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All characters, plots, stories etc. belong to NBC & Crossing Jordan TV series. These are reviews and nothing more. I am not affiliated with the show or NBC. Please ask permission to use any or all of the reviews on your site. Contact RTMS or Rachele at the email address on the main page. Thank you.Top
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6,Episode 7
Episode 8 and 9,Episode 10,Episode 11,Episode 12,Episode 13, Episode 14,
Episode 15, Episode 16,Episode 17,Episode 18,Episode 19, Episode 20,
HOME, SEASON 2, SEASON 3, LINKS, CJ FORUM
THIS IS THE REVISED VERSION OF THE PILOT. BE WARNED THE REVIEW WILL MOST LIKLY HAVE SPOILERS FROM THE REST OF THE SEASON!
In Venice Beach, California we see a bunch of people sitting in a room talking quietly. Looks like a therapy place. The camera focuses on a young woman who doesn't seem to want to be there. The leader asks her what her problem is. She calls her Jordan, and she says she's here because she hit her boss. Why the leader asks would she do this, and Jordan says who knows. Her life is crap thanks to having witness her mothers death and growing up without her. She cuts up bodies she tells them, and they all look at her with raised eyebrows. Hey she's a coroner ok? Suddenly her phone rings and Jordan answers it. Its Boston calling, she has a job interview. Jordan jumps for joy and burns rubber to the exit and the airport. Upon arriving in LAX she promptly loses her baggage but carries on.
It seems Jordan has worked here before at the Boston medical examiner's office, as she says hi to everyone she passes. Her old boss Dr.Macy complains about everything and about the fact that a councilman has killed himself .The real test is getting past Dr. Garret Macy. While they sit at his desk he goes over some of the comments of her 5 previous employers. Most are good and Jordan agrees with them. Then the bad stuff, and while Jordan starts to argue, Garret lays down reality for her. He had to fight hard with Yakura, just to let her back here. Don't screw up he tells her. Kelly comes in and has a case for anyone who wants it. Jordan decides to take it.
At the scene, a young black girl is lying against the wall. Jordan takes a look at her. A detective Collins comes up and gives Jordan some drugs they found, saying she probably O’D. He continues on, eventually embarrassing himself by talking about her dad who was a cop.
In the autopsy room, the Jane Doe is being looked over by Jordan and Nigel. The girl is in her twenties, 5’6,120lbs. Jordan orders a rape kit done, then leaves and goes next door to the other autopsy room. There a large group of people are watching Yakura do the autopsy of the councilman Mullroy who killed himself. She takes Gloria aside and tells her the young girl was still a virgin.
Jordan then takes a break and goes to her childhood home, where she finds her dad resting. She gives him a kiss and wakes him up. They talk a bit, as Max watches the news about Mullroy. Max says he knew Mullroy when he was a judge and can't figure out why he would flip-flop on the Ballard real estate deal. He was against Ballard the whole time then changes his mind and hangs himself. Jordan is shocked to learn that it millionaire Ballard who wants the deal. Go with the Ballard angle Max says. He realizes that he is getting too involved and stops himself. He has a new outlook on life, reading books on how to get over grief. Jordan gets upset, as her dad tries to get her to understand. Evelyn has been a great help to him he says, while Jordan starts to shout who is Evelyn? A woman's voice is suddenly heard, and a middle aged woman comes out of the kitchen. Jordan can only stand there in shock as Max introduces them. Evelyn is thrilled at meeting Jordan and hugs, as Jordan still stands there.
Later in the autopsy room, Jordan finds powder and fibers in her teeth. She bit someone, very hard through a shirt and probably left a mark.
Garrett meanwhile is on the phone, arguing with someone over his mother’s gravestone. Jordan walks in and requests some chemicals, and he asks why? She would like to pull any prints off her victim. Garrett starts to shake his head and admonish her, when she tells him the girl died of suffocation-murder. Garrett can only shake his head, and wonder what he did to have Jordan back with them.
Later, Jordan catches up with Collins at Boston P.D, letting him know that the girl was smothered to death.
Back at the office, Jordan moves into her old office space. She meets Trey Sanders, here on a one year fellowship, with 4 months to go. He tells her he's her office mate. Bug is there with them and says he will pay anyone who knows or finds his larvae. He then leaves, while Jordan tells Trey that the space and desk he has was Yakura's when Jordan and she were paired together. Treys impressed, now that Yakura is running things. Jordan isn't so impressed, but she knows she has only herself to blame. Trey decides to ask her out, but she brushes him aside.
Garrett is practicing his speech with a puppet. Even the puppet knows it's bad.
In the trace evidence room, Jordan and Gloria look for prints. Collins shows up and together they find prints on the face. Jordan has them analyzed and sent to missing persons. They also find hair and fibers in her teeth. She apparently bit someone on the arm while they suffocated her. She then takes a break.
Jordan and Collins go for coffee, and Collins complements her on her work. Jordan tells him how she and her dad would play a creepy game, where one would be the victim, the other the killer. Collins thinks that's kind of heavy, but Jordan didn't mind. He asks her out for dinner, but before she can respond her pager goes off. They have found a match for the print.
The print belongs to recently deceased councilman Mullory. Jordan wants to check his arm for teeth marks, but it's gone. It has been taken to his wake. Jordan and Collins go to wake, and Jordan looks on his arm for teeth marks, but nothing there.
Back at the office, the girl’s ID has been found. Clarice Jenner was her name. Now Jordan wants anything on Ballard.
Garrett goes over his speech and checks himself out in the mirror. Later at the school Garret stumbles through his speech until he just lets go and he tells his own opinion.
In the evening Jordan stands in the darkened morgue, over Clarice and vows to get her killer.
Jordan goes home and lays out the case for Max. Jordan decides to play the game again. Jordan decides to play the victim, while Max decides to play the killer.
Jordan and Max play their game, but can't solve the murder this way. Then Jordan tells him about the rosary she got from her mother, which is just like the one the girl had on her. Max tells her he got her the rosary, which is an old Irish tradition, where the father gives the daughter a rosary for confirmation. They both realize Mullroy was the girl's father.
The next morning, at the police station, Jordan and Collins listen to the girls' mother tell her story. She tells them that her daughter wanted to know who her father was. She got a call 5 days ago, and left with no word to her. It was not Mullroy, who never acknowledged her at all.
Afterward, Jordan and Collins talk and have a spat. Jordan wants to confront Ballard, who she thinks is guilty of blackmail. Collins calls her crazy, and tells her to back off before she ruins the case. Collins then gets a call, where he finds that a suspect is at the E.R. They race there together.
At the E.R., Collins fills her in the guy confessed to killing her when she refused to have sex with him. What about the bite on the arm? Might be hard, since the canine unit was sent in and did a number on him. There are bite marks all over him. So what about the weapon she asks, and Collins gives her an evidence bag. In it is the scarf and Jordan checks it on the x-ray machine. It confirms that it is the weapon.
At the office, Garrett looks at his letter of resignation, but while reading it over notices a butterfly on his pen. He sees that there is more to life and bailing out is not the best way to live. Then he sees Bug chasing the butterflies and has a good laugh.
Jordan goes to her office and meets Trey there. She tries to bail on her date with him, but he corrects her. He only wants a drink; because you see he doesn't date white women. Jordan can only look on in shock as he leaves.
Jordan calls Collins, and asks a few questions of him. He then apologizes & asks her to drinks. After she hangs up she looks at some articles on Ballard, and notices Collins in a picture body guarding Ballard.
At the pub later on she confronts Collins over his knowledge of Ballard. Collins offers an excuse, but Jordan is not convinced. She demands to see his arms, but nothing is there. He leaves in a huff, but Jordan stops him and apologizes to him.
They go to his place and start to have a fun evening. She asks for the bathroom and goes in and locks the door. She then looks through his medicine cabinet and finds concealer in it. Now she knows the truth. She goes back to the bed and takes his cuffs and teases him with them, eventually cuffing him to the bed. Collins realizes he's been had, while Jordan tells him that one should never wear white concealer with a white shirt. Collins boasts he will never serve time. Jordan calls the police while giving him a pathetic look.
Jordan returns to the office, where Garrett is standing there thinking. Jordan tells him she caught the killer, and Garrett congratulates her. She tells him she's going after Ballard, but Garrett says no and stresses this to her. She gives it up for now, and then asks if he is ok. He tells her his mother died 5 weeks ago, and though he thought he was ready for it, he was not. Jordan listens quietly to him, and then he says good night to her.
At home, Jordan sneaks up on her sleeping dad and kisses him. She then looks at picture of her mom and her when young. Max comes to her and hugs her as they both remember her together.
ANALYSIS:
Wow I didn't realize how much I missed the first time around. Thankfully this episode aired again and now I can give a much better review.
This pilot episode was a good one to start the series. Almost everyone who was going to be in the series is introduced here, with the exeception of Lily. It was a good episode, and I would have liked it to have been followed up but it never was. The guest star cop was good and gave us some background on Max, Jordan's father. We find out through the rest of the series what really happened, but here it was kept a mystery somewhat. The modus of how Jordan would do things was also established, and it changes only a little through out the rest of the episodes. In fact this episode and the season final were nice bookends to the first season. In this one she is told to back off Ballard and not to push or she will get fired. In the season final she pushed too much and got into a heap of trouble for it. One thing is certain, they kept Jordan pretty much consistent throughout the first season.
The case was okay, but a little boring. Max had it half figured out when he saw the news report. As for the killer/victim game, it was as hokey as I remembered it to be. I am glad they somewhat gave this up, because all it did here was remind me how embarrassing it looked for Hennessy. With the execption of a few clunkers the cases would be right on and interesting for the rest of the season. Not only that, they would be spread out to the other doctors, which only made sense and let the whole cast carry the show, instead of just one.
As for the characters, all did well except poor Bug. He really came off as a eccentric, weird doctor who everyone made fun off. He had the biggest change around from the pilot to the next episode. Thankfully it was a good one and we would learn he is a complex man and a genius. We also saw Nigel helping Jordan once, although we didn't get his name here and he didn't do much. One person they got rid of, and who Nigel I think replaced was Gloria. I actually liked her and it would have been nice to have another female coroner instead of just one. Come the second season we will have another one there so it will be interesting how Jordan reacts to her. We could have had Yakura, who we actually see doing an autopsy, which I missed the first time. We find out she is ambitious and cool, but that's about it and she later leaves the show. A missed opportunity I believe. Garrett also kind of came off badly, always whining about everything, but as the series went on he got much better and we saw how much he cared for Jordan. Once he got the top job, and settled in a bit he got better at dealing with things. Extra characters such as Kelly? and the secretary were either dropped or replaced, mostly by Lily and later by Emmy.
The tech side was good although the game colors bleed to much into each other. The camera work was steady and blended well with each scene. The makeup looked a little heavy on some of the dead bodies, it did not look as natural. The music was nice to hear and not the pounding rock they would get into later in the series. As for the police station, does everyone occupy the same office? It looked like the same space and offices they used throughout the season. It would be nice to see some sort of personal effects of the officers, just to give each office a sense of uniqueness from one another.
Overall a good episode that was a steady start to a great show. This can only grow more and I believe it will and as long they stay on track and don't experiment too much with stories that have nothing to do with the premiss of the show. The actors are all solid and we would see them take on more stories which helped the season to get better.
I give this a 3 out of 5 stars.
I look forward to Jordan working out her problems in the seasons to come. She has a lot of potential and lots of angst. MESSAGE BOARD
RTMSTop
We find jordan waking up in her office, having slept there for the night. She goes to the showers in the locker room and having the place to herself doesn't bother putting her clothes on right away. In walks in Sanders who looks shocked and embarrassed at seeing her here and naked, since the lockers were changed a while back. Jordan says don't worry, he doesn't dig white women anyway. After, she heads to the morning meeting with Garret who tells her that Yukura basically does not want her there. They listen to her boast about having a 100% identification rate last year and plans on continuing the excellence. Therefore one body that has yet to be id'd is known as Mr. Stinky is given to Sanders to id, who doesn't look forward to it. Everyone else is given a job except Jordan who gets angry at Yukura, who tells her that she is still trying to explain why a cop was cuffed to his bed by jordan. Luckily a cab driver bites the dust and jordan is assigned to it.
At the scene she meets old flame Lt. Winslow who convinced her father to retire. Jordan of course disagreed with the decision. The cab driver whose name is Louis Stahler, has been shot from behind and chews nicotine gum, orange flavor. The autopsy reveals bruising on the hands. Macy also has a body who is named Babcock, who was beaten to death, and has some numbers indented on his backside. The wife of Stahler shows up , but she seems less than sympathetic towards her husband, almost seeming to hope that he suffered in death. Jordan is suspicious of this behavior and tells Winslow about it, but he tells her that security cameras recorded the wife at work for her entire shift, which seems to clear her. Meanwhile the numbers on Babcocks dead body are traced to Jordan's dead cabbie. When Winslow asks Elaine Stahler how a dead body got into her husbands trunk , she says when he wasn't beating her, he was looking for fights elsewhere. Meanwhile Jordan goes home and Max and she play the creepy victim and attacker game, realizing that the murders were set up by the two wives of the victims. They now need to know why. Later on her dad shows up her office and gives her the phone records of both Elaine and Mrs. Babcock. It tells Jordan that Elaine phoned a shelter many times and that Mrs. Babcock was on the committee. When Jordan phones the shelter she finds out that Mrs. Babcock was a counselor there.Jordan gets a dna sample from Garret, tells Winslow her theory, which becomes more suspicious when she learns Babcock has a 2 million insurance plan. Winslow tells her that unless one of them confesses the case goes no where. Jordan then visits Elaine and poses a theory at her about how two women meet and hear each others problems and conspire to kill there husbands. One of the them though just uses the other to do the jobs so she can come clean and the other gets blamed. When Elaine says she doesn't have the full story, that the guy was molesting the children, Jordan tells her that the Babcocks had no children and she can read it in the obituary. Elaine confesses to the murders and pleads for a lesser sentence in order to testify against Mrs. Babcock.
The side case of Mr. Stinky is interesting when Sanders and Bug try to find out just how he died and who he is. They find he has been tortured in the past, shot and has asbestos in his lungs. None of this killed him. Eventually they find he is a old war vet who was looking for an old flame. The name of the lady in the picture he had was lydia and Sanders finds and brings her in to id the body. His name was Albert Salzman.
Meanwhile Jordan apologizes to her dad's girlfriend when she finds out stuff of her mothers was thrown out a while back. Jordan had made a scene at diner and was her rude self about it. All ends well as jordan goes to sleep on the couch- in her home.
ANALYSIS:
Overall another good episode. Everyone was more stronger this time out and more even. The chemistry of the cast is getting better. Hennessy and Howard have believable father daughter chemistry. The doctors are also coming along nicely especially Bug ( Kapoor) who really came out much better than the pilot. We see him as a real expert at the autopsy craft as he teaches Sanders a few things without the smugness or arrogance which the producers could have made it. I still don't like Garret , and this Lily the intern liking him, comes off weird. I mean the guy looks old enough to be her father. Yurkura comes off much better as the ambitious doctor turned administrator. I hope to see her more and in the labs, to see how good she is. Obviously jordan remembers her as a doctor, not the boss. Nigel is also immediately likable who knows his stuff as well. He seems to be in the foresics dept. All the extra doctors seem to be interesting and each is quietly giving good support to the main ones.
The plot of the show was the cliche two strange women meet, they decide to kill their respective husbands and try to get away with it. One is rich the other is poor and the poor one gets betrayed. The answer to who murders the cabby is telegraphed way to early in the story. You know who it is and get tired of wondering when the arrest is going to be made.The side story of Mr. Stinky and who he is, is almost more interesting than the main plot. As well, the homefront is not all together well with jordan and dad's girlfriend. Jordan still has her issues, while her father just wants to move on. While they make up in the end, all is not sugary and nice. Tensions are still there, but if they aren't careful it will get tiring fast.
I give the the episode 2 and?a half stars, weak plot,good character building. MESSAGE BOARD
RTMSTop
Jordan and her dad, Max are enjoying breakfast when jordan brings up the issue of visiting her mothers grave as they always do every year. Max says that he already visited the grave on her birthday and will not be going. He and evelyn have tickets to the pops this year. Jordan gets angry, believing dad is forgetting her mother and its evenlyn's fault. She gets paged and leaves the house, but is in a bad mood. At the scene a black woman has been butchered and decapitated. Sanders is there first, and hasn't really done anything except to say the obvious. Jordan is angry with him for doing such poor work. When they meet again for the autopsy they make up. They find that she was assaulted, strangled and stabbed and then cut up.
Meanwhile Bug gets Theodore Horton, an S & M male. Bug is doing an paper on erotic deaths and wants to autopsy this one. Lily makes him sing a silly song before getting the body. Garret also gets a body to autopsy, John Flynn who died of pancreatic cancer, but whose insurance wants to know for sure what killed him.
Tests come back on Jordan's body and Sanders says she used a kind of mace found on prison guards. They find the nearest prison and with Inspector Penza, find the dna matches a guard named Brenda Porter who went missing a day ago. Jordan attends a funeral service for Porter at the prison. Jordan then orders an dna dragnet on a section of the prison. There she meets Earl Lewis, who participated in the service. She also meets officer Cosgrove there as well. After work Trey and Jordan go dancing , but while there Jordan gets a call from Nigel about the powder in Porters chest, saying the killer reached in and held Porters heart. Jordan and the Inspector head back to the prison and confront Lewis who has the same mo. Unfortunately the dna tests on the semen in Porters body does not match Lewis. When Jordan goes back to the prison an inmate points to Cosgrove and says he and Porter were an item. When a dna test revels a match with Cosgrove inspector Penza believes he has his killer. Jordan doesn't think so, especially when the timeline does not match. Jordan and Max play there victim/killer game and determine that someone else was in the chapel with Cosgrove and Porter as they had sex. Later Jordan goes back to the prison and inspects Father Lynch's office, finding a head and other body parts behind a vent. Penza still believes its Cosgrove while Jordan thinks it may still be Lewis . She goes to Nigel and he tells her what kind of weapon was used on Porter, a chisel from a wood shop. Jordan goes to the prison woodshop and asks to see the chisels. One of them matches and Jordan asks who signed it out last. She then goes to the chapel and finds Lewis and confronts him with her evidence. Lewis tells her that Porter and Cosgrove were sinning in God's place and he helped redeem Porter by killing her and then holding her heart. Jordan walks away sickened by it.
Bug and Garrets cases get resolved in different ways. Bug's autopsy reveals that Horton plug himself in and electrocuted himself. When the wife shows up Bug is hesitant to tell her what really happened until she herself tell him that she knows what he was up to. Garret finds out that Flynn was overdosed and that the wife deliberately did so since they both agreed not to prolong a wasting life. She then kills herself the next day. Garret is depressed about it, but his friends help him over it.
ANALYSIS :
I found this episode very well done and emotionally strong. It gave us both outrage and frustration and some humor in all three cases. By far the best was of course Jordan's case. The sense of outrage at the end and of being sick with what Lewis did comes across strongly.Jordan sticks with her instincts and doesn't really need to play the game with her dad to really find who the killer is. Throwing in Cosgrove was actually a good diversion tactic, it wasn't really until the end that we know for sure the killer is Lewis. This is what I want to see more of, the episode tension staying until very near the end. Even throwing in Lynch as a suspect for a few seconds was a good move.
The musical chairs with the detectives is beginning to get annoying. Yes this may copy real life, but we are after all watching a fictional show. I think they need to find one semi regular detective that jordan is constantly at logger heads with . A different one each show is not so good because no tension is really built up. Not only that but in each show the detective becomes more tolerant of jordan, more agreeable.
The cast is really getting along well. They all have such great chemistry with each other. Watching the show one can see the fun the cast is having. Nigel is really becoming my favorite doctor there after jordan. His wealth of knowledge in weapons is impressive. On the other side is Garret who came across a little better in this episode. Again the lily thing just is not working. I disagree with euthanasia, and what I saw here was not love or romance but selfishness. The widow looked in great health and if she hadn't helped hubby off to the afterlife she would have not suffered financially. While saddened by her loss, she came across as having known it was coming and prepared for it. So why could she not have lived in stead of killing her self ? My mother is going through metastatic bone cancer and has been told it is terminal in the long end. She does not think of killing herself, because of her belief and faith in Jesus. First if she does die she has heaven to look forward to, second if she were to kill herself she would rob herself and her family of potential years of life God could give her.Perhaps because people in the greater world have been taught to think for themselves first and anyone else second they are too selfish to see what a great life they can have.
I give
the show 3 stars, gripping , tension filled main plot. Questionable
ethics preaching.
MESSAGE BOARD
RTMSTop
Jordan meets up with yet another detective, Omar Maltesse in a strip bar owned by the russian mob. A young woman and man are both dead. It is extremely hot in the dressing room where the bodies are, so Jordan tells the cops to turn down the heat. It looks to be a murder/suicide situation, simple at least for the cops. When the bodies are brought back to the morgue Jordan and the doctors go to work. The young woman , Greyson has at least 4 bullets in her. The man is Robert Munson, who Jordan and Sanders work on while Garret takes Greyson. Jordan states Munson is dead at least 24 hrs., although Sanders says he is pretty ripe for being that dead that long. Greyson is a former heroin user who was at least 6 weeks pregnant. Munson has a gun shot wound and thin red line on his chest and under his arms. Jordan notices something at the base of the gun wound in his head. When she asks Bug to identify it he tells her they are maggots, but the black solider kind that only show up after 5 days of decomposing , very picky maggots. Jordan and the doctors realize the two bodies are decomposing at different rates.
Garret deals with his daughter Abby who is staying with him. At seventeen she is disobedient and getting is trouble. She was suspended from school for having sex in a broom closet.
Later Jordan and Maltesse have Nigel fire gun to see if the same one was used on both , they were. As they come out an FBI agent informs Jordan that she is taking Munsons body, since he is wanted for tax evasion. Jordan is upset big time but can't seem to do anything, but Garret says stay on the case. Later she tricks Sanders and Bug into going to the strip club to examine blood patterns. They are not thrilled to be doing this. Outside Jordan sees a stripper who left a note on Jordan's van about coming back later in the evening. Jordan also notices Agent Laraby doing surveillance outside the club. When jordan confronts her she is evasive.
Back at work Jordan gets x-rays from Nigel and Bug that show Munson was already dead before he got to the club. When Jordan goes to the club the stripper points out Victor Belkove. Again Jordan sees Laraby and tells her Munson didn't commit suicide but was already dead.Laraby tells her Munson was really Sergi Relivic a right hand man to Ivan Curtsove the russian mob boss. A sting was set for Sergi and he turned informant for the FBI who put him into witness protection, Laraby was to guard him. One day over a year ago Sergi disappeared before he could testify. No one could find him until he showed up dead at the club.
Meanwhile Sanders has been going through Greysons stuff. Jordan and Laraby arrive. They leaf through Greyson's stuff and pictures of her before she was transformed into what she looked like now. Someone had to pay big money to get the jobs done. Jordan and the others go back to the lab and get the gel breast implant which has a id number on it. It leads to Belkove,and Laraby tells him Grayson was pregnant. Jordan believes he did kill her. Jordan visits her dad and they play there creepy game. They realize that Relevic was killed the day he disappeared , 18 months and was put on ice. The room was hot to thaw him out. Victor killed both people at different times with the same gun.
Jordan tells Laraby she needs to see the body again so they both pretend to be CDC agents and get samples from the body. Nigel analyzes the stuff and determines the stuff are coffee beans/grinds from a particular bean. Find the distributor and you find the warehouse. Jordan Laraby raid a wear house and find blood on cable there. They find it belongs to Victor Belkov , who uses it for money laundering. Viktor deals, but Jordan really isn't happy about it. Garret shows Abby Angie and tells her she ended up this way because no one stopped her. Jordan meets Angie Greyson's brother Robert who thanks her for finding him. He is devastated over his sisters death. Jordan can only look on in sympathy.
Analysis:
This whole show felt flat to me. The ending threw me off not out of surprise but because it ended so anticlimactic. I didn't really like Laraby or Maltesse who was almost a lamb compared to the other detectives we have had. The show just dragged to the sorry ending. Perhaps that's what the PTB wanted us to feel, frustrated, just as Jordan felt in the end. There really was no justice in the end.
The plot was okay as it mainly dealt with Jordan's case. I feel too many cases going on at once can be confusing. I have to say though that bringing Garret's daughter into the mix actually made me warm up to Garrett himself. Finally someone who stomps all over him and doesn't let him get away with being a wet blanket. I noticed that Lily was no where to be seen this ep. No doubt when Abby sees Lily making goo goo eyes at her dad , she most likely will hurl.
It is nice to see all the doctors getting along and helping each other out. Nigels knowledge of everyday things is great to see. Sanders and Bug make a great team each time they get together and hopefully they will have more cases to do so.
Jordan's home life seems to have gotten a little better, as she has finally moved out on her own into her own apartment. This means she is not always there to drag her father down, which I really feel she was doing in the earlier eps.
Again flat episode with a sorry ending, 2 and a half stars. RTMSTop
Episode 5:You Can't go Home Again
Jordan meets Garret at the office and they talk among other things, what Garret should get his daughter Abby for her birthday. He thinks a chem set might be good, hey he got one and look how he turned out.Yea says Jordan look how he turns out. Yakura comes along and gives Jordan a case- warehouse burnt down, dead body found. Jordan's not really impressed with the case, but Yakura just says do it.
At the warehouse Lt. Winslow is there because police think it may be a homicide. The body is of a off duty fireman .When he ID's the man as Jimmy Donnelly , Jordan gets distraught since he was a close friend of hers.
Back at the lab she and another corner start the autopsy, but Jordan breaks down again. Yakura comes in and tells her she is off the case and to go home. Spying Winslow she knows who ratted her out.
Later Jordan and her dad Max go to a wake for Donnelly at a bar. While there she sees the Irish Mob Boss Blackie Conroy. Lt. Winslow shows up and has bad news for her. It seems the autopsy revealed heavy amounts of gasoline on Jimmy's hands. When Winslow checked him out he found that there were 3 suspicious fires that Donnelly attended. Winslow says it points to Donnelly starting the fires.
The next morning Jordan meets Winslow outside the police station and tries to defend Donnelly by saying the reports point to professional work not sloppy like torching a place. Winslow doesn't buy it.
Later Jordan finds the only witness to the fire, a addict who Donnelly saved. The addict says after Donnelly saved him he ran back in to save another guy who was in there. After, the leather coat guy came out but Donnelly did not.
Meanwhile Bug and Sanders do an autopsy on a clown, Uncle Ha Ha. Lily is distraught because she was a fan of his when she was young. Speaking of the young ,Abby shows up and informs Garret she wants to go to a concert than go out to diner with him. They fight with Abby storming out.
Nigel gives Jordan the autopsy photos and they find that Donnelly was hit with an extinguisher . She tells Winslow of this and then heads to the bar and meets up with Pat Donnelly and her Dad. She confronts Pat about Jimmy torching places and he tells her it was to pay off gambling debts Pat got with Blackie Conroy. She tells him that Jimmy was murdered.
Jordan then goes and tells Winslow her theory that Blackie Conroy had Jimmy murdered, but is shocked to see Conroy in Winslows office. After, they talk about why Jordan feels so strongly about Jimmy and the case. Winslow lets her know that Conroy hired out side help, a guy named Hammerhaun to torch places, that he was seen one hour before the fire. Jordan and her dad go to the warehouse and play the game. They determine that Hammerhaun had already started the fire and Jimmy tried to stop him. They fight and Jimmy kills Hammerhaun with extinguisher , then helps the junkie out and then puts his jacket on Hammerhaun and then sets him on fire. This means Jimmy is still alive, and when they go to the bar Pat admits Jimmy is still alive. Jordan wrestles with telling the police and Jimmy makes it harder when they meet up on his roof. Jordan gives him a head start , and then tells Winslow. He tells the boss but they don't really buy the theory.
Meanwhile Uncle Ha Ha is proving a mystery to Sanders and Bug. While he had numerous problems not one of them killed him. Not until they see taped shows of his do they realize and confirm that he had syphilis for more than 20 yrs. They try to break it gently to Lily who says its sweet- he died because he had a big heart.
Analysis
A great episode this was, that again didn't give the ending away to soon. It wasn't until Jordan and Max played their game that it was reveled that jimmy was still alive. By then it was near the end which is a good way to keep an audience around. All the cases and characters were well done and interesting. The show gave us some nice info on Jordan growing up and what she did. A regular tomboy, where the girl saves the guy. I liked how Jordan for once could not complete her autopsy but still stayed on the case. Again she and Yukura clash over titles and cases. This has to be building towards a major clash in a future ep. This was also better because of Winslow coming back. Again Winslow doesn't let Jordan dictate the case to him, he sticks by his assessment of Donnelly, but still helps out Jordan in the end. Whether he and Jordan become an item is not important , whether he keeps being a strong antangoist for her is. As I said before Jordan needs at least one ongoing detective to give her problems.
