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HOME, SEASON 1, SEASON 3, LINKS, CJ FORUM

Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11 , Episode 12,Episode 13,

Episode 14, Episode 15, Episode 16, Episode 17, Episode 18, Episode 19, Episode 20, Episode 21

Episode 1

There's No Place Like Home

Jordan, with black sunglasses on, and flat light brown hair is sitting in a seedy bar, which looks like it may be in a Mexican area. As she orders a drink, some guy slides up to her. Jordan seems to know the guy and asks him bluntly if he has what she wants. He hedges a bit and says it's in the car and invites her out. She says no at first but her need to know pushes her to accept the offer. Outside, the guy pulls an envelope from the car and asks to get paid. He then says he wants to see her breasts, which finally annoys Jordan enough to pull a small gun on him. He quickly relents and hands her the envelope. In side are pictures of Redding , who Jordan has been trying to find. Looks like he's in LA.

Later Jordan has found the place where Redding is seen in the pictures and breaks into it. As she looks around someone out side runs past and Jordan chases after him. As he turns a corner he drops a cell phone which she picks up. She catches up to him and calls out the name Redding, but when the man turns around it's not him. She demands to know who he is and what his connection is to Redding. At first he says nothing, but when Jordan pulls out her handy gun again he says he was hired to make documents for Redding. Just then the police show up and arrest the two of them.

Later Jordan is lead to the interrogation room, where she is questioned by two officers. They know about what she is doing and try to make her understand that they either can handle the case or she can help them with it. Doing it herself is just going to get her in trouble, but Jordan tunes them out. It seems Jordan has taken the last few months and chased Redding through South Dakota, Oklahoma , New Mexico and finally Los Angeles. Getting no where with her they prepare to put her back in her cell when a call comes in informing them someone has paid her bail.

As she comes outside she spots a familiar face, that of Det. Woody Hoyt. They greet each other but start to argue almost immediately. He wants her to stop this madness, but she can't seem to let it go. He tells her that he has two plane tickets for a late night flight and wants her on the plane.He also mentions how much trouble her father is in thanks to her. In the car he tells her she should phone her father and she seems to do so as she makes a call. The call though is to Nigel, who she asks to run the cell number to find who it belongs to. Woody gets mad and tries to stop her, while Nigel who is glad to hear from her tells her at first he can't do it. It seems there is a serial killer on the loose in Boston and the ME office is backed up as everyone is being used to find the killer. Jordan pleads and he gives in, while Woody steams.

At the ME office in Boston, Garret shows up looking worse for wear, and is told by Emmy that the DA Jack Olsen is waiting for him. Garret tells her he is busy and closes his door on her. A minute later Olsen walks in none to happy with Garret's brush off. Olsen says he put Garret there and he can take him out. Olsen says he could also take his chances with a potential new DA as elections are running right now and the ADA Wolcott desperately wants the job. Olsen is in a bind thanks to the Purgatory killings that have been going on for a month. It seems someone is killing prostitutes and dumping them in purgatory lane. With out a killer he looks bad and that doesn't help his chances at the polls.

Nigel meanwhile has traced the call and gives Jordan the answer, which she thanks him for. In the car still Woody and Jordan make a deal. Since they have about nine hours before the plane leaves, go and check out the address Jordan now has. If nothing there, they are on the plane. Woody relents, but is still not happy with the idea.

At the address which seems to be in a wooded area, Woody takes the lead and knocks. He too quickly says no one is home and Jordan is not fooled since she sees a TV on inside. They go in to find an old woman who they realize is not really there. Her mind is gone and she stares blankly at them. Jordan then spots a bunch of cables and such coming out of a fuse/power box. The high powered cables run outside and into a shed. Opening it up they think they have found Redding, but they instead have found the guy Jordan chased down earlier, the document guy. He has been shot in the head and sits in front of a computer. Woody tries to call the cops, but Jordan stops him and pulls out a forensic kit. She pulls something off the guy while Woody tries to get into the hard drive. Jordan makes it easier by simply shading a note pad which has an address on it. So much for high tech, but they argue on the address before they leave.

It's stake out time as Woody and Jordan sit across from the two apartments which may contain Redding. Woody picks one and decides to go in. Jordan protests and says she wants to go but Woody says to stay there and perhaps call her father. Jordan pouts while Woody takes off and then dials Pouge Mahone the bar Max owns. He answers the phone, but Jordan just can't bring herself to talk to him just yet and hangs up. Max looks perplexed and tells Garret it's the fourth time that has happened. They then talk about the last few months. Garret is depressed over his job, no real joy over it any more. Max tells him he should focus on one good thing in or about his job and it may make it easier for him. Garret mentions Lily the intern who left a few months ago. Hasn't been the same since.

Jordan meanwhile is waiting for Woody, when she spots Redding in the side mirror. She sees which apartment he goes into and loading her gun goes after him. Breaking the door she shouts his name but Redding is on to her and pushes her into a closet and runs. Jordan breaks out of the closet and gives chase. She chases him on to the roof and then has to jump to another building's roof. Since she took her eyes off of Redding she can't find him, but he finds her and hits her with a piece of wood knocking her down. Stunned Jordan can only listen as Redding tells her that before he was arrested he came into possession of a car. In it he found her mother's file and the finger print he planted later for her to find. He says as well that she really would not believe what was in the trunk of that car. He tells her that while the car is gone he still has the key which he flashes at Jordan. He then starts to drag her to the edge of the roof, intending to throw her off of it. Just then he is shot and then shot again by Woody who has shown up on the roof. Redding falls off the edge and to his death, while a stunned Woody and Jordan look on. Jordan spots the key Redding had in his hand and dropped and grabs it.

Two days later in Boston, another body is found in Purgatory Lane. Garret and Nigel show up and talk with Det. Lois Karver who tells Garret that his ME has already checked out the body. Garret is surprised since he never sent one out yet, in fact he and Nigel were going to take it. Karver points out a woman and Garret goes up to her and confronts her. She happily introduces herself as Dr. Elaine Du Champs, the ME assigned to the Purgatory Case. As she tells him duChamps realises Garret is clueless about all this and explains that it was supposed to be worked out already. She was assigned by ADA Wolcott, who is talking to the press at the moment. Garret recovers and welcomes her aboard.

Later back at the office, Nigel reads off Elaines resume which is impressive for the most part. Went to University of Chicago medical school, had her fellowship at Stanford, 4 yrs as forensic Pathologist in New York and 2 yrs in Seattle and is a expert in blood splatter patterns. Everything was geared towards reaching the top brass when she fell off the map for 6 yrs, until now. Garret smells setup and spy and is ticked off at the shady dealings going on. He doesn't want any more surprises as he goes into his office, only to turn around and see Jordan sitting there.

Jordan for her part is contrite and apologetic, but Garret is really mad at her. Jordan took much longer then a 30 day suspension and Garret tells her at first she is fired. Jordan really goes into apology overdrive saying she is over her problems and such. Garret relents a little and says she can hang around and do some very small stuff while he decides what to do with her. He tells her to talk with her father who is in deep water thanks to her.

Jordan goes to her office only to find Elaine there cleaning it out. They talk about who was in here before, since Elaine has found a picture of Jordan's mother in there. Jordan takes the pic and then introduces her self as Dr. Cavanugh. She leaves and as Elaine keeps cleaning she picks up the name plate which has Jordan's name on it. Elaine looks at it and is puzzled, realising who she was talking to.

Jordan walks around the office and meets up with Nigel and Bug who are grateful she is back. They share a tender group hug.

Later in the autopsy lab, Garret and Nigel are looking at the latest body found, who has been id'd as Jean Turin. Elaine walks in and takes over wanting to see if this is a purgatory body. She puts some barium in the wound and uses a radiation camera to take a reading. Looking at the wound this way they determine that it is upside down and not the same as the others. This looks like a copy cat murder, and therefore is not her case.

