Frank Pembleton

Pembleton, Frank: (Andre Braugher) [Regular: 1-6] Francis Xavier Pembleton. Based on Harry Edgerton in Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. Intense, unsociable, yet charismatic loner who is probably the best detective under Giardello. Wife: Mary. Daughter: Olivia. Son: Frank Jr. Partners with Bayliss, who's become his best friend, although he claims not to have one. Went to a strict grade school in his New York neighborhood, called St. Bart's for Boys. Went to a Jesuit high school: St. Ignatius. There, the Jesuits taught him to think, and he hasn't felt safe since. (Fits Like a Glove) Moved from New York city because he believed he wouldn't advance in the NYPD. (Valentine's Day) The worst sin in Pembleton's book is "the killer that goes unpunished." (Extreme Unction) He has no peer in the box, and he and Bayliss have reached a point where each knows what the other is thinking there. Sued by the "white glove" killer, for violating her civil rights in the box. (A Model Citizen) Russert asks him to take over as primary in the "white glove" red ball, (Fits Like A Glove) and Giardello makes him the primary in the red ball where three detectives are shot. (The City That Bleeds) Stalked, and nearly killed by a man he put away several years before. (The Gas Man) During one of his typically intense interrogations in the box, he suffers a stroke. (Work Related) Gee calls in favors to allow him back to Homicide, but he has memory lapses and trouble speaking, and it takes time before he's ready to handle a case. (Blood Wedding) A pregnant Mary leaves him, but he later convinces her to come back. Physically, by the end of season five, he seems back to normal. Because of all he's seen in his job, he struggles with his Catholic faith; however his belief in God's existence has never really wavered. (Nearer My God to Thee, Fits Like a Glove, Extreme Unction, Kaddish, Something Sacred, Fallen Heroes: Part Two) Transferred to Robbery in the department rotations. (Blood Ties I) While rounding up members of the Mahoney organization, Pembelton freezes, and Bayliss takes a bullet; Pembelton blames himself. Gee asks him to go back on the Mahoney shooting; he grills both Lewis and Kellerman in The Box, finally getting the truth from Kellerman; though Gee won't charge him. All these things combine to cause Pembelton to quit the Homicide unit. (Fallen Heroes: Part Two) Bayliss expected Pembelton to return to Homicide, but at some point realized he wouldn't. He's only spoken to him twice in the year since Pembelton quit, and Bayliss is obviously floundering without his partner's guidance. Bayliss admits he loved Pembelton. (Forgive Us Our Trespasses) According to a young detective, the team of Bayliss and Pembelton have become legendary among Baltimore homicide. Pembelton has become a teacher at a Jesuit college, when he learns of Gee's shooting. He reteams with Bayliss to invesigate, and the pair arrest the shooter. Pembelton says that the reason he quit was because he couldn't stand to hear one more confession, but he has to hear one more, as Bayliss confesses he murdered Luke Ryland. He refuses to bring him in, until Bayliss threatens suicide if he doesn't. (Homicide: The Movie)