More humor again in the case of Uncle Ha Ha and his dying of a big heart, both spiritually and physically. Every other show seems to have a humor case in it and it keeps viewers interested in the show. I know I enjoy the humor parts a lot. Bug and Sanders again are great together and are a good team. Throw in Nigel and one gets all sorts of goodies from him. Garret also looked better this ep, thanks again to Abby. He is far less a depressed man when she is around, probably because he has to worry about her and not himself.
I give this ep 4 stars, sustained interest in the episode, good humor and great characterizations.
RTMSTop
Jordan is sleeping at the office again. She wakes up and dresses herself. When she opens the blinds of her office she is startled by her father standing there. Max comes in and tells her she seriously needs a place of her own. Jordan says no time, Max points to the paper he has, " ever hear of the classifieds?" he asks. Jordan is saved from commenting when a case is called in.
She heads to Mundsy state Park. There detective Lois Karver tells Jordan that there is a dead girl in the bush. When Jordan comments there seems to be a lot of security around, Karver tells her the girl is Stacey Ryder, Senator Ryder's daughter. Karver tells her the photo guy from the coroners office is already here. Jordan tells her no photo guy was called. Jordan sees the guy and calls him off. After, she looks at the body and sees bruising . Just then the girls cell goes off. Jordan answers and listens to someone then speaks to them. The caller hangs up.
Back at the office the guys, Bug, Nigel and Sanders are arguing with a Rabbi over a man's body. State rules require an autopsy , but the Rabbi doesn't want the body cut up etc. Garret comes over and tells the Rabbi that Morris Katz body will be monitored by a jewish doctor. The Rabbi says ok as long as he meets him first.
Also in the office are the senator and his wife. Jordan sees Mrs.Ryder , who tries to look in on her daughter. Jordan intercepts her and takes her into the morgue to look at her. Mrs. Ryder talks about how one is never ready to see a child die.
Later Jordan catches the same reporter in one of the offices going through reports. He tells Jordan his name is Adam. Jordan tells him to get out, until he says he knows where the boyfriend is-meeting him somewhere. She and Adam go to a parking lot and meet the boyfriend , who says he didn't kill her. He had dropped her off after having rough sex with her. Suddenly cop cars come racing to the scene, Adam set him up.
The next day Jordan asks her dad if the friend at the phone company can help her trace the cell call to Ryder's cell. He says he can if she sees the apartment he wants her to get, deal she says.
Meanwhile the guys are starting the autopsy to Mr.Katz. While trying to move him to the examination table they end up dropping him to the floor. Not a great start.
Jordan sees the apartment and that it is run down and had snakes loose in it. She's not happy about it. Adam shows up at the office again and tries to swing a deal with Jordan for info. She gets info on who the call was made to and the two of them go see who it is.
The man Cal is Calvin Yarboro, a phycotherapist who runs a rehab center for the rich. He says he couldn't treat Stacey because she was under age and needed ok from her parents, which didn't come because this is election year.
Later Jordan gets the tox screen on Ryder, large dose of premerine which is for post menopausal women, mommy's drugs. Jordan goes to the funeral memorial for Ryder at her house. Adam is trying to get in but Jordan rats him out to security. Once in, Jordan heads for the bedrooms and bathrooms. She finds the drug in the medicine cabinet in Mrs.Ryders room. Also she notices the floor mat matches the pattern on Stacey, which means she died in the room.
At the office, the autopsy of Katz is going well, they weigh the liver and find it is very heavy. They next have to cut the pelvis because the bowels are cramped and they can't get to it. Just as they cut into the bone, an explosion occurs , blowing up much of the front of the body. To say this violates the body in jewish beliefs is an understatement.
At home Jordan and Max play there game and determine that it was Faulk the senator's aid who stabbed Stacey. Later Faulk is questioned and tells them that he could not have done it because he was driving the senators mistress home that night. He tells them the senator and his wife have not been together for years. She returned early that night. Jordan visits Mrs.Ryder and confronts her about the death. She tells her that Stacey was not dead from the overdose, just in a coma and when she stabbed her she actually killed her. The mother is devastated. Katz meanwhile is able to have a good ceremony honoring him. The guys admit what happened , but nothing is made of it. Jordan moves into her apartment, as her dad helps her move in and get settled.
ANALYSIS:
Another good episode that didn't go formula. I have to say the aid looked guilty to me as well for much of the show. Having the mother accidentally kill her daughter was a nice twist. To see the mother's face when Jordan tells her she killed her not the overdose was great. Seeing her whole plan go wrong the mother's composure falters. And for the first time Jordan and Max are also wrong about who killed the girl. A good ploy to drop in sometimes for the sake of variety. There was also some good humor here provided by the Katz autopsy. The doctors are trying their very best to adhere to the Jewish body rules, only to screw up royally with the front half blowing up. Again though they get into morals that are questionable. Saying God screwed up is, as i believe is wrong. Man did the screwing up, by choosing to sin therefore bringing imperfection to the world. God made it perfect, and intended it to stay that way. Still the show was entertaining and Jordan has another rival for her affections , in the form of Adam the reporter. Will we see him again? Perhaps if another big celebrity dies. As for the apartment screw up, ignore it as this episode was obviously filmed earlier but shown later. Another entertaining ep, humor added variety 3 stars. RTMS Top
The coroners office is busy this morning as Garrett comes to work. Spying Lily he has a quick fantasy until Jordan shows up and ruins it by teasing him. He tells her his love life is none of her business. He gives her a case. A child was struck by a vehicle and died. Always tough ones these kinds they agree.
Jordan and her assistant do the autopsy. They see tire marks on the clothes but there are no contusions from the bumper. Jordan determines that he was not killed by the vehicle, but was already dead.
Another autopsy is being done by Sanders and Bug who work with Candace Macintyre who they both like. They are trying to discover who the bodies are, that were found when digging a new building.
As Jordan goes to her office she meets Howie, the state psychologist. He is doing his rounds and hits on her. Jordan tells him to get lost, but that she also has not had the nightmares for more than a month. Howie leaves her alone for now.
Meanwhile Lily again asks Garret out and gets rebuffed big time. She is visibly hurt. Bug and Trey are doing the autopsy and trying to compete to win Candace's heart. Bug's charm seems to be working far better than Trey's and Trey isn't happy.
Meanwhile, Jordan had tissue samples done and finds out the boy was an asthmatic, and possibly died trying to get to the hospital. She later meets with the parents of the young boy and asks them why he didn't have an inhaler with him. They say they knew about his asthma and always made sure he had his inhaler. They find that the bag he had was not his and so no inhaler.
Bug and Sanders autopsy find the men probably died in a duel over the same woman. Jordan visits the bag's real owner Sarah Browning. Mr. Browning pulls a gun out on her and asks where Sarah is. Jordan tells him she is just a doctor. They tell her that a guy phoned them demanding 100,000 dollars, money they don't make.
Later Jordan visits her dad for some help. He is reluctant since it should go to the police. Evenlyn comes in and isn't happy with the situation. Max tells her to get Bonny Reynolds who can listen to the phone recording. Later, Jordan and Max go to the Browning place with Reynolds and listen to the tape. They determine it is made from a dry cleaning place.
At the office Bug , Sanders and Candace find out who the men are-Benjamin Hamilton and his business partner.
Jordan and Max find a dead guy at the laundry place and Jordan lifts prints off of the contact lens. They analyze the prints at the office at night, but Garrett catches them and Jordan tells him the truth.
The next day Max and Evelyn fight over the phone at the office, while Garrett and Lily settle things and make a date. Sanders and Bug are still trying to impress Candace when Nigel comes in and solves the mystery of the two men. Candace is impressed.
Jordan finds that the prints of the dead guy match a man named Tommy Hughes, who had a partner named George Lupo who got greedy and killed Hughes for the money. They finally call the feds and meet at the Browning house where Lupo calls and tells them where to put the money, at a park. At the park Lupo takes the money , but the feds have been watching and chase him. He dies when he is hit by car. Jordan races him to the office and gets the gang to help her find where he has been for the last 24 hr. They determine he has been at a animal shelter that has a crematorium . The feds and Jordan get there and find the girl alive. This is a great feeling for Jordan, who tells Howie she's happy she told a parent that their child is alive not dead. At Max.'s place she finds that Evenlyn has left and has made an ultimatum to Max.
ANALYSIS:
A great episode that really involved everyone on some level. The A story was backed up by the humorous B plot of the guys. The C plot of Garrett and Lily was a little flat, but was still okay. There was a lot of things done in the med rooms that made this episode really fun to watch. From the dead boy that seemly was a routine vehicle hit, leading all the way to murder and kidnapping, it held your attention. Hennessy was really passionate in this one. One could tell Jordan really felt for the boy and how seriously she takes her job. Ali and Rapoor , and Valintine work so well together, they really pull off a realistic working environment. The humor is quick and witty between all of them. The guest stars were also okay , although Howie was a little too annoying, with hitting on Jordan and all. Hessman as Bonny was boring, looking like his WKRP character.
There were a few things bothering me though. They concern Jordan. A week ago I was trolling through some previews and post reviews of Crossing Jordan and many panned the show. Most compared or said it was either Qincy wannabe or CSI LITE. Now I don't think the first is true, but the second is getting more justification. Especially watching this show, and the end where Jordan wants to find where the guy has been. They all use forensic science and this comes off as CSI like. They and Jordan are coroners first. Let the FBI do this or the police forensic lab. For that matter why doesn't Jordan simply get some upgrading and become a forensic scientist for the police. It would make her life easier. She is good at this stuff so why not? Another issue is Jordan and her dad Max. I said earlier that Jordan having her own place would be better for her and Max to get on with their lives. Well Jordan doesn't seem to want that, as she is now going to his place and also dragging him to the crime scene. Talk about interfering in his life. I have to say she looked almost gleeful when Max told her Evenlyn left. Like old times she says, except that old times caused her to lose her job and Max to become depressed and lose his job. While Evenlyn needs to see that Max enjoys the detective work when Jordan brings home cases, getting involved as he did here and previously will only hurt him in the long run I feel. He needs to tell Jordan to take a hike and turn it down a notch.
Another great episode, with humor again coming through. Some frustrating issues with Jordan and Max which may pan out at the end of the season . 4 and a half stars. RTMS
Another day, another dead body as Jordan meets detective Lois Karver and reporter Adam down at the marina. The body is of a guy about 50 who seemly has 5 bullet wounds. When she examines the body closer she realizes the holes are from being embalmed not bullets. Someone has dug him out of his grave and dumped his body in the water. At the office Trey helps her try to find a death certificate. Garett is not happy this morning , he tells her because Yakura is leaving and not putting him in charge. Jordan offers to defend him, Garett declines the offer.
Nigel and Bug go over their work evaluations, which Bug passed with flying colors, but Nigel did not. Nigel is worrying because his visa is up in 5 days. It seems Nigel has fibbed a little in that he came to the US on a student visa 13 yrs ago and never left. He goes around asking anyone to marry him.
Meanwhile Trey has found out who the dead guy was and finds out he wasn't dead for long, only 2 months and has been buried in a military cemetery as far has his wife knows. Jordan checks out the the cemetery with Trey and then calls Lois and has the grave dug up. While doing so the FBI show up, the agent is Drew Haley, federal ground, federal case-get lost basically is the message. Before she does Jordan checks the coffin and finds a very recent dead women there. When she gets back to the office she runs into Drew again who demands the memory from the camera. Jordan gives him a blank one , which he doesn't realize and leaves.
Jordan and Nigel check out the images and determine the killer was not far away. The two of them return to the grave yard at night and find a shed the killer was in. They find the FBI has already gone over it and tried to erase any evidence they found, but some numbers are still there. Jordan meanwhile has been giving the scoop to Adam in return for favors-ones he doesn't like. He tells her Haley is the FBI's top profiler and has been digging up graves for the last 6 months.
She decides to confront him at the field quarters of the FBI in Boston. They meet and talk and Jordan convinces him to let her in on the case. At the office Garrett and Lily have yet another tiff as Garrett is rude to her. She tells him to get over the fact he doesn't have the courage to ask for the CME job and take it out on her. Next she tells Nigel that she will marry him.
The next morning Jordan and Drew examine the bodies of the five women. He tells her they have named him Digger, because he digs up recent bodies and puts the women in there. While looking over the chart of two of them, Jordan picks out a common mistake made by the Portland ME. The first body who Drew thinks died first is actually the second to die. This screws him up totally and he is quite upset about it. Jordan tells him it isn't his fault, but he says it is because he based his profile on this evidence and now that whole theory is wrong, which means they have been investigating the wrong way. They have a argument in which he says she is a daddy's girl and that something in her past has wounded her deeply. So what Jordan says, let her help him, she knows how. They play the game and get close but nothing happens and Jordan leaves.
At the office Garrett is still in his bad mood when Lily asks for Tuesday off. Asking why she evades at first until he notes Nigel has asked for the same day off. She tells him she is marrying Nigel , at which point Garrett comes down hard and says no. No matter they will get married at the office.
Jordan spies Adam who has used his connections at the Bureau to find out Haley has asked for a warrant to search a , here Jordan spoils it and says trailer park. The two of them go there and find Diggers trailer and look through it. They find pictures of the women and the numbers again and Jordan realizes they mean how long the women took to die. Just then Digger ,with a mans' body in his truck,shows up and fights off both Jordan and Adam. Jordan's ID badge get knocked off and Digger runs away. Jordan then hears a woman's voice coming over a radio and tells Adam to stuff the body in his trunk and call Garrett to assemble the team pronto. At the office Garrett takes charge and the team try to find where the dead guy has been buried. Lily tries to keep the women named Chole calm, but time is running out. They determine the guy was buried in a grave at the Armenia church 10 min away from the office. Garrett also confronts Yakura about the CME job and demands the job, which Yakura says was always his. Jordan gets to the grave with an ambulance and Drew, who shows up and gets the coffin open. The emergency crew announce the women dead. Mean while Digger has burned his trailer and heads out, with Jordan's ID badge in the seat next to him.
Episode 9
Jordan looks out of it, for a good reason. Digger has her and is making her up. He then puts her in a coffin and closes the lid. We don't see who digger is by the way.
Two days earlier Jordan and Drew survey the burnt trailer Digger fired the night before when the young woman Chole died. The two of them argue a bit until Drew cracks a joke about how cranky Jordan is when she's tired. Drew also chases away Adam who is busy clicking away. While looking the scene over Jordan comes across a piece of stain glass with a lily on it.
At the office, its the morning meeting , and Garret informs everyone that Yakura is gone and he is now the CME. Everyone congratulates him. Then he lays down the law, saying that the office is not for personal business. Nigel looks on with dissatisfaction while Lily just leaves. Before Garret goes Trey brings in a cool looking chair which he informs Garret cost 4,700 of tax money. Garret can't believe this and is not happy finding this out.
Jordan and Bug are doing the autopsy on Chole, trying to find any evidence to pin Digger with. Bug says there is not enough blood to do DNA, but Drew says send to the FBI lab. Bug gives him a look of mistrust until Jordan says its ok, he's cool. Just as long as he's not as cool as Bug .Nigel comes in and has analyzed the stomach contents, finding that Chole had eaten frog legs that night. This means restaurant hunting.
Garret is settling down to his new job when Lily comes in and says he needs to sign a pile of requisitions. She stands there until he asks why, and she informs him Yakura just signed them without looking. He tells her things are different with him in charge and he will look them over before signing. Fine have it his way, Lily says and goes to walk out the door. She does not leave and they talk more about the wedding. He says he will not stop the wedding, he won't come to her rescue. She's stunned that he won't, seeming to believe he would. He won't be manipulated .
Meanwhile Jordan and Drew have been visiting restaurants who serve frog legs, trying to find anyone who saw Chole the night before. They hit the last one on the list, but the waitress does not recognize the girl. This is a waste of time Drew says and starts to leave when Jordan spies a window with stained lilies on them. They check out the place and find that an old women lived there until about a month ago when she died. They also find a small window seat that has a door to it to store stuff in it . They realize that Digger was put into this when he was a small child, traumatizing him. Drew calls the FBI and they go over the place. They find the place belonged to a Marcy Gallow and she had a son who is named Daniel, who they think is Digger.
Jordan goes back to the office and tries to find the death and autopsy records of Marcy Gallow. While there she runs into Adam who tells her that Haley is a hack. He also realizes she is sweet on Haley, which she denies. Jordan finds the autopsy records and finds a sister still alive. She decides to go and visit the woman. Meanwhile Garret tries the chair and finds he actually likes it.
Jordan visits the sister, Jeanne Gallow and asks some questions about her sister . One in particular, how could she have a baby when she was infertile? Jeanne tells her the baby was hers. When she was 15 she had a baby and could not take care of the infant. Marcy was older and could not have any of her own, so to avoid a scandal she gave the infant to Marcy. Unfortunately Marcy was also a prostitute which Daniel must have seen.
Back at the office the power goes out as well as the generator. When Garret asks Lily why its not working its because he didn't sign the papers this morning, which had the order to fix the power. They will have to wait until next morning to get power. Trey later informs him that with no power, there are no refrigeration systems to cool the bodies. Garret tells him to get some dry ice to use on the corpses.
At Drew's hotel Jordan shows up and tells him about Diggers real mother. He quickly closes his briefcase before Jordan sees what is in there. While there Jordan tells Drew of the day her mother died, on her 10th birthday, and how the one thing she noticed was the color of the blood. She also says how mad her Dad was something she had never seen. Jordan and Drew get close and start to kiss but Drew breaks it off saying past problems prevent him from responding. They simply lie on the bed and fall asleep, but Jordan wakes up later and looks inside Drew's briefcase. She finds tapes that have the dead women's names on them, and takes one of them and listens to it. It has a woman's voice on it calling for help. Jordan is stunned and scared. She quickly leaves the hotel.
The next morning Garret finds out Yakura was a penny pincher to the extreme not even getting the wiring the electric guy tells Garret should have been done a while ago. The guy tries to bribe Garret, but he stands his ground.
Jordan has called Adam and is waiting for him when he comes in. He tells her the info on Haley. It seems until 4 yrs ago Drew Haley didn't exist. He was formerly Dr. Mark Elis, behavior psychologist for the criminally insane. He was the best and had everything going for him, a wife, a son ,great life and so on. It all came crashing down one day when he found his wife in their bathroom, having drowned their young son. He lost it, disappeared and then became Drew Haley. This scares Jordan and she phones her Dad, but he is not home. Emmy a office secretary comes in and gives her messages from Drew, and that she gave him Jordan 's phone number. Not good Jordan realizes if Drew is Digger.
In the evening Garret calls on Lily, who is getting ready for the wedding. He tells her the wedding is off because he gave Nigel a really good evaluation, so Nigel won't have to leave. Lily is impressed with him, especially when he tells her he did it for himself and her.
Jordan has fallen asleep and it is now night time. She wakes up and goes to the bathroom. While walking there she meets Drew who wants to talk to her. Jordan get jumpy trying to tell him to go away, when he grabs her and says he has to come clean. Jordan freaks out and panics running into the lab and locking the doors. She asks him why he had the tapes, which he says Digger gave him because he has taunted Drew to follow him to Boston. She still does not trust him until he pulls out her ID badge. Before she can come out a sheet pulls back on one of the tables and Digger is there. Digger injects some sort of knockout serum into Jordan and drags her to the elevator and steals a van to get away. Drew can do nothing but watch.
At the grave site, Jordan is still suffering from the drug. Digger makes her up and then puts her in the coffin. At the office Drew and Garret talk about possible locations, until Drew gets a call telling him the van has been spotted at a grave yard. The two of them both go. Meanwhile Jordan is trying to make Digger stop and uses his real name Daniel. She pretends to be his mother and tells him she locked him away for his own good. Digger does not by it and keeps dumping dirt. Then Jordan tells him the secret, that Aunt Jeanne is really his mother. That stops Digger cold and he runs off to his aunts place. A few minutes later Drew and Garret show up with police and paramedics. Digger had left the other radio at the grave site and Jordan calls for help on the one she has. They hear her plea and find her and get her out of the coffin. When the police radio in that they lost sight of the van, Jordan tells them Digger went to his aunts house. They all go there, only to hear a gun shot. Inside the house Jeanne has shot Digger/Daniel who asks before he dies not to be buried.
At the office, Garret signs off on the body and Drew, Jordan and he head out. Garret offers Jordan a ride home and says good-bye to Drew. Drew asks if he is welcomed by Jordan to come back. Only if its social she says and kisses him good-bye. Just before the elevator door closes she tells Drew she is sorry for the loss of his son. Drew looks stricken as the doors close. Garret comes and while waiting for the elevator gives Jordan a hug.
ANALYSIS:
WOW, WOW, WOW, is all I can say. The best episode so far this year. Everyone came out of this shinning in one way or another. From the main case with Digger and the danger it so well conveyed to humor of the wedding , both episodes came up big. The first part set up the second so well. The viewer wanted to come back to the next part, just because of all the clues that could lead almost anywhere. I am not the only one who felt it might be Drew Haley as the murder, and I have to say Chris Noth played Haley so well that you could not tell whether he was or not until he said he wasn't and Digger jumps out in front of the viewer. The viewer also felt for Digger, after finding out what happened to him as a young child.
We find out some things about a few of our doctors in these episodes. Nigel is here illegally on a student visa long since expired , that he likes cats and such. Given the controversy since Sept.11 about immigration and illegals staying on past their visa times, its ironic that this show treats this with the humor it does. These green card issues are almost always treated as funny ,try to fool the gov't and get off in the end. While I am not saying it should not have been done, some may not find it amusing. Lily helping Nigel out and marrying him, but trying to get Garret to stop her also shows much about her character. In fact she came off as manipulative and snotty when she didn't tell Garret about the important papers in the pile and then blamed him when things went wrong. Luckily for her Garret either forgave her or doesn't care because he does stop the wedding and gives Nigel a better evaluation. He turns out to be not only a nice guy but just may be able to handle the daily grind of being the CME now.
As for Jordan, she is her same stubborn self, but now we really see it from her view. Learning what really took place the day her mother died, brings the viewer in so much more into Jordan's life. This character grew in this episode. Jordan finally confides to someone her fears and opens up, to someone who has endured much pain themselves. Her fear that Drew is the murder, shows she is not perfect and can make mistakes about people. The point that was repeated throughout was she was not afraid to step out and take a leap of faith. She matches wits with Digger and gets him to stop dumping dirt and to leave the radio he would have taken, if not distracted by seeing his real mother.
Chris Noth was a great guest star and I hope he does indeed come back. It would be fun to see his character and Jordan lock horns again. As noted above he played the character so well, dark,brooding, and mysterious that many viewers thought he might be the killer. The pain we learn he has suffered is ripped right out of the head lines. A mother drowning her kid. The look on the characters face at the end when Jordan mentions the son is so sad.
The theme of mothers and what they can be like was presented well here. We have Jordan's mother who to our knowledge was a devoted and loving mother, cut down in her prime. Forever scaring Jordan and her father, both of whom obsess about her murder to the point where it interferes in there careers. Then we have Drews wife, who to the outside is the picture perfect mother , but somewhere deep inside is disturbed enough to kill her own son. Diggers has it even worse, where his real mother, out of desperation to avoid scandal hands him off to a older sister already into prostitution. Wanting to hide him from what she does she locks the kid up inside a window seat. I doubt it was real love that drove her to do so, only to conceal her job from him. Neither mother seems to care for this guy.
Technically this was also a great show. The use of music and slow mo shots was used to really draw the viewer in. Was anyone else creeped out when Digger jumped out from behind Jordan underneath the sheet?
The slow mo used as Jordan is buried had one wondering why Jordan would not fight back, she seemed so weak and scared.
Again great episode, that lets many of the cast shine as an ensemble and on their own. Great use of a guest star who came through with a wonderful performance.
5 out of 5 stars RTMS Top
Elvis is singing the christmas blues as Jordan and Eddie walk to the station enjoying a coffee, or in Eddies case a mocachinno. She is suspicious about motives but thanks him for the drink. Just as they get to the station, cops come swarming out. Eddie asks what's up and someone tells him a cop has been shot. He tells Jordan meet him there, when she gets a page saying the cop is now dead.
At the scene, Jordan surveys the body , noting the gun shot wound in chest. The officer was Thomas Dell, a seven year veteran of the force. Witnesses say a Jamaican guy fled the scene. Eddie is angry and tells Jordan to find everything to nail the guy who did this. She promises to do so.
At the office the place is packed with city officials all wanting to know the details of the how the cop died. Garret is under pressure to find the answers. As they talk, Jordan receives some messages from a Kim and Annie. She tells Lily to put them in her box, and walks off clearly uncomfortable. Meanwhile Lily takes the opportunity to ask Garret out for Christmas dinner, but he can't make it. He has to go to his ex-wife's place for dinner with his daughter. He tells her though he is happy she invited him.
Nigel and Bug talk about the upcoming holiday , which Nigel takes advantage of and asks Bug to drink some concoction he made up. After tasting it Bug is not impressed , and grumbles about the Christmas holiday, which Lily takes as meaning because he is foreign he does not like the holiday. Bug surprises them when he tells them his family actually went all out for the traditional Christmas. Just then Nigel gets a phone call from a radio station and says the right phrase to win a ski trip. Unfortunately no one wants to go with him.
At the autopsy for Dell, Sanders is shocked at the messy wound the bullet made. Jordan tells him its a Black Talaum bullet that goes in smooth, then gets it's hooks in and makes a mess. When she talks to Nigel he traces the bullet to a Rudy Coombs , who looks Jamaican. Jordan tells Lt.Winslow.
In Garrets office he finds his ex wife Maggie in there. They talk nicely until she says she is inviting her divorce lawyer and his wife to Christmas dinner. At this Garret explodes and says no way is he spending time with the guy who helped make the divorce final. At this Abby comes in remarking about old memories this fighting brings back. Garret puts his foot down and says he is not going to the dinner then. Abby and Maggie are upset with him and both leave steaming.
At the memorial for Officer Dell, Jordan and Max arrive and give their condolences and donations. Eddie stops by and thanks Jordan for the info on Coombs , they have put an apb on him. He then makes a remark to Max which offends Max somehow. Max leaves a little irritated , but Jordan covers for him.
At the office, Nigel invites Sanders to the ski trip. At first skeptical , Sanders accepts but gets uneasy when Nigel acts weird.
Jordan , now at the office tells Garret and Bug she has been told Coombs in now dead. The hospital has him right now. It looks suspicious to all. Jordan and Bug recover the body at the hospital and get a look at Coombs, who has nasty wound on his head. Bug remarks the cops did a job on the guy. The cops happen to be Lt.Winslow and Officer Hardwick. At the hospital Jordan tries to talk to them but they can't until internal affairs talks to them. The autopsy says that Coombs was asphyxiated and died. Bug blames the cops while Jordan tries to look for other reasons,but they are thin. Garret tells Bug to run all tests and then some to determine how this guy died.
At police headquarters Jordan tries to talk to Eddie about what really happened but he is closed mouth about it, saying only it was by the book. Jordan says the whole thing looks hinky.
Garret then takes some time to talk to Lily about dinner, who is happy he can now make it. Deputy Chief Jim Keller from the police shows up and lets Garret know how happy the Chief of Police is about Garrets promotion. He tells him how cops take care of their own business and that since Coombs is a cop killer he should go easy on the autopsy in favor of the cops.
Bug and Sanders retrieve another body who happened to commit suicide, the third this week. Bug says it common during the holidays. Sanders asks about Nigel but Bug doesn't really answer him.
That evening Garret is working, until Lily tells him a cop and his daughter are out in the hallway. Abby was caught drinking and driving and Garret is upset with her. He tells her to take responsibility for her self, but she shoots back that he should do the same since he isn't coming to dinner.
Sander decides to tell Nigel he doesn't want to go on the trip. Nigel can't understand why Sanders is backing out and is bewildered.
Jordan and Bug talk about the case of Coombs, which Bug believes the cops did a job on , because of racial profiling and such. Jordan says the guy was a cop killer it could of happened to anyone who was that. Bug then asks how many times she has been pulled over for a ticket by cops. He says he has 3 times in the last month. Bug wonders if Jordan doesn't want to see the truth , that Winslow may have indeed killed the guy. Either way the truth will come out since Garret has ordered an inquest. Jordan questions Garret about doing so, but Garret wants the truth since every thing that has come back looks like Coombs was beaten. There was no drugs found in his system which means he wasn't acting high on drugs. Also there was evidence of a cerebral contusion .
The next morning , Jordan arrives to find Kim and Annie waiting there for her. They tell her they won't let her off easy. She can't blow them off as she admits she was trying to do. They make arrangements to meet at Jordan's place on 227 Pearl St. the next night, and Jordan better not miss it or she will end up on the autopsy table they joke.
