| "Subway" | |
|---|---|
| Homicide: Life on the Street episode | |
&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Homicide_life_on_the_street_subway.jpg) Frank Pembleton talks to John Lange, a man pinned between a subway train and platform. | |
| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 7 |
| Directed by | Gary Fleder |
| Written by | James Yoshimura |
| Cinematography by | Alex Zakrzewski |
| Production code | 604 |
| Original air date | December 5, 1997 |
| Guest appearances | |
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"Subway" (sometimes referred to as "The Accident") is the seventh episode of the sixth season of the American police television drama Homicide: Life on the Street, and the 84th episode overall. It first aired on NBC in the United States on December 5, 1997. In the episode, John Lange (Vincent D'Onofrio) becomes pinned between a Baltimore Metro Subway train and the station platform. The Baltimore homicide department is informed that Lange will be dead within an hour and Pembleton tries to solve the case while comforting Lange in his final minutes.
"Subway" featured guest star Bruce MacVittie as a man suspected of pushing Lange into the path of the train. The episode was written by James Yoshimura, who co-produced with David Simon. It was directed by Gary Fleder and was the only episode of Homicide: Life on the Street helmed by the feature film director. Yoshimura based "Subway" on an episode of the HBO hidden-camera documentary show Taxicab Confessions, in which a New York City detective described a real-life instance of a man trapped between a subway train and platform.
"Subway" was filmed on location in a Mass Transit Administration (MTA) station. Fleder included cinematic elements that were uncommon in the traditionally naturalistic show. This led to conflicts between Fleder and director of photography Alex Zakrzewski. "Subway" received overwhelmingly positive reviews but ranked number three in its time-slot during its original broadcast, capturing 10.3 million viewers but falling behind ABC's 20/20 and CBS's Nash Bridges.
The episode won a Peabody Award for excellence in television broadcasting and was nominated for two Emmy Awards, one for Yoshimura's script and one for D'Onofrio's guest performance. "Subway" was the subject of a two-hour PBS television documentary, Anatomy of a "Homicide: Life on the Street", which originally aired on the network on November 4, 1998. Screenwriter Vince Gilligan said "Subway" directly influenced an episode of The X-Files that he wrote, which in turn helped inspire the casting of Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad.