Kay Howard

Infobox character
name = Det. (later Sgt.) Kay Howard


caption = Sgt. Kay Howard
first = ""
last = ""
cause = Transferred to fugitive squad
gender = Female
age = Approx 35
born =
death =
family = Carrie (sister)
spouse =
episode = 75 ("")
portrayer = Melissa Leo
creator = Tom Fontana

Kay Howard is a fictional homicide detective from "". She was played by actress Melissa Leo.

Early and family life

In a season three episode, Howard visits the small coastal oyster-fishing town where she was brought up. Though not actually stated this town is presumably on the Chesapeake Bay coast. She has a sister, Carrie, who appeared in a fourth season episode (portrayed by Melissa Leo under the pseudonym Margaret May).

Professional life

Kay Howard is generally portrayed as a tough female detective. That being said she is not entirely hardened by her job and at times expressed disbelief that seemingly good people were murderers. As a detective she was thorough, realistic, and generally had among the highest clearance rates in the squad. Her high rate of success was important to her as she felt that as the only woman she needed to prove herself. Megan Russert would later chide her for this tendency. Despite her generally rational approach she held strongly to magical thinking as she felt some things "transcended" logic. This included varied superstitions, which she displayed at work, and the idea that the ghost of a victim aided her in solving a case.

In the fourth season, the character became a Sergeant on passing the exam. Most of her fellow detectives had encouraged her becoming a sergeant, but on actually assuming the role she became alienated from them. This came in part because she seemed at first to "micromanage" them and in part simply because her position put her in a different relationship to them. Her friendship with Det. Meldrick Lewis, who had been strongly supportive of her desire to become a sergeant, grew especially stormy after her promotion and affected their working relationship.

Personal life

In her personal life, she valued privacy and the idea that having secrets had value, but was less consistent on this in the first two seasons. She did keep an adulterous relationship she had with a Lt. Tyron, one that predated her joining Homicide, secret at first but later admitted it to Frank Pembleton as an investigation of Pembleton's concerned Tyron. Tyron would later be arrested for shooting C. C. Cox in the back while fleeing. However she later admitted to Pembleton her sexual involvement with Ed Danvers without much pressing and even commented on Danvers's "prowess." Although she indicated to Pembleton that she might have been kidding. Aside from the sex, and their shared desire to bring criminals to justice, she had little similarity to Danvers so the relationship ended at an unspecified point in the third season of the show. After this relationship she became far more reticent about personal matters to avoid being the subject of office gossip.

It was implied in the fourth season that her love of privacy, combined with her tough nature and masculine clothing, had led to some speculation that she might be a lesbian; upon seeing Kay with a mystery date, Det John Munch said as much, although this may have just been a tactic to get her to tell him who the man is. The DVD commentaries for the show reveal that the producers were aware that the character was extremely popular in the LGBT community.

Although she is generally "one of the team" her being female was occasionally remarked upon at the squad. The crime scene photographer J. H. Brodie expressed his infatuation with her, but due to a miscommunication she felt his expression of affection was a way to make fun of her. Det. Mike Kellerman also stated she was attractive "because of the hair." In certain episodes she expressed concern about her sister and gender issues. In general she disliked both being deemed masculine and being treated "like a lady."

Final Season

Season 5 saw her character relegated to some degree, but also showed important developments. Her former boyfriend Danvers would get engaged much to her surprise. In a later episode in the season Danvers' fiance would be murdered, a shock for both of them. In addition her former partner Beau Felton would die violently in Season 5. Later the "rotation system" led her to become attached to the squad investigating fugitives. Her character's absence for this reason was given only a brief mention at the beginning of Season 6 and she did not return until the film.

Trivia

* In the first two seasons of the show her character was the only female detective or member of the main cast. This was in keeping with the book and the actual Homicide unit in Baltimore of that time. However NBC felt that the lack of other female detectives was alienating the audience so this was later changed with the addition of Megan Russert.
* Kay Howard's "fun loving" sister, shown in the episode where Meldrick Lewis got married, was also played by actress Melissa Leo. The characters however were not twins.