Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and Pembleton (Andre Braugher) prepare to interview Risley Tucker (Moses Gunn), an elderly arabber.

They bring up a previously dropped statutory rape charge against Tucker involving a 14-year-old girl, then suggest he attempted to have sex with Watson and killed her when she resisted.

"Three Men and Adena" was directed by Martin Campbell and written by Tom Fontana, executive producer of Homicide: Life on the Street.

[3] Almost the entire episode of "Three Men and Adena" takes place within the confines of the police interrogation room with Braugher, Secor and Moses Gunn, the actor who guest starred as Risley Tucker.

"[7] The scene when Tucker admits for a moment he is not sure in his own mind that he didn't commit the murder was inspired by a similar real-life interaction Fontana found in a police interrogation transcript during his research.

[3] Fontana comes from a playwriting background, and "Three Men and Adena" involves long lengths of dialogue in a single setting, much like a play.

According to Fontana, Campbell never shot a scene from the same angle twice, "So the entire hour keeps changing the point of view of the camera, so that you never get tired of being in that room.

Braugher said the experience felt more like staging a play than shooting a television episode, and allowed for a feeling of spontaneous human emotion in the performances.

[3] Although the dialogue in the final episode did not stray from the original script, Fontana said Campbell and the actors came up with the rhythm and pacing of the performances largely on their own, particularly during the fast-paced questions when Pembleton and Bayliss team up on Tucker.

[11][12] It was among the lowest-rated major network shows from that evening, in part due to heavy competition from ABC's broadcast of the Sixth Annual American Comedy Awards, which was seen by 14.7 million households.

Sun writer David Zurawik said Fontana's playwriting background was deeply infused in the episode, which he called a "landmark hour" that it "put (three men) and a few sticks of battle-scarred, municipal-green furniture and somehow managed to show us the human soul and the heart of darkness".

[15] Additionally, "Three Men and Adena" was among a 1999 Court TV marathon of the top 15 Homicide episodes, as voted on by 20,000 visitors to the channels website.

[20] Entertainment Weekly writer Bruce Fretts said the episode was "one of the most powerful prime-time hours ever"[5] and called Andre Braugher's performance a "tour de police force".

He called the episode "claustrophobic, cynical and ultimately painful" and particularly praised the performances of Braugher and Secor, and the fact that it was not a happy ending.

[23] Rocky Mountain News critic Dusty Saunders said the episode was "as good as dramatic television gets", and showed how the quality of Homicide is anchored in strong writing and acting rather than action.

[27] Manuel Mendoza of The Dallas Morning News considered "Three Men and Adena" one of the best Homicide episodes and particularly praised the performance of Moses Gunn.

[4] The Baltimore Sun television critic David Zurawik said the episode established The Box as "the main stage for Pembleton and the moral center of the Homicide universe".

Zurawik also said, "Stark and minimalist, the episode was musical theater as much as television, a celebration and explosion of language; an angry, urban opera with the voices of Bayliss and Pembleton coming together and then falling back as Tucker sings a final aria of rage and contempt.

"[14] Calgary Herald writer Bruce Weir said the episode "is Homicide at its finest: brilliantly written, intensely acted and continuously surprising.

[7] Los Angeles Times writer Howard Rosenberg described it as a "mesmerizing (and) complex character study", and said Gunn delivered the best guest performance of the television season.