As a big fan of NYPD Blue, I watched pretty much every episode for the run of the series when it originally aired. Monti Sharp's shocking performance as Rodney Wellstone in the season 3 ep, "Head Case," is, far and away, the scariest and perhaps single best performance by a guest star on the series. Whether it was originally scripted this way or not, I don't know, but the performance is essentially a single monologue, a stream-of-consciousness rant that is at turns violent, sinister, subdued, creepy(think David Lynch), and explosive. It feels almost improvisational, like, "there's no way someone could have actually *written* this," and yet, there it is; when it's over with, the stunned looks on the faces of Dennis Franz and Jimmy Smits are surely more than just in-character reactions. I can't recall another time in the series when the two leads essentially took a back seat to the guest performer (especially in the ubiquitous "interrogation room") for the entire sequence. I still have an old VHS copy of the episode from its original air date, and I play it back from time to time. Since the entire series is now on DVD, I highly recommend tracking down this episode if you're a student of film (directing, acting, writing). You will be schooled.
2 Reviews
Crazy Incorporated
Hitchcoc18 August 2021
I agree with the other reviewer who comments on Monti Sharp's performance. It there is a nut case heaven, he is running it. He gets himself so into his character that one can only sit back and imagine the world he lives in. We have the case of a decapitated professor from NYU found in his apartment. We have a great performance by the actress playing his mother who is only fixated on the car they share (until!) We can also see the unraveling of Martinez and Lezniak. Some porn star comes in to make a complaint and Martinez goes gaga. He acts in the most childish way, as does his friend and Medavoy. Excellent episode.
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