Tim Bayliss quotes from Homicide: Life on the Street

Bayliss

This isn't about me, Frank. It's about Adena. It's about avenging Adena Watson's murder.

Pembleton

No. It's about you. It's always been about you. Do you think I don't know you?

Pembleton

Why are you wearing that carnation?

Bayliss

I have been wearing this for 2 days and you're just asking about it now?

Pembleton

I've had other things on my mind. So what's it for?

Bayliss

To hide the smell... To hide the smell of death.

Pembleton

To hide the smell of death?

Bayliss

Yeah, you got a problem with that?

Pembleton

No, no problem.

Bayliss

I didn't avenge Adena Watson's death. Now I never will. Never gonna know who killed her. I let her down, Gee.

Giardello

You're gonna hafta make your peace with that.

Bayliss

Let me ask you something, Gee. How do you know when to stop caring?

Giardello

I've been a cop a long time. I can tell you how to sweet talk a confession out of a stone cold killer, sidestep the politics of me and the bosses. I can tell you how to work a case until there's nothing left to be done but to file the paperwork. But the one thing I can't tell you, is when to stop caring.

Munch

I got a call. Special guest at the Waterfront tonight. Wanna guess? The Big Man's coming back. Gonna need a lot of extra light beer tonight. . .

Bayliss

Oh, yeah!

Munch

Cuz you know who's coming back?

Pembleton

The Big Man!!

Pembleton

Imagine Scheiner in a swimsuit.

I heard that.

Bayliss

You'll always be a beautiful swimmer to me, Dr. Scheiner.

Bayliss

Well, well, well, Kellerman. Up until now, you've had a who-dun-it here, a dunker there, but now, now it looks like you're finally gonna pop the big-time detective cherry.

Pembleton

My advice to you is that you work this case alone so that if you put this case down, it doesn't look like we helped bail you out or something.

Bayliss

Can I come?

Pembleton

Come where?

Bayliss

See the baby.

Pembleton

You've seen the baby.

Bayliss

I know, but I love babies.

Pembleton

Then have one of your own.

Bayliss

Hey Frank, remember when I said that I've never been invited to your house. I wanna come to your house, Frank.

Pembleton

No, not tonight.

Bayliss

I'll call your wife. Your wife will let me come over. Your wife likes me.

Pembleton

God knows why.

Bayliss

I'll meet you in the garage.

Pembleton

Oh, happy day.

Bayliss

Yeah, see when I saw that, I knew she would love it.

Pembleton

She's two weeks old, Bayliss. She doesn't know what she loves.

Bayliss

Sure, she does. Hey, Olivia, you like uncle Timmy, don't you? Yeah?

Pembleton

Uncle Timmy?

Bayliss

What?

Pembleton

Talking to babies in that goo-goo voice, like they're understanding. I hate that. I hate it.

Bayliss

Geez, Frank. What must you think when you look into this crib and see that face?

Pembleton

I see - Mary and me, struggling with two salaries to make sure Olivia goes to college. I see - me going ballistic because she comes in after curfew. I see - a guy, just like you, coming to my front door, saying I'm gonna marry your daughter.

Bayliss

I am good Murder Police aren't I, Gee?

Giardello

Yes, of course.

Bayliss

I'm standing here thinkin' about Frank, about everything I've learned from him, the past four years.

Giardello

His technique in the box?

Bayliss

Yeah, but it's more than that. You know, I've finally got to a place where I understand how he thinks. See, when I find a suspect, I like to get in their brain, and figure out why they would wanna take another person's life. Why? But Frank, well, Frank, all he sees is a dead body. Doesn't matter to him who they were, what they did. He strips away their personality, he makes them all equal in death, because if they have been murdered, they must be avenged. Forward, without any hesitation, without any moral dilemma, his mind's so clear on that Gee, his mind. I just don't know if I'm gonna be as good a detective as I am without Frank.

Pembleton

It's okay. I know. I talk funny. I walk funny. I'm a little bit slow. But I still know this job. Me and you. We can find this guy.

Bayliss

Frank, go home.

Pembleton

You don't think I'm good enough to be your partner, do you?

Bayliss

That's not true.

Pembleton

I'm the same man. I'm the same man. You don't think I'm the same man, do you? You think I'm never gonna be the same? You kiss my ass.

Bayliss

We're gonna find Gerry Uba, and I'm not gonna stop until I put this case down.

Munch

I forgot about this side of you.

Bayliss

What side?

Munch

The obsessive side.

Bayliss

You know, this isn't easy for me either. Everything's all switched around. I'm not usually the one who's driving, Frank; you are. And I'm not used to looking at the right side of your face, I'm used to looking at the left side.

Pembleton

[turning to the side] How's this? Now you can look at the back side of my face.

Bayliss

You know, I'm tough with you, you hate me. I'm nice to you, you hate me.

Pembleton

I had the stroke; I almost died. I'm supposed to be a different person, huh? I'm supposed to treat people better?

Bayliss

I'm not people; I'm your partner.

Pembleton

Oh, you're my partner. I sit at a desk. I am of absolutely no use to you and I'm your partner. I watch my weight. I watch my diet. I watch my blood pressure. Every 8 hours, no matter where I am, or what I'm doing, I hafta take a little white pill. If I don't follow the rules, I die. I'm not going to treat you differently. I won't. 'Cause that's not who I am. And who I am is all I have left.

Bayliss

Have you ever been in prison, Meldrick?

Lewis

What? You mean as a prisoner?

Bayliss

Yeah.

Lewis

No.

Bayliss

I have.

Lewis

How come the more I know about you Bayliss, the less I wanna know? So 'fess up. What were you in the pokey for? Drunk driving, date rape, pedophilia?

Bayliss

No.

Lewis

So, what?

Bayliss

I protested human rights violations in El Salvador.

Lewis

Of course.

Bayliss

I was 18, 19.

Lewis

So how much time did you spend in jail for protesting human rights violations in El Salvador?

Bayliss

I was in the holding cell for two nights.

Lewis

Two nights? That don't exactly count as hard time.

Bayliss

They were very long nights.

Lewis

So why didn't you post bail?

Bayliss

My dad refused to come get me.

Lewis

Okay, that's harsh.

Bayliss

Yeah, my dad had very set ideas about life.

Lewis

Well at least I hope you stiffed him on Father's Day.

Bayliss

Every chance I got.