In the morgue basement Nigel and Bug lead Jordan to table there. She wants to do something that keeps her under Garret's radar. They give her a bag of bones of a woman found a week ago in purgatory lane. She has to put it back together again. This isn't exactly what she had in mind but Nigel reminds her she doesn't really have a choice. The bones indicate the woman was late 30's early 40's killed almost 15 to 20 yrs ago. Jordan works on the body for a while before leaving.

Later Elaine gives Bug something, calling him Mahesh and leaves while Garret walks up. It seems Elaine has recruited Bug for the purgatory case. He doesn't like her much since only his parents call him by his real name. Garret says it might be nice to have her around, give some energy around the place. Bug says they had that with Lily until Garret screwed that up. Garret tells him what happened with him and Lily is between them and to butt out. Bug is not happy about it.

Down at Max's bar Jordan finally shows up and meets up with her dad. The reunion is not pretty as they clearly do not trust each other still. Max is mad at her for the mess she mad for him saying it looks bad for him. Jordan tries to apologize but Max does not want to hear it. He dismisses her and she leaves upset over it.

Back at the office Garret and Karver discuss the Jean Turin case. It seems she had a thing for the purgatory killings as they found numerous news clippings in her apartment. They also found out she was not paying for the apartment on Beacon Hill which is a better part of the city. Karver says an Orvill Schmit was paying it, which seems to ring a bell with Garret although he doesn't let on. They also look at a security camera and see a guy enter her place and come out a few hours later.

At Boston PD Jordan waits for Woody in his office. He's not really happy to see her, telling her he was grilled for 9 hours over shooting Redding. He then tells her that he has been assigned to the Purgatory Killings, was asked for by DuChamps. Jordan says to watch his back with her. They then talk about what happened and Jordan tries to apologize but Woody sees right through her. He compares her to an alcoholic and refuses to feed her obsession. He leaves Jordan standing there, who is very hurt by what he says.

In a outdoor restaurant, Garret meets up with Olsen again and talks about when they were college buddies. He reminds him of the fictional Orvill Schmit and how this person is paying for Jean Turin's apartment. Olsen admits it is he who was paying for the apartment but denies killing her. Garret insists he has to go public with this but Olsen tells him if he does he Garret will be the loser.

Down in the morgue basement, Jordan is working on the body when she seems to make a discovery and calls Nigel. He comes down and she tells him to look at the rib area, that she was knifed in the same area as the purgatory killings. Nigel checks the bones and says the same weapon was used. They can't figure it out since this body is suppose to be 15 to 20 yrs old. This would make this body the first victim. Later Jordan goes to Elaine and tells her that she has not gained much trust around here, but she may have something that could help her gain some friends. Jordan wants a trade though, and asks Elaine to pull some weight and get Wolcott to bury a case for her. In exchange she will give Elaine the purgatory killer's first victim which Elaine thought she already had.

Later Jordan visits Garret in his office and they talk. He tells her how he got into the job and that Olsen helped him get it. Garret tells her that no matter which way he turns he is screwed. Jordan jokes that it was good she came back when she did. Without her around life is just not as interesting. They decide to go back to the autopsy room and look at Turin again. They find that she has a hand stamp on one of her hands which looks like a treasure chest. They also find that she was very sick, in fact terminal. Jordan suggests Anderson Fabry disease but Garret says that only happens in males. They then check the body again and realize she is really a man.

Nigel has been looking for places that use the treasure chest stamp and finds a night club that uses it. Jordan and Garret head down to the club were they spot the guy who was on the security camera. They accuse him of killing Jean and that she was hooking. He tells no way was she hooking and that he knew she was a man before. Says he loved her dearly and would do anything for her. He then leaves and Garret and Jordan don't pursue.

At the office, Elaine, Woody and Bug map out where all the bodies have been found so far. Bug is also trying to clean the bones of the unknown victim but can not because they are already too clean. He has a hunch on how this happened and goes to get his stuff. Later Bug has a bucket full of worms and a drumstick of meat. He places the drumstick in a large wide tube and then dumps the worms in. They are called Meal Worms and museums use them to clean bones to a nice polish. He pulls out the drumstick which has already been eaten to the bone. Elaine realises that the body is the latest victim not the first, as the meal worms accelerated the decomposition of the body.

Garret and Jordan arrive back at the office and run into a insurance agent. Wants tests done on Turin since they too suspect a disease and suicide. Turin bought a policy 5 days before she died and he tells them the beneficiary is Olsen.

Garret meets Olsen in his office again, and Garret confronts him on the policy and that Turin was a man. Olsen denies taking a policy out and knows she was man. He did not know she was dying. Garret won't let up this time and Olsen finally confess that Turin was really his son, which leaves Garret speechless.

Next morning, Garret and Jordan walk down Purgatory Lane to where Turin's body was found. Garret says Olsen son supposedly died 4 yrs ago in Paris from a fire. Jordan thinks he killed Turin since if found out it would ruin him. Garret thinks it is the boyfriend at the club. They play the game which Garret says gave him nightmares last time and find out neither man killed her. She killed herself and tried to copy the purgatory killings so it would look like a murder and her/his father could gain more money.They realize that the boyfriend has the knife. Later at Boston PD the boyfriend admits to and tells them the whole plan. Olsen listens and is devastated but does not press charges. He says it will be his last act as DA, since he will quit the race. Garret says people would have understood but Olsen says Garret is naive if he really believes that.

Back at the office Garret is in his office, when Lily shows up. She asks for the counseling job he offered her and he says it's hers. Garret tells her it's nice to have her back and she tells him the same.

Next morning Woody shows up and tells Elaine that the mystery body has been id'd. It belongs to an Alice Gribbs,43 who went missing 9 days ago. He has an address and the two of them to there.

At the apartment a young man greets them. He is George Gribbs, Alice's son. They tell him that his mother is dead but his reaction is weird. He tells them she was a whore. They look around his place and ask him what he does for a living. He tells them he is in the bait business. Woody take a look into a room and sees a bathtub full of meal worms. He motions Elaine over to look and then takes his gun out and points it at George. George is puzzled but says he didn't kill the other women his mother did because they were having sex with George and she didn' t like it. He then decided to kill her to stop the murders. He asks if he is in trouble, and Elaine says yes he is.

Garret is in his office watching the news conference of Elaine and Woody who have cracked the purgatory case. Jordan walks in and Garret tells her he's impressed with Elaine. Jordan confesses to helping Elaine out. Garret decides to keep her when Jordan tells him that while she has problems she is trying very hard to overcome them. That settled Jordan leaves the office but Nigel catches her and says he has traced the key that Redding had to a 1966 Ford. Jordan says her father has a '66 ford, but is interrupted when Max walks in. Nigel splits while Max tells Jordan he has been cleared about the Redding case. He knows Jordan butt in somehow but doesn't let it get to him. He tells her they are going to have to build their trust up again over time. She agrees and then accepts a dinner invite from Max for later on. She tells him she has some things she has to drop off at the house first and will meet him later.

Later at the house Jordan goes to the garage and uncovers her dad's '66 ford. She tries the key in the ignition but it won't go in, which relives Jordan who has forgotten what Redding said about the trunk of the car.

ANALYSIS:

The second season starts off well but falls to an okay episode. A lot of changes occurred for the second season not all of them that great.

The episode was of course part 2 of last season's final, and in resolving that final they did okay but I expected more. I felt the Redding issue was simply done too pat and cliche and ended too early. Yes we get the key thing but I wanted Redding to bait her more. We find she has been trailing the guy for months but all we get is a few minutes worth of confrontation between them. It then completely switches over to the purgatory case which did not have really any suspense or pop to it. Jordan plays a small part in it , mostly begging for forgiveness from everyone while the new actress carries the show. Bad idea I believe as Toussaint just can't compare to Hennessy. While I like the fact the other doctors have cases, taking away from the supposed focus of the show will hurt it. It was established as veichle for Hennessy and it should stay that way.The purgatory killings just did not grab me in the same way as other cases have such as the Digger case of last year did. Tousiannt came off as Elaine as too nice, too calm not impatient or tight as Jordan would have gotten. The Turin case was a little better but still seemed forced out. The election campaign and Garret's friend was puzzling. Olsen has never shown up before this, at least I don't recall him at all. His connection with Garret seemed out of the blue as was the idea that he helped Garret into the office.

Character wise, changes have occurred. Gone is Trey Sanders, who really was gone already last year by the end of the season. It would have been nice to hear that he is off studying or something but not a mention of him happens. True we knew he was on one year fellowship but it was made out as if he had decided to stay. A tie up would have been nice. Nigel and Bug are the same funny, compassionate guys from last year and it was nice to see the group hug. Jordan can still tie Nigel around her finger as she gets him to trace the cell and the key for her when he really shouldn't.

Now to Garret, who seems to have turned into a mess in the last few months. Granted he had the pressure of the purgatory killings going on, but when we last left him he was a happy,contented guy with a love life. Now he's depressed and moody and there is no sign of maggie anywhere. And what is the deal with his job. It gets more confusing as it goes on. We first saw Garret as an assistant ME, then he becomes the chief ME after asking Yakura for the job.Then we learn that Yakura and Jordan were office partners when Jordan started and 5 yrs later Yakura is in charge. I don't recall if Jordan said Yakura and her were both starting out or if Yakura was senior to her.Then in a flash back he seems in charge when he hires a young Jordan. Then we hear from Leo Gelber that he got the job of Gelber who the board pushed out a year or two ago. Now we hear he got it through Olsen,which doesn't make sense at all. Perhaps someone can explain it to me.

The new doctor is Elaine DuChamps who seems to be gunning for Garret's job and is a mystery to everyone. 6 yrs are missing from her resume and no doubt we will find some things on her. Here she came off as too nice and cool, with no fire. If this is an act because she was a spy I hope it changes now that the result is known. Toussiant usually plays characters with more power and I hope she does this. She was described as a nemesis to Jordan but I did not see that here.

Woody Hoyt played by Jerry O'Connell is now a regular for the show. He's getting stronger with every performance and the nice naive guy is all but gone now. Jordan has made him grow up with her wild actions, and in turn he now has the courage to stand up to her even if it may hurt her a little. I was wonderful when he told her she was like an alcoholic. He's not fooled by her and knows she needs help and would do so it she was straight with him. He make a nice addition to the cast and of course a good love interest for Jordan.

Jordan of course has her problems here and it's obvious that they are not going away. She got a new hair do, which seems to have taken out some of her punch. Too plain jane for me. She spent most of the episode apologising and really doing nothing much else. She seems to have convinced herself and others that she is fine and getting back on her feet. Woody though nailed her when he compared her to a alcoholic and you can see in the end that all she's doing is masking the problem with work and a smile. Like alcoholics she does her stuff in secret, but eventually it will catch up to her and someone will find out. We see she still suspects her father in her mother's murder, while at the same time going on about trust and such. All this leads to trouble in the future. Max is still the same old guy and I was glad for that. He's annoyed with Jordan, but then who isn't. Glad he made the real first move in mending their relationship.

Lily returns briefly to say she's back and wants a job. She seems mellowed but who could tell with the short scene she had. Maybe next episode we will get details. Emmy is now the new secretary and I love this. She's such an airheaded nerd it's funny. Those thick glasses make her the weirdest looking person there.

Tech stuff includes a new whole music/scene intro. I guess they decided it should be more E.Rish but as one person complained the names of the people go by too fast to notice. Gone is the wonderful Celtic music and a much more modern theme is in its place. Which goes with all the metal music they played here which is grating at times. As well the lettering needs to be about 3 sizes bigger. The intro and the naming of the various places and dead bodies in Boston were so small and so light that people with 20/20 vision would miss it. I could barley make them out. They have also stopped naming the crime scenes, at least for this episode they did.

The victim/killer game has been revamped and I for one actually like it much better. It doesn't make Jordan look silly when playing the victim or killer. The morphing technique is much better than the make believe stuff of last year.

Overall an okay episode, which could have been much more tense. The purgatory case was flat and uninspired with none of the desperation of the Digger case. The new doctor is okay but I will reserve judgement until I see her in a few more episodes. The addition to the main cast of O'Connell was nice and he delivered the best performance. Jordan was too sad and deflated, hopefully she will bounce back. New music not great, especially with all the rock and metal music. New look to the game, really good.

I give it 2.5/5 stars RTMS Top Message Board

Episode 2

Bombs Away

It's a nice day in Boston as Garret hands Jordan a case and tells her she's working with Elaine on it. Jordan is not too happy having bootlicking Elaine along or that Elaine will be supervising, but quickly shuts up when Elaine comes along. She's heard about the case and is ready. The killing has taken place on highway 12 in Brockton.

At the scene they meet up with Woody who defers to Elaine and all but ignores Jordan. Jordan quips that Elaine and he get along, and Elaine does not deny it saying he's good at his job and cute. Jordan looks a little jealous. As they determine time of death examine the body, a car pulls up and a middle aged black man comes up. His name is Hawkins and he works for the ATF and ID's the body as that of Wendy Marsh. Her husband owns a cabin up the road. Other than that he is not forthcoming on any info which bugs Jordan and Woody.

When he tells them that he will be in on the autopsy Jordan starts to say no way but Elaine smooths it over and says yes. Meanwhile Woody asks Jordan to give him the COD when they find out but since he's acting like a jerk she will too. She tells him he can get the info from Elaine. Jordan just is not good at taking a back seat.

At the office Bug helps Lily move some of her counseling stuff into her new desk. She mentions something about phoning and Bug suddenly remembers, with dread that his mother's birthday is coming up and he has to phone her. He doesn't like it since all she cares about is if he has a girl friend or not. He then tries to tell Lily about how he feels, but is interrupted by Nigel who gives Lily a nice fruit and nut basket, making a joke about the nuts and counseling.

In the trace evidence room Jordan and Elaine go over Wendy Marsh. They note she has chest trauma thanks to a seat belt. They inform Hawkins that Wendy was not murdered but died from a high impact car injury. Jordan still wants an explanation why Hawkins wants Wendy's husband so bad. Hawkins tells them Lester Marsh likes to make bombs and such and is very clever in how he goes about his business, since every thing he does is lawful. Hawkins needs info so he can get into the cabin, since the ATF has been turned downed for warrants three times already by judges. The phone rings and Elaine answers it, after ward tells them that Lester is in the conference room to id his wife.

In the conference room Hawkins and Marsh meet and they throw some words around until Jordan calls a truce and persuades Hawkins to leave. Lester seems both trouble and sympathetic at the same time. While he grieves for his wife, he is defiant when it comes to the gov't. He tells Jordan that Wendy went out shopping the other night since she got harassed during the day time. He turned in early, which he realises gives him no alibi. He tells her that while he makes bombs, he is no killer and Hawkins just harassing him. Jordan tells him he has some paperwork to do and to seek counseling with the morgue's counselor.

In one of the labs Nigel is setting up a heart to determine what was wrong with it. Bug comes in and they discuss Bug's love life or lack thereof. Bug says he was just about to ask Lily until Nigel showed up and ruined it. Nigel tells him he has to get with it and get brave. Bug tells him it should be done at the right time.

Lily and Jordan talk about Lily's counseling session with Marsh. Lily says that at first he clamp up but then opened up. He told her how he used to work for the ATF. Jordan is surprised by this revelation.

During the autopsy of Wendy, Hawkins is still there to watch. Jordan and Elaine find semen which means she had sex recently. Nigel comes in and says the seat belt was made for pickups that ended in 1994. Hawkins gets excited and leaves, telling them Marsh's pickup is a '94.

Later at Marsh's cabin, Hawkins and the ATF agents surround the cabin while Hawkins demands Marsh surrender. Woody is watching and Jordan comes and watches as well. Jordan informs him Marsh use to be a ATF agent but Woody already knows, and that he believes Marsh is the psycho type. Jordan doesn't see it that way, but Woody tells her she has a hard time seeing any point of view of except her own. Jordan tells him she has always been that way. Meanwhile Hawkins has waited long enough and goes to unlatch the gate. When he does it sets of a charge that explodes the cabin and shed. Woody and Jordan fall down and Woody protects her, then asks if Jordan's theory still holds.

After the fire is out, Woody and Jordan question the neighbours some of whom seem quite happy Marsh is gone. One man Stan Benedict says Marsh was the quite type,stayed to himself. An agent calls them over when a burnt body is found.

Evening has come and Garret and Lily have a talk. They set some ground rules since Lily is serious about her new job. Garret informs her that she will have to shoulder the burden alone since he is worried about his job and such.

In the trace evidence room, Jordan and Elaine examine the burnt body. Hawkins of course is there as well. Elaine finds something and shows Jordan. They then tell Hawkins that the body had advanced osteoporosis, and since Lester Marsh looked fine when he last came in, this is not his body. That means Lester is missing.

Next day Nigel tells Jordan that dental records id'd the body as a James Marsh, Lesters father who died a year ago. Lester won the right to bury his dad in the back yard. As well Nigel has found out that Lester Marsh was in the same unit under Hawkins at the ATF. One case came out bad, and Hawkins said that it was the assailants fault. Lester disagreed and testified against Hawkins which put reprimand on Hawkins and forestalled his climb up the ATF ladder. Lester was labeled a snitch and after a while could not take the harassment and left. This explains why the two don't like one another.

In the crypt, Lily is clearing out her old desk so Emmy can come in. Bug comes in and finally gets up enough courage to ask Lily out. Unfortunately Lily says she only wants to be friends, which hurts Bug big time, but he puts on a brave face.

Elaine gives Garret the final report on the Marsh case. Garret then accuses her of getting a leap on the case thanks the new DA. Elaine denies this then says he's getting paranoid.

Bug meanwhile is embarrassed and mad and is in no mood to talk to Nigel. When Nigel wonders why Bug gives him piece of his mind and tells him his advice sucked. He blames Nigel for the trouble with Lily,but Nigel isn't going to take it and tells Bug that deep down he's a coward. They part and get to work at their desks.

Late at night Jordan sees the gang at the desks and notices they are strangely silent. She asks what is going on when Nigel motions with his eyes for her to turn around. She does and sees Lester Marsh there with a gun and a sports bag. He comes out and Jordan asks what he wants. He wants justice and for them to prove he didn't kill his wife. Jordan says she knows he didn't do it since they found semen and it was not his. Then Marsh gets a new idea and says Jordan is going to find the man who was with his wife and bring him to the office. He tells her she has 3 hours and reveals the bomb he has with him. He also tells her no cops or he will blow the place and the hostages to hell.

Jordan rushes over to the Boston PD, and informs Woody of what is happening. He says he should report this , but Jordan tells him Marsh will blow up the building. Jordan says they need to find the vehicle Wendy was in.

Back at the office, Marsh makes the place secure so no one can get in or out unless he says so. Elaine though who was not with the group manages to get out and call the cops.

At the impound lot Jordan and Woody locate the pickup Wendy was in. She takes a photo of prints on the seat belt and sends them to the office. She phones to tell Lester that she emailed them and Lester tells Nigel and Bug to get on it. Lily tries to talk to Marsh but he knows the drill and won't take the bait.

Back on the phone Garret tells Jordan to tell Abby his daughter he has left her something. Jordan doesn't like this kind of talk and refuses at first but then relents. The call is interrupted by Hawkins who now knows what's going on. Marsh finds out and blames Jordan who says it was only a matter of time before anyone found out. He tells her she has only 40min left.

Jordan not happy when he hangs up on her and tries to think of another way to help her friends. Woody is prying off the airbag hoping their might be DNA to find, but Jordan says it would take to long to find that out. Then she gets an idea while looking at the airbag.

Outside the office Elaine complains that Hawkins is not doing enough to help her co workers.

At the police station Jordan is blowing something in a tube into a box. It's iodine and since the driver hit the air bag with his face he left facial oils on the bag. The iodine will pick this up and give them an id of who was behind the wheel. While waiting they get a call saying the prints belong to Stan Benedict, and the face on the airbag confirms this.

Nigel and Bug are still working at their computers and Nigel tries to apologises,but Bug rebuffs him saying its not sincere.

Jordan and Woody arrive at Benedict's house and enter it. They find Benedict at the table and he confesses that they had sex and he was drinking. He drove her home but had an accident and she died. He panicked because he was afraid of Lester and put the body in the ditch. He blames himself and takes his gun and kills himself when Woody tries to arrest him.

With 17 min left, Garret tries to apologises to Lily but she tells him to get over his guilt trip, and get on with life. Bug asks Marsh if he can phone his mom and is allowed to do so. Bug has a nice moment while he wishes his mother happy birthday and reveals his childhood nickname as "heshy". Nigel smiles when he hears this and everyone is touched by the call.

With 6 min left, out side is a mad house as Hawkins wants to go in now. Elaine is concerned for the hostages and phones Marsh and makes a deal with him. She will take care of his wife's body if he agrees to let someone go. A deal is made and Marsh says either Garret, Nigel or Bug can go. Garret pulls rank and stays but demands either Nigel or Bug go. Nigel says for Bug to go and it's settled. Bug comes out with the body and is quickly taken aside. Jordan and Woody finally show up and tell Hawkins that Jordan is going in. Hawkins forbades it, but Woody then says he will go with her. When they get up there Woody tries to pass himself off as the guy Wendy was with but Marsh sees through the lie. Jordan then tells him the truth, that his neighbour Benedict and Wendy were having an affair and shows him a picture of the two. She says he confessed to accidently killing her when driving drunk and then killed himself over it later.

Marsh tells everyone to leave and they do except Jordan. Jordan argues with him over his plan to blow up the building. She tells him straight that while the gov't has been after him he baited them along and never let up. Now he's alone with out job,a wife or a home. He's only being a self destructive jerk and she knows what that's like since she's like that herself. Marsh complains that Hawkins will take any opportunity to shoot him dead. Jordan says if he goes through with his threat he's no better than Hawkins.

Hawkins is ready to go in when the others come out. Garret greets a distressed Abby who rushes up to him. Then Jordan comes out with Marsh's gun and the bomb. She demands Hawkins and the agents lower their weapons before Marsh comes out. Hawkins finally relents and lowers his weapon and order the others to do so as well. Marsh comes behind Jordan and is arrested.

After it's all over, back in the office Garret tells Lily that she helped a lot in the crisis. Then he tells Jordan thank you for saving is ass and as they hug Jordan squeezes it and says it was worth it. They then look over and see Elaine hogging the limelight with reporters around her as she gives her heroic version of what happened. They can only shrug.

Outside Woody and Jordan make up and he apologises for being a jerk to her. Jordan says don't bother, he doesn't need to make up for it. He insists he do something and she tells him breakfast would be nice. They walk off in the predawn for a good meal.

ANALYSIS:

Another okay episode, mostly mediocre for almost the whole time. The bombing plot was just not suspenseful. Again Jordan is not the real focus of the show, Elaine is and this hurts the show.

There was really only the bomb plot in this episode to watch. Bug and Nigel's fight was insightful but not much else. The affair of Wendy Marsh was just a side of the A plot and again it was telegraphed from almost the start.The moment Stan Benedict showed up you knew he was involved some how. The bomb plot only took up the second half of the show hence everything felt rushed. In about 10 min it when from 3 hours to 40 min left for Jordan to find the guy. I never felt the hostages were really in danger, thanks to Marsh who was more noble than savage. If this had been a killer on a rampage I would have worried far more.

Jill Hennessy as Jordan is not getting much in these first two episodes to do. It would seem CJ is trying hard to go a real ensemble show and not one just focused on one character. This is what has probably bothered me about the episodes so far. Again I say go back to Jordan and make her the top ME in the office. Let her do her cases and let Elaine and the rest have a short side case. It worked very well half way through the season last year. We need to see Jordan jump in and get her hands and feet and anything else dirty. We need to see her take charge and really go at a case just as she did last year. We need to see her make waves and not be too cautious lest she offend someone or get fired. The writers have backed her into a corner and she's going to have to really piss someone off to get out of there.

We finally see that Elaine is gunning for Garret's job and is a grandstander. Finally we see her true colors and its annoying. Since when should Garret have to worry about his job. This is just like the conflict in ER between Weaver and Green, yet we don't need this nonesense. Garret was established last year as the choice for chief ME and he should not have to fight for it. This whole job conflict came out of the blue just so we could have conflict for Garret? He had conflict thanks to Jordan, who was enough for him. He's been there for over 12 yrs, gets passed over once by an upstart in Yakura and now he's clinging for his job again? No way, and I say drop the conflict, put Elaine down a notch and put Jordan back up.

Nigel and Bug have a humorous but insightful fight over their idea of love. Nigel is a go at them now guy, full of charm and easy smiles and quick words. Bug is shy and sensitive and I would not call him a coward even though Nigel did. He is cautious and needs to get over that a little more, but he's a nice guy and not arrogant. I felt so sorry for him though when Lily shot him down, and really Lily should have been better at that then she was. Who knows where all this is heading.

Jordan and Woody finally make up and it was a nice little scene. Yes he was curt with her and somewhat ignored her but as she admitted she put him through a lot. He had a right to be a little annoyed with her. I loved her line to him that when it comes to different view points her is all that matters. That's what we need to see more of, not the too worried to make waves lest she get fired again.

Technically a good show, with the explosion of the cabin awsome. The trick with the airbag was little confusing, since I don't understand whether a picture of a face popped up or they inferred it. There was no victim/killer game here and I'm glad they are not overusing that device. It was a little dark I thought in places and I could not tell sometimes whether it evening or day at the office. As well the labeling of the labs and rooms and places again needs to be bigger. I have to really watch closely for the labels since they are so small and light.

In the end a okay, mediocre episode where Jordan again plays it too cautioned and takes another back seat to the others. The bomb plot was not engaging enough or suspenseful and the last half felt rushed. I give it a 2 and 1/2 out of 5 stars. RTMS Top  Message Board

Episode 3

The Truth is Out There 

Episode 4

Payback

It's midnight, 12:33 am and Jordan is just getting to bed. She turns out the lights and lays down only for the phone to ring. She answers and is called to a crime scene. At the night club Nano, Jordan looks on at the bodies lying around. She notices a young woman in the back of a cop car who is seriously angry and pounding the seats with her feet. She meets up with Garret and asks him if that is really Cynthia Montgomery, poor little rich girl. Garret doesn't care for her comments and tells her bluntly to shut up and go home. Jordan tells him he called her here to help, but Garret won't budge on the subject. He and Elaine can handle the mess he says. Jordan turns around and again looks at the girl who calls her a fat cow. Det. Woody Hoyt comes up and Jordan asks him if the girl is high or throwing a temper tantrum. Both he figures, but before he can say anything else DA Wolcott comes up and asks if the girl can be charged and Woody says she can. Not looking very happy she tells him to book her and get her lawyer. Jordan goes home and again tries to sleep. It's now about 2:30 am and just as she lays down the phone rings again. She hurries over to Boston PD to find Cindy dead and Woody accused of killing her.

Morning time and everyone is in the conference room, having coffee while Nigel reads the morning tabloid report about the incident at the club. Apparently Cindy, after being turned away at the door decided to make her own entrance and used her SUV to mow down some people. Garret comes in and assigns the various bodies from the night before to the staff. Jordan gets Cindy to look after. He tells them that there are lawyers around and to stay neutral about everything. He dismisses everyone except Jordan who he tells has made some waves with the DA. It seems her comments got back to DA Wolcott and Wolcott pressed hard to have Jordan removed from doing the autopsy of Cindy. He then apologies for his attitude last night and when Jordan wonders if she now has to apologize for her comments he jokes he would never ask the impossible from her. Jordan plays along and says she could do it with some time and rehearsal.

Later in the trace evidence room, Jordan is going over Cindy's body. Woody is there and he's upset and wants answers. Jordan tells him she can't know right now and tests are being done. Woody wants Jordan to clear him but at the same time he can't really remember what happened in all the chaos as he flashes back to last night. Garret and Wolcott come in and seeing Woody there Wolcott tells him to get lost he's not on duty. After he leaves Wolcott questions whether Jordan should be doing the autopsy since she and Woody are friends. Jordan shrugs it off and when Wolcott asks for some answers for the death Jordan tells her nothing is certain right now. She walks out and Garret tells Jordan not to mess up.

Meanwhile Lily spots a kid who demands to know where the dead bodies are kept. She doesn't understand but can't stay with him when she spots the Orteses. She sits him down and tells him to wait, but when she leaves he runs and then kicks Bug out of his way before Sid the security guy catches him. Garret comes along and asks who he is, and the kid tells them Johnny Rocket. Garret tells the security guy to get him off this floor.

Nigel and Jordan are in the trace evidence room using a new toy Nigel has gotten. It's a high powered scanner that can scan in 3D and look at every muscle,bone or cell in the body. Nigel thinks this will change the way autopsies are done in the future. Garret walks in and wonders about the new machine and where it came from. Nigel admits he borrowed it from MIT from some friends of his. Garret gives in for now, and tells Jordan that Mary Montgomery is coming in with her lawyer to ID the body. He tells her to keep he mouth shut and no comments. Jordan agrees and he leaves while she and Nigel turn the body over. On the lower back they see a dark bruise band that they can not identify.

Sid comes out of the elevator and tells Lily that the kid kicked him and got away.

In the crypt Nigel and Jordan wait for the Montgomery group to come in. They do and Jordan is surprised to see her grandmother with Mary Montgomery. They say hi and her grandmother apologises that she should have let Jordan know she was coming. Then Mary ID's the body and walks out upset. At the elevator she "tells" Jordan that the rumours of drugs and such were not true. Jordan says goodbye to her grandmother, and she and Garret talk. He wants to know why she didn't tell him she knew the Montgomery's, but Jordan denies knowing them. Garret mentions her grandmother knows them, and Jordan says true but she hardly knows her grandmother and walks off.

Evening and Jordan has stopped off at her father's bar for a drink. Max tells her that her grandmother and the Montgomery's have known each other for years and are great friends. He says Jordan even played there when she was young until she was five and asked why the Montgomery's had slaves. Even back then she had a big mouth. Jordan remembers having fun times with her grandmother and then she seemed to fall out of her life. Max says that her grandmother had a hard time dealing with her daughter's illness and decided to leave her alone. Woody comes in looking haggard and wonders why Jordan is taking a booze break when his career is on the line. Jordan tells him she is waiting for tests to come back and that the autopsy will be done tomorrow. Just then she gets a phone call from Nigel who is at the office. He tells her something that gets Jordan upset and she rushes back over.

Once there Nigel tells her that the guy simply came in and started the autopsy of Cindy and had a court order to back him up. They open the autopsy lab doors and come across the body of Cindy who has been opened up and is a complete mess. The doctor is not too sympathetic.

