In alot of ways, Homicide:Life On The Streets should have ended with 6 seasons. The dramatic conclusion of the Luther Mahoney storyline ends and is wrapped up perfectly in the final episode. There is enough information about all of the characters that the viewer can assume how things end up. Seeing Bayliss in that state and leaving him there underscores the feelings Pembleton has to the viewer, and Giardello's role in the office hits home with how he chooses to handle the fallout over the Luther Mahoney shooting. If you stopped watching right there, end of season 6, you would have had seen a truly great series and feel satisifed with the conclusion.
Alas, they carried on with dramatic changes for a 7th season. Much of the cast we've seen from the start are long gone and less time is spent getting to know the new characters than there were in the early seasons. Most of the episodes are more about which ever crime is being investigated in that specific episode. The leap frogging from case to case each detective is assigned to with a semi focus on one isn't really happening anymore. These changes make the show more like a character driven version of Law and Order than something different for the 90s like H:LOTS was. There were some good episodes, some bad ones. We learn little about the newer characters, some loose ends are tied up from the end of season 6 that did not need to be and that's about it. An unremarkable distant echo of its former self. You get a sense that the end is coming from the first episode of 7 on.
This takes us to the final episode. Earlier in the season, Bayliss catches an internet killer who broadcasts his murders. This ends up being a very personal case for Bayliss but because of technicalities the killer goes free. Giardello is in line for a promotion and leaving the Homicide unit behind, his son feels more out of place in the FBI and seeks to leave. Much of the episode addresses season 7 storylines since so much was wrapped in season 6. The reason I rank this so high is Giardello's decision regarding the promotion is much more in keeping with the character than the storyline in the HLOTS TV movie (suddenly he runs for Mayor? Come on!), and Bayliss leaves the series exactly how he enters it. With his possessions in a box but leaving for the last time instead of entering the first time. The movie that followed was so cringe worthy that it undermined what would have been the second best ending for the series. The first best being the end of season 6 which I recommend ending at if you have not watched any of it yet. H:LOTS isnt the first show that carried on longer than it should have and it wont be the last.