Later the inquest is starting, and as Eddie comes in he exchanges a quick word with Jordan, in which he blames her for this investigation. Whoa says Jordan, she had nothing to do with this, Bug did the autopsy and the findings ,plus having the police stonewall have brought this around.
At the inquest, Officer Hardwick gives his version of what happened. He and Winslow spotted Coombs and when Coombs ran Winslow chased after him and took him down. Coombs was acting weird and hyper. They put him in the car and while on the way to the station, some how Coombs died.
That night Jordan talks to her dad Max and says Hardwick is basically lying. She compares Eddie ratting out Max to this problem. Max says that was different. Jordan is beginning to believe that Eddie may really be guilty of murder. Max says that before her mother died he never worried about her much because Jordan's mother was there if something happened. Once she died though he always made sure he came back home after work and if that meant the criminal would have to suffer so he would not, then so be it.
At the office that night Maggie and Garret have a nice talk about Abby and what may have gone wrong in raising her. Lily walks in with papers and sees the two of them, and is then introduced to Maggie. She leaves but has taken notice of how the two of them were acting. She decides to tell Garret that her mother will be with her so dinner plans are off unfortunately. Garret understands, but Lily is depressed.
Christmas Eve the next day, and day two of the inquest has Winslow taking the stand. He basically backs up what Hardwick says , but then Jordan asks some very pointed questions and even though Winslow keeps his cool, Hardwick comes clean and tells the truth. He spotted Coombs and when he left a club he followed him. Hardwick told him to surrender and Coombs did. Hardwick then called for back up, and in order to keep Coombs from moving , kneeled on his back while Coombs was on the ground. After about two minutes Coombs body went limp for some reason that Hardwick could not understand. Garret says it was because by kneeling on the back, Coombs lungs were unable to contract and bring in air, thus asphyxiating him. He stills rules it a homicide though because neither can explain how Coombs got the wound on his head. Winslow is mad at Jordan for ruining Hardwicks career. Says she was not being a friend.
Later, Bug who has been running more tests on Coombs finds something and invites Jordan to look at it. He has found iron globules on the contusion ,from which Jordan and he surmise that the wound is at least five days old, and since he has been dead only three days, it means Dell must have hurt Coombs before he was shot. This also accounts for why he was acting delusional , as though he was on drugs. Jordan visits Garret later with Dells stick and has found a hair sample on it matching Coombs which confirms Dell hit him before he died. The whole death was really an accident just as Hardwick says. Garret gives the info to the DA office. Jordan goes and tells Eddie that new evidence has cleared Hardwick and they both apologize for what was said during the investigation. At the office DC Keller thanks Garret for supposedly steering the investigation the cops way and gives him a bottle of wine. Garret says stuff it, this office will uphold the truth always even if it goes against the police and to take his bottle and never return unless dead.
Later Eddie visits Max and apologizes for the memorial. He also says he should have stood up for Maxfive years ago when he put a suspect in the hospital when trying to get info out of him. This lead to him being dismissed from the force. Max say s no problem, let it go.
At the office Lily is depressed until Bug tells her he will pick her up Christmas morning. He doesn't tell her why he is doing so , only to be ready.
Nigel and Trey go on the ski trip after they have a talk and Nigel says to mind his own business.
Jordan and her two friends enjoy a evening of reminiscing about old times. She tells them she really is afraid of how she acts in front of them, and that's why she was trying to blow them off. They tell her she has always been strange , but they accept her for who she is. They have missed her these last years she has been gone and wanted to get back together again. They tell her no one is perfect and share a group hug. Later as Jordan sings a song we see Garret with his family , and Lily and Bug are dishing out free food for the poor and homeless, something no one would have expected. At home with Max they won't be able to enjoy a turkey dinner, but will have some pizza. They all enjoy a merry Christmas.
ANALYSIS:
Another great ensemble show, with some seriousness and lightheartedness in equal amounts. The A story of the cop killing gelled nicely with all characters side stories of how they were going to spend the holidays. Each was interesting in their own way and did not take away from any one else or the cop killing story. More character building in this episode made all the people mature.
Nigel's ski weekend and Sanders reluctance to go was understandable. I don't approve of homosexuality or bisexuals and so was a little turned off of the innuendo that was going around. Eventually things worked out for Sanders, although I don't know why when he had no trouble telling Jordan in the pilot that he didn't dig white girls he just didn't say the same sort of thing to Nigel.
Bug was the most surprising, giving a convincing version of a grumbling scrooge when really he cares a lot about things most people, including his place of work would not really think of at all. His skepticism about cops made the Coombs death interesting. He was not afraid to voice the dissenting opinion, but also realized that he could be wrong. By doing all the tests as he was asked he eventually found evidence that cops did not intentionally kill the suspect.
Garret, Lily and family was a rollercoaster ride. Unfortunately I have to find fault with Abby here. I found her to be manipulative and selfish. Her whole responsibility speech was not about thinking about any one else just her self. It was a cop-out but because this is a nice ep everything works out. I felt Garret should have blown both of them off. Both Maggie and Abby were self centered and really did not consider him in anything they did.
Jordan and family was nice and interesting. We finally find out what really happened to force Max off the job. Jordan is as complicated as usual, when she seems to know what her father did and justify it and yet attacks Eddie for doing almost the same thing. Now we see why she still has issues with Eddie, although time seems to have eased some of the problems over. We also got to finally see her with some girlfriends. Yet she is uneasy with them, at first trying to blow them off, then complaining to them that she is weird. I 'm glad they told her to get over it and got along so well together. I hope they pop in during the regular season. Finally Max and Jordan seem to be getting along better. There is no Evelyn to make everyone uncomfortable so the two of them relax and enjoy the holiday, their own way.
This episode seemed to be shot differently from the other eps. The transitions between the scenes seemed too quick and abrupt at times. In particular when they swing the camera around 180 degrees just to go to another office in the building. At times I went huh when one scene changed to another, they just did not proceed together well at times . The music on the other hand was great. Irish jigs, Elvis blues and Jordan singing a beautiful song at the end, made the episode a joy to listen to.
The episode was a good mix of stories this time out, with the smaller plots complementing the A plot. While I think it was wrapped up a little too nice and pat, it still works for their first Christmas ep. I give it 4 stars.
RTMSTop
Episode 11:Wrong place, Wrong Time
Jordan is awakened in her bed by the telephone ringing. She doesn't really want to answer it and luckily she doesn't have to as a deep voice answers it for her. She looks perplexed then embarressed, when the voice says it some guy named Garrett for her. The camera pans out and we see its our favorite boyfriend,(and Jordan's so far) Tyler. Jordan takes the phone and is told to meet Garrett at a bank, where a robbery has taken place and someone has died. The two of them sit there for a moment, while Jordan states the obvious, that they had sex. Yea, says Tyler they defintly had sex. Jordan gets up and gets dressed , while Tyler decides to stay in bed.
At the bank Jordan meets Garrett who teases her about the new "roomate" she has gotten. Drop it Jordan basically says and asks about the robbery. Just then a young detective comes up to them telling them he is assinged to the case. His name is Woodie Hoyt from Wisconsin, just recently transfered to Boston. He is eager, bright and full of energy. He describes the scene to them , the robbers come in, take down the guard, then apperently start to fire their weapons and a woman gets caught in the cross fire.The robbers are wearing masks of former U.S. Presidents Bush and Clinton. Both had armor on them. The money was also tagged with a dye. When Jordan lifts up the mask of one of the robbers she discovers a woman underneath.
At the office, Garrett and Jordan are talking. Unfortuantly for Garrett Jordan is not talking shop, but about Tyler and such. He tells her she really needs to talk to her girlfriends, at which Jordan says as if. Detective Woodie shows up and tells them the ID of the woman, a Sydney Raines Wheeler. Rich and quite giving , she was very much involed in charity work. The robber is Bonnie Porazo, small time crook. Before he leaves he invites them to police HQ, which surprises both Jordan and Garrett who are not use to having the cops be so accomodating to them. As they part ways Jordan jokes about having what ever Woodie is taking to be so cheerful. As they get to Garrett's office Garrett spies a picture of him when young, on the wall outside his door. He is very upset and wants to know who did this. He asks Lily about it, but she doesn't know, but thinks its cool that he was into drums.
In one of the autopsy rooms, Bug and Nigel have the body of Barney Zimmerman. Bug isn't even going to bother to cut him up because he has already looked at the man's medical records, and sees he had alterior schloriss , a heart attack. Nigel bugs him and says he should do an autopsy, but Bug is insisant, this is easy work, a little break which he needs.
At the police office Woodie, Jordan and Garrett along with the security guard Mr.Driscoll, look at the security tapes of the robbery. Afterwards Jordan is suspious about what happened, that it looks sloppy. Garrett dismisses it, and Woodie makes a comparison between them and the X-Files duo. Jordan and Garrett walk away with "Ok he's weird" looks on their faces. Woodie lets us know he likes the X-Files.
Back at the office, Bug and Nigel are talking to Mrs. Zimmerman who seems to be grieving over her husband. She has come to claim the body , but Nigel has some questions for her. For instance on the files it says that she and Mr.Z are currently divorced. Bug informs her that because she is not next of kin now he can not let the body go. Mrs.Z gets up and she is suddenly very cold, as she infoms Nigel that she doesn't like him at all. Nigel thinks it foul play.
In Garrett's office, Mr. Wheeler is there to claim the body. He doesn't act too distruaght which makes Garrett suspisous. Garrett sees that their son is with him. Wheeler says his wife always made the deposits every Monday, even though he told her she should not be alone. Jordan says they will help find the killer. As Wheeler leaves, Garrett is ill at ease by him. He tells Jordan that he sees lots of grieving spouses and Wheeler struck him as odd. Jordan jokes he's becoming like her.
Jordan goes home to her apartment and finds dinner and candle light . Tyler walks in from the shower and invites Jordan to bed. Jordan mentions how he will have to be leaving soon, to which Tyler replies planes have changed, he has found constuction work in the city. Jordan is caught off guard and the mood grows cold, which Tyler notices and realizes no bed time for him.
The next morning, Bug and Nigel talk to Dilbert, another person who wants to claim the body of Mr.Zimmerman. Bug tells him the wife has already made a claim to the body.
In Garrett's office he finds drum sticks there, which annoys him. Lily has put them there, thinking he might want to find his wild side again, she teases him.
In the conference room, Bug and Nigel are talking to yet another member of the Zimmerman family, the daughter. She expresses disgust with the idea that Dilbert would get the body. When Nigel asks what she is going to do with the body, she tells them a story , that is clearly made up, of how he will be buried at sea with his navy buddies. Bug and Nigel are not convinced, telling her it has gone to the courts. As she leaves, Miss Zimmerman gets up close and personal with Bug, showing her assets to him and asking to notify her if something comes up.
In the autopsy lab, Jordan and Garrett start looking at the body of Parazo. Woodie also is there. Jordan notes that the neck wound is superficial, it just grazed her. The real entry would is in her hand, the exit wound in her stomach. Woodie thinks she was hit twice, but they bring the bullet over to Nigel who tells them the damage was done by one bullet. The bullet went in her hand, traveled along the arm, bounces off the humourous bone, glances off the clavical which makes it penatrate the skin but then bounces off the body armour and goes back in, hits the ribs and exits through the stomach finally. Woodie realizes that were it not for the armour, Perazo would still be alive. Nigel also points out that the bullet is from a AK, which means the other robber shot her.
While disussing it with Nigel, they come across Tyler sitting among the gang talking about her and such. Jordan is uncomfortable seeing him there. The gang starts to tease her and eventually is cornered into giving a house warming party. She takes Tyler aside to her office where they argue about it. Garrett comes along and tells her the other robber has been found.
Jordan asks how it could be the other robber and Garrett reminds her about the dye. While looking over the body with a special light they pick up the dye. This now means that both robbers are dead and no one can pin it on anyone else. During the autopsy they find sawdust on the guy.Woodie arrives and ID's the body as a Leon Munz, two bit crook. This robber killed Mrs. Wheeler and Garrett asumes it was Ryan Wheeler who had his wife killed. They realize that Wheeler owns a bar, where sawdust is usally found.
Jordan and Garrett go the the Beardog's Bar that Wheeler owns. They both try to look tough,though only Jordan mildly succedes. They order drinks and Jordan commets on how she digs this side of Garrett. Garrett asks what side is that, and Jordan tells him the kick ass side of him is impressive. Garrett smartly changes the subject and asks about the party she is giving tonight and about Tyler. Jordan admits she has intimacy problems, but why get hung up over it. Wheeler arrives and Garrett goes right at him, asking about what he and Munz talked about. Wheeler and Garrett stand nose to nose as Wheeler mouths off. Garrett is not afraid and suddenly head butts Wheeler giving him a bloody nose. Jordan and Garrett get out of there fast.
At Jordan's place, she cleans him up and asks him why he is so upset about this case. Garrett will not talk about it, but is still upset about what really happened. They play the victim killer game , which they rewind a few times and come to see that the guard was in on the robbery. They also determine that he shot himself.
With that out of the way the dinner party starts. Unfortuantly the food is less than desirable and everyone is not eating much. In fact the party is dead, until Nigel brings out the party rescue idea. On a bunch of cards are questions that are posed to everyone or to individuals. If you do not answer the question you have to take a shot of booze. Since the questions turn out to be very personal, everyone eventually gets drunk. Tyler is then asked what his intentions are toward Jordan . Jordan eggs him on and tells him what she expects from him, such as rent , marriage and childern. At this Tyler finally looks panicked and uneasy.
The next morning at police HQ, Jordan and Garrett watch Woodie interrogate Driscoll the guard. Woodie doesn't waste time and comes right out and accuses him of being in on the bank robbery. Jordan and Garrett are impressed. Driscoll is upset ,and when Woodie serves him with a warrant he is nonplussed, that is until he finds the warrant is for his body. Jordan and Garrett come in and take an impression off of the bullet wound. The powder of a normal wound would have been cleaned off , but with a self inflicted wound the powder is seared into the wound. Driscoll agrees to pick out Wheeler as the person who he saw talk to the two robbers who hired him to warn them when Mrs.Wheeler came in.
On the way out, Garrett says he feels anticlimatic about it all. Jordan says do worry and that he should go and get Wheeler with Woodie. Garrett does so and is satified that Wheeler will get what is coming to him.Wheeler threatens him, but Garrett is not worried. Woodie is happy since this is his first arrest in Boston and gives him his rights.
At the office Nigel has x-rayed Mr. Zimmerman and lets Bug look at them. They find an obstruction in the dudenum. Nigel is pleased to hear Bug say he is curious about what really happened to Mr.Z. Later at the conference room Mr.Zimmerman's family, who all seem to care for him are present to listen to Bug and Nigel give them the reason why he died. It seems Barney, who had always played the lottery with the same numbers for years, finally hit the jack pot. A 30 million jackpot, and not wanting to share it with the other family members he swallowed the ticket, to later retrive it. Unfortuantly the plastic baggie he put it in to swallow it expired and he died. The other family members promise to cut Nigel and Bug in on the money, but Nigel tells them there is nothing to cut. Barney left all the money to the stray animals of Boston. The family members all suddenly leave, none of them interested in claiming the body.
Tyler stops by the office and he and Jordan sort of apologize for what happened at the party.Tyler has decided to leave town for now. They kiss and go their separate ways.
At Garrett's office Jordan stops by to talk. She confesses to being the one who put the picture up. While in there a few days ago she saw the photo album and could not resist . Garrett relates why the picture and the case botherd him. His dad was a hero to him, ran out on him when he was 7. Garrett went through his wild days until he realized he was becoming the man his father was and vowed he would not. Jordan thanks him for listen and being a good girlfriend and leaves for the night. Garrett plays air drums with the sticks.
ANAYLSIS:
Another good episode, that is bringing variety in. Again humor and seriousness seem to be the mix for this show. Its a good mix and keeps the episodes interesting. The occasional all serious episodes make the show grow and the characters with them.
Teasing in one way or another was the theme in this epiosde with Garrett teasing Jordan, and vice versa, Tyler teasing Jordan to have sex, Lily teasing Garrett about his past, and the others teasing Jordan about the house warming. It showed just how much these guys like each other, even though Jordan apperently thinks of them only as coleagues not close friends. In fact this seems to be a contracdiction not only with this episode but others as well. From what I have seen she gets along with everyone on the job, off and on duty.
The A plot was a little boring and predictable, as Wheeler came off as a real jerk but nothing else. He really did not come off as sinister or any thing else. I had to wonder why Sydney would marry a guy who seems to come from a seedier back ground. He didn't strike me as being overly wealthy, where she was. It was easy to see who did the killing when Wheeler gives out all the info when he claims the body.
I believe they did this , not so much as a mystery, but as a vehicle for Garrett to shine. I give Ferrer full marks for his protrayal here. Garrett came off not so tight and wound up this time and seems to mellow just a bit. He didn't bark at Lily when she gave him the sticks and when Jordan confesses about the picture he takes it in stride.What was really great was finding out that he has indeed sowed his wild oats and had his wild time before realizing he was going nowhere fast. Not wanting to be like his father and avoid respondablity he has gone the opposite direction and gotten stressed out for being overly respondable.
As for Jordan, she now is spreading out her game to other people to play. Now we just have to wait and see which detective she plays the game with. Jordan again opens up and confesses to haveing intacmy problems with men and women. She spills her guts out to Garrett when she should rightly be talking to her girlfriends about it, yet makes fun of the fact. You could tell just how difficult it is for her when she makes fun of doing so. Yet she did get brave enough to tell Tyler to take a hike. The guy came off as a slacker but a fun one.
Bug and Nigel had a fun case to solve, and it was amusing to see why these people were so interested in claiming the body. I was kinda surprise that Bug would not do a full autopsy as I thought it was standard.Nigel teasing him to do the autopsy was fun to watch
As for the new detective in town, Woodie (guest star Jerry O'Connell), I like him more and more. He isn't butting heads with Jordan and is a little naive when he comes to detective work. His good cheer was welcomed. If I have to rank the detectives I would give Louis Karver first, Winslow second and Woodie third. In fact with these three people you have enough variety to keep the cases interesting. Winlsow butts heads with everyone, Karver just does the job and Woodie is accomodating , letting the whole team solve the case. I do hope Woodie and for that matter O'Connell come back either this season or the next.
There was a few tech issues here that caught my eyes or ears. When Woodie tells his last name and the town he came from there seemed to be a drop in sound or just bad pronouciation. I had a hard time catching either of them and I had the sound up just for that. The music for Bug and Nigel's case sounded unatural and did not fit well with the scenes but seemed out of place. Everything else was fine and the sets looked great, especially the bar scene and Jordan's apartment. This apartment seems huge, or perhaps its just the camera angles. The candle scene looked really romantic and comfortable.
I give this 3 stars out of 5, tech issues and a predictable mystrey took the suspence out, but countered by some great character building for Garrett and to a lesser extent the rest of the gang.
P.S: Congradulations to Crossing Jordan for being renewed for a second season!!
RTMSTop
Jordan is going on about popcorn flavors as her friend Kim looks on. Its girls night out and the two of them are watching tv. The warrior princess is the favorite tonight, as Jordan asks how Kim managed to get the night off , with her kid and all. Kim says she basically told her ex it was either take the kid or pay more support. Good negiotation skills Jordan comments, as Kim just says its pays to be a lawyer. Just then Jordan gets paged and phones the office. A triple homicide she is told has taken place. Jordan gets ready to go to the scene, when Kim's pager goes off as well. It's her office, a 911 call for her.
At the scene, detective Lois Karver is there to greet Jordan and take her through the scene. She tells Jordan there was no forced entry and nothing else to indicate the murderer was unknown. They first go to the bedroom where two young boys have been stabbed in there sleep. Lois asks how long they have been dead and Jordan uses a thermal detector to make a estimated guess of about 3 hrs. They then make there way into the living room where a woman lies dead. Jordan suddenly has a brief flash back to when her mother died. Lois calls her and she snaps out of it and apologizes to Lois, who says she understands, its a tough scene. Patty Wayland is the wife of Mitch Wayland a minor hockey star. Lois wonders how she knows this, and Jordan says she's a hockey fan.( she probably did medical experiments on dolls, rtms). Mitch is there right now, who claims he found his wife like this. Lois doubts it since she can roll a Mac truck through his alibi. When Jordan goes to inspect the body Mitch flips out at her, and has to be restrained not only by the cops but by Kim, who has shown up and informs Jordan and Lois that she is Mitch's lawyer. Not the reunion she hoped for Jordan says, but Kim is in lawyer mode and tells her not to screw up. This hurts Jordan who looked forward to working with her friend.
In the morning at the lab, Jordan and Nigel are doing the autopsy of Patty Wayland, 29. They observe overlapping wounds on the left torso, which makes it hard to tell the angle of how the knife went in. There are 5 defensive wounds on her right hand. Also they find what appears to be glass fragments on her hand. Jordan tells Nigel to look at them closer. She then comments that it seems cold in the lab, which unfortunately for her invites Nigel to tease her. She sticks him in his place fast.
Jordan leaves the lab and runs into Garrett who asks her to phone him in his office in about 15 min. Jordan asks why, and he says to just phone him with something annoying,to which Jordan asks why can't she do that right now. Ha ha Garrett says and informs her that his ex-wife is coming to talk with him, and he doesn't want to deal with it. Jordan then asks him if he and Lily are still going out on the date they had planned, the pivotal third date. Garrett gets annoyed with her and wonders what going out on a third date is supposed to mean. Don't worry says Jordan you will do fine.
Kim then walks in and she and Jordan have words with each other. Jordan is still upset about the way Kim acted at the house. Kim is only here for any info Jordan has on the case, but Jordan wonders if she should bother even talking to her. As they go into Jordan's office Trey comes out and he and Kim introduce themselves and check the other out. Jordan has no time for this and pulls Kim inside.
In Garrett's office, Maggie and he start to talk. At first it is cordial, as Maggie explains that she wants to go to the country, breath fresh air and get away from it all. To do so she will need money, and she wants to get it by selling some land she and Garrett bought when they got married. Garrett explodes at her and says no way is he going to sell. Fine, Maggie says but she already has the papers ready and she will sign whether he does or not. She leaves, just as Jordan phones. Garrett thanks her but its too late.
In the hallway, a middle age man has come in and is walking among the dead, at times seeming to hold a conversation with them. He is calling for a Brenda Pollard. Bug meets him and asks who he is and what he is doing here. He says his name is Ethan Grady and is a physic communicator with the dead.
In the forensic lab, Nigel has the Wayland's things in there. Jordan comes in and asks for an update. Since there is only a little blood on the things it is hard to pick out the fingerprints. Nigel sprayed everything with DFO and color coordinated with every member of the house hold. They put the fluorescent lights on and with special glasses they can easily pick out the fingerprints. There are no fingerprints from non family members.
Later at the police station, Kim is getting Mitch out of jail, and sending him on his way. Jordan calls over to her and they talk. Jordan tells her the evidence she is finding is stacking it against Wayland as the killer. Kim tells her before she makes her mind up to at least visit the house.
At night, Garrett is still at the office thinking about the land. Lily stops by and Garrett tells her about the old ice cream shop that use to be there and is no longer. He thinks its a shame that it changed, but Lily says if happiness is right in front of you why look back, go forward with it.
At the Wayland house Jordan is checking it out when she has memories of when her mother died. She hears a noise which brings her back to the present. Yelling out a warning she start to move to the stairs, when a figure in black bolts to the stairs as well. Jordan manages to snag him at the collar and he slides down the stairs. When Jordan rolls him over she sees a teenager. They make their way down to the living room and Jordan asks who he is. He says he lives just across the street and was just getting some pics of the place. He is a Wayland fan. Fine says Jordan, but did he see anything the other day when Patty was there. Yes, Patty and a younger girl fighting over Mitch.
At the office the next morning, Garret is on the phone to maggie and tells her to bring the papers over, that he will sign them.
Ethan Grady meanwhile is in the morgue talking to two dead bodies , one of whom is humming and distracting Ethan. Trey and Nigel are watching him and are freaked out by him because he said some things to them that were from people they knew. Bug comes along and is annoyed that Ethan is still there, since he threw him out earlier. He does so again and contacts the FBI asking whether he is with them.
In the lab, Garrett is working on a autopsy of Elena Cortinez who was hit by a vehicle and died. Two people burst into the room just then and explain that they are her sister and her sister's husband. They say that Elena had agreed to give them her eggs.
In the evening, Jordan and her dad are walking and Max asks about the case, how it's going. Clearly Max wants Jordan to talk about the case because it is similar to her mother's case, but Jordan is vague. She gets a phone call from Nigel about the glass fragments , that they come from a picture frame, and that he has the picture frame with him. Jordan heads to the office and they look at the picture in the frame. It is of Mitch and two women one his age and another younger. They wonder who they are.
In the conference room, Garrett and the husband of Elena Cortinez are talking with her sister and her husband. They explain that they have been having problems with getting pregnant , and Elena had agreed to give some of her eggs to them to try to have a child. Mr. Cortinez had originally agreed but now is upset and unsure. He leaves with out giving an answer to them.
At a rink the next day, Jordan finds Mitch practicing his shots. Coming right to the point, she shows him the picture of the him and the women. Jordan assumes they are lovers he has or fans , and Mitch gets mad at her, telling her she doesn't know the whole story. Then tell her he says, and he does so. He says the women are Nora and Dena, Nora was his high school sweetheart and became pregnant with Denna. When he was traded he started a new family with Patty. Jordan says Nora is his mistress, but Mitch says no, she is his wife. He married two women and has two families who know nothing of the other.
At the office, Kim comes by . She and Jordan talk and argue over Jordan's visit to Mitch. Jordan says it would have been nice to know the guy had two families, but Kim says she didn't know and that if she did it is attorney/client privilege. Jordan gets a call from Karver, who says they found the daughter, who is now at the hospital.
Lily and Ethan are talking about her love life over some pastries, while Bug is watching and saying that the FBI know him as one of there big crank callers. He wonders to Emmy why the guy is always back in there when he is always throwing him out. Emmy says she is the one who keeps letting him in. She says it is a favor to her father who is friends with Ethan. Bug says her father is dead, which Emmy confirms happily.
Mr.Cortinez comes by and has a talk with Garrett about family and going forward. Afterward he decides to give the eggs to Elena's sister.
At the hospital, Mitch tries to talk to Denna, but she upset and angry with him and will not talk. She is a little more better with Karver, Jordan and Kim. They ask if she was at the Wayland house the other day, and she says yes she had words with Patty that day. After she went to the hotel and overdosed. She did not attack Patty.
Back at the office, Lily and Maggie finally meet, when Lily finds Maggie in Garrett's office. She waiting for Garrett to come by and sign the papers. Lily says Garrett is busy right now. Lily then says that she thinks its great that she and Garrett are getting along again. Maggie is astounded by the new Garrett with all the new things he is doing, from music to poetry. Almost like the man she first fell in love with she says as she leaves, which give Lily pause for thought.
Coming out of the hospital Jordan and Kim get into an argument. Kim accuses her of being narrow minded and knows this reminds her of her mothers death. She accuses her of always trying to have the answers, because the she doesn't have the real one- her mothers death. This hits Jordan hard and silences her for the moment.
At the office the eggs are handed over to Elena's sister and as the ambulance pulls away, Ethan tells Garrett his mother is proud of him.
At Max's house, Jordan and Max first talk about Kim, until Jordan says drop it. They play the victim/killer game and come to the conclusion that Patty, shattered by the revelations that Mitch had a whole other family kills her boys and then stabs herself dead.
At the lab, Jordan tells Karver and Kim this theory. Karver wonders about the defensive wounds on the hand. Nigel and Jordan use a melon to show that as she stabbed herself the blood that sprayed out made the handle slippery and the hand slid down the knife, cutting herself. Karver says Kim's client should be relived that the real answers have been found, but Kim says would anyone be happy after losing your wife and kids.
Nigel and Bug check a body that was brought in. Nigel tells Bug that it is Brenda Pollard, the woman that Ethan said would be coming in. In the pocket a note is found. They are lyrics to a song,"People get Ready" by Curtis Mayfield.
In Garrett's office, Maggie and he talk about the land. He says that while they can't do anything with it now, save it for Abby, perhaps she can use some day.
In the conference room Mitch has been told what really happened , while Jordan gives him the wedding ring. Outside the room Jordan and Kim apologize to each other. Jordan admits she needed someone to hit her between the eyes and make her see she still has problems with the death of her mother.
As Garrett and Lily end their dinner, Lily asks whether they should even be together, since he is getting along so well with his ex-wife. Garrett kisses Lily and the discussion is over.
At Max's home Jordan finally admits the case reminded her of when her mother died. She remembers her dad being taken away and accused of killing his wife just like Mitch was. Max understands and says the cops were just doing their job, especially since he had his wife's blood on him. He tells her he too always remembers that day and says the one thing he wanted to do was hold Jordan's hand. Jordan says lets do so now and they do.