Later Dr.Thaxton and Jordan stand in Garret's office while Garret reads the court order. Jordan is not happy with what Thaxton has done and wants to know what is going on. Thaxton says her conflict of interest prompted this. Jordan asks what conflict of interest and Garret says her relationship with Woody. Jordan denies having a relationship with Woody and wonders what the results are. Thaxton says Cindy died of internal bleeding from a broken rib puncturing the liver. It could only come from extreme external force. Jordan says if she had broken her rib she would have been in pain and the girl she saw at the club was not in pain. She accuses him of lying and breaking the bone himself but he reminds her that any good ME can tell whether a bone is broken pre or post op.

Nigel sees Lily and invites her to drinks but she declines saying she's too tired. Meanwhile Rocket is in the crypt looking at the bodies and making noise. They hear this and come in to find him standing over an old man. He is crying and saying he would have never have left him for no reason.

On the roof Jordan and Woody talk about the case. She asks him if he knew or saw that Cindy was in any pain. Woody says no he never saw any of that. He flashes back to the scene and says she was out of control and would not let anyone touch her. Jordan tells him to go home and she will try to make sense of the mess Thaxton made of the body.

Morning and Rocket is sleeping on Lily's office couch. Bug comes in and says the prints match that of a Gary Stains who was homeless and has no family. Garret comes in and wants the kid out now. Lily decides to take him for breakfast and they go to a cafe nearby. There Rocket says he would like for Gary to have nice funeral but Lily tells him since no one will claim him he will be going to potter's field for unclaimed bodies. Rocket doesn't like this and runs away.

Jordan is trying to make sense of the mess Thaxton made while Garret looks on. She is angry over the contaminated mess in which no stomach contents were taken, the organs were not separated but just thrown into a bucket together and because he used a bone saw to open Cindy up she can't tell which rib it was that was broken. Garret wonders if she can still make a go of it but Jordan really can't and even wonders where the report of the autopsy is. Then she remembers the 3D scan they took of the body before the autopsy. They go over to the forensic lab and Nigel fires up the scans and projects them onto a screen. He tells them that Cindy was high on cocaine and Extacsy but not enough to hurt her.Woody then comes in and announces that he, Boston PD, and the club are being sued for 50 million. He hopes they have good news? They look at the images on the screen and rotate the image to the side. They spot the broken rib. Jordan tells Woody that the collision did not make the rib puncture the liver but that some external force restraining her did. Woody flashes back to when he had to grab Cindy and make her settle down. He feels he did indeed then accidently kill her.

Jordan and Woody go back to the club and play the game to see what they come up with. They determine that Cindy was looking for a certain person in the crowd and aiming at them. They realize it is a young man she was looking for who was also at the scene.

At the office Garret argues with Wolcott about not letting any of this out before all the facts are in. Wolcott does not care and will subpoena Jordan before a Grand jury. She walks out and Lily comes in asking for help in finding the kid who ran off again. Garret tells her to have Bug help her.

In an autopsy room Jordan and Elaine look at Elaines case who is the person Cindy was after. His name is Thomas Harrison the fourth who died from the impact of the SUV.

He also has the same black bruising on his lower back. Elaine is as stumped as Jordan is as to what is causing the marks. She offers to help out since she like Woody too. She says while she and Jordan will never pal around they can work together. Jordan thanks her.

Bug and Lily are in the crypt and by using a machine that can pick out scents they determine that Gary hangs out at the zoo. Once they go there they find the kid has already been there and hung up a sign asking for donations for Gary's funeral.

Jordan and Woody are walking out side and Jordan tells him it's not his fault that Cindy died. He fills her in on Cindy's last day. Cindy and Thomas were together in her house for most of the day. At around six they got into a huge screaming match and Thomas left which left Cindy furious at him. Woody sort of hopes that Jordan could get in the house and look around. He suggest that since her grandmother is friends with them she could go to the wake being held. Jordan is reluctant to do so since she and her grandmother don't get along but decides to try anyway.

Later Jordan visits her grandmother and asks why she fell out of her life so early. Her grandmother says that Max decided to keep her away, and Jordan feels Max has lied to her again. Her grandmother says no, he was just trying to protect her then. They had different views on how to treat her mothers illness and Max had his way. Jordan then comes to the point of her visit, that she wants to go to the wake so she can search the house. She believes what killed Cindy is in the house. Her grandmother is shocked that Jordan would abuse the hospitality of the Montgomery's like that and denies her request.

When Jordan gets back to the office Garret tells her that Wolcott is on the warpath and he would like some answers. She can't tell him anything more than he knows but spots Elaine who may have some info. She and Elaine walk to Elaine's office and Elaine tells her that her guy also had cocaine and Extascy in him and that the bruises were 3-8 hrs old. She still can't find out what the bruises were from but she has given the info to Nigel to refine and so Jordan will trust the results.

In the crypt Bug and Lily find that Stains body has been moved. Nigel tells them a funeral home took him which surprises Lily. When Garret comes in she asks if he set it up but he quickly says no. He wants to know about the kid and what Lily plans on doing. He tells her to take a social worker with her tomorrow when the find the kid.

Next morning and Lily has found the kid at the zoo where he and Gary hung out. She tells him that Gary will have funeral now and he in turn tells her his name is Jonathan.

At the wake Jordan walks up to her grandmother who has just arrived. She tells her grandmother that she's going to the wake with her and she will make a scene if necessary. Sighing her grandmother notes that at least she dressed appropriately. While the wake goes on Jordan sneaks into the house and upstairs to the bedroom of Cindy. Her grandmother spots her and follows her. In Cindy's room Jordan is going through the closets when her grandmother finds her and confronts her. She says she will have to call Mary and Howard Montgomery up there when Jordan pulls out a S&M looking out fit. Jordan tells her grandmother to tell the Montgomery's to meet her at Boston PD.

At the police station, Jordan tell the chief of police, the Montgomery's and their lawyer about the outfit. It works like a Chinese finger trap, the more you struggle the more it constricts the body. She tells them it's called Constriction fetish and is used to heighten sex. She points to a place on the suit which is maximum constriction and says it matches the marks on Cindy's body and is what killed the girl. The lawyer says even if true no judge would allow the evidence since the stuff was stolen. True says Jordan but once told all the info about this and what was going on with Cindy would be public record. She asks the Montgomery's if that is what they want, their daughter's secret life on public. Mary tells her husband to make it all go away and leaves. The chief tells Woody to pick his gun up and stuff. Howard tells them all to stay quite about this and they all agree. After they leave Woody asks Jordan if it is now really over and she reassures him it is and he thanks her.

Evening and Garret and Lily talk about Jonathan. The kid is rich and left alone so much that his parents would care if he's missing. She then asks if Garret paid for the funeral but Garret is mysterious about it. Bug looks on and seems glum and annoyed at the situation since maybe he paid for the funeral?

At Max's bar, Jordan and her dad watch the news where Wolcott says Cindy's death was a terrible accident. They turn off the TV and Jordan confronts Max over what her grandmother said that he prevented Jordan and her grandmother getting together. Max says he felt he had to protect her when young and made a decision. Now that she's older she can make that decision. Woody walks in all happy and thanks Jordan for helping him. He gets her to admit that she would have missed him if he had left. She then moves away across the bar while Max comes up and starts to say something to Woody. Woody thinks he knows what Max is going to say, something about being careful with Jordan and such but Max only says congratulations on clearing his name. Then he tells him if he's smart he will listen to that little voice in his head concerning Jordan. Jordan has started up the music and beckons Woody to come and dance with her. He can't resist and goes and boogies with her happily.

ANALYSIS

Another good episode although the B plot could have been better spent on a better case. The focus is on Jordan again and as well Woody for the first time. Both actors were great in this episode and played off one another well. The A story had it's origins in two events. One of course is the constant stories of cops beating prisoners and the other is the event of last year when a high society woman decided to drive her SUV into a night club.

The night club plot was good and kept your interest until the end. How she died due to internal bleeding brought on by reckless behaviour was kept from the audience until almost the end. It definitely made one think that Woody may have at least accidently hurt her and made you love him even more. Here Woody was mostly a upset and haggard person, almost unreasonable because he couldn't really clear his conscience until the end. Jordan was his rock here and he learned he can depend on her, wiping away what happened earlier between them.

Jordan as noted above came through for Woody here, but she still has trust issues with Max and her grandmother. It was nice to see the woman again and she had a much better role here. We get some more background, but it seems Jordan has forgotten that her grandparents tried to get custody of her when her mother died. She states her grandmother dropped out of her life when she was 8 yrs old, yet she went to them just two years later and stayed with them for a while. Either some of the writers are forgetting last year completely in order to have a new beginning or there is some spotty writing going on. Still its always nice to see some family background and I have to wonder about Max and his wife's parents. He seems to not like them much and one wonders how the dating went with these people.

The B plot was I felt was a waste of time and could have been used for a much better case. Listening to the whiny rich kid go on about his friend was torture. Lily should have taken Garret's advice and got the social worker and got him out of there. As well it's kind of alarming that they would even tell this kind of story with all the child kidnappings going on last summer. This makes it seem like an adventure when in fact it could have been tragic. Most homeless people can't be trusted and I would never let a kid keep company with one.

The Lily and Garret and Bug triangle keeps going, with no hint that Garret is happy with Maggie. I feel sorry for Bug who can't seem to get a break with Lily. It's obvious she is still stuck on Garret and going after him again. I guess there had to be some sort of romance going on this season but it seems they are just rehashing last years romance.

The new DA Wolcott is great, a person you love to hate and hate to love. She really seems to have it out for the whole staff at the ME office but especially Jordan and Garret. Jordan stands up to her and I look forward to seeing more fireworks with them. She's cool and calm which makes her dangerous and her reasons for her animosity are still unknown. What ever Garret did I hope it's really worth all of the tension she's causing.

Tech side we got a great body shot of the autopsy of Cindy Montgomery. It was really gross but realistic and I think the bloodiest it has ever gotten on the show. The new scanner was cool and I can see them using it more this season. Nigel seems to have a new toy every other show. Loved his borrowing excuse for the scanner. The game is getting better all the time, not making the stars look foolish like last year.

Overall a solid episode that was brought down a little with a weak B plot. Jordan and Woody make a cute couple and it looks like they may go further in the future. The main story was solid if not really original but the answer to the cause of death was kept until the end and so kept your interest. I give it 3 out of 5 stars. RTMSTop  Message Board

Episode 5

AS IF BY FATE

Jordan is having dinner at a nice restaurant with a unknown man. It seems Lily set her up on a blind date due to the fact she knows the guy from gym class. His name is Ross Larken, and he comes off as too direct, and blunt. Of course Jordan is her usual charming self meaning she's not taking to the bluntness well. A woman,who Larken refers to as Katherine comes up and wants to talk to Larken. Jordan takes this opportunity to leave seeing as she's bored anyway. Larken promises to call.

In the morning, Nigel is taking the train to work, and talking to Jordan on the cell. He says he doesn't need a ride and that his business options are getting thin. He hangs up and chats to the man next to him who is a broker. The guy tells him about his wife and new baby and how proud he is of them. The world is a different place he says now that he has them. A woman comes along, her hands full of grocery bags and Nigel lets her have his seat. He starts to move to the back and the train lurches. As he continues he sees a black man playing a sax. He gets to the back door and goes through to the other cab. Just as he closes the door the previous cab he was in lurches and snaps away from the rest of the train and crashes leaving a stunned Nigel looking on in horror.

At the another crime scene, Jordan arrives and the detective on the scene sees her and immediately likes her. Unfortunately for Jordan he's a complete jerk, introducing himself as the father of her children and as Phil Berman when that doesn't work. Jordan handles him with her evil eye and gets the info on the scene. Berman says the hotshot took a half gainer off the 5th floor. Berman says he found a number on the guy and phones it. Jordan's cell rings and she answers it as both realize it's her number. Jordan then looks under the sheet and finds that it is Ross Larken, leaving her stunned.

At the train site crash, Garret and Lily walk through the dead bodies doing some quick visual work. They find the guy Nigel was talking to, a Joshua Barrow who seems to have died from head trauma. They also find the woman he gave his seat too, and then Garret looks over to the saxophone player. Garret id's the man as Calvin Wheeler, a once great Jazz player. Garret looks for the sax the man had.

At the office, Jordan is doing some trace evidence on Larken with Bug helping out. Bug wonders if she slept with the guy since that's the rumour. Jordan lets him know that that's all it is. They note he has his rib cage broken, multiple fractures. Jordan questions whether it is suicide since the guy did ask for and said he would call her. Not the words of a suicide guy. A jumper with a deep stab wound then goes out the window? Needs more info.

Back at the train crash, Garret finds the sax among the lost items recovered. Lily looks around the site an spies Nigel who sees her and quickly runs away. Lily is puzzled by Nigel's reaction.

At Ross Larken's apartment, Bug is spraying the place with luminal. Jordan and Berman then come in. Jordan immediately smells bleach, which tells her someone wanted to clean the place of clues. Jordan says Larken was killed with a long weapon, and Bug interrupts showing her that a golf club is missing in the set by the door. Berman makes a racist remark calling Bug Ghandi and how would he know about golf? Bug calls him a racist bastard and says he was champion golfer at 15. Berman is impressed and is put back in his place by Bug. Jordan then mentions the argument with the woman Katherine and looks at his address book on the computer. They find her name there numerous times. They then flip the lights out and the luminal shows blood stains all over the apartment.

In the crypt, Nigel walks in and looks at the dead bodies around him. He apologises to them and cries a little. Then fantasying the bodies come awake and some tell him don't worry and others are somewhat angry about the whole thing. He's brought back to reality when Bug comes in and tells him they have been waiting for him all morning. He doesn't listen and walks out.

Jordan and Berman meet with Katherine Fielding the woman from last night. They ask how she knew Larken, and she says he did some business for her. When Berman insinuates that she had something to do with Larken's death she tells them to leave.

At Max's bar, Berman gives Jordan his theory, saying Katherine must be having an affair and Larken was going public with it so she kills him. Berman then says that the bar is dead as morgue, which Max overhears and comes over. Jordan introduces Max as her father which catches Berman off guard. He quickly leaves the scene and Max tells Jordan that what Berman said is true, it has really been quite lately and he needs the business. Jordan tells him not to worry, and Max says he might bring in some musicians to play some old mellow songs. Jordan doesn't see that as a good idea.

In the lab, Garret and Nigel with Lily in attendance get ready to perform the autopsy of the woman who is named Elisabeth Freid, who is single. Lily has already called her parents. Nigel though is unable to bring himself to help in the autopsy, arguing that the woman died due to being pinned underneath the man next to her and drowned. Garret and Lily want to know how he knows this but he simply runs out of the place. Lily runs after him and confronts him outside. At first he says it's just a bad day, which he can have now and then but Lily persists and realises that he was on the train crash and lived. Nigel then tempts fate and walks backwards through oncoming traffic, with vehicles almost hitting him he wonders why he lived. Lily can only watch in sadness as he does this.

In the lab, Bug and Berman are discussing the case. Even though the place was clean the blood matched Ross. Bug then says that before the place was cleaned and the killer put gloves on he had to move the body with his bare hands. Berman promises a steak dinner if he finds something. Bug takes a watch out of a bag which is Larken's. Under a microscope they find a print. Bug gets his steak.

Later Jordan and Berman meet with Stuart Fielding, Katherine's husband. He denies killing Larken, saying they only have a print, and can not prove it is really his. He is smug and arrogant and tells them they don't have a case, since he's a lawyer and knows how to get out of these things. Jordan inquires about the cuts on his cheek but he tells her it was from falling into the bush while riding his bike. Jordan clearly doesn't like him but they have to leave for now.

The next day Berman tells Jordan at the office that he ran Katherine's credit card and found that she bought two watches that were the same. Berman's theory is again that Katherine killed Larken and framed her husband. Unfortunately he can't question her since she complained to Berman's boss and the boss told him to stay away from her. He tells Jordan that she could still talk to the woman and leaves her with that thought.

In the crypt, Garret is talking to Wheeler's son, who has come to id his father. He does so but then will not take any responsibility for the body. He's angry with his father because when he was 12 his father came home and suddenly started to beat his mother up. Then he left them on their own for no reason. Wheeler says as far as he is concerned his father can rot and his sax can be used for scrap.

Outside, Lily catches up with Garret and tells him about Nigel and his problem. Lily says that Nigel feels guilty about what happened.

In a park Jordan walks up to Katherine who wonders how Jordan found her. Jordan asked the nanny where she was. Katherine still won't talk about Larken even when Jordan says she suspects her husband of killing the man. Katherine gets upset and quickly leaves.

At the train site Garret finds Nigel sitting by a firetruck. He tries to talk to him, telling him he has to go on. Garret suggests he go for therapy which may help him out of his guilt. Nigel rejects this idea, saying it won't help.

Out at a street vendor, Jordan and Berman talk about Jordan's attempt with Katherine. Berman tells her too bad for the interview. He then tells her about a call he got from the insurance agent for Larken. The agent wants to know if it was suicide but Berman can't tell him. Then the agent drops a bomb shell on him, telling him that Larken has set up a trust fund worth 2 million for Matthew Fielding, the Fielding's son. This shocks Jordan and gets her to wonder why. Berman wonders if Larken is Matt Fielding's father. Jordan at first discounts this since Matt is 3 yrs old so it would have been 4 years ago that he was conceived. Larken was in Europe at the time. They then realize that maybe Larken was sperm donor. Jordan tells Berman she needs Katherine's medical records.

At the office, Garret and Lily talk about Nigel and Wheeler's son. Garret mentions what the son said, that Calvin became violent suddenly and for no reason. He has found out that Calvin and some band members were in a bus crash in '78 and that he received a concussion. Since he didn't treat it, this may well be the source of the violent behaviour.

Later in the computer lab, a x-ray of his head confirms that there was hemorrhaging and bruising on the fontal lobe. Lily argues the man may have just been violent and Garret may be biased since he liked the guy. Garret acknowledges this but still believes the injury may be the reason and wants to know for sure.

On another computer, Jordan and Berman look at Katherine's medical records, including the ones from her OB. They find that the couple tried for years to have children and that she visited at least 6 specialists until the last one found out it was Stuart's fault not hers. Four years ago she visited a donor bank and got inseminated and was pregnant. The problem is trying to prove Larken was the donor.

They fix that problem by visiting the donor bank Katherine visited, and while Berman bombs with his jokes, Jordan fills out the questionnaire. She then calls him over and tells him she described Larken in the questions and they look at the possible donors. They find one who likes to bike in Europe, and is a lawyer and Jordan believes this is Larken. They get the semen and bring it to the lab. Bug runs the test and it is indeed Larken's DNA. Berman still thinks Katherine killed him since now money is involved. Jordan receives a call and leaves.

She meets Katherine at a lounge and sees that Katherine has been beaten. Katherine tells her that she and Ross never had a physical relationship. She never told Stuart that the baby was not his and for a while he thought it was a miracle. Then lately he noticed that the child did not look like him. He also started to beat her and yell at the child. Since she had a friend at the donor clinic she had them find out who the donor was hoping that if Larken knew his kid might be in trouble he could do something. This though broke the anonymity clause. She didn't tell the police about her suspsions since Stuart is a big time lawyer and could have influence. Jordan wonders how he found out now, and she tells her that she mistakenly asked him about the print on the watch. He then beat her.Katherine is scared and thinks Stuart has done the perfect crime with no clues.

Jordan is not so sure.

Garret is in his office listening to some old Wheeler music, when the son walks in. He accuses Garret of trying to get on his good side by playing the song Calvin wrote for his wife. Garret tells him about the crash and the head injury and his theory about his father's sudden mood swings. Wheeler doesn't really want to hear it since he made up his mind early on and it hurts him to remember his father.

At the bar, Max has set up a karoke machine and sings a song before Jordan interrupts him. She tells him bluntly it won't work, people will fly out of the place if he does that. Don't sugar coat it Max tells her. Jordan tells him that she can call her old band that she used to sing with and they could play at the bar. Max welcomes the help. Jordan and he then play the game and go over the fight. At first they can't see how to catch Stuart, since he cleaned up the place. Then Jordan remembers that Larken wore a collage ring and it would explain the cuts on Stuart's face.

At the lab Bug analyses the ring and finds the blood. Now they need some sample from Stuart to link him up.

In the crypt, Lily is comforting Mrs. Borrow who has come to id him. Nigel comes in and talks with her and says maybe the reason he survived the crash was to help comfort her. He tells her that her husbands last thoughts were of her and his child.

At a gala dinner Stuart Fielding is talking to friends when Jordan and Berman come up and arrest him for the murder of Larken. Katherine is there with them and she is not shy about showing the beating he gave her. They tell him they got his DNA from his toothbrush thanks to Katherine lending it to them. They take him away in front of his guests. Katherine tells him that Larken was just a donor for their son.

Later at Max's bar, which is now packed thanks to the band Max gets Jordan to sing a song for the group. While she sings we see Nigel and Lily comfort Mrs. Borrow with the pictures recovered from the crash. Then Lily comforts Nigel. Wheeler's son comes back and gives the sax to Garret. And Jordan quitely finishes her song.

ANALYSIS:

A good episode, with some great character growth for Nigel finally. The new detective was a little annoying, but I warmed up to him a little after watching the show again. In fact it provided some comic relief and a chance to see Jordan really give it to someone. Anyone else would have left running the first time Jordan talked back at them but this guy just kept going. The plot with Nigel was really done well and hopefully with the new episode coming up it affects him somewhat still. Lily also had a good outing this time out and really came through. Before I felt she was almost a tack on character who came in and offered a pearl of wisdom and then left the scene. Here she was effective. The main plot of the murder was somewhat weak since it was telegraphed way before the ending.

As I just mentioned the A plot was telegraphed the moment they visited Stuart and saw the cuts on his face. Berman's constant attempts to pin the blame on Katherine were either completely stupid or an indication of how smart he was. It's obvious that Jordan switches tracks when she meets Stuart and sides with Katherine. All she wants from Katherine is the why. It's as if by having Berman continually go on about Katherine the writers were trying very hard to convince the viewers that maybe she was guilty, only I just could not fall for it once Stuart was introduced.

The new detective, Phil Berman really was a jerk at times but also funny. Again the second time around I warmed up to him, and I think maybe he should come back. It's good for Jordan to tangle with a detective that she can't totally wrap around her finger and is actually repulsive to her. His detective work needs to get stronger since Jordan did everything this time out and I don't really like that happening.

Nigel and the train crash was a stronger B plot this time out. Nigel really came into focus this episode and we see that he really is a sensitive soul. I felt sorry for him and what he went through but was happy that he pulled himself thru in the end. With counseling he should be back and working fine in no time. His brush with death gave him more focus in his life and not to take such things for granted. I liked how he still thought of others and helped to comfort the widow Borrow. Helping others can always help yourself in only positive ways.

Lily also had a much better outing this time out. She was forceful in confronting Nigel and helped him out. She was there for him and for the families of crash victims. Not only that but she sounded better this time. This wasn't mumbo jumbo from her but good old fashioned advice and comfort. One question, just how many tattoo's does this woman have on her? She's got them all over her and they are quite noticeable this season than last.

Garret's case was forgettable, simply because the son was just not very simpathetic enough to make me care for the father. It was a side story that took time from the other cases and could have been dropped. Two cases a episode is enough. And did anyone notice that Elaine was not seen