Tim reveals that he was sexually abused by his uncle as a child and then says he doesn't want to be partners with Frank anymore. They get back together after Mary asks Tim to do it and Frank manages to swallow his pride and agree to restart their partnership.

[edit] Pembleton's family

Frank and Mary, once settled in their careers, decided to have a family. They were forced to see a variety of fertility specialists before Mary was able to become pregnant. They had two children, a daughter Olivia and later a son named Frank, Jr.

Frank was the only detective on the show to maintain a marriage--every other one either never got married, had their spouse die, or (more often) got divorced. Frank and Mary's did go through some rough times, owing to Frank's incredible drive for work. Even after marriage counselling, Mary felt that he had become too detached from his family. She was also bothered when he lost his faith, especially when he denied Olivia a baptism for many months. Mary left Frank for a couple of months while pregnant with Frank, Jr. but eventually came back to Frank. Nothing made her happier than when he eventually quit the force in the Season 6 finale.

[edit] Loss of faith

In the first two seasons, Pembleton remains actively Catholic, but his job has turned him very cynical. Following a high profile string of serial killings of Good Samaritans where Frank was the primary, he lost his faith. It's debatable if he ever got it back, though there are occasionally times when it appears he has. In his last episode on the show, Frank is shown praying out loud for God to save the life of a critically wounded Bayliss. He is also talking about faith in "Homicide: Life Everlasting" while in his new job as a professor, saying that even individuals who do not belong to organized religious groups often maintain faith in their own ways.

[edit] The stroke

In the fourth season finale, Frank suffers a stroke while interogating a suspect. Pembleton nearly dies with a blood pressure of 220/140 and is shown having flashbacks of his daughter's birth on the way to the hospital. When he returns to duty, his speech and memory have been noticeably impaired. He is assigned desk duty until he can pass his firearms exam, and is frustrated when others (like Tim) baby him. Unfortunately, his medication impairs his focusing (and sexual relations with his wife), so he takes the dangerous risk of flushing his medication. He still has trouble with the exam, failing it at least once but eventually passing and returning to active duty. He eventually makes a full recovery from the stroke. While medically, strokes as severe as the one Pembleton was shown to suffer do not bring total recovery, it was viewer dissent that led to Pembleton's recovery. Andre Braugher had wanted to add the handicap to make Pembleton less than the perfect detective he seemed, to add an element of struggle. But when NBC took note of viewer complaints that demanded they bring back the "old Frank," the plot changed to allow for complete recovery.

It is somewhat ironic that so much hinged on the firearms exam, since Frank later confirms that he never had to shoot anyone; this trait reflected real-life Det. Harry Edgerton's comments that he once left his gun behind on a case in a dangerous neighborhood. The closest he came was drawing down on a few suspects. Pembleton's first case as primary investigator since the stroke was covered in the Season 5 episode "Blood Wedding," involved the shooting during a robbery of Assistant State's Attorney Ed Danvers and the fatal shooting of Danvers' fiancee, a public defender, during a robbery. Danvers is convinced Pembleton is not ready to return to full investigative duty, and emotionally unable to distance himself, constantly interferes with Pembleton. When the investigator's instincts prove as intact as ever, and the perp is caught, Danvers realizes Pembleton has regained his skills and Pembleton shows Danvers the compassion he was unable to offer before the case was solved.

In the two-part "Fallen Heroes" Frank fails to pull the trigger twice. The first time is when Junior Bunk is shooting up the squadroom and fails to notice Frank standing behind him in the entry to Gee's office with a drawn gun. He takes aim momentarily but changes his mind and runs down the hall unseen by Junior. In part two he hesitates to shoot in defense of his own life when one of the killers of Georgia Rae Mahoney points a gun at him. Bayliss realizes at the last moment that Frank won't take the shot and throws himself in front of his partner and takes a bullet for him. Later while being interrogated by Frank and Falsone, Kellerman blames him for nearly getting Bayliss killed. Frank cannot entirely disagree and this is one factor that leads him to resign. He also cannot stomach Gee's decision to allow Kellerman to resign from the force in exchange for facing no legal repercussions for his murder of Luther Mahoney.

It has been questioned whether Frank's failure to shoot came as a result of his insecurity over his marksmanship (especially after the stroke) or his regard for human life. Bayliss tells him in "Homicide: The Movie" that he doesn't believe Frank is capable of taking a human life.

[edit] Trivia

• Frank Pembleton was recognized in Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters list. He was ranked 62nd.^[1]

• Frank's wife Mary is played by Ami Brabson, Andre Braugher's actual wife.

• At one point in the series, Pembleton mentions, possibly sarcastically, that he supports the Republican political party.^[2] This may be a reference to real-life BPD Sgt. Nolan, who in David Simon's show-spawning book is "said to be the only practicing black Republican in the City of Baltimore".

[edit] References