ANALYSIS:
Another great episode that held your attention to the end. The plot had a nice twist and was not typical. Also there was some nice character growth here for Jordan and Garrett. The theme of renewing and going forward in life instead of looking back or dwelling on the past was a welcome idea. Too many times the world says look back at what you had instead of looking forward and being happy. With death, people often times fall into the trap of never going forward and only remember what they use to have. They grow depressed and and usually cut out society which they say doesn't care.
Clearly this is in some ways happening to Jordan and her dad. Her dad for many years obsessed with his wife's death to the point where he over did his job, beating a suspect and having to resign from the force. Only later with the help of some counseling and a new girlfriend, did he start to look forward and not back. Jordan is still having problems with the death and as Kim pointed out always has to have the answers because there was none with her mother. We know she still has nightmares about it, and it drives her to be involved with the cases she has to the point of butting heads with the police.
The show is slowly giving us clues of how Jordan grew up, before her mother died and after. Before the death it sounds as if she was just like any other little girl, learning to be a little lady by her mom. After, she seems to become a tomboy, since her dad is her only real example around to copy. She is the resident hero to Jimmy Donnelly, saving him from the neighborhood bullys. One question though is, Why did she become a coroner and not a cop. If Jordan is so obsessed with finding answers to crimes why did she become a coroner? A detective would have made better sense, since she could investigate crimes to her hearts content. I hope we have a episode that explains why she choose the profession she did. Was her mom a doctor?
One thing that may be bothersome is the consistency of Jordan. One week she blows off Garrett for suggesting she talk to her friends about her life out side of work and now she doing just that. I will reserve my judgment for later episodes, but I just hope next week she does not think its stupid for hanging out with her friends again.
The main plot was great right to the end. The twist that had Wayland having two wives in different cities, was surprising and brought another suspect into the field. That Patty killed herself was surprising, although the defensive wounds theory was a little suspect. In the victim/killer game it shows Patty stabbing her self about twice. Since there are 5 wounds on her hands Patty either did not put it in all the way at first or they screwed up in telling the story. As they showed, just two times in the heart and she went down , yet we are told she continued to stab herself at least three more times.
The second plot was just as good and amusing. Ethan is a riot, talking to the dead and telling one even to shut up and stop humming. While I am not into the physic garbage, it was amusing to see how stupid these people are. I like the actor who portrayed Ethan, he had just enough humor in him to make him appealing. Also we are introduced to a new supporting cast member much better than before. Emmy makes her second appearance after the show Digger, and confirms she is as airheaded as she was in the other episode.
The C plot was the one I found flat, and hurried. It felt tacked on as if they needed to fill the hour up. I felt it could have been dropped in favor of fleshing out the main plot or the second plot. I cared very little for the dilemma, whose resolution was telegraphed from the beginning.
On the tech side, the music was great, with the bluesy music contrasting with the celtic upbeat of the main theme. The music fit the scenes they were used for. Night was jazzy and blue and dark, while daylight was upbeat and forward looking. The camera work was nice this time out, with no apparent problems or awkwardness..
A great episode , whose main plot held the viewer too the end, and second plot was an amusing contrast . We got more background info on some of the characters, and more character building for Jordan and Garrett. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
RTMSTop
Episode 13:Miracles and WondersThe planets are alinging according to Bug, and strange things happen then. Its also snack day at the office and staff including Jordan, make like chipmunks and stuff their faces with donuts. Jordan gets a case and heads to a church, where a body was found.The church, which at first looks quite nice,but on closer inspection, is worn down. Jordan meets the priest and he leads her to the body. The body is at the alter, standing in a pose of praise. Jordan is in disbelief.
( Faith: A belief on something for which there is no proof)
Jordan talks to the priest who says no one knows the guy, he arrived there a couple of days ago, and could not speak english very well, but could speak Latin. He's been working at the church at odd jobs there. There was no suspisions about him. Jordan notes the wounds on the hands, which the priest calls stigmata, intense empathy. Jordan looks around, especially where the guy is standing. The priest says the guy fortold his death, and that he is called by the locals St. Francis of Assisi.
At the office Garrett is trying to catch a cab and gets one. He turns to signs some papers and another person takes the cab. To bad he says and takes off, leaving a very angry Garrett.
Meanwhile Bug and Trey discuss the alignment and that strange things happen. They make a bet on if any thing strange will happen. They ask Lily for the lastest case and she reveals under a blanket Elvis. Bug wins the bet, as Trey walks out, and Nigel walks in stunned at seeing Elvis there. He is a big time fan.
At therapy with Abby Garrett goes on about how life just isn't as good as it once was. They talk about respect and such and Abby gives it to him, saying he was never around to impart any thing to her even when he was married.
In the autopsy lab Jordan is looking at Francis' teeth, noting that they seem fine. She's using a neat mini cam to see inside. Garrett comes in and they discuss the case. Jordan tells him that Francis died standing up, and Garrett recalls a case where a guy died standing up after being hit by lighting. Jordan mentions the lights were dim at the church and files this away in her head. She believes the wounds on the hands to be tumors.
As Garrett leaves the lab, Lily catches up to him and asks how it went with Abby today. Awful he says and then notices a body on a gurny. It is the same guy who took the cab from him. Lily says the cab was involved in a freak accident and the guy was killed. Garrett realizes it could have been him.
In the evening Max and Jordan are enjoying dinner - pasta, when Max says he is interested in moving to Florida. Jordan almost chokes on her food asking why would he want to. Play golf etc says Max, which Jordan remindes him he doesn't do. He goes to get the brouchers when the phone rings and Jordan answers it. It is Max's doctor 's office confirming his appointment tommorow. Jordan askes Max why he is seeing a cancer doctor. Nothing to worry about , Max says and continues eating. Jordan gets paged but doesn't want to go, but Max says go he does not want her there.
At the office Jordan listens to a security guard try to explain why a body is missing. The body that is missing happens to be Francis. Jordan wonders how a body could just disappear from the crypt. He may have walked out he says and point to a blood trail that leads to the elevator.
(Hope: Desire accompanied by expectation of belief in fulfillment.)
Next day Max is at the doctors office waiting for the results. When the doctor is about to tell him he says don't. He has plans that until now he never really had the courage to do. If he finds out the results he may never do them. He takes the results but does not open them.
The team is at the the crypt trying to figure out how Francis got out. Some think he did walk out , while Jordan thinks someone took him out. How they say , and she says they could have come in during regular business hours and hide. Where, Trey says and Jordan looks at two drawers that were supposed to be empty. She finds that one of them has dirt and grass residue. Nigel checks the samples out and determines that the dirt is from a mushroom , which only grows in Italy in Assisi. As Jordan leaves Bug comes in and askes Nigel if he is a fan of Elvis. He then shows him the man's record. Nigel is stunned when he sees it.
Garrett and Lily discuss the guy who took Garrett's cab. Lily looked him up on the net and found out he was a big time Physist, who along with some colleagues came up with the chaos theory. No ramdom event happens with out a reason.
At a church, St.Francis Xavier, Jordan goes to confession, and tells the priest there she has inproper thoughts about him. She then tells him she is yanking his chain, calling him Paul and telling him not to worry. It seems the two know each other from high school and Paul was her first love. They go for a walk and discuss Francis who Paul says could have died just as he was. Jordan dismisses it and talks about her dad. Paul offers to help her with prayers for him but Jordan dismisses this as well, saying she abandoned God after her mother died. She tells Paul about the dirt samples that supposedly only come from Assisi, Italy. Paul tells her about the Bonitanical Gardens where the foundation has a exbit featuring the Assisi region.
At the office, in the conference room, Elvis's wife is there to claim body. Nigel and Bug ask about the medical records that indicate an exact match with the real Elvis. She then tells them how Elvis decided to fake his death, get plastic surgery and live in Hawaii. They met at a bowling meet. When he could not prove he was the real Elvis he became a impersonator. Bug and Nigel sit there too stunned to talk.
At night Paul and Jordan go to the gardens. Although the place is locked up Jordan is not deterred. She begins to climb the gate when Paul pulls her down and uses a lock pick to break in . It seems because of all the breakins they kept changing the locks and Paul got tired of having to get new keys all the time. They walk a ways in and come upon Francis, still dead sitting on a bench.
( Charity: A gift given to those in need)
Bug and Nigel discuss Elvis and Nigel had the prints run for an ID. Nothing came back since the fingerprints were surgically removed. Nigel has sent out a DNA sample to settle this. Bug asks why this means so much to him and Nigel says his whole belief system is based on Elvis being dead. The reason is that his mom loved Elvis, even more than she did Nigel. She became ill when he was 10, and he believes Elvis kept her alive in the last days. When Elvis died she gave up and died a few days later. Nigel believes that if that is Elvis then his mom may still have been alive today.
In the autopsy lab, Jordan and Paul go over Francis, whose chest is cut wide open. They argue about beliefs, Jordan in science, he in faith. Paul then really hits hard and tells her that between the two Jordan never had a chance. This mutes Jordan a bit, and she gets him to look at a sample of Francis on a microscope. She says its a thermal effect, as if his insides were cooked. Jordan realizes that Francis was electrocuted.
Garrett is in the office when Lily comes by and informs him Abby is at a police station. He goes and picks her up and tells her he has given up on her. No more is he going to depend on her. Just then a deer jumps out and Garrett hits it. They get out and attend the deer. Abby can't get animal control and so they take the deer to the lab.
Mean while Jordan meets her dad at a bar. He asks her opinion on it and then informs her he just bought it. Jordan can't believe he did this. How could he pay for it she asks. He tells her he got a good settlement from his retirement and with the house paid off he had enough. Not to mention he used the money he was going to give to Jordan for an inheritance. Jordan is miffed that he used her inheritance, but Max tells her she didn't know about it until now so no harm done. They continue to argue and Max tells Jordan to finally butt out of his life.Let him be happy and enjoy life now, he has earned it.
At the lab, Garrett and Abby try to save the deer. They make a chest tube so it can breath, but there is fluid there and it needs to be sucked out. Abby sucks it out herself even though it can be dangerous.
Back at the bar Max and Jordan discuss the case and play an a lite version of the game. They think up seneriors including one where the guy dies after talking to God. They then talk about the tests and again get into an argument. Again Max tells Jordan to leave him alone and let him live his life. Jordan says that is not fair, she should have a right to know.
At the lab, Garrett comments to Abby how impressed he was with her tonight, and that maybe he could help her get into med school. Abby tells him to stop , and look at what he is doing. He is trying to dictate her life instead of letting her do what she wants to do, which she even doesn't know. She then tells him that she was not drinking, but some friends of hers her that were, called her up and indicated that they were going to drive home drunk and so she told them to wait and she would pick them up. She didn't want them to drink and drive. Garrett asks why she didn't just tell him this at first and Abby says he never asked. The deer then seems to die on the examination table.
(Mircle: An extrodinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs)
In the crypt later on , the three dead bodies of the deer, Elvis and St.Francis are all lying there in a row. Two of them are covered while the deer is not.
At the church, where Francis died, Jordan again looks around. She meets the priest again and tells him Francis was electrocuted. Since there are no wires at the alter where could he have died. The priest leads her to the room where Francis was staying. Jordan notices a leaky pipe and water on the floor. Then she looks at the light with the pull switch and realizes that the light socket was faulty and with the water on the floor when Francis got up in the night and turned on the light it electrocuted him. She accuses the priest of setting him up at the alter. He admits he found Francis standing dead in the praise pose and realized he could get a bunch of people into the church if he set him up at the alter. The church was being shut down and he was desperate to keep it open. Jordan then accueses him of stealing the body from the morgue and putting him in the park. The priest denies this and says he can't explain how that happened.
At the office Bug and Nigel find out Elvis was really Walter Galic, an imposter. Nigel is going to tell his wife when Bug says don't. Everyone needs to believe in something and if believing that her husband was Elvis keeps her happy and content why mess it up.
At Paul's church, Jordan again goes into confession but this time is serious. He helps her pray a prayer for her dad's health.
At the crypt, Elvis's wife comes by to say good bye one more time. She then starts to sing Are You Lonesome Tonight. Bug and Nigel join in and as they sing the deer comes back to life and gets up and walks through the office and into the elevator.
At the bar, Jordan wants to know the results of the tests, and again says she has the right to know. Max tells her that knowing would inhibit him from doing the things he wants to. Ever since he resigned from the force he has been sleepwalking through life. This test and potential results has awakened him and made him realize he was leaving life behind, because of fear. This forced things out. He starts to burn the results but Jordan stops it and reads them. They are negative. Now help him set the bar he tells Jordan.
Later, on a roof, everyone is gathered to look at the planets aligning. Garrett and Lily talk about the deer and how sometimes they go into shock and then come out of it. Garrett then thanks Lily and gives her a quick kiss. He then talks to Jordan as everyone else enjoys the spectacle.
ANALYSIS:
This whole episode was weired from the start, and with no strong case to sustain it to the end it fell flat. It was if they had a few plot ideas that they couldn't fit into other shows and so used them here. Jordan's case was solved almost from the beginning, from the priest who was the obvious person to profit from the dead guy to Garrett telling Jordan that he had a guy die from lighting. At that point Jordan should have taken a clue and realize that electicity killed the guy. Yet we have to go through a whole half baked mystery to find that very answer and the priests' cupabilty. The Elvis impersonator was more interesting than the main plot. It was also amusing to see the widow actually believe she was married to the real Elvis. As for Garrett and Abby, another fight, another make up session, but will they finally get along in the next episode?
The theme of belief was woven thourghout the episode, but I felt it was, in the end a cop out. The basic idea that what ever makes you happy at the moment is what you should believe in is a gross injustice. Think of how many people would be depressed if they could not find something to believe in. It only shows me as a christian that Jesus in the answer, He who is the way, the truth and the LIFE. By accepting Him, His blood gives us new life not just meaning. We don't wander through life looking for the next thrill or high to keep us going, because we are already have a higher calling.
The show also crossed the line by blaming God for everything in life, good and bad when in fact God is good and pure and no evil resides in or around Him. People are quick to say there is a God and He is good but tell them there is Satan and he is evil and they deny it with their dying breath. They try to pin human attributes on to God , believing that if He is just like them then they are justified in their actions.They don't realize that Satan roams to a fro looking for who he can kill, steal and destroy. With Jesus comes a hedge of protection, just as there was around Job. Those who do not have the hedge are easy targets for Satan , and eventually he will hit the target-you. With Jesus we have protection and while Satan may hit us it will hopfully not be right on or a complete miss. And if he does hit, we have Jesus to depend on to get us out. End of my sermon here.
Besides the weak plot we did get some character development for a few people. As I have said in past reviews, Max needed to tell Jordan to get out of his life and leave him alone. He finally does so and doesn't even back down against an intimidating Jordan. I'm sure many people back down when Jordan goes on the war path,but now in two shows in a row, people close to Jordan have simply told her to back off. Iloved how Max wanted to live his own life, and was surprised with the candor he displayed about what his life has been like since he left the force. Of course I had the impression he had got on with life, with the new girlfriend and all , but I guess he was just masking a deeper problem. We shall have to see how the bar works out, and whether Jordan and the gang will meet there. Another question is "Where is Evelyn?". I think with Max having the bar he will be to occupied to go off on Jordan's detective work.
Paul, who was also Jordan's first love, comes off as interesting and also does not back down in front of Jordan. When he tells her that between God and Jordan , it was no contest, with the staightest face,it was hilarious. Jordan can only stand there stunned , her once invincible armor having a huge crack made in it. I do hope we see Paul again, helping Jordan out with her personal problem in a way no one else can.
Nigel was another person we learn a little about. We now know he shares a similar past with Jordan with his mom dying when he was 10. It was sad to see him believe that if Elvis didn't die maybe his mother would not have given up as well. Its sad that she couldn't depend on her family more and less on a celebrity, since it may have smoothed Nigel's acceptance of his mothers death more.
Another fight, another make up between Abby and Garrett. Will this continue or will they be on better terms in the future. Perhaps now that Abby has told Garrett what bugs her about him, they will find the common ground. This girl is 17 now and one year away from being an adult, she needs to grow up and Garrett needs to let go, not give up on her. As for Garrett's relationship with Lily, it seems to be going nice and now he even gives her a quick kiss in front of colleagues.
I have to ask, what has happened to Trey? He has hardly been in the last few episodes with no cases for him or helping the others. Just hope he doesn't go to the wayside.
The episode was flat and messy in my view, with no plot sustaining it and preditablity of the answers there right in the beginning. The moral was a cop out. 2 out of 5 stars. RTMS Top
In the meeting room everyone is gathered to listen to Garrett. Unfortunately what he has to say is not good. Its budget time and the state efficiency officer, Phil Granger is there to look over the whole place and find ways to make it run tighter. In other words says Bug chop jobs right? If that's what it takes says Phil Granger. Evaluations will be posted on the board. Everyone is upset ,but try to make it less so by saying if any one is going to be canned it would be someone, combative, argumentative, just like Jordan who rushes in having missed the meeting. Before she can find out what's up she gets paged.
At Finchly College Dorm, Jordan meets yet another familiar detective, Rick Fraser. He tells her it looks like a suicide, a jumper. Jordan looks at the body closer and sees that the needle wounds went through the shirt, meaning he was already dead, meaning someone threw him out.
At Max's bar, Max is taking out a wall when Jordan comes in. Wow she says, lots of alcohol here, a whole 3 boxes. Max explains that the mob runs the delivering of booze in Boston. This particular area is run by Blacki Conroy. Since anyone else would be too expensive he really has no choice. He asks for Jordan to help.
At the office,Trey and Lily watch as Nigel teases Bug with tarot cards, predicting he will be the one to go. Jordan joins them and remarks it will probably be her. She's been hired and fired so many times she keeps suitcase packed just because of that. She asks one of them to help in the trace evidence room. Trey gets a message that his father is in town and wants to meet him. He is not looking forward to it.
In the conference room, Garrett and Phil are interviewing the security guard, who doesn't seem to be to bright or efficient.
In the lab Jordan and Bug are gathering trace evidence on the dorm victim-Casy Dean. Jordan notes blunt force to the back of the neck, along with pattern contusions which he didn't' get from jumping from a building. They pull out a piece of wood in neck and realize that the weapon is wood and that someone hit him with it and killed him. They then tossed him off out of the dorm. Detective Fraser comes in then and wants a progress report, which Jordan says will come when she gets more info. Fraser tells her the prints left in the room belong to a Given Talbor, a Blacki Conroy associate. What a surprise says Jordan, and tells Fraser she has business with Conroy. Don't get personal he tells Jordan, but its too late for that.
In Garrett's office he finds cookies have been made for him. He looks around and asks Lily who made them and she says look at the card. They do and find its from Carl in Linen Disposal. People are already sucking up to him to try to keep their jobs. Nigel not immune as he too sucks up to Garrett after he has washed Garrett's veichle. Garrett walks into the crypt and stops when he sees to construction guys and a huge cornerstone there. Garrett asks what this is about and they turn the stone around to reveal a pair of small feet imbedded in the stone.
At a warehouse, one owned by Blacki Conroy , Fraser and Jordan ask to talk to Talbor. Jordan looks around until Blacki says to stay out of things. Jordan warns him about harrassing her father.
In the evening, Trey and Bug are still at office. Bug accuses Trey of sucking up as well, but its not that Trey says. He just does not want to meet his father. It never comes to any thing good.
At the bar, Max is trying to find someone to deliver his alcohol, but they just hang up on him. Blacki shows up and shows him a picture of him and Max and some other boys when they were young and friends. Blacki tells Max to tell Jordan to back off the case she is working now. Max can't believe Blacki is pulling this until Blacki reminds him that he is on his turf now. No one is going to help a bad cop. He is threatening Max not Jordan.
At the dorm Fraser and Jordan are doing some measurements. Jordan is using a laser range finder. The lasers are aimed at the different targets and the distance is measured out to a computer. By checking the floor plan they find that the body had to come from rooms somewhere between 213-303. Fraser pulls out a resident list and finds one Keiren Conroy , Blacki Conroy's son in 213.
In the morning Nigel is sucking up again in front of Lily and Bug. Bug is not worried, he's already for his evaluation . Garrett comes in and asks who parked in his parking place. Bug says its him since he comes so early its dark out and hard to see. Nigel is upset,as Bug took the subway because he told Nigel his battery was dead. All bets are off now as everyone is turning against each other in order to keep their job,
Trey unexpectantly runs into his father at the office. His father tells him that he tried his apartment last night but no one was there. Trey says he was busy. He wants Trey to go to a lecture he is giving , but Trey says no its a bad time. His friends are facing job cuts and he wants to be there to support them. Why says his father, your on a fellowship no need to worry. True, but he won't leave his friends. His dad is not happy with this that he values friends over family. He then tells Trey that he is retiring and leaving the practice.
Meanwhile at the dorm Fraser and Jordan come upon Kiren who is harassing a girl. Fraser tells him to take it easy but Kiren is combative. Why so upset,asks Fraser, are you going to toss him out a window? Jordan has sidestepped the argument and gone into Kiren's room. She sees a large cleaned spot on the carpet and calls Fraser over. Kiren claims he was painting and cleaned it up,but Jordan sprays some DFO on the spot and uses a fluorescent light which shows that it is in fact blood. Fraser arrests Kiren.
In Garrett's office, which is filling up with gifts, Lily has yet another one but can not find a place to put it. She goes to Garrett who is in the lab doing the autopsy of the body. He examines a pelvic bone which he believes belongs to a 4 to 6 girl, from 1958 the year the foundation was laid. Lily shows him the gift and Garrett mistakes it as a gift from her. She quickly denies it and says she will stay on her hard work and merit. She leaves and Bug comes in, commenting on the evaluation . He looks at the X-ray Garrett has up and comments that there is certain larvae in side the skeleton. Its a feather beetle larvae, and by looking it up on the computer finds out that it has a 3 day life period. This means the body was dead for 3 days, in Aug. when they come out.
Kiren is being photographed and printed while Jordan jabbers at him. Fraser gets a call and leaves, while Blacki comes in. When he leads his son out Jordan tells him Kiren is under arrest. Not so says Fraser, it seems Talbor has confessed to the murder. Seems the blood they found was contaminated. Jordan chases the Conroys and tells them it isn't over.
At lab Garrett and Nigel are there and Nigel asks whether the bite he has on his finger is a spider bite. Not good idea having all these bugs around. Nigel then helps break the skull out of the stone its in and says to make a mold of the face which will be easier to identify the girl.
At a dinner with his father, Trey and his dad argue about his choice of medical profession. His dad tells him that he is not going to give him his practice but will give it to his brother. He tells him he gave up influencing Trey along time ago. Trey is upset at this sudden change and is defensive about his medical choice. He gets up and leaves.
At Max's bar the wall he was working on has revealed a nice fire place. Jordan has stopped by and again comments on the lack of beer. Max had to pay for the three boxes already there. Jordan tells her dad that she had a run in with Blacki, thanks to his son being involved in a murder case she is on. Suddenly a fire bomb comes through the window and burns up the cases of beer and parts of the bar. They extinguish it with not to much damage to the bar. Jordan is mad , but Max says he will deal with Blacki, and reveals he had a run in with the man himself earlier. Jordan wants to go after him but Max says no just do her job. How when you can't get at the kid. Go to his weakness, his girlfriend.
At the office, its Bug's evaluation and he's doing ok but boring Garrett and Phil. He tells them the need for a forensic emptomologist. When he reveals his project, he finds it has been sabotaged. The interview ends, but Bug is not done and dusts for fingerprints. They reveal that Nigel was touching the project, and he bursts in on Nigel's interview and the two of them start to fight. Lily and Garrett break it up, and Lily asks whether Phil is happy he has brought so much discontent to the office. Phil just says what needs to be done will be, and so Lily decides she will quit to save the rest of the office.
In the dorm, Jordan employs some sneakiness to get past the hall monitor. She she finds the girlfriends room and is looking around when Kiren's girlfriend ,Izzy shows up. They talk about the death and she says she got there too late but that Kiren told her to hide the murder weapon. She didn't go to the police because she said Kiren would have killed her.
In the lab Garrett is finalizing the case of the little girl. Trey comes in and they talk about fathers and expectations. Trey then takes a look at the bones and notices how calcified they are. He thinks it may be osteopetrosis which is usually only found in babies. Trey mentions when he was doing his pediatric work he read a case about young child getting the disease. Although it is rare it could have happened.
Max and Jordan watch the news at the bar as it shows Kiren being arrested again after admitting to the murder. Jordan is still uneasy about it and so they play the game. They come to the conclusion that it was rape and that the girlfriend was the one who killed Dean, trying to protect Kiren.
Jordan then visits Kiren in jail and tells him her theory, that he is covering up for Izzy because she was being raped. Kiren tells her she's got it all wrong, saying he loved Dean. It seems Izzy walked in a Kiren and Dean and went bezerk when she found them in bed. She took the lacrosse stick and cracked Dean over the head with it. Dean went down, and she then laid into Kiren with it. Only after did they notice Dean was not moving and Kiren called his dad to get rid of body. The reason he won't tell truth is because his dad would kill him if he found out the truth. Izzy threatened to tell daddy so Kiren is taking he blame.
Jordan tells Fraser the deal, but says the evidence is not enough to tell for sure that Izzy killed Dean. Of course Izzy doesn't know what the evidence is. As long as they just tell her they have evidence she may confess.
In the conference room Lily is with a old man. Garrett walks in and asks who he is. Lily tells him that this is Claude Manning the father of Sarah Manning, the girl apparently in the cornerstone. Garrett asks how Lily found him, and she says she did a search for cases of Osteopetrosis in the Boston area in 1958 and found him. Claude says back then there was no cure, but he sank every dollar he had , to the point of poverty to help his little girl. When she died he had no money to bury her and reading about the Egyptians and how they had made burial monuments to remember the dead by he decided to do the same. So he buried his girl in the cornerstone and every time he looked at the skyline he would remember his girl, until that is it was gone.
He asks to see her.
Jordan stops by Blacki's warehouse and talks to him. She tells him she knows his son is innocent,and will tell him the evidence, but that he has to swear on his son to stop harassing her father and and let him get his booze. Blacki says ok, but Jordan then decides not tell him but to ask his son, and to remember that he almost lost him today.
Outside the lab Garrett and Lily watch while Manning remembers his daughter. Garrett then drops a bombshell and says he will be the one to leave. Because of his tenure and such he is expensive to keep a round. A new person would be paid half of what he gets. He asks Lily not to argue with him on it.
Later in the conference room everyone has been told the news of Garrett leaving. All except Jordan who walks in late as usual. She finds out and then cracks a joke, which earns her a rebuke from Lily. Lily quickly apologizes , and Jordan lets her go and says they have to come up with a plan to make sure no one is cut. They do so and go to Garrett who is just about to tell Phil that he will resign. Lily presents him with a budget that will cut one salaried employee with benefits, without actually cutting any one. Phil at first won't go along with it but then decides to do so.
After, Trey finds his father waiting for him, and Trey finally has the answer to his question, is it worth it working here. Trey says that what he does is important and that the dead need a voice as well. His dad is pleased and hugs him, saying he only has 2 more months to go to really decide.
The gang goes to Max's bar, and brings along some police officers including Fraser. Bug and Nigel make up and Jordan gives a toast. All is well for now.
ANALYSIS:
A very good episode with the theme of family and fathers in particular, being metaphorically brought about in a nice way. Everyone got great and equal time here and it was really an ensemble show this time. Trey especially got some time here after the last few episodes where he was almost none existent. The two cases were nicely contrasted and yet had ideas that brought them together. Again the ending was not predictable and was in fact a little surprising. We also got to find things out about our medical team here again, which meant more character building. I really like that they are setting the personalities and character early in the series. This way their interests and such won't come out of the blue, but will make sense. When they mention them or do something we can look back and say yes we learned that in the first season and we know why they are doing what they are doing. As well another detective comes in, although I felt Fraser was just window dressing here. Basically he let Jordan run the case, with him tagging along.
Jordan's case was fun to watch because we really see her combative side here. Both Kiren and Izzy were both flat at times, especially Izzy as play by Kimberly McCollough. Kiren was better and was more convincing pretending to be jerk then he really was. Again Jordan thinks she has all the answers but gets whiplashed at the last moment and is surprised by what really happened. This is actually good because one of the complaints about the show was that Jordan was always right and magically knew the answers. I have noticed that lately her game is not helping her , and may just get her in trouble soon one of these days.
We also get some family history, when we find out Blacki and Max actually grew up together. I said in the pilot that I hoped this guy would come back more substantially and he has. While he did figure somewhat in the Jimmy Donnelly case, here we see just how mean and nasty he really is. It will be interesting to see how Max deals with Blacki, since as he said he is finally on his turf and his rules. I would love to see an ep. Featuring these guys when they were younger and where their paths parted. What made one join the mob and the other join the police? For that matter does Blacki have any thing to do with Mrs. Cavanugh death? Did they know each other, etc? This episode opened up so many plots ideas and stories.
We also got to see the ugly and the good side of the staff when their jobs were threatened. Bug and Nigel sucked up and sabotaged their interviews in hopes of staying on. Lily and Garrett were willing to sacrifice their jobs so everyone else could stay on. In the end the family stayed together because of the wildchild Jordan put them to work to come up with a way to keep everyone around. We also found out exactly what their jobs were, Nigel the criminologist, Bug the anthormalogist. Each is best at what they do and each showed by helping Garrett that both are better being there then gone. In the end I was glad they made up.
Trey finally got some character background, as we learn he has never been able to live up to his father's expectations. Or maybe they were his unreasonable expectations. Even though they seemed to make up in the end, his father can't resist getting the last word in about only having two more months before his fellowship is over. I have to wonder if the character is going to be back next season. He may be expendable.
Again a very good episode, fun to watch, with the story having the unexpected twist at the end to throw doubt on the suspect. More character building which will help in the long run. They have also established a place where the gang can get together and kick back and relax at Max's bar.
I give the show 3 and a half stars out of 5. RTMSTop
Perhaps Jordan should live at the office. At least she would make the morning meetings. Garret grumbles at her about her lateness, but Jordan has an excuse, some jerk used her parking space and she had to walk quite a ways to work. Garret explains there is a TV crew here doing research for a new show. As they pass the reception area, Jordan slows and does a double take. A dignified old man greets her and gives her an invitation. Jordan calls him George and thanks him for the note. He complements her on how well she looks and then leaves. Garret asks what that was all about. Jordan tells him its from her Grandmother. Garret notes that Max's parents are dead and Jordan confirms this, implying this is from her mothers family.
Meanwhile the TV crew are being shown around, and the producer notices Bug playing with a spider. The guy is impressed and tells a bewildered Bug he is perfect for the new show.
Jordan shows up at a crime scene, meeting Woody Hoyt again. His men are going over the scene and Woody has determined that the dead body may have been a suicide. The woman is name Celia Brackett,53. Woody asks Jordan for a estimated time of death , which she says was around midnight. She then notices needle marks and asks Woody where the needle is. He says he will get on it , but Jordan says not to bother since she has found bruising around mouth. She determines the woman was smothered which means murder.
At the office Lily and Garret talk. She mentions that one of the cases is Polish and goes on about it. Garret says why discuss it over dinner. Just as they come to Garret's office they see Maggie, Garret's ex. Lily knows to walk away but she sticks around the outside to spy on them. In the office Maggie says Walter her boyfriend has left her and she is distraught about it. Garret gives her a hug and Lily sees all of this and is not happy.
In the crypt Nigel is putting a body away when Bug comes in with the Tv crew. Spotting Nigel he makes a pitch to the crew about how good Nigel is. The crew all get a phone call and leave while Nigel asks Bug what's up. Bug tells him he just made pitch for him to become his sidekick on the new autopsy show on the Murder Channel. Bug says if he can find some juicy stories from him and the others they will have it made. The two walk off, in pursuit of a few good stories.
The autopsy of Brackett is taking place in one of the labs. Woody has joined Jordan in the room, but is looking a pretty shade of green as Jordan does her business. He can't figure out how Jordan can do this job everyday. Nigel comes in with tox screens and news of his impending stardom. Jordan is not interested and grumbles at him for the results. Woody is interested since it takes his mind off the autopsy. Jordan grumbles some more and Nigel finally gives her the results, Metalexical and potassium chloride. One of them knock her out cold the other killed her. Jordan tells Nigel to find any cases of potassium chloride use in the last six months. After leaving , Jordan finds that the woman was in the last stages of liver cancer, and had only a very short time to live. Lily comes in then and tells them that a Dan Brackett is here. Jordan asks Woody if he wants to talk to Brackett but he passes it off to her after talking with him earlier. She tells him she could get used to working with him and leaves and after one more look at the body so does Woody.
In the conference room a distraught Dan Brackett is upset to learn his mother has died. He says he thought she was still in the hospital and then had to come home and find his mother is dead. He accuses Jordan of not knowing what its like to come home and find your mother dead. Jordan is quiet for a moment, not bothering to correct him and vows she will find who did this to his mother. She asks him who his mother's doctor was and he says a Dr. Gramble.
In the trace evidence room, Garret has been given two cases. Otto Newman who was strangled and an Isaac Pilarski who was the one who strangled him then killed himself. Trey comes in and Garret asks for his input. Solve a riddle he says and gives him some details. Isaac is 5 inches and 30 pounds lighter than Otto so how could he do this. Isaac also had arthritis in his hands which would have meant much pain to him to strangle someone. Trey says it meant so much to Isaac to kill this guy that he ignored pain. They then find some numbers on Isaac's arm and realize that he was in a concentration camp. Trey goes to trace where the numbers come from.
At Dr. Grambles office Jordan pays a visit. She talks to the doctor and mentions his patient Brackett. He sent her home because she was in pain and dying. Jordan informs him she is now dead and that potassium chloride was found in her. He is not really upset about this and in fact says at least she got her wish not to suffer. He admits to indirectly mercy killing and lashes out at Jordan a her narrow view that it was murder.
At the police station Jordan and Woody talk and argue about what Brackett did and if Gramble helped. Woody says it may not go down as a murder but a mercy killing. Jordan is mad at what she thinks is a murder but Woody says it just may be a case of mind your own business. He will enforce the law only if he thinks something wrong has happened. Dan, who has been standing to the side overhears this and wants to know what is being done to Gramble. He threatens that he will do something if the police don't. Jordan hustles him out of there and tells him to zip it or he may get in trouble.
At the office, Garret is doing the autopsies of Otto and Isaac. Trey comes in and tells Garret that Isaac was a prisoner at Birkenhau in 1944 when he was sixteen years old. Otto was a guard at Auschwitz and since the two camps were neighbours , the two men may have crossed paths. Trey thinks its some sort of revenge murder, but then Garret unveils a discovery. Otto was a Jew due to the fact he was circumcised.
Later Garret and Lily talk and he says he has to cancel dinner plans. Lily understands and lets him go, but is really hurt by the fact he still has not sorted out his life.
At Max's bar, Jordan talks about the case and then about the invitation from her Grandmother. Max surprises her and says she should go and see her. Jordan reminds him what they tried to do when she was 10, taking her away from him and blaming him for their daughters death. Max says that's over now and forgotten and that Jordan should give her grandmother a chance.
At the office, the TV crew come back and have brought some new clothes and all for Bug and Nigel. A woman suggests Armani for Bug to wear, even though it is still a lab coat. Nigel is stunned that such expensive clothing would be used, and the TV producer says Noah Wiley certainly doesn't wear off the rack clothes. Nigel asks who that is.
Jordan goes and visits her Grandmother who she has not seen for 20 years. The place is as beautiful and posh looking as when she was there the last time. Her grandmother comes in and tries to make chit chat but Jordan just wants the reason she is there. Her Grandmother agrees and says she wants to see what kind of person Jordan is , since she is making out her will and it involves money. Jordan gets upset that the only reason she wanted to see her was about money. She simply gets up and leaves with no explanation to her grandmother.
Jordan goes back to the office where she discusses her case with Garret. Jordan still insists it is a murder but admits it may also be a mercy killing. She is not happy that everyone seems okay with mercy killing. Garret says she should look at all sides but Jordan pulls out the rules and says the state does not allow it at all. They meet Nigel who has the results from the cases Jordan asked for. In the last six months four cases have had potassium chloride in them, and all were under the care of Dr.Gramble.
Jordan finds Woody and gives her evidence to him about what is going on. Woody has done some research as well and has found that the good doctor is a member of the hemlock society, a club that advocates mercy suicides. He apologizes for not moving on the case , but had to make sure the law was on his side before he could move. He believes they may be dealing with a serial killer.
At Grambles office, Woody and Jordan come across Dan Brackett who is sitting in chair crying with a gun in his hand. He is watching a video of his mother who is explaining why she did what she did. Woody tells him to drop the gun and Dan does. Jordan checks out the rest of the office and comes upon Dr.Gramble lying dead with a suicide set up hooked up to him. Dan is naturally arrested and Woody thinks he's guilty of killing the Doctor. Dan maintains he found the doctor like that and that he is innocent. Woody then says he was there when Dan made threats.
Later in the evening Garret and Maggie are at her home. They have had a dinner and Maggie is getting more mellow as she drinks. She whines to Garret that she just doesn't have any luck with men and reminds him of what they use to have. She tells him that Abby is away and then gets close and kisses him. Garret though stops the kiss and gets out of there, not sure of what he should do.
The next morning, in the office kitchen , Bug and Nigel come looking for some interesting autopsy stories for there interview at the tv station. They have brought goodies for any one with a interesting story. Trey is the first one and says his is worth two goodies. He tells them about Isaac and Otto but his story is dismissed as too Schindler List like. Jordan then tries her hand and tells them about the mercy killings going on , but again Bug and Nigel dismiss it as to 80's like. Jordan is pretends to act miffed. Garret then comes in and is all business , even though they try to suck up to him. He says don't make this office a laughing joke, and exits, taking a goodie to show them who is boss.
Jordan joins him in the hall and he tells her what happened with Maggie. Jordan tells him to smarten up, that he has enough trouble handling one woman much less two of them. Lily comes by and tells Jordan Mrs.Gramble is here to see her. Lily and Garret and Lily tells him she would like a rain check on the dinner. Garret though is preoccupied and tells her later. He leaves Lily looking hurt.
In the conference room, Mrs.Gramble tells Jordan that her husband was already dying of a brain tumour and wants Dan Beckett to be let go, that he had nothing to do with her husband's death. Jordan asks about her husband's work and if she knew what was happening. Mrs. Gramble indicates she did and thinks it was noble.
In the autopsy room Garret and Trey discuss Isaac and Otto and the puzzle they present. Garret says a cousin of Isaac's is coming in to ID the body. Then Garret shows Trey that both have the same skin disease, which only happens if your related. Garret has ordered DNA tests to find out what is really going on.
In the interrogation room at the police station, Woody is grilling Dan about the night before and what happened there. Again Dan tells him he got there and the doctor was dead and while he may have touched the apparatus, he did not kill the doctor. He then saw the stack of videos and noticed that the top one had his mothers name on it, so he put it in and watched it and that's when they found him. Woody takes a time out and meets Jordan out side. She tells him about what Mrs.Gramble said and that she confirms the doctor was dying of a brain tumour. She asks him to meet her at Max's bar which Woody replies to with a joke about his cologne finally getting to her. She zings him right back with a " so that what that smell was".
At the bar Jordan and Max talk about her visit to Grandmother and how bad it turned out. Max is unhappy she screwed it up but Jordan says drop it. They start to discuss the case, when Woody joins them. Max and Jordan then talk the case out as Woody looks on, a bit bewildered by it. They determine she may have done the killings but now they have to prove it. Woody is impressed at how Max is do good at this, and Jordan informs him her dad was once a cop.
At the tv station, Bug and Nigel are doing their tryout for the autopsy show. Unfortunately Bug is bombing badly as he stands and talks woodenly to the camera. No emotion, nothing at all to impress the producer. Nigel on the other had is a natural in front of the camera and when the producer pulls him aside , he offers the show to Nigel only , without Bug.
At Gramble's office the next morning, Jordan and Woody are looking though the papers while Woody has put an APB out on Mrs. Gramble. Jordan looks at the doctors appointment book and finds that on the days of the suicides the doctor was away in other places. They realize its Mrs. Gramble only who has been assisting in the suicides. The call comes back that the police have spotted the car of Mrs. Gramble in Metford. Jordan and Woody find her there assisting a cancer woman to her death. Gramble asks Jordan if by stopping her she feels better letting the woman die in pain. Jordan apologizes to the cancer woman.
At the conference room, Garret and Trey talk with the cousin of Isaac. They tell her that the man Isaac killed was his brother. The cousin looks at the picture of Otto and then tell them the story behind the murder. When Isaac and Otto were teenagers the Nazi's came and took them away. Separated the family thought Otto or Frank as he was known was dead. Isaac though always swore he saw Otto working as a guard at Auschwitz, working with the Germans. Isaac spent his whole life looking for Otto, never marrying or having any sort of friends or family. What a shame that he paid such a price for revenge. He lived so much in the past that it cost him his future. She agrees to take both bodies and bury them side by side.
Jordan visits her Grandmother again and this time they make up and realize that what happened 20 years ago was not done in malice but concern and love for Jordan's mother. They hug and agree to see each other again.
At night , back at the office Lily and Garret have a heart to heart talk. She tells him that he has a lot of baggage to take care of and to finish it off before coming back to her. She tells him to get his life in order because she is not going to be used as a door mat. Garret agrees he has things to work out right now. Later he visits Maggie again.
At the bar Bug and Nigel make up. Bug is moping about because he thinks Nigel has taken the show away from him, Nigel lies to him and says the tryout went wrong because he screwed up not Bug. Bug then tries to console Nigel and the two have a drink.
Jordan and Woody are also at the bar and the two apologize to each other over the case. Jordan tells him he's a nice guy and buys him a drink. She goes over to talk to Max and tells him she made up with her Grandmother. Max is happy she did so and it pleasantly surprised when Jordan gives him a kiss on the cheek. "What 's that for" he asks and she tells him its for being there and raising her.
ANALYSIS:
A fairly good episode, though the show was a bit preachy at times. I didn't like how Jordan wimped out in the end and took the liberal side about suicide. The other case was also interesting and I find that the cases they are giving Garret are really showing just how good a coroner he is. Detective Woody Hoyt is back and he actually did some work here as opposed to just following Jordan around and letting her do the detective work. Not only that but the two of them have the best chemistry of any of the detectives including Winslow which is turning more sour as each episode he appears in. And lastly we have even more interesting information on Jordan's mom and family as we meet her Grandmother.
The story of the suicide doc, was far more compelling to me when Jordan was standing her ground and calling it murder as it should have been. The show lost marks for the way they sneaked in the liberal view that everyone else seemed to hold, suggesting that somehow it was merciful, and then showing the cancer victim lying there looking bad. My first thought was, but remember Dan and what happened there. Who will this victim make to suffer for there own selfishness, and self-centeredness. I look at this way, that Jesus can keep us alive, because we never know when or how a drug or cure can come along. My mother literally looks like that woman on the couch , and I can assure you she is not contemplating suicide. She fights to live, everyday through pain , infection etc. and will hope to her dying breath that there is a cure or a miracle of healing. These assisted suicides don't consider the other family members, or friends who can be and are traumatized by their loved ones giving up. Dan Beckett certainly wasn't jumping for joy when he saw the video. He was left in a terrible lurch that he will always remember his mothers violent death , not dying peacefully as he sits beside her. He would have been far more at peace with things had that happened.
Jordan was a little disappointing in this episode as I felt again she wimped out at the end . Still she went at the case as she should have, although really she didn't have a real autopsy to perform here. I hope the writers don't do this often, because the show needs to see Jordan doing autopsies, and getting the majority of clues from them. Again don't make her the detective. We also got another intriguing view into her personal family life. We find that her mother seems to have been particularly well off. So was this a case of rich girl marries the poor Irish guy, or was Max well off? From the picture that Blacky showed Max in another episode it would seem they grew up in at least a lower middle class family. It will also be interesting to see how Jordan's Grandparents made their money. Was grandfather a doctor perhaps, or maybe involved in a shady business with the mob? Who knows and I hope we find out little tid bits in the remaining shows.
Jordan and Woody seem to be getting a little close. They have great chemistry as mentioned above and I would like to see them perhaps develop a relationship. Woody showed some backbone in this episode, yet it was not grating as it usually is with Winslow. With Winslow Jordan just starts to butt heads with him immediately and really doesn't work with him as around him. Woody is someone she works with , and like Karver he actually does some detective work. There is a ease about Woody that I don't find with the other male detectives and it comes across the screen well. Kudos to Jerry O'Connell for doing such a great job.
Another character that is growing, is Garrett. Personally I think he's headed for more heartache with his ex-wife. While it may look great or even good now, the old issues are bound to come forward. Maggie seems like a whiner and manipulative and I can't help think she will dump him for the next rich guy who wines and dines her. I hope Garrett didn't go back to sleep with her, but just to talk and settle things as Lily wished to. Lily gets the shaft again as Garrett gets too preoccupied with other things to pay any attention to her. I 'm glad she stuck up for herself and told him to take a hike if he wasn't going to commit himself to the relationship. Career wise though, Garrett is looking more brilliant. He's getting the cases that are puzzles and slowly coming up with the answers. His cases are more realistic, and they lend credibility to the show. I also like how he draws the less experienced doctors, such as Trey and helps to teach them all the finer points to doing an proper autopsy. Just as he welcomed Bug and Nigel's input last episode to solving the puzzle of the little girl , he shows them how to be a team and work together to solve the mystery of a death. He's showing the leadership he should and being a mentor to the others. I hope to see more of this in future episodes.
Bug and Nigel's friendship is fun to watch. They got the comedy part again and again were funny. I am getting a little tired of the off and on again friendship, but that nothing to worry about. The two of them didn't get a case this time out and we got to see things in the office from a slightly different view. It was funny that they had to go hat in hand sort to speak and ask anyone for a good blood and guts story. The Murder Channel is one channel I hope never actually comes about since I can only imagine what a real channel would really have on it. The producer guy was clich? and really was wall paper here. Its funny to hear these guys drop names from other shows and have the characters react as if they no nothing about them. Nigel's Who's Noah Wily, was great dead pan humor.
For the technical side of the show , not much music was played in this episode as previous ones. We also got to see more of the office of the MME, the kitchen area where they can get together and have a coffee etc. Also just as I predicted, Max's bar is now the official hang out for the gang. Jordan goes there to see her dad and the others go to have a drink after work and such stuff. I' m glad we can see these people sit back and relax after what has to be a stressful job. I 'm also impressed with the models of the dead bodies and the shots of them. The directors are getting more daring, as we see a open chest , blood and all for everyone to see. Its gross but again it lends to credibility.
I give this a 4 of 5, again questionable ethics with an obvious liberal leaning, and having the main character wimp out in the end. The other characters pulled this one through and made it not so disappointing. RTMS Top
With jazz music playing in the background, Garrett meets Jordan coming in , humming a jazz tune himself. Jordan tells him about the fact she had to give Lily a ride home last night. Garrett asks how Lily was and Jordan tells him she wasn't raining praises about as usual. Just then Lily comes up and informs Garrett that a teen has died. He tells her to get Sanders to take it. She then tells him he should since its at Abby's school .
At the school, Garrett and Trey meet Abby and look over the body. Abby tells them the name of the teen is Damon Tremain who was a basketball player. Garrett tells Trey to run the basic stuff and get the body removed from here as fast as possible.
Meanwhile in the Dorchester area of Boston, Jordan arrives on the scene and meets up with Winslow. The victim has been shot in the head says Winslow and Jordan checks the rest of the body , finding what appear to be heroin track on an arm. They check the grocery bag and find milk and dipers in side. Not the average junkie stuff.
Back at the school the body is loaded up, while a distraught Abby watches. Garrett tries to tell her about he and his ex maggie getting together, but Abby understands.
At the office Jordan shows Bug an insect in a bag , asking for him to identify it for her. The bug was found on the shoe of the victim she just looked at. Nigel walks in dressed like a chimney sweeper. He tells Bug he's filling in for a friend who does tours of Boston. Nigel's gig is ghost houses and haunts.
Bug then goes to the crypt to take a case. Lily is there and is holding a dog which Bug is allergic to. He asks where the dog came from and Lily tells him it was with the dead lady.
In Garrett's office, Mrs. Tremain is distraught over her son's death and blames the basketball coach Mr. Evans. She says he pushed too hard.
In the autopsy room, Bug's case is being done. He notices the nice expensive dress she has on , and the fact her hands are working hands, scarred and such from working with harsh chemicals. They are looking at a maid of some sort.
At the police precinct, Winslow and Jordan talk, and he tells her he will be keeping her in the loop. This is so she does not go behind his back and start trouble. They find the shooter is a guy named Keith Walker, but he has lawyer up. The victim was a Chris Vanders. Winslow feels sorry for the baby left behind, no father now etc. Jordan says the guy was a junkie, what kind of father is that? Still says Winslow it's sad. Just then Tonya Vanders shows up and immediately asks for her baby girl. Winslow and Jordan are stunned, they thought the baby was with her. Tonya tells them how chris had picked up the baby and then had not returned. Winslow and Jordan promise to look for her, and Jordan invites Tonya back to her office to rest.
At Max's Bar, Nigel comes in with a bunch of German tourists promising some ghostly stories from the bar keep. Max asks what's going on, and Nigel fesses up saying he's desperate for stories and asks Max to pretend that the place is or was haunted. What's in it for him Max asks and Nigel says a bunch of hungry tourists willing to pay for a meal and a story. Deal says Max and goes and greets the tourists.
At the office Bug and Lily find out who the maid was. A Hilda Ruiz who was supporting her family in Mexico with the money she made. Lily contacted her son but he could not tell her what family she worked with. Also they have no way of retrieving the body and burying in Mexico. Bug gets angry with the family who worked the woman to death.
Back at the bar, Max is telling a great ghost story which the tourists appreciate. At the end they clap and whistle their approval and then depart with Nigel. Max holds Nigel back and asks for his cut of the money - a speakers fee which Nigel reluctantly gives. Happy they go their separate ways.
In the autopsy room, Garrett and Trey work on Damon Tremain. Garrett orders a tox screen for Tremain and Trey gets on it right away.
In Jordan's office, Jordan and Tonya talk about how difficult it can be for single parents. Jordan comments she was probably a hand full for her dad sometimes. She promises to find baby Amy.
Jordan then goes to the autopsy room and working with Bug and Nigel, try to find out where Chris has been . Bug fills her in on the bug she found. It is a particular beetle that is usually found in warm places , not Boston . Somewhere Chris stepped into a beetle nest possibly where a furnace would be. Nigel has found wool that is usually found in hotels.
Garrett picks up Abby at school and asks her about Damon, whether he was using steroids or drugs. Abby repeats what Damon?s mother said about the coach being too hard and that he may even secretly encourage the boys to do drugs. Garrett then asks Abby if they can get together, but Abby says she and some friends are going to Maine this weekend. Garrett wonders if her mother approves of this and Abby says it will be cool with her.
At the office, Bug comes in with a poster of the missing dog they had. He tells Lily that he tried to phone about the missing maid but they will not answer. It seems they value the dog more than the maid. He tells Lily to get the dog because he has some bargaining to do.
In Jordan's office , Jordan shows Tonya some possible hotels that Chris could have stayed at and asks her if any are familiar to her. The Manchester Hotel is one that she has dragged Chris from in the past. Jordan and Tonya head over there and meet up with Winslow. Winslow talks to the manager, who is reluctant to reveal anything about his residents until Winslow threatens to close him down. " You can't since this place is a protected historical building" he says, but Winslow tells him it won't matter. The manager gives in and they check Chris's room. No baby is found , but they hear one crying in another room which they break into. Again though no baby as this one is black. Tonya is very upset and starts to cry about her baby.
Back at the office Jordan and Winslow talk, but now Winslow concedes it may get harder to find the baby. The reason is man power, they just can not take so many men away for such a potentially long search. This upsets Jordan who isn't giving up so easy.
In the conference room Lily introduces the Hildabrants to Bug. They are the people with the missing dog. Bug shows them he has the dog and they are relived. He then tells them how he found the dog and they get very uneasy. Bug shames them about how they used and abused Mrs.Ruiz and in the end gets them to give Mrs.Ruiz family 10,000 dollars to fly her home and bury her.
Nigel shows up and with the tour group in the crypt promising the undead, but instead runs into Garrett. Garrett tells him unless he sees his resignation get the tour group out of here now. Nigel agrees and take the group out. Trey walks in and tells Garrett that the tox screen turned up ephedrine, which could have inflamed a heart problem. He tells Trey to look up Damon's medical records while he goes to talk to the coach.
At the school Garrett confronts the coach and accuses him of encouraging drug use and such. The coach is mad at the accusation, and is surprised that Damon was taking drugs. Garrett tells him if he knew of any medical problems and still pushed him, he will regret it.
Back at the office, Jordan finds Nigel and he informs her on the forensic tests done. Some of the hairs on the body were chris's and that he had been clean for a long time. The marks on the arm could have been from giving blood not track marks. As well one of the hair indicated heavy cocaine use and that its was a long red hair. Jordan realizes that Tonya has red hair and races to her office only to find Tonya gone. Later that night Winslow contacts her and meets Jordan at a street corner where a doped up Tonya is sitting on the ground. Jordan realizes Chris was trying to save his baby's life not hurt it.
At the police station, Winslow interrogates the dealer who they believe killed chris. He tells them that Tonya came to him with the baby begging him to give her some stuff, even offering the baby to him for drugs. Suddenly Chris comes along and beats him up and argues with Tonya over the baby.Walker got up and left.Winslow accuses him of murdering Chris later to get back at him for beating him up. He asks Walker whether Chris had the baby with him when he killed him and Walker says no.After, Winslow and Jordan talk when she gets a call from Nigel. He tells tells her the dust found on Chris was from bricks used decades ago and no more. Jordan realizes the baby has to be at he Manchester Hotel because its very old, and if they look in the basement by the furnace they may find the baby. The beetle that was found likes warm places, so she and Winslow look by the furnace and there find the baby.
At the office Garrett and Trey talk to Mrs. Tremain about Damon. Garrett notes that Damon died because arrhythmic hypertension - his heart was too big and with the drug use and exercise it was too much for his body to take. Garrett also notes that his doctor noticed a heart murmer and that she knew about it. She confesses to giving into her son's way of thinking even though she knew he may have problems.
In the conference room Jordan tells Tonya that Chris's parents will take custody of the baby and that if Tonya tries to contest it Winslow will bring charges against her. Tonya agrees and says she will try to be better, but Jordan tells her to tell that to the baby. Jordan then goes out and plays with the baby.
In Garrett's office Abby is there and is mad at Garrett. Calling him by his name, she says going behind her back and getting her mother to agree with him that taking off to Maine for the weekend would not be a good idea. He tells her tough luck, this is the way it is and also not to call him by his name anymore.
Bug and Lily are at Max's Bar and have some drinks, as Bug tells her about his father. Bug's father who in his native land was an engineer had to when he got to the U.S. work two low end jobs just to give his family a moderate life. Lily says it worked since Bug is doing what he likes to do not being forced to work in low end jobs.
Max and Garrett talk about the difficulty of raising daughters especially teens. Max says you just have to ride it out and most of the time they even out and respect you again. Of course you could be like Jordan who has never totally got over disobeying her father, as she demostates when she removes the bikini calender on the men's room door, when Max tells her he won't move it. Jordan then talks with Winslow and he teases her that the baby got to her and tells her she should pop one out. She tells him she will put her foot up him if he continues. They both laugh and enjoy their drinks.
ANALYSIS:
A nice episode that did not portray the tension it should have about the missing baby. It just fell flat even when we found out about the baby. Everyone was too subdued about the affair, with no chaos or anything else accompanying the situation. In fact I found more interest in Garrett's case then I did in Jordan's. Hennessy was good as usual but the others I think let her down here. The actress who portrayed Tonya was too boring to bother with, with nothing making her stand out. The Winslow character was not so obnoxious as in other episodes which might have made this episode flop. He needed to be more fiery with the others, show some more emotions about the situation. As for Jordan this time out she stuck to what she does best and that is being a coroner not a detective. She got all her clues from the bodies and used the other doctors to good effect. This is one part that I like to see and hope to see more of again.
Garrett's case again was the better one this time out. Ferrer did a great job conveying his out rage at a coach who might have pushed too hard on his players. When he realizes that it was in fact the parent who was irresponsible he knows he can't be that way with Abby , even if it means enduring her wrath for awhile. As for Garrett's personal life, it looks as if he and Maggie are getting back together. Only in the beginning did Lily get mentioned and when at the bar, Lily was with Bug and Garrett took no notice of her. I have mentioned on a message board that Garrett may be heading for a double heartache, and I still believe so.
Bug finally got some more background. We learn his father was highly intelligent and was a engineer in his native land , only to come to the U.S. and take two lowly jobs to support his family. We now understand why his family would want to take in Christmas and the rest of the holidays. His father did everything for his family so they could have a better life and it worked for Bug. Seeing Bug take the side of the maid and shame the family who employed her was wonderful and funny. As well his knowledge just keeps growing, since he picked out what chemicals were used.
Nigel had the solo humor act this time out and did wonderful. His made up tour of ghost haunts was funny, especially when he came to one of the ultimate places - the morgue. As well , taking them to Max's Bar was a nice touch. Convicing Max to make up some stories about ghost was fun to watch. Seeing Max reverse the situation and make money off of Nigel gave me a good laugh.
The technical side was good , although there was one scene were Bug was talking to the Hildabrants about the dog and it cut too abruptly , which made it jarring to watch. The music was fine and tasteful and fit the situations well. The stories , other than Jordan's were all very good to watch.
In the end I give this 3 stars, since the other stories pulled this episode up. Jordan's case just was not convincing enough, but the others were. RTMS Top
Episode 17 Crime and Punishment
With some cool music playing in the background, Nigel who looks like he's put on a fat man suit, seems to be readying some thing. Garrett walks in asking for Lily but Nigel has not seen her. Garrett goes out but comes back in and asks Nigel whether he is going to blow something up. Maybe hedges Nigel. Garrett orders him not to.
Garrett leaves and finds Lily waiting for him near his office with the papers he needs. He notices she has some bags packed and asks why. Holiday is Mexico she says , but Garrett is annoyed that she didn't tell him earlier. Lily says she did two weeks ago and had him sign off on it then. He was too busy to notice. He wonders if this has anything to do with him, but Lily assures him it doesn't although she looks miffed at him. She walks out and meets Jordan coming in who makes her promise to bring back some Tequila . Jordan talks to Garrett who asks if she knew Lily was taking off to Mexico. Yes only for a whole month says Jordan. Jordan wonder if he's been distracted, perhaps by a woman named Maggie? Drop it says Garrett and answers a call. It's from the police who have requested Jordan to attend a crime scene. She leaves for the case just as Nigel blows up the lab. Its just not a good start to the day for Garrett.
At the scene a seedy hotel, Jordan meets Woody who was the one to request her presence. He asks for her opinions on the scene. Body of a woman, dead for about 2 hrs. died on the bed, naked except for underwear on, and possibly strangled. They also notice a big hole in the wall which the maid swears was not there. Manager says she checked in under a Jane Smith- which Woody asks with smile if that is an alias. Jordan gets the joke, and then finds some keys which are for a storage place.
Jordan and Woody go and check the place out. The manager says she signed in under the name- Jordan supplies it Jane Smith. They open up the storage place and find a S&M place. The woman had a strange hobby.
Jordan and Nigel do the autopsy of Jane Smith. They find minute puncture marks - thumb screws. Wild lady, Nigel moans and realizes his life is boring compared to some. They walk out and Woody meets them. They exchange info on the woman and find out what her name is. She was Marsha Schaber. Jordan tells him that she died due to strangulation, one in a series of squeezes that finally did her in. Woody has found the husband and is going to talk to him at the police station. He invites Jordan along who agrees to come. After he leaves Nigel teases Jordan that she's got a boyfriend. Jordan tells him no way she eat a guy like Woody for breakfast.
Bug is in his office arguing with someone on the phone about late larvae. Howie Styles the state psychologist comes in and listens in which annoys Bug. After Bug gets off the phone he asks Howie what he wants. Howie states he's here to talk to Bug at the request of Dr. Garrett. It seems there was an earlier incedent and Garrett wants it solved. Howie makes an appointment for later in the afternoon. Bug is upset especially when he sees Garrett across the way.
At the police interrigation room Woody talks to Mr.Schraber who is a geeky lawyer. Apperently Marsha had been gone for a week but Mr. Schraber had not filed a missing persons form. He says she did that all the time and was not really worried. Woody then says they found his finger prints at the warehouse and wants to know why. Schraber says that one day a week ago he came across her laptop computer. He had notice she had become withdrawn and secretive and spent hours on the internet. He tried to look at her laptop contents but some sort of alarm went off when he did and she found out what he did. The next day she took off with the laptop. He found the storage place later and went in to get the laptop. That is why his prints were in the place.
In the conference room Bug and Howie start to talk. How did the incident start. It was over an autopsy of a young boy named Brian Kirsch. He was found dead. Bug recalls
( The police wanted an blind autopsy done which is done so as to make the ME as objective as possible in case they have to testify. Bug looked the body over noticing the muddy shoes. There were bruises all over the body with what appeared to be a head wound. Bug's ruling was repeated abuse - homicide ).
In Nigels office, he, Jordan and Woody are trying to get into Marsha's laptop. Woody tries to warn Nigel about the alarm but Nigel doesn?t listen and goes to try to crack the password. It doesn't work and a tapeworm- which eats the contents of the hard drive starts up. Woody and Nigel argue over who's fault it is and who could do better. Jordan breaks them up and Woody gets to work stopping the tape worm and getting to the contents. They click on a picture file which shows the murder scene just as it was found only it was taken a week before.
The next day Woody who has slept at his office is awaken by Jordan who has some fun in waking him up. When he does wake up with a start she tells him she has brought some coffee for him with cream and 6 sugars. Sugar is good Woody lamly says. He takes out a pressed clean bagged shirt from a drawer and changes his shirt. He did some research and found Marsha posed for picture. He also did some tracing on a cell phone, which leads to a fantasy place. He and Jordan go check it out.
At the place called SXXXTC.COM, Jordan and Woody pose as a couple of people who are interested in bringing the company to LA. They take a tour with Mr.Little who runs the place. He tells them that behind every door is a character(s) who act out the customers desires and such. The customer is watching online and needs only to type in what they want to happen. He then takes them to the monitor room which oversees all the rooms. There Jordan spies a character who is named Punisher. She asks for an interview with him.
At the office Bug and Howie are talking again. Howie was late due to a guy who was trying to jump off a roof top. Howie was trying to talk him out of it but no success. He will be arriving soon to the coroners. He asks Bug why he became a ME when its such a depressing job. Bug says death does not scare him, everyone has to die. They then continue talking about the Brian Kirsch incident.( The next day Garrett calls Bug into his office to meet the parents of the boy. They are upset because the police have been around and asking very pointed questions in regards to Brian. Bug tells them he belives the boy was abused. The parents are shocked and ask him whether he really knows what Brian had. The boy was autisic and was having grand mal. Bug says there was no indication of any medication and the parents say the side affects were too severe. Bug though is not moved and accuses them of harmful neglect. This makes the parents even angrier but Garrett steps in and says he will do a proper autopsy.) Howie asks if this annoyed Bug that Garrett had overuled him and took over the case. Bug tries to sidestep the question. Howie asks whether he really thinks the parents are at fault, but Bug just takes off.
At the fantasy place Jordan meets the Punisher whose name is really Herb. He's really a geeky kind of guy who's only in it for the little money it pays. He reconizes Marsha's picture when Jordan shows it to him. One of his best customers he says although lately her requests had gotten more weird. He claims Marsha wanted the things for real. Herb connects people in real life for some extra cash. Marsha had been emailing two people regularly for weeks now. She had made appointment to meet. Herb says she had told him earlier that she wanted to die. After wards Jordan meets Woody outside with the names Marsha was emailing and plans to hunt them out.
Jordan and Woody go to her place and while Woody makes dinner. Jordan emails the two people and she and Woody go over the email before she sends it.
At the office Garrett meets Maggie in his office. He has forgotten a dinner date which Maggie doesn't like. She closes the door and all the shades are pulled down. They then have sex in the office.
A Jordan's place, Woody gets ready to go, and the two of them get close. Before anything can happen though they get a creepy response to the email from sickboy 23, who asks how she wants to die.
The next day at Max's Bar , Woody and his police pals set up surveillance cameras in the bar. Jordan and Woody have agreed to meet both men. That is Jordan is bait for the men. Max is none too pleased with this and says so. Jordan tells both of them not to worry and that she will be back later this evening. Woody wonders if she has always been this way. Max confirms it.
At the office Garrett and Maggie hold up the elevator while they have even more fun. Garrett gets off and meets Howie who notices that Garrett is looking pretty good. Garrett says you bet he is. Howie asks to talk to Garrett about Bug and the incident.
In the evening at Max's Bar, Woody and Max wait for Jordan to show up. She does wearing hot red number. She takes a seat and makes sure her concealed mike is working. Jordan waits for a while until one guy approaches her. He is nerdy, a pencil pusher according to Woody. Its dirybirdy, but the guy is nothing what anyone expected. He just can't pull off the naughty part at all. Jordan sends him home. She waits some more and then gets up to get a soda. As she gets up and walks she is accosted by a man who says they should leave and he can make her desire to die more interesting. Woody and Max are caught off guard but must wait a minute to confirm who he is. Meanwhile the guy is trying to force Jordan out of the bar. Woody and Max finally intervene and arrest the guy. He is found to have been just released from prison four days ago for sexual assault. After he is taken away Jordan comments that Marsha was emailing sickboy 23 for 3 weeks. Its unclear whether he did kill Marsha or not.
Back at the office, Howie and Garrett talk about Bug and the incident. Garrett did do an autopsy with the new information and found the death undetermined with no evidence of abuse. He overruled Bug.( Bug does not take it well, accusing Garrett of getting subjective and emotionally involved. Garrett disagrees saying the cops manipulated the evidence to Bug. Garrett wants to know why Bug is so determined about this case but Bug does not want to talk. They get into an argument and Bug shoves Garrett back and leaves). Howie wonders why Bug would react this way. Garrett suggests perhaps Bug was physically abused himself. Howie states that somehow Bug identifies with the boy on some level that he is not even aware of. He promises to find it out.
At the police interrogation room Woody questions Darrell the guy they arrested. He's more interested in talking to Jordan behind the mirror. He asks her what a safety word is. She doesn't but asks him. He tells her it's a time out, if it gets too intense all they have to do is say the word and it stops. He admits to killing Marsha, waiting for her to say the word but she never did. He claims that another man set it all up and watched.
Jordan realizes it was Mr.Little who watches everything at his place and was also sickboy 23. Jordan pays him a visit and accuses him of setting up the death. Little is not shocked or panicky believing he was giving what the people wanted. He wonders how they can pin Marsha's death on him. The T1 Line gave him away, hard to hide the hole it made says Jordan. The cops are waiting for him outside she says but Little is smug and doesn't believe he will do any time.
At the office Bug and Howie talk again. Howie mentions he went over the photos of the victim and notice something. The shoes were dry and clean. Howie asks Bug to recall what he said the first thing he noticed. Bug refuses to recall, so Howie does it for him. He said the shoes were muddy, yet it was not true, the day Brian died was a nice sunny day. Why did he see this asks Howie and Bug finally confesses. When he was young he had to look after his brother a lot because his parents were always working. There was no way to look after a little kid 24 hrs. a day. It was raining that day and Bug didn't think his brother would go out anyway. Suddenly he hears the screeching of tires and yell. His brother has been hit and was killed by a car. His parents blamed young Bug for it and Bug has carried the guilt all these years. It was more frustrating for him because he belived it was his parents who should have been responsible for his brother and he couldn't really punish them. Hence when the Kirsch parents he let his anger over his parents out on them.
Later Bug goes to the roof and meets Garrett. They talk and apologize over what happened.
Jordan and Woody wrap up the case and talk as well. Woody just can't get over the fact that Marsha through all she had away just so she could die. Jordan says forget and get on with life. Woody smiles at her and says if only she really believed that herself. They say goodnight and go home.
ANALYSIS:
Another good overall episode. Jordan was the only one who had a actual case while the other happened a week back. Great performance by Ravi Kapoor as a traumatized Bug. The guest stars were also put to good use this time out. Great shows have very good and developed reoccurring guest stars and I believe CJ is getting and developing its guest stars well. The stories ranged from the weird to the tragic with Bug?s story being more interesting. Jordan's story was not that interesting or sympathetic just plain weird. It was also another sex story which the writers seem to be obsessed with. It suffered because once again Jordan played detective too much and not an ME.
Jordan as mentioned above suffers when she is not getting her clues from the bodies. Here she spent only about 2 minutes tops with the body and the rest with woody doing police work he should have been doing. I believe this does Jordan a disservice and weakens the show. The best shows this year are when they have equal parts mystery and medical drama. When one helps the other and the two come together to make a conculsion. And why was the laptop at the ME office and not at the police station as evidence. Surly the police have computer experts who could have cracked the code just as Woody did. The ME office seems to be supplanting the police stations as the place to find out who killed who.
Bug's incident was far more interesting and revealing. We know from past eps that Bug's family are immigrants and were highly intelligent with regards to his father. We know they tried to embrace the American holidays as way to fit in with the rest of the people of the U.S. Now we find he holds some deep anger at his parents for a incident involving his kid brother. Having his brother die while he was suppose to watch him has given Bug a huge guilt complex. Only now he is able to release it, although he initially releases it prematurely on the Kirsches. I'm glad he and Garrett made up in the end. It will be interesting to see what happens now with Bug and his family. It's never been revealed whether his parents are still alive or are dead. If dead Bug can't go back and fully resolve the problem and this still may cause problems in the future.
Garrett gets a little action, mostly with his ex. I still say he is headed for heartache but for now he seems to be content. He should let Lily know though that the relationship is now off. I liked how he stepped in on the Kirsch case and believe he made the right choice in doing a proper autopsy. Too many times the police and social workers get over zealous and deliberately exclude evidence to make their case.
As for the tech side a couple of things stood out. The first was the dinner Jordan and Woody had. There had to be a missing scene cut here. At the bar the next day Jordan says she is meeting two men. At the dinner only one of them had emailed back. It made it confusing a little. The other was the flash back sequences. This was a great little trick to go back and help tell the story. Very good and flowing with the scenes, they were never jolting or sudden.
To wrap it up, overall a good episode, Jordan's story being the weaker one , Bug's the better. I give it 3 stars even. RTMS Top
It's a nice day out and Jordan and Lily have decided to take a jog through Boston. That is until Jordan spots a good cafe and wants to stop. Considering she's out of breath it would be a good idea. Lily wants to go on but is convinced by Jordan to stop. Jordan also notices that Lily is upset and asks if it's Garrett. Sure enough it is about Garrett and Lily spills it. She just knows Garrett is sleeping with his ex and is upset he didn't break it off with her first. Jordan tells her to confront him about it. She then gets a phone call and has to leave.
At the scene, on the Boston Harbour, Jordan meets up with a George Diaz Navel, military investigations. The body is of a woman, Pvt.Vicki Webber marine. She was 27 and married. Jordan notes bruises on face and arms, single bullet wound to chest. Jordan says she has been dead for at least 10 days. She asks where Webber was stationed and Diaz says Afghanistan, where she freaked out, shot another solider and deserted.
At the office Lily confronts Garrett after bumping into him. Garrett tries to be nice and apologizes for what has happened but Lily is too upset and angry with him and tells him off. She then walks off hurt. Nigel comes along and sees Garrett and asks him his opinion on pimps and whores.
Jordan is talking in her office with Scott Webber, Vicki's husband. They meet Diaz and a Col. Bayliss who was Webber's commanding officer. They have papers for Jordan since it is a civilian case now. In the file a list of domestic disturbances are there. In the conference room Jordan and Diaz talk to Webber about his wife. He is security expert and was based here in the States. Diaz suggests that Vicki was a traitor and shot the solider. Scott denies this and says Vicki loved her country.
Garrett and Nigel go to the Revere Towers where a pimp name Phat Bastard has been killed. Det. Karver is there to meet them. Nigel reveals his knowledge of the underworld, which surprises Garrett and Karver. Karver says there are no signs of external injury or foul play. Apparently one of his girls found him like this. They did find some nitro gylcern pills- possible bad heart. At that moment a man named Chill comes in paying his respects. He quickly pulls out a gun and fires 4 shots into the body of Phat B. Karver takes him in while Garrett fumes.
In the crypt, Lily gives Bug a new case. A Kenje Nagawa has died in a hotel, apparently from a gas leak in the fire place in his hotel room. The hotel lawyers want an autopsy done to see if he killed him self, so they will not have to pay insurance. Bug can't help but notice Lily's less then bright attitude. She is in fact still very upset over Garrett.
In the Towers, Garrett and Karver are talking about the incident with Chill. Chill himself is less than remorseful at what has happened. He knows someone has to take over Phat's business.
In the autopsy room at the office, Jordan is going over the body. Bruising on right cheek, with carpet fibres found on neck and legs. She asks Trey to check them out. Diaz comes in; a little miffed he wasn't called, and gives her some info on the bullet. It's a SS109, the kind that goes in and creates a mess. Diaz mentions that Scott Webber is a shooter and that he is going to talk to him. Jordan insists on coming with him.
At Camp Henderson, Jordan and Diaz go the troop housing. Diaz says they should get warrant to search, but with Jordan around who cares as she simply walks in. They walk in on Webber and his lover which surprises Jordan.
Later at Max's Bar, Jordan and Diaz talk about the case. Jordan asks him about why he limps and what happened about his ankle. Diaz says he was on MP duty he was hurt in the ankle and has been desk bound since. This means no combat duty. Jordan then asks about the solider V Webber hurt. Pvt. Aaron Neil, who got a shoulder wound thanks to Webber. Jordan decides to go and talk to him, while Diaz looks into the gun used for the crime.
At the camp Hospital, Jordan meets Aaron Neil who is still resting from being wounded. He tells what happened the night of the incident with Webber. In telling Jordan the story he mentions in passing something his uncle the colonel always told him. Jordan is stunned to learn that Bayliss is Neil's Uncle.
At the office later Jordan and Diaz argue why she was not told the colonel was Neil's uncle. Diaz says it was need to know basis. They go to leave when Jordan spies Garrett and rags on him about Lily. Garrett is not very happy about Jordan butting in and says he isn't talking.
In the autopsy room Bug is performing the autopsy of Nagawa. Bug finds the case intriguing; man is dressed but no fire in the fire place. He has soot though under his fingernails. He asks Lily to get the briefcase that was with Mr.Nagawa.
Elsewhere in the building, Garrett and Karver are talking about what chill did and Phat. They meet Nigel in the lab, who tells them that Phat did not die of heart problems. This means someone killed him. Chill immediately becomes a suspect.
At Camp Henderson, Bayliss confirms to Jordan and Diaz that Webber was under his command and that Neil is his nephew. Jordan accuses him of being bias which the colonel denies. He tells them she was a troubled young woman, ill at ease. He thinks it was home stuff that was bothering her. As Jordan and Diaz leave Jordan still is suspious of the colonel. She also apologizes to Diaz for her dig about not understanding someone who has been in combat because he hasn't. She then sees Scott Webber's lover walking by. Jordan goes to talk to her while Diaz takes a call. Pvt. Samantha Waid confirms that the Webber marriage was on the rocks and that Scott was not the only one fooling around. Waid says Webber had a big reputation on the camp and a lot of guys did not like her. Jordan thanks her, and then listens to Diaz who says some reports have come back. He tells her the dyes came back as being from the Mid East, and Scott Webber's guns don't match the bullets.
In the camp interrogation room, Scott Webber and his lawyer talk with Jordan and Diaz. Jordan asks Webber who Vicki was seeing, since he had to know what was happening. The lawyer hands them a phone bill from the Webber's phone. Vicki phoned one number in particular over and over just to hear the man?s voice. Jordan dials it on the speaker phone and they all hear Colonel Bayliss answer it. Later Jordan and Diaz see Bayliss who insists it was already over by the time she was sent over. He denies killing her.
In the autopsy of Nagawa, Bug and Lily have the briefcase. Bug tries to get it open but can't. Lily tries and has no problem opening it. Bug finds what he is looking for. A tool is found to open a gas pipe that lets in gas in through the fire place. They also find an insurance paper for Nagawa. The hotel lawyers are right about Nagawa killing him self and trying to get money off of them. They won't have to pay. Lily says Mrs.Nagawa will be in tomorrow to claim the body. Bug then notices that Lily is still upset, and invites her for a drink down at Max's Bar.
In the crypt Nigel is handing over some of Phat's stuff such as the mink coat to one of his girls. Nigel is about to try it on when he notices blood on the lower end of it that was missed in the initial investigation. He and Garrett then do an autopsy of Phat B. The x-rays show bullets, the four chill shot him with and another one they missed. They wonder how it got there since there are no entry wounds in the area it's found. They guess from the blood stain on the coat where it could have come from. They take a look at the butt area and find blood and bruising. He was killed when shot up the butt.
Jordan and Diaz and Trey are continuing the autopsy of Vicki Webber. Diaz says that she didn't come through any commercial plane. Jordan suggests a different plane, military. The organ distension could have come from being dead already and then flying and having her stomach inflate then deflate when the plane came down. They realize that Webber had to have died overseas and then flown over here wrapped in a rug and dumped in the river.
Bug and Lily enjoy some drinks at Max's Bar, while Bug tries to get up enough courage to say he has feelings for her. He fails at doing so but they continue with the drinks.
At camp Henderson, Jordan and Diaz make their way to Bayliss's office. He is all dressed up and takes a gun out and then shoots him self. Jordan and Diaz find him dead in his office. Later at the crypt the two bodies of Bayliss and Webber lie side by side. Jordan is still not convinced that the case is over. She goes to see her father.
At the Towers Chill has wasted no time in settling in and taking over. Unfortunately for him Garrett and the police are there to spoil it for him. Garrett tells him he knows how Chill killed Phat and how he tried to cover it up. Karver arrests Chill for murder and Garrett is satisfied.
At Max's Bar, Jordan and Max play their game over a game of pool. They realize that Neil knew of the affair between his uncle and Webber and wanted some of it for him self. He tries to force himself on her and she shoots him. He then shoots her dead and panics and calls for his uncle who arranges everything.
In the conference room, Lily and Bug talk to Mrs.Nagawa about how her husband died. She stops them and explains that she knew that her husband was going to kill himself. With the insurance money of 6 million the family will be taken care of. In Japan it is still honourable to kill one's self as a supreme act of atonement. The family business was doing bad and this way he can provide for his family and its future. Bug and Lily are astonished by all this.
At the infirmary at the camp, Jordan and Diaz confront Neil about what really happened. At first he denies it and sticks to his story but then crumbles and gives up.
Back at the crypt Bug is looking for Lily, but Nigel tells him she is not there. Nigel then teases Bug on why he wants to see Lily. He gives him some advice but Bug is not listening too much.
Jordan and Diaz say goodbye. He says Webber will now be given a military burial. He thanks Jordan for her help. Jordan then talks to Lily who looks much improved. She says she has met a guy and life is better. Bug over hears this and looks disappointed.
Later in the evening, Garrett is in his office alone. Jordan comes in calling a truce. Garrett gives in. Jordan apologizes for her outburst, but asks whether he knows what he is doing. Garrett confesses that it's all confusing now and he really can't say what is going to happen. He only knows he should try again with Maggie. Jordan puts on some music and they enjoy a drink as they talk some more into the night.
ANALYSIS:
This was another strong episode where everyone almost got to do something. Only Trey was missing, but he was still there. The plot moved along with a good pace and it kept my interest. The detectives were both good and did not get led by the nose too much by Jordan. Jordan was her usual self which I enjoyed. We see some more inner workings of the place and of the relationships that are going on. I only hope they don't dominate since it would take away from the real focus of the show- namely the mystery game. And the return of the game with Jordan and Max was actually nice to see, even if it is getting hokey.
First off there were two detectives this time out. Karver and Diaz both are good detectives and go about their business, only getting help when they need it. I really like seeing Karver actually working with the other ME's, since we've only got to see her interaction with Jordan. I hope they continue this with other detectives, which would make the other cases even more interesting. I don't think this would take away from Jordan and her cases but enhance them. Karver also got some good digs in at the deceased Phat that were humorous. Diaz was also good, but we probably won't be seeing him again. Diaz seemed more rounded out then the others. We get a little background on him, which made him more interesting then the detectives before him. Overall a good outing for the detectives in this show.
The relationships are bordering on the mundane and silly. Now we may have a triangle developing between Garrett, Lily and Bug. I hope this doesn't dominate the last few remaining shows since I really don't care too much on their love lives. I do have to say here that Lily came off bad in this episode. First she overly sensitive over Garrett and his ex getting back together again when she all but told him to settle it either way with his ex. Why get huffy when he decides to go back to his wife? He may have been stupid not to tell her earlier but she still gets way out of order here. Then Lily acts like a clueless idiot when she can't see that Bug is interested in her. Perhaps she's not into passive people like Bug, but who knows what can happen.
The cases were good but the Webber case was the best with Phat's being second. Nagawa was boring. Phat's death gets the award for most interesting way to die. He beats out the S & M church guy who plugged himself in and electrocuted himself. The Webber case was interesting from the start and stayed that way for the most part to the end. Neil came off as a weirdo, but I actually thought the colonel had done it. The Phat death was humorous and showed a different way of dying. I like how they missed it at first and had to look for clues to find out what really happened. Of course who killed him was telegraphed from the moment Chill shot the guy. The same can be said for Nagawa. I knew he killed himself when they mentioned the lawyers wanted to investigate the death. The explanation was stupid, and a coward's way out. Instead of picking himself up and saving his business from ruin, he kills himself and gets paid for it. I'm shocked the rest of Japan even has a population with this attitude.
The characters all get some time out, although some get more time. Trey was the loser in this episode as all he did was help Jordan a little. He really didn't contribute anything to the case. The rest were all good. Jordan was her usual self, getting into trouble and ignoring rules. She did look bad when she went off on Garret like that. He was right it's none of her business what happens to him. Of course Jordan can't really stay mad at a friend for long and apologizes, which she did a few times this ep. Garrett came off as smart when he knew Chill had killed the guy and found out how. I like how he goes after cases and the people involved. He just mows everyone down until the truth comes out. His love life could be better but he is trying to do right. As for Lily and Bug their case was a nothing case and easy. Still they did well and look to be good friends for now.
In the end the show was still very good. There was really nothing annoying in the show and the cases were interesting. I give the show 3 and half out of 5. RTMS
TopEpisode 19 For Harry, With Love and Squalor
Its evening in Boston and Max's Bar is packed as Jordan makes her way in. She sits down and Max gets her the regular-beer. A handsome smooth talking guy at a table starts to talk about her. He belittles her, saying she doesn't take risks etc. Jordan is annoyed but interested in him. He leaves saying he expects to see her here again, because she doesn't take risks.
At Garrett's hotel room, he and Maggie arrive making out. Just then, the phone rings, from work. After hanging up he says he has to go to the office. It seems his father has died.
In the morning, Garrett is in the trace evidence room looking over his father's body. He can't do the autopsy and so gives it to Trey. He has many emotions going on but asks Lily to sign the body in as a John Doe so know one finds out it's his father.
In the conference room, Kim is pleading with Jordan to look at a case that Yakura did a few years ago. She believes her client Tony Castanata is in fact innocent. Jordan isn't so sure even if Yahkura did mess up. Kim still pleads and Jordan gives in. Since they were having Chinese food while talking, they look at their fortune cookies. Jordan's mentions that to have true love she has to take risks. Kim says that sure is true. Jordan isn't so sure.
In the autopsy room, Trey is busy examining Mr. Macy when Garrett comes in. He looks at the x-rays and sees the bullet, which killed him. Trey says it was either that way or choke to death. Trey has found a key lodged in the trachea, which he pulls out and gives to Garrett. It is a key to a safe deposit box. Later in his car, Maggie joins him as he tries to remember his father. He knows he liked to bet a lot, played the trombone and baseball. In particular, he remembers when he had a priceless comic that his dad took and pawned to get money to bet.
In the evening, back at Max's Bar, Jordan meets the mystery guy again who again taunts her. When she tries to get him to open up, he evades her, which confuses her. He says she only came for him and leaves her his hotel door card.
Back at the office, Garrett and Trey talk about his dad. Trey mentions that the bullet lodged near his appendices. Garrett does a double take and then asks about a guy who had called earlier. Lily tells him that the person just wanted to tell him that it was Tuesday. Garrett races to a restaurant and there meets an old man. Garrett is mad and says hello to his dad. It seems the body at the morgue is not Harry Macy.
The next morning, Garrett finds his father in his office waiting for him. Suspious of the man he tells him he is phoning the police. Harry pleads with not to and tells why he faked his death. It seems he and a partner got into debt gambling with some Cubans and agreed to work off the debt by running and laundering some money. They were suppose to meet but when Harry got there the guy was dead and money gone, so he switched ids with the guy to stay safe. Harry says he wants to start over, but Garrett is not convinced. While they talk, the two Cubans show up looking for Harry or any Macy. Garrett agrees to help his dad out of this bind since he has the safe deposit box key and gets him out of the building.
In the hall by the computers, Kim shows up and talks with Jordan and Bug about the case in which Jordan tells her they have a smoking gun. Bug shows her a video of the crime scene, specifically the ground underneath the body. The grass is Canadian blue grass, which when concealed from light and such takes 4 days to turn from green to brown, which is the way it is when the body is lifted. The police say that the body was dead for two days. If it was 4 days, then Castanata could not have done it since he was 600 miles away at the time.
Garrett and his father find where the safe deposit box is. His father pulls a scam to see and then apprehend the box from under the bank employee's nose. When they open the box, they find it empty.
At the office, Jordan is wondering if she should go see the Mystery Guy at the hotel. She decides to go and finds the Lexington Hotel and the room. She looks around since the guy is not there, but when she decides to leave, he shows up at the door. They have sex.
At the office, Garrett signs for a package, which will come tomorrow, and talks to Trey. Trey has ID the guy as a Jack Wilcox, who has many aliases including Jack Frost. Garrett is stunned it's not the Murry his father said it was. This guy is wanted for money laundering and has connections with the mob.
In the mystery guy's place, Jordan thinks she may have made a mistake but again the guy taunts her and she takes the door card once again.
Later as she and Kim walk down town, they discuss the case. Kim warns her the new ADA is tough. Jordan is barely listening and Kim notices this and asks what is wrong with her. Jordan tries to evade the question but Kim guesses anyways and says Jordan is seeing someone. Jordon admits she is with someone, just sleeping with him she says. Kim is shocked and tells her to get real. Jordan says they discussed taking risks in a relationships but Kim comes right out and tells her this is not a relationship, this is just sex. Jordan gets upset and leaves.
At the office, Harry is poking around in Garrett's office when Abby shows up looking for Garrett. They talk a little until Garrett shows up and informs Abby this is her grandfather she had never met. Garrett wants to know the truth since the guy in the morgue is still not the one Harry said it was. Harry says he brought the laundered money to Jack Frost but that when he went to pick it up the next day the guy was dead and no money. Garrett and Harry argue in front of Abby who quickly takes to Harry. When Garrett refuses to help Harry Abby jumps on him saying he should be there for his dad. Garrett says the guy was never there for him, but Abby shoots back just like he was never there for her. Garrett gets the point and reluctantly helps his dad.
Garrett and Harry go to Jack Frost place, only to find it already tossed. As Garrett looks around one of the Cubans comes up behind with a gun on Garrett. The other also shows up. Just then, an alarm goes off and Garrett escapes locking the two hoods inside.
Max and Jordan are in the back ally behind the bar and are having a talk. She asks him why she never got the birds and the bees talk. Max is thrown off guard and tries to back out of answering. He then comes clean and says that after her mother died he never really thought about it, and didn't really know how to go about it. He says he did the best he could.
Garrett and Harry are driving to the office, and he criticizes his dad for not being there. Says his mom missed him. He also mentions that she thought she saw him at the end of her life. Harry says he did go and see her. When they get to the office Garrett says he could get a detective Karver to help Harry out, but Harry is not wild about that idea. Mimi tells him of the package on his desk, which Harry tries to take. Garrett opens it up and finds the laundered money in it.
At the Lexington, Jordan and mystery guy talk about memories, but then Jordan gets up and says it's over.
Garrett and Harry come to a place where the Cubans are meeting them. The two groups meet and Garrett hands over the money. The Cubans are wondering what the catch is and Garrett pulls out an envelop which he says contains a photo cryptographic negative. This is from a machine that records from the eyes what the dead person last saw. The Cubans decide to go and not risk being caught. Afterwards Harry congratulates his son and wonders about the negative. Garrett tells him there is no such thing and it was a con. Harry is happy Garrett pulled a con.
At the courthouse, Kim gets Jordan ready to testify and points out the new ADA. Jordan is shocked; it is the mystery guy she has been sleeping with. On the stand, he is very tough and harsh with Jordan when questioning her. After the case is done, they meet outside and mystery guy says he honestly didn't know it was going to be her. Jordan is still mad and upset with him.
At the office, Garrett and Harry say goodbye, but Harry says he may stick around. Garrett invites him to dinner and Harry asks for 500 dollars to get cleaned up etc. Garrett agrees to this.
At the Lexington, Jordan shows up and begins to tell the guy all about her even though they may never meet again. We still don't get his name.
Garrett and Abby are at the restaurant waiting for Harry until it?s clear he has stood them up. They leave disappointed especially Abby who had wanted to get to know her grandfather. Later at the office, Garrett is at his office, tired and disappointed that, his father never showed up. Lily comes and tells him the bank phoned and wondered if he authorized a withdrawal of 5000 dollars. Garrett is stunned but then decides to let it go. Lily says she sorry his father died, and Garrett tries to tell her he really isn?t dead, but Lily misinterprets this to mean he?s still alive spiritually. Garrett tries to correct this but gives up and says goodnight. He then notices a package on his desk and opens it, revealing the expensive Batman comic he had when young.
ANALYSIS:
This whole episode was soapy in the extreme. I did not enjoy it at all, and from the talk on the message boards, many others didn't like this one as well. I mentioned in a previous review that the love life of some of the characters had better not dominate the show or else it would turn the show into a soap opera. That is exactly what happened here. This was supposed to be a character-based episode, but it failed big time because we are used to having a case(s) to build the characters on. Having case driven character building is what has made this show grow and has made it enjoyable. Seeing Jordan react to a case that may remind her of her past is better then Jordan sitting at a bedside droning on to a stranger all the details of her life. The other aspect that made this show so bad was the sudden character change or inconsistency of Jordan, along with what I believe to be a bad casting mistake of Carl Reiner as Garrett's father. Both of these characters threw me off and just were not very believable.
Let us start with Jordan and her risk taking, which was the theme for this episode. Personally, Jordan's idea of a risk was completely stupid and inconsistent with what had been presented about her with so far. Jordan is brash and worldly and does not take anything from any one. She's a big girl, can take care of herself, and presumably can handle relationships for a short while. We saw this with Tyler and though she left him abruptly, she did try to have a relationship with him. What is worse with this show is that they present an idea that sex is love and can develop into love. What a load of trash, this is and how many young women get hurt with this attitude. Jordan's logic is seriously flawed and even Kim tells her that it is. Still she does not listen and get stung hard when Mystery Guy hits hard at the court case. Then she presumably makes up with the guy, believing him when he says he didn't know who she really was. Right he didn't, which I don't buy for a second. If he comes back, I feel she is going to be hurt by him. It's like a person saying since they have never been in a car accident they will deliberately ram their car into a train just to see what happens. That is not risk, its stupidity, and you get what you get for doing it. Jordan was simply a big let down this episode.
Carl Reiner, was I believe miscast as Garrett's father. When Garrett described him in an earlier episode, I expected a loser but one who was harder, and a little mean. Reiner looked like he was going to have a joke always ready and blurt it out. The relationship was a mismatch I think, because he was neither always funny nor mean spirited. He just was not very believable in the role and I never was comfortable the way I am with Ken Howard as Jordan's father. That is and has been a believable father -child relationship even from the beginning.
As for the other main characters Trey does do some work on the autopsy of Jack Frost but that was it for him. Second Bug gets even less time, only appearing to say why grass grows brown after a while. Nigel was nowhere to be found and Lily got some time to act awkward with Garrett. I could not tell if it was just from believing Garrett's dad was dead or from being around Garrett himself. Lily seems to have gotten over Garrett and his dumping her. The other two characters were semi regular Kim, who again needs Jordan's help with a case of hers. This time out she's nicer and it was nice to see her once again tell Jordan the truth to her face even when Jordan walks off in a huff. She nailed Jordan when she told her the risk she is taking is stupid and bad. The mystery guy was okay but arrogant and a jerk. The actor played him very well and I was impressed with the way he could change from smooth talker to jerk in the courthouse so well. He's a dangerous character if they let him stay.
In the end, the experiment to have just a character base show hurt this episode. The risks were stupid or illogical and reveal only that they can be hurt. Not all risks, when done right for the right reasons do this, they can actually help you grow if done right. Jordan was whiney and seemed to leave her brain in the lab this episode. Garrett's father provided no risk, and just made Garrett more stressed out then he needs to be. I give this episode 2 out of 5 rating. RTMS Top
Episode 20 The Gift of Life
In the lobby of the ME office, Jordan meets Lily and notes how content she is. Not only that, her face looks more colorful. Lily says she has been using a new "skin" cream, which is from the foreskin of men. Jordan cracks the usual joke, which Lily has already heard. Garrett shows up and greets both of them, but Lily is cold to him. She leaves Garrett and Jordan to talk. Jordan whines that she needs a raise. It seems her accountant has told her she worth nothing, and has no money after she spends it all. Too bad Garrett tells her. Yea, Yea she knows he cares, but what will she give her heirs? You have no heirs he tells her, and I have no will Jordan tells him. Garrett is shocked that for someone who works at a ME office and sees death all the time, she would not have a will made out all ready. He begins to lecture her when Emmy comes in and says Boston Uni is asking for him. Garrett tries to brush it off but Emmy tells him that one of their heart doctors has dropped dead in the middle of an operation.
Jordan along with Nigel takes the case. Jordan has memories of when she was a surgical resident here in 1995. They find the dead doctor on the floor in the operating room. The nurse says he complained about feeling dizzy and then just collapsed. Jordan looks at the face of the surgeon and suddenly has a flash back to 1995, when she was being wheeled in on a stretcher. Nigel calls her name and Jordan comes too. Nigel asks what is wrong and Jordan tells him she knows this is Dr. Elliot MacCafferty, the surgeon who saved her life. He was one of the best heart surgeons in the state.
Jordan and Nigel sign the body out and Nigel rides with it back to the crypt. Jordan wanders over to a group of med students and hears a question the doctor has asked which triggers her memories.
(1995-Jordan answers the question quickly and MacCafferty is impressed with her. Not so with the rest of the residents and he lets them know. He dismisses everyone except Jordan. He invites her to watch and participate in a heart surgery he is performing later. Jordan ever ambitious accepts his offer.)
In the crypt, Nigel, Bug , and Lily watch as a huge cryo vat is wheeled in. An Arnold Hummer is there and greets them, though he quickly gets on everyones nerves with his ethnic humor. The body is of Mr.Reims who fell off his roof and died. State law says an autopsy has to be done, but Hummer wants to bypass this since this would ruin the body for cryo freezing. Bug will have no of it, and disconnects the body, which makes Hummer mad.
Jordan is doing the autopsy of MacCafferty, noting a contusion on the head where he fell down on. Garrett comes in and asks if Jordan is okay with doing this. He too remembers MacF and is amazed he died. While he did not like him as person, he did respect his great ability.
In the hallway, Lily and Emmy are going through the bodies, making funeral arrangements etc for them. They come across an Issac Busch who died young-25 years old. He is scheduled to go to Potter's Field, which is where all unclaimed bodies go to be buried. Lily notices he was an organ donor, and becomes upset that he will be buried and unclaimed by no one. She takes the case and tries to find any of the donors who he helped.
Bug and Nigel are in another autopsy room ready to look at Mr.Reims.Bug is particularly upset about the cryo field and thinks it is a scam. His uncle in London, fell pray to these people and will not tolerate them. Nigel has taken a more humorous view of the situation, and has checked the company out. He thinks they are an okay company and sees nothing wrong with people trying to prolong their lives. Hummer then comes in and presents Bug with a court order not to touch the body. Bug will not release the body to Hummer until they can settle their differences.
Jordan is doing her autopsy of MacCafferty and reminisces about the past. (Jordan and MacCafferty are in the operating room doing the bypass. Jordan has always wanted to be a heart surgeon and MacCafferty lets her hold a heart in her hands. Jordan is excited and awed by it all. Later in the surgery, a nurse asks if a Doppler Probe should be done, since they need to graft a part of the aorta and need to find the best position. MacCafferty says its not worth the time. Suddenly the patient starts to bleed and then dies. MacCafferty is quick to call it and leaves it at that. When the two of them come out of the operating room, they meet Mr.Levine her husband. MacCafferty is short and almost mean when he tells him coldly that his wife died and simply walks away even though Levine is shocked and wonders how this could happen. Jordan can only look at him in sympathy.) Jordan knows now that MacCafferty killed her out of neglect and indifference.
(Later we see Jordan who is smoking! Outside the hospital, Garrett comes around and introduces himself to her telling her she would be better off sucking exhaust from a Buick tail pipe. Could not find one big enough Jordan shoots back. He is here for the body of Mrs.Levine, and he wants some answers to what happened to her. He hopes Jordan can tell her what happened, but Jordan wonders why he cannot figure it out. He feels the graft was in the wrong place but cannot prove it. Jordan is evasive with an answer. Nervous she takes some pills out and pops one in. Garrett sarcastic with her about it, and Jordan says with the hours she's pulling in she has to stay awake and this is how she does it.)
In the conference room, Garrett is mediating a meeting between Bug and Hummer with Nigel looking on. Garrett losses his temper with both of them and shouts at them to shut up. Nigel then comes to the rescue and suggests they perform an operation guaranteeing the organs to be put back together again. Nigel says look inside the body with out cutting out or into any thing. Hummer agrees to this and Bug does as well, although he is a reluctant.
Lily is in the crypt and struggling to find the people who Busch donated his organs to. The National Organ Board will not give that info out and Lily is mad. Bug comes in and tries to calm her down and reason with her, but Lily will not give up.
(Garrett is in his office when Jordan bursts in mad at him. It seems he wanted to talk with her and she refused so he got his boss who plays golf with her boss-the chief surgeon- to talk and Jordan ends up here. Garrett shows her the x-ray of Mrs.Levine's aorta and asks if a Doppler Probe was done, since the place MacCafferty picked was the only place that was weak. He wants Jordan to tell the truth or else the death is ruled as natural due to operational risks not accidental. Jordan again says she has no say in this and will not answer him. Bug with long hair comes in and tells him Mr.Levine is here to claim the body of his wife. Garrett tells Jordan truth is truth and asks whether she has the guts to say it. Jordan then watches as Garrett comforts Levine, and how kind he is to him. This is in contrast to MacCafferty who was cold and uncaring.)
In the evening, Jordan makes her way to her office where she finds a book called Moron's guide on how to make a Will. She reads the note inside, from Garrett on how he saw the title and immediately thought of her, Love Garrett. She chuckles at the joke and then pulls out her old stethoscope. More memories (Talking with MacCafferty in his office, he congratulates her on her performance in surgery. He tells her that there will be an M & M review-Morbidity and Mortality, which is a surgeon pow wow between other surgeons to make sure everything is okay and assure each other they are all great people. He starts to talk about how important they are to people and starts sounding as if they are divine. He butters her up and strokes her ego about becoming a great heart doctor. Later she meets up with Garrett and tells him of the upcoming M & M review. Garrett knows all about that and is not impressed with it. He urges her to tell the truth on what really happened. At the review everyone agrees with MacCafferty and then ask Jordan what she thinks. She stands behind what MacCafferty says and so everyone leaves satified, while MacCafferty pats her on the shoulder.)
Garrett is in his office fixing his desk when Lily arrives to talk to him. He has found out what she has been doing for Busch and while he sympathizes with her he must end this quest of hers. He orders her to have Busch on the transport next morning. Lily shouts at him that he not being fair, but Garrett stands his ground.
The autopsy or operation of Mr.Reims is going well. Nigel announces that vitals are zero over zero, and that everything is going fine. He is a least having fun with this. Bug determines that Reims died due to massive internal bleeding due to falling from a great height. Hummer zings him one and says duh like I said at the beginning. Afterward Bug meets Lily and comforts her about her argument with Garrett. She would like him to hack the NOB records but Bug refuses, he has gotten into trouble before for doing that. Lily realizes this and decides to try herself.
(Garrett at the office meets up with Jordan who he rebukes for not telling the truth. Jordan apologizes but says nothing bad has happened. Wrong says Garrett, because he had to rule the death natural Levine can not sue MacCafferty or find out what truly happened in the operation. Later Jordan meets her dad at the police station. They talk about what she should do. She feels as if she should do something but knows MacCafferty can make or break her future career. Since she was 13, she has wanted to be a heart surgeon and this may see her dream never come true. Finally, she decides and tells MacCafferty that she will be changing her testimony. MacCafferty goes ballistic on her and threatens to cut her from the program, and blackball her from any other heart program. Her career is finished it looks like.)
Jordan is at her home, drinking out of the juice container when Max catches her and tells her to use a glass. They talk about MacCafferty, and how well she is coping. (Same thing is happening in the past as Jordan and Max are drinking and trying to cope with the idea that she will no longer be a surgeon. As her dad goes to get more to drink, Jordan takes a couple of pills and downs them. As Max is talking to her, he notices that she seems to be spacing out. When she gets up to walk away, she collapses to the floor. Max takes her to the hospital, telling them she was taking Seconal and booze. He meets MacCafferty and tells him he better save her or else Max will take care of him.) As Jordan is jogging, she remembers the hospital ordeal.( MacCafferty fights to save her and does not give up)
At the office, Lily meets Dick Robins, who got a new liver thanks to Busch. He has been trying to find him and thank him for it. He provides a plot for Busch, since it's the least he can do for the man. Lily is touched and asks how he found out. He tells her a Dr. Macy phoned him and let him know.
(Jordan is recovering in the ER, when Max comes in to see her. He chews her out for forgetting that mixing drugs and alcohol is drangerous. MacCafferty visits her and apologizes for his outburst at her. He reinvites her to join him in the heart program but she decides she does not want to be like him and declines.)
In the crypt, Bug walks in just as Reims is going to be transported into the cryovat. There is no time to wait and Hummer does the oath while Nigel helps. Bug is still unhappy.
Out side Garrett and Lily talk about today. She thanks him for what he did, but tells him why it was so important she did what she did. When you give something of yourself that helps others you want to be acknowledged for it. It's a hint to Garrett and she tells him if he can't understand that then maybe she should go.
(Jordan shows up at the office and meets Garrett. She tells him she quit smoking and to tell him she is out of the heart program. She then asks for a job with his office. He gives her a associate coroners position.)
Jordan, in the here and now visits Garrett in the evening in his office. She tells him she made her will out and then gives him an early inheritance present. It is her old stethoscope. She tells him that five years ago he was the one too really save her and gave some direction in her life. With some tears, she gives him a kiss on the head and heads out as Garrett ponders that.
ANALYSIS
This is the second best episode so far in the series. This is the character building that I like to watch. The episode kept my attention from start to finish and we find out so much more about Jordan and her early choices in life. The episode was a well acted one and had a little tearjerker at the end. Unlike the last episode, which tried only to be a character driven ep with no autopies to see, this again worked around an autopsy even though we never found out what actually killed MacCafferty. The main guest star was great as the mean surgeon who had a god complex and couldn't let go. Hennessy and Ferrer were terrific together, showing the good chemistry they have.
The main plot of the show, how Jordan came to be a ME, was very solid and steady. It was serious, grabbing your attention, and held it throughout the episode. We now know that Jordan wanted to be a heart surgeon since she was 13 years old. We did not find out why this was, and I hope in a future episode this is given out. We see that a young Jordan was ambitious and definitely displayed the attitude that would eventually get her into so much trouble in the future. MacCafferty was a jerk, and could see that Jordan seemed capable of doing almost anything to get what she wanted. He worked this part of her, but miscalculated thanks to her father's good sense and her own. Deep down Jordan has a good side and Garrett and her father managed to push enough for her to find it and stand up for what she believed in. One thing though that I find disturbing and have notice since the beginging of the series is the drinking her father does. He's almost never without a drink and I have to wonder if he has a drinking problem. It was humorus to see him chew her out on how she should have known not to mix the drugs and the booze. Early ads for this episode keep suggesting this was a suicide attempt, but I did not see that at all. She got into the habit of taking the pills when she got nervous, not just for staying up longer and so naturally reached for them and popped them in with out even thinking about what she was doing. I did not see any problem there. Her relationship with Garrett started out cantankerous, which has not changed, but they now have genuine nice feelings for each other now. They care for one another, even when they don't agree with each other. Giving her the moron's guide to Wills was a funny touch.
The main plot seriousness was off set by the B plots humor. Bug and Nigel are so good together and create great humor with each other. The Hummer character was very funny although his ethnic slurs were not welcomed. The whole Reims idea that he was still alive and not dead was funny and performing an operation to "check what killed him" was hilarious, especially when Nigel said the vitals were Zero over Zero. Many of these things are just for money scams and Bug was right to question the whole thing.
Lily's case was okay but she ruined it by acting childish. As well her little hint that since she gave Garrett some happiness she should be acknowledged is not very right. When you give something you should not be expecting anything in return. It sounded selfish to me as well her attitude should improve.
The tech side was very creative in this episode. The contrast to the past and the present was quite nice and made each section distinct. The past with the almost bleached color and hazy look was nice to look at and contrasted with the sharp, colorful look of the present. It also mirrored Jordan who in the past was not so sure of herself and needed help, to the Jordan of today who has a handle on things. The flashbacks were not intrusive or annoying. The transitions between the past and present went smoothly and never jarring as sometimes can happen.
Overall this episode is a great character builder for both Jordan and Garrett. We get to see what she was like and why she became a ME. Only Lily's case pulled it down from a perfect episode. I give it 4 and half stars out of 5. RTMS
Episode 21 Someone to Count On
Woody and Jordan are waiting in a long line for lunch. Woody is skeptical about how good the place is, but Jordan swears they have the best chimichongas around. Woody is paged about a jumper and he and Jordan go to see what is going on. At the scene a young woman named Keshia is standing outside window and will not listen to the cops including Woody. Jordan asks if she can try to talk her down. Jordan chit chats saying among other things how gruesome her death would be from jumping from a high place as this. Keshia asks her to shut up, but Jordan doesn't give up. She asks where her mother is and after arguing with her Keshia says she is in the kitchen. Jordan and Woody find the mother dead, and this is the reason why Keshia will not come down. Jordan tells her that she will do everything to help the girl if only she will come down. Keshia agrees, but as she comes down Woody has to arrest her.
At the office parking lot Garrett is talking to Kurt from the DA's office. A case has come up for appeal on the basis that faulty forensic evidence was used to convict the person. The person appealing is Tommy Simon who was convicted of killing a cop's kid. Garrett says the case was handled by Leo Gelber a colleague of his. The DA wants Garrett to go over the case again and make sure the case is air tight. Garrett doesn't like to second guess his fellow ME's but the DA will not hear listen. Just look at the case he says
At the office, Garrett goes to see Dr.Leo Gelber who is happy to see him , for the most part. Due to a board decision Leo was cut from actually doing cases and from the job Garrett now enjoys. Garrett asks him for the Simon case and Leo goes to the file cabinet and pulls out a file. Garrett notices though that it is the wrong file and goes to find the right one as Leo mumbles about being making an honest mistake.
At the interrogation room, Woody is grilling Keshia on her mom Teresa Morton's death. Keshia though has lawyered up and he tells Woody that the interview is over, since he has another case to get too anyway. Woody comes out and talks to Jordan, saying he believes the girl did it. All the facts point to her and given she has a history with uncontrolled anger it doesn't look good. Woody also mentions that he would understand if Jordan did not want to do this case because it would hit too close to home to her. Jordan questions this, and Woody admits other detectives have talked about her mothers death and such. Jordan assures him she is okay and Woody leaves. Keshia then gets Jordan's attention and says Jordan broke her promise about helping her. Jordan can only stand there.
At the morgue Lily is checking bodies when a creepy guy from the Fisher and Sons funeral home talks to her. He is here for the body of Mr. Brenin. Lily is creeped out by him and is even more so when he asks her out on a date. Lily declines the offer and gets out of there fast.
Garrett and Nigel are looking over the case and are using the computer to look over the body at the crime scene. Nigel mentions the external bruising from the massive trauma to the head area. He then finds something and zooms in on it. He notices the angle of the wound. Since the victim was at least 6ft his assailant would have to be even taller to strike such a massive blow. Neither man can believe Leo made such a huge mistake, but Garrett asks for Nigel to keep this to himself for now. As Garrett leaves Lily walks in which creates a awkward moment and then is gone. Lily asks Nigel is he finds her attractive and after some hedging Nigel says yes she is. So why can't she attract normal men she asks?
Woody and Jordan visit Teresa's boyfriend who is a pharmacist. He says that Keshia was taking Busfar which is like prozac and that the mother gave it to her to calm her down. He had seen the two of them that night and that they were fighting. Teresa did not want Keshia to go to Jesuit Collage because then she would be all alone and Teresa was afraid of that. He says he heard Keshia say she wished her mother was dead.
Back at the office Jordan meets the mystery ADA she slept with. He is prosecuting Keshia and of course wants Jordan to find evidence to convict her. He smirks and acts like a jerk, but Jordan tells him she's not working for but for herself. Fine he says and mentions these kinds of cases are good for public moral. Jordan tells him to get lost.
Garrett meets up with Leo and chit chat at first about kids. Then Garrett brings him to ID print machine. He asks Leo what he calibrated it for. Leo says 18 points like always. Garrett tries this on the prints on file for Tom Simon but they don't match. He then tries 12 points and still they don't match up. He then goes to 8 points and while it matches, it would also match anyone else in Boston since its so big. Leo gets very upset at Garrett accusing him of conspiring against him. He says he will stand by it.
Later Garrett and Nigel talk about it, how this could affect both the Simone case and Leo. Garrett has Leo's last medical and notices he signed his own physical, convenient if you want to hide something.
Jordan consults Bug on the x-rays and tox screens. They find that Teresa was pregnant, but that the tox screen showed betathalasymia which only occurs in Mediterranean people. Jordan thanks Bug with a "you rock"which Bug takes in stride and says he knows.
While waiting for Jordan, Woody meets up with Lily who then comes on to him. Unfortunately for Lily she comes on to strong, which makes Woody nervous because he is a old fashioned guy. Lily gives up on him.
Woody meets up with Jordan and tells her Keshia has escaped. Jordan can't believe it and then tells Woody her discovery that Teresa's pregnancy and that the infant had the genetic markings of Mediterranean decent. This rules out the boyfriend so who? They both point to the superintendent of the building. Woody then goes to look for Kesia.
In the evening Jordan comes home and just as she enters Keshia follows her. Jordan is startled to find her there and says everyone is looking for her. Jordan decides to invite her in and bring her to the police in the morning. She gives her supper and they talk. Keshia found her home in the phone book and came over, not really knowing what to do. Jordan asks her about the fighting the night her mom died. They had been fighting over whether she would go to college. Keshia says she left the building and when she got back the door was locked and she had to get the super to open it for her. She says she noticed her mom sleeping on the couch and swears she was alive at that time. Keshia says the only time she feels alive is when she is running track.
Morning comes and Jordan wakes up to the noise of cartoons on the TV. She looks around for Keshia but can't find her. She then finds the note Keshia left her and Jordan is less than happy.
At the office, Garrett is sparing with the DA over the Simon results. Garrett tells him that Leo made the print ID so big any thing could have matched with it. The DA is not happy and tells Garrett to play ball and not revel this to the appeal panel. Garrett is not happy about having to lie about the case.
At the interrogation room, Woody is asking the building superintendent about his relationship with Teresa Morton. At first he denies this then admits it when Woody reveals the pregnancy to him. He swears he did nothing to her. Jordan is watching all of this and gets a call from Nigel, who tells her that Keshia's nailpolish was found on a cut on Teresa's neck. Afterwards, Jordan reveal to Woody the info she just got and that Keshia was with her last night. Woody blows up at her and is hurt that she jepordiezed the case. He thought she was better than this. Jordan can only stand there and take the verbal blow, knowing she did wrong.
In Leo's office, Leo is listening to some music when Garrett comes in and tries to apologize. Garrett then tries a sneaky trick and asks if Leo would read some address for him. Leo can't do so and Garrett asks how long has he had trouble with his sight. Garrett then orders him to get an eye exam, but Leo is to prideful to do so.
Jordan has been looking for Keshia and finds her where she expected, at a track. Jordan convinces her to turn herself in and she does so with Jordan's help. Woody meets them at the station but is rude to Jordan , sarcastically wondering if Jordan brought a cake with a file in it. The ADA is back and is happy Jordan turned the girl in, but Jordan tells him not to hold his breath. She wants to rexamin the mother's body, which the ADA grants.
Back at the office, Jordan is in the staff kitchen pouring over the case trying to find an answer. Leo comes in complaining about his lot in life. Jordan says she still respects him and his knowledge and then asks him for help with the case. He agrees that with his knowledge and her eyes and they may find an answer. They do the autopsy again, focusing on an anomaly in the cerebral cortex. Jordan tells him there is discolouration in the cerebellum. Leo asks where she was found and Jordan says on the floor-by a chair- which clues Jordan in that Teresa had a grand mal sezuire and that she was epileptic. The bruises on the neck were from the impact from falling from the chair. They then wonder why she was not on medication, the only thing found were anti-histamines on her. Leo says anti-histamines are known to produce grande mal sezures in epileptics They realize that Teresa may not have known that the pills she was taking were in fact anti-histamines.
At the police station, Jordan meets up with Woody who really does not want to talk to her. He does listen and Jordan tells him she went back to the Morton house and found a bottle of Dilantin which are for epileptics. So what Woody says, Jordan informs him the bottle was full of allergy pills instead. Woody wonders if Keshia knew this, then they both realize the boyfriend pharmacist would know what would happen to a epileptic if they took an allergy pill. Woody quickly gets over his anger with her and tells her to come along, saying the next chimichonga is on her.
At the pharmacy, they confront the boyfriend about what they know. He confesses that when he found out she was two timing him with the landlord and pregnant with the man's baby he snapped. He gets angry and when Woody wants to arrest him he moves away and pulls a gun out on them. When a cop comes in the store he panics and shoots him and then almost shoots Woody who fires first and kills him. Woody is shocked, he has never killed anyone with his gun before. Jordan tries to calm him down.
At the office, Garrett and the appeal board are in the conference room, conducting an investigation. Garrett is asked what really happened with the evidence and he is about to answer when Leo shows up. Garrett talks to him and Leo says he will tell the truth.
At the police station, Keshia has been let go and tells Jordan she will stay with her aunt until next year when she may get back in at Jesuit. Jordan is proud of her. She then spots the ADA and goes and talks to him. Confident and sleazy as ever he congratulates Jordan on her job. He hopes now they can reconcile with each other but Jordan is not so sure. Woody spies them together, and is uneasy about it.
Outside the office Leo and Garrett have a talk. Leo is being forced into retirement due to Glaucoma. Garrett feels bad for him but has a solution. Garrett offers him a job as a criminologist consultant, which with all his years of experience could help many cases to get solved. Leo agrees and says that now with time on his hands he is going to have those dinners he wanted with his son.
At Max's Bar in the evening, Lily is having a drink when Nigel sees her and asks how she is. Lily is feeling as if she needs to move on and have a change in her life. Nigel tries to help her out.
Jordan arrives at the bar and meets up with Woody who is having a drink. After today he needs one. Jordan apologises for what she did and Woody actually tells her that she is a hot but complicated woman. He says he may have to wait since the ADA seems to have her interest but Jordan hedges about this and tells him not to worry. Woody gets up to leave but before he leaves he tells her that he himself can be complicated. Jordan is left to think on this.
ANALYSIS:
Another solid episode for the third to last episode of the season. This episode had good intrigue and some mystery to it. Until they found out she was pregnant it really looked like the daughter had done it. The revelation that the boyfriend did it was late in the episode so it didn't really deflate fast and ended quite well. The major guest star Klugman was okay but I expected something more from him. As for Woody he gets better everytime he comes on the show and now we know he likes Jordan. Unfortunately they spoiled it by having the ADA jerk back and he's as obnoxious as ever.
Plot wise this was a good solid story with a nice B plot to help it along. The C-plot was a waste again as Lily basically whined about not finding the right man. Jordan's case was intriguing because for once she couldn't come up with the cause of death right away. In fact she needed help and a second autopsy to find the answer. This is the best way for Jordan to grow and for the stories to stay interesting for the most part. Sometimes if they give the cause of death away they have good mysteries but usually they work better when Jordan has to investigate with the autopsy clues she gets. The forensic clues help as well and include the rest of the cast. Keshia was a somewhat sympathetic character, but lack some more softness about her that would have made the character more enduring. The boyfriend was Reginald VelJohnson from the comedy series Family Matters and is always nice to watch. The man has a wonderful acting range from when I first saw him in Die Hard. He was convincing enough that I took him for the grieving boyfriend not the jealous one.
Garrett's case was good but not really memorable. It included Jack Klugman who use to play Quincy. Here he plays Leo Gelber a former ME who has lost his touch due to almost blindness. He makes a serious mistake that sent an innocent man to jail and is almost too prideful to go back and fix it. While I have seen reruns of Quincy on TV, this outing was lacking in punch. Klugman has suffered from throat cancer and it just seemed like an over extended cameo trick NBC was pulling (It is NBC's 75th anniversary and they had many old stars on the new shows this sweeps period.) Why drag this man out and do something as strenuous as acting. Let the man retire. The conflict just seemed to pushed and strained and there was no tension to make believe that a man's whole life and reputation was in the hands of a blind ME. From the looks of it Klugman may come back and I hope next time if he does he has a meatier role.
Lily's case of wanting the right man was whiny and stupid. It was a waste of time and it could have been used more for the Garrett and Leo case or Jordan's case. No one cares whether Lily gets laid or not, she's not that important and the silliness from all this is that she is becoming less likable.
Trey was the only one not used in this episode and I have to wonder if he is coming back next season. This is the second show in a row that he has not showed up in at all. If he does I hope he gets better stories even if he is not the focus.
Overall this was a good solid episode, one which kept the mystery going almost to the end. Nice problem solving for the cast. I give it 3 out of 5. RTMS Top
Secrets and Lies
It's evening in Boston, as Jordan makes her way down a creepy dark hallway. Suddenly a voice speaks out and Jordan jumps. It's Det. Woody and he's called her here to the Summit View Mental Hospital for a case. A Erin Myers 24, has apparently hanged herself in her room. As they make their way to the room Jordan meets an inmate named Davey. He is nice but keeps saying her name is a boy's name. Davey also says that Erin was a good girl. Jordan makes her way around him and toward the room. Just then she sees a little girl in the hallway. When she looks for Woody and looks back, the girl is gone.
In the room we see a young woman hanging from the ceiling. Woody gets her down and Jordan starts to look over the body. A Dr. Hacken who is in charge here shows up. He can't believe Erin has done this, she was a quiet girl, who suffered from paranoia but had no prior suicide attempts. She did however have a desire to die. Looking the body over, there is no hemorrhaging which is standard for most hangings, and no abrasions on neck. Jordan says most people who hang themselves usually struggle not to for a moment or two, leaving a marks on neck. Jordan believes the girl was already dead before she was hung, a set-up.
In the morning at the office, Garrett and Jordan meet up and have some chit chat. Garrett says he does not want her to be spicing up the investigation , but he doesn't have to worry says Jordan she's not going back there. They meet Lily who has a message for Garrett that his ex has called. Woody then shows up and Lily congratulates him on getting an antique '56 robbie. Jordan and Garrett stand there looking bewildered wondering what they are talking about. Woody it seems is an antique robot collector he explains. Got it the two them seem to say as they all split. As Woody and Jordan walk to the autopsy rooms she asks why he never bothered to tell her. You never asked he says simply.
In the autopsy room, while Jordan gets down to work, or at least tries to, Woody goes on about Lily. He wonders why a smart, pretty girl would waste her time here. Just like old me? Jordan asks. Not like that Woody says, your important, you do an important service here. Speaking of the work, Jordan finds no bleeding in the neck, or on it confirming her earlier guess that Erin was dead already. Nigel walks in with some tests that she ordered, but before he gives her the results he congratulates Woody on the robot thing as well. Looking annoyed Jordan grumbles for the test results. Nigel says the tox came back negative, but her beta HCG level was elevated. What does this mean Woody asks, she was pregnant they both say.
Garrett walks into a diner and meets Maggie who is already there. Maggie is worried she tells him because her period is late. Garrett realises the implications of this, that Maggie may be pregnant. Garrett blunders though and tries to think of other reasons, especially whether she may be having menopause, implying she is getting old. Maggie is upset at this idea of his but she doesn't leave. She has not told Abby yet, as she wants to go to the doctor first and see for sure.
At the mental hospital, Woody and Jordan talk with Hacken again who is still in disbelief over Erin's death. He's even more so when they say she was pregnant. Woody and Jordan would like to question others who knew her to see if any one knew her condition. Hacken says that with all the checks made he finds it hard to believe that any one had enough time to get Erin pregnant. Jordan suggests he would have had ample time, but he strongly denies this.
Woody and Jordan find a common room where many inmates are seated and find a woman named Kelly. They talk to her and she gives them the low down on a few of the patients such as Davey, whose mother electrocuted his genitals because sex was bad. They ask if any one would want to hurt Erin, but Kelly says no way, most are here to prevent them hurting themselves. She does point out one guy though she thinks could have done it. A older man, named Herman Redding who killed his family.
Outside, Woody and Jordan talk about what they have so far. Jordan would like to get some DNA from Hacken to prove he is not the father, while Woody wants a warrant to question Reddding. They part ways and as Jordan goes to her truck, she finds a hair clip on it.
At the office, Garrett runs into Jordan returning and wants to talk but Jordan is not interested, and seems preoccupied with something. She runs into her office and shuts the door, and goes into her file cabinet and pulls out a large envelope. Inside are pictures and Jordan looks through them until she comes across one in particular. It's a picture of her mother with a hair clip on her head. She goes to Nigel and asks if he can blow it up for her. Nigel notices the pretty lady and comments on it until he turns it over and finds mother on the back realising it is Jordan's mother. The blown up picture reveals that it is the same hair clip Jordan found on her truck.
( Memory- Little girl playing in a flower bed around a big oak tree, as someone calls the girl Jordan) someone is calling Jordan's name and she wakes up. Lily wakes her up and they talk about how Lily doesn't seem to be too happy here and may leave. Jordan says if she wants to talk they can but Lily says its all right.
At the mental hospital Jordan spots the flower bed that was in her dream, but not the tree. She goes in and asks about the tree out side and the nurse says it was cut down 10 yrs. ago. Suddenly a crash occurs outside and Jordan rushes out to find Kelly lying in blood on the steps. Jordan looks up to see that a window above is broken. Jordan quickly calls Woody.
At the office, Abby is visiting Garrett and wants to know what is up with her parents. Garrett doesn't say outright but Abby guesses right and can't believe that her mother is pregnant. She accuses him of being irresponsible and having no right to give her lectures.
Back at the mental hospital, Jordan spots Davey again and again all he says is Kelly was a good girl. Woody shows up and wants to know why she was here in the first place. Jordan evades the question, and discusses the girl. Jordan and Woody talk and Jordan determines the girl was pushed out the window due to the angle she's facing.
As she is leaving, Jordan finds a note on her truck window which she reads and then leaves.
Down at Max's Bar, Garrett walks in and takes a seat at the bar. He orders the usual which Max gets for him. Tells him about the fact he has been seeing his ex, which Max says isn't a secret. Then Garrett tells him that Maggie is pregnant. Garrett wonders if he is willing to go through parenting again. He and Maggie had their life set, with Abby going to college soon and grown up, he has his job which is steady and strong etc. Max tells him the kids always come back no matter how old they are. Just to prove it Jordan walks in a demands Max's attention. Jordan tells him about her case and then tells him how someone at the hospital is leaving her things. She shows him the hair clip and an admission form with her mothers name on it. Max looks at these but denies knowing anything about it and abruptly drops the subject. He refuses to talk which frustrates Jordan.
( Jordan dreaming that she is at home when young and at a kitchen table with her mom at the counter. Her mothers back is turned and she starts to cry for no reason which upsets young Jordan) Jordan wakes up when Emmy is calling her. She tells her that Bug is waiting for her in autopsy room 1. Jordan wonders why when it is her autopsy. She comes into the room angry at Bug and lays into him for trying to steal her work. Bug tells her it was Garrett's idea and to take it up with him, not Bug. Jordan cools down and asks what he has found with Kelly. Bug confirms she was pushed but was murdered before she was pushed out the window. This is the same as Erin. The question remains, who killed them?
Later Jordan confronts Garrett over assigning other people to do her work. He hits right back that she should be doing her work properly. He wants to know what is happening with her, and she tells him about the admission form for her mother to Summit View Mental Hospital. She tells him Max is closed mouth about it and denies it. Garrett tells her to drop it but Jordan just gets angry and mentions his problems which gets them both angry at each other and they part ways.
In the morgue, Lily is going over the bodies when Bug comes in. Bug asks her about Woody and that he doesn't really like the guy very much. Coming in here all bossy like etc, who does he think he is Bug asks. Lily says she understands what he's saying and Bug's hopes get up. Unfortunately they quickly go flat as popped balloon when Lily suggests he is jealous that he never became a cop since every little boy dreams of it. Bug gets out of there fast, leaving a perplexed Lily to stand there.
Maggie is at the doctor's office, looking at all the expectant mothers to be and feeling weird. Garrett comes in quietly and sits down beside her. They talk and make a decision that what ever happens they will deal with it maturely.
At Summit View, Jordan is back and is pretending to visit but breaks into the records place. There she looks for her mothers file. Someone catches her and goes to tell on her, while she keeps looking. Redding shows up and gives her a baggie with something in it. He then pretends to go silent as the nurse comes in and takes him away and Jordan leaves.
Later at the office Jordan has Nigel go over the piece of paper to see whats on it. After awhile he says he can't get anything from it. Jordan urges him to try again and use DFO on it. Sure enough a print is found on the paper and Jordan asks Nigel to trace it for her. She herself makes a blown up copy of it for her to keep.
Night time, and Jordan has gone to see Woody at his place. He answers and at first she seems hesitant to talk to him. She is even more so when Lily comes up behind Woody and says hello. Jordan is caught offguard and quickly retreats. Nigel phones her about the print and tells her it can't be ID.
Jordan then goes to the Cavanugh home, and finds the box of stuff that has all the evidence of her mothers murder in it. She finds a blown up print in the box which is just like the one she has with her and matches the two. Later Jordan sits and waits there as Max comes home. She confronts him with the lie about not sending her mom to the mental hospital. Max says he had promised his wife he would never tell since she was embarrassed by it. Why was she there she asks, and Max says it was depression etc. She would be fine for periods then snap and cry uncontrollably. As well she had a miscarriage when Jordan was 5 that really sent her over the edge for a while. She became paranoid that someone wanted her dead. Max had to commit her for her own good, and after she got out she was a little better. Jordan then tells him that a patient at Summit View had the phantom print they had been looking for 20 yrs. She wants to know how and why, which Max can't answer. Jordan says she can't trust him now.
Morning at the office and Jordan and Lily meet up. Lily asks about last night and if it was okay to be with Woody. Jordan tells her no problem, she has no claim to him and to go for it.
Garrett walks into the common area and finds Maggie there sitting on the couch. She is not pregnant she tells him and they are relived. They remember the first time and wonder what they should do now. It's been reckless so far and they should be more careful.
In the autopsy room, Jordan and Bug are doing a double autopsy on both Erin and Kelly. Bug has found identical blisters on their heels and Jordan has found blisters on the inside mouth under the tongue. Jordan suggests they are entry and exit wounds. She suggests they were made by electricity, by being grounded the current went in mouth and out feet. Jordan thinks she knows how the girls were killed and who.
Garrett catches up with her and says he got an earful about the records break in at the hospital. He wants to know whats up and that he suspects it's about her mother. He orders her to stay away from the hospital, which Jordan promptly ignores.
Jordan meets Woody at the hospital and in Davey's room. Woody is searching the room while Davey is very nervous. Davey knows he may be in some sort of trouble but at first won't tell. Jordan asks him gently how the girls died?and finally Davey shows them the electric prod he used on the bad girls.
Later as Woody and she are leaving Jordan tries to go back and look for more things on her mom ,but Woody catches her and wants to know what is wrong with her. She brushes him off though and goes to one of the open rooms. There she finds Redding and tells him she knows he has been getting her the info on her mom. She starts to ask him what he knows but at first he clams up. She gets angry and gets up to leave when he finally says he knows who killed her mother---------
PART 2
Jordan keeps asking Redding what he knows but he plays the fool again and Jordan get angry and yells at him. When the others in the room leave to get help he starts to talk again. He tells Jordan that he was framed and needs her help to get him freed. Jordan is reluctant but he convinces her that he really has nothing to gain and she has everything to gain. Get him freed and he will tell her who killed her mother. They make a deal and Jordan leaves. Outside on the truck is a package with the name Emily Cavanugh on it from June 4 1974. Opening it up Jordan finds things that belonged to her mother. Perfume, and a tape of her favourite songs with a message from Max and a young Jordan asking her to get well soon. She also finds some sunglasses that belonged to her mom. She also finds a diary that begins nicely enough but as the days go on grows more bizarre and disturbing with words that are made big such as kill and the phrase someone is trying to kill me. All of this brings back painful memories and Jordan breaks down and cries.
( Jordan's dreams of seeing her father in kitchen reading the diary and then she tries to go upstairs-stops) Jordan wakes up in her office, with Garrett standing over her. He wants to know why she went back to Summit View and what is wrong with her. Jordan doesn't really answer and Garrett reminds her not to push her friends away because last he knows she has very few to begin with. This makes Jordan think.
At the police station, Jordan watches as Woody puts on some sort of nail repair goo on a nail of his and teases him that pink would be better. Woody sees her and tells her it's not what she thinks and then realises he knows what she wants from him. He of course knows it will mean trouble for him but he finds himself down at records retrieving a file for her. They find Redding's file and pull it. Apparently Redding's crime happened around July 9,1991 when he killed his wife and children. He was never convicted, because a knife was found with his prints and blood on it and he suddenly clammed up. Jordan wonders who the detective was on the case and Woody says it was Lou Hardcourt, which makes Jordan grimace. He was one of the detectives that helped push her dad off the force.
Jordan visits Hardcourt and neither is pleased to see the other. She asks him about Redding and Hardcourt gives his version of events and his opinion of Redding. Hardcourt is convinced he is guilty and is only hiding behind the mental thing. Jordan demands the evidence be given to her to go over again but Hardcourt says with a smirk, they are confidential.
At the office, Nigel and Bug argue on who is going to tell a widow how her husband died. Apparently it has a humorous tinge to it and they can't tell it without laughing. They settle on Lily and she goes in and gives the woman the story. Apparently her husband had consumed 2 six pack of beer and blew himself up. The widow is awed at the way he went but Lily is not done the story. After consuming the beer he spotted a raccoon and tried to shoot it. He cornered the raccoon in a drainage pipe and poured gasoline in it, lit a match and dropped it in. Unfortunately the match went out and so he climbed into the pipe and then lit the match, blowing himself up in the process. Lily assures the woman that he was dead before he hit the ground. Nigel and Bug are impressed with her, when a big guy comes asking for her. His name is Andy and he is her brother and he's come to tell her she needs to leave the ME office for good to look after their mother.
Jordan is in her office looking at a photo of the Redding family. Max calls her and asks her to dinner but Jordan begs off with an excuse of work to do. Garrett shows up and has had a call from Kurt Schiender the DA, who said a Hardcourt had complained about Jordan wanting the Redding case. Jordan is not impressed with Hardcourt and Garrett is not impressed either. Jordan goes to leave and Garrett gets angry and says he knows this is about her mom somehow. He says it's starting all over again-the bad attitude and such- just like it happened when she was fired 5 years ago. Jordan ignores him and walks away.
(Jordan's dream again and she still can't make it up the stairs, and then she sees Max with a bloody knife, then a drink in his hand) She wakes up and is at Summit View. She meets with Redding who makes sure they are alone, and Jordan tells him the case is going nowhere. She wants his side of the story, and he says that he fell asleep and in the middle of the night heard some screaming. He went to go check it out when the assailant beat him up and stabbed him and he blacked out. He woke up to find his wife and kids missing. He tells her to find he knife.
At the office, Andy is explaining to Lily that he is going to New York and start up a pizza business. He has some delivered but is disgusted when he finds clams on it. He tells her that he has had it looking after their mother and wants out. He has dreams too and knows it's not back in pugsatomy. He tells her that he already has his stuff with him and he is not going back so she has too. He gives her the bus ticket home and tells her she has no excuse now.
Jordan is in the lobby area waiting for Woody who shows up. She tells him she would like him to get the knife for her but he refuses to help her. Jordan walks off angry.
Later she goes to the police evidence room and tries to get in and past the guard. The guard won't fall for her lines or her and so she leaves and breaks in another way. The guard meanwhile calls Hardcourt about it. In the evidence room there is row upon row stacked high of evidence. Jordan has to look around but eventually finds the box of the Redding case and sifts through it. Hardcourt shows up and begins to look for her and she hears him. She gets the knife and gets out of there before Hardcourt can find her, who realises she has gotten into the box.
Back at the office, in the lab Nigel is closing up when Jordan shows up with the knife. She asks for his help and he tells her that he is worried for her. She assures him she is fine and gives him the knife and asks him to match prints and blood on it. Also don't tell Garrett about it.
Lily is in the morgue going through the bodies, when Garrett walks in and congratulates her on handling the Leon Dobb case who blew himself up. He mentions that is was kind of funny, but Lily takes that seriously she says. She has been studying for 2 yrs about counseling, taking political psychology by correspondence. Garrett had know idea that she was this smart, but Lily just moans about whether it will sell Luggage. She leaves without bothering to explain.
Night time in Boston as Jordan comes to her office. She meets Howie the shrink and she tries to shake him off and tell him she is fine. He knows she isn't and has been told by Garrett to see her. He knows the dreams are back as she looks terrible. He tries to give her a prescription to help her sleep but Jordan protests. He tells her the last time she ignored him she eventually broke down and got fired.
Jordan sits in her truck while time passes from night to day. She get no sleep and listens to the song A wonderful world.
In the morning, she goes to the lab and Nigel shows her the blood in the microscope machine at 100x. There were 3 different blood types and asks if she could get the DNA from the victims. She tells him the victims can't be found. Nigel says its going to be difficult then to pin it down. Jordan suggest he try DTA a blood preservative, and Nigel knows she suspects a frame up. They put the dye under the microscope and sure enough it bonds with the blood. Jordan says she believes the blood is from a vial labeled evidence.
Lily is in one of the offices writing letters to the others about her leaving. Bug shows up and tries to tell her how he feels but chickens out. He says goodbye just as Garrett comes out who wonder what is going on.
Jordan is back at the police station and in Hardcourts' office. She demands to know why the blood was planted and who planted it. Hardcourt refuses at first then tells her she can find her answer if she asks her dad Max.
At the Cavanugh home, Jordan waits for Max to return. Shows him the Redding file which Max remembers. She confronts him on the frame up job he did. Max defends himself, that he knew that Redding is really a monster and they had to pin him some how. Max says she knows sometimes police have to bend the rules a little to get their guy but Jordan doesn't buy it. She threatens to go to the DA with the new evidence. Then she really breaks down and says she can't trust him about anything, even accuses him of killing her mother. Max knows she is really losing it now. Max tells her that her mother was a crazy, paranoid lunatic he had to live with for 15 yrs-Jordan suddenly slaps him across the face. Max stares at her in shock as does she and then she flees from the house.
Jordan goes to Howie's place and wait for him in the rain until he comes home, telling him she thinks she is crazy. They go in and Jordan continues with her belief, because she knows her mother started to go crazy at this age as well. Howie says she is not losing her mind, and is very tired and such. He gets her to sit down and go through the dream and get through it once and for all.( She starts in the house, its night and it's quiet. Sees her dad in the kitchen holding something, a gun which he is taking out the bullets to protect her. She starts up the stairs to the bathroom, knows her mom is up there and gets to the door. She has never gotten this far before in the dream. She opens the door and finds water running all over the place. The mirror over the sink is broken and glass shards are everywhere. She then looks over to the bathtub and sees her mother singing to her self, cutting her hair with the mirror shards and with bloody hands and arms. She screams) Howie snaps her out of it but instead of explaining it she runs out.
Again Jordan sits in her truck all night with no sleep.
In the morning she walks in, all bad attitude and is told that she is wanted in the conference room. Garrett and the DA are there. The DA is really mad at her because now the case can never be tried with the evidence she got. Jordan doesn't really care, and Garrett tries to tell her that her father could face jail time for this. Jordan just doesn't care anymore, and ticks the DA off who threatens to fire her. Garrett jumps in then and says only he can do that. Jordan says for him to release Redding now or else she goes to the press.
At Summit View Redding is released and Jordan is waiting for him outside. He walks right by her and she catches up with him and reminds him of the deal they made. He tells her to go to a cabin in Vermont and to look inside the floor. He then takes off. Jordan leaves as well but is being watched by Woody who looks worried.
Garrett is at the office and finds the note Lily left him, telling him she has resigned and left for home. Garrett asks Bug if he knew and Bug tells him yes and gets a little angry at him, thinking Garrett made her leave. Garrett chases down the bus she is to take and catches up with Lily and says that he can't let her resign so he is firing her. Okay Lily says then is surprised when he offers her a full time job with benefits. The job is as counsellor and he asks her to stay. Lily is hesitant though and Garrett says at least take the time to think about it. They say goodbye and Garrett watches the bus leave.
At the Vermont cabin, Jordan shows up and cautiously goes inside, only to be scared by Woody who comes up behind her. She asks him what he is doing her and he asks her the same question. They then chop up the floor and pull it up. Underneath there are 3 bodies, an adult and two kids and Jordan and Woody realize that they are Reddings family. He has used Jordan. Woody tells her he will take care of everything and to get out of there which she quickly does, too stunned by the events to argue.
Back at the office, Garrett is waiting up for Jordan who shows up. He tells her he has been going over her last Psych. test back when she was fired before. Garrett tells her she is suspended for a month, and to take the time to get herself balanced again or whatever will work. She says she quits but Garrett tells her no way, she's not getting off that easy. He wants to help her straighten her life out, but she says she just not worth it. Garrett disagrees and says that's how they differ, he does think she is worth it and cares for her.
Jordan goes to her apartment and starts to pack. Woody comes in and begs her to let him help her. He knows she has some vague idea of going after Redding and says he will help her, he will go with her. She seems to take this in and then lets out a tearful "I was only ten"before running out into the rain and the unknown.
ANALYSIS:
A good two part episode that stretches credibility a little. The first half was really solid, with the mystery of how and who were killing the girls. The second part was good but credibility was an issue since it was obvious that Redding was playing her from the begining . Still just about everyone in the cast except Trey had something to do. They even threw in a little humour here and there. I have to wonder who will be back next season as Lily is now gone and Trey is nowhere to be found. As well O'Connell's role is up in the air since he was filming a new series that was not picked up in the fall lineup.
Plot wise I felt the story in the first half was better than the second half. Jordan was more with it in the first half, guessing correctly that the girls had been electrocuted, and who was the likely suspect. Of course then we learn that Redding may have done it all along. Of course all of this is part of two bigger plots, one: Who killed Emily Cavanugh and two: Who is out to get Jordan and her family. The second is obvious, that Redding set the whole thing up. My theory is this: Redding commits what he thinks is the perfect crime up in the Vermont cabin. He comes home and displays the house for the police giving his story of being attacked then blacking out. He freely talks because he knows there in no blood matching him to the crime,even giving blood to test. Then Max comes along and suddenly finds a knife with Redding's prints and blood on it. Realising his plan is wrecked he clams up and acts the fool. Instead of going to jail he languishes in a mental hospital and plans his revenge. He starts to look for anything about Max Cavanugh and his family. He hears about the wife's murder and looks her up, and somehow finds out that she was at the hospital years earlier. He perhaps has been breaking into records or over hears long term patients talking about her. For some reason the hospital has kept Emily's stuff and he finds it. Then he simply waits for an opportunity. He reads in the paper that Jordan is now a coroner and had recently worked with the FBI. He not Davey electrocutes the girls and kills them then convinces Davey he did it. He lucks out with Jordan arriving to investigate and the plan is set into motion.
If it does work out this way, and he doesn't turn into a saint next season, I have to say great all around story. We get to see a young Jordan and what her mother was like. From the start it would seem Jordan has been locking the disturbing things she saw inside of her. Of course the nightmares don't make complete sense. It had been suggested the nightmares were of her seeing her mom dead that day when she was ten. This would have made more sense and I feel the truth of the nightmares comes out of left field. Either Jordan's problems are more deep then we knew or the writers goofed here. We are told in the episodes that she was fired because of her mother's death yet if the dreams are any thing to go by, Jordan's more tormented by her childhood than the murder. I do hope she does take the month suspension and put her life back together.
The other minor plots were small compared to the main story. Garrett's story of having to face potential fatherhood was okay but really didn't grab my attention or have any real tension. Lily was a little more interesting as she actually leaves at the end and we really don't know if she is coming back. If she does it looks like she will have a whole knew job as a counsellor. The secretary job seems to be going to Emmy who I actually like a lot. She's goofy in a cute way. Bug and Nigel help out everyone in this episode. From wondering who will tell a woman that her husband blew himself up chasing a raccoon, to helping Jordan in the autopsies and evidence both proved their worth to the staff. Poor Bug still can't bring himself to tell Lily his true feelings and actually takes it out on Garrett. Nigel keeps helping Jordan even though he worries about her and what's happening to her.
Max and Jordan suffer a strain in their relationship, but will probably make up now that Jordan realises Max was right about Redding and she was used. As for not telling her about her mother, this will blow over I believe in time. On the surface, Max does look bad, but as he once told Jordan he did every thing he could to keep monsters like Redding off the streets and to make sure his little girl was safe. If Jordan was in her right mind she would have seen this. Jordan has always known how her father works and that he could bend the rules a little when he had too. This is why he was kicked off the force, for going to far with a suspect.
Music wise these episodes had lots of heavy rock numbers, which helped set the attitude of Jordan and the mood of the show. The music was dark, moody and disturbing. Nice fit with everything that was going on.
Tech things included the cool time lapsed of night and day and all the lights and vehicle going by. The dream sequences were done in almost misty haze that blocked out everything but the subjects. Nice contrast to the present, although the rain effect was a little to strong, you could tell it was not natural.
So in the end I have to give the episode a 3 and half stars out of 5. Having the underlying revenge of Redding subtlety in the background was nice since you didn't see it until the end. Lots of character building for Jordan and some great question marks for stories and characters who may or may not come back.
See everyone next season! RTMS(Rachlele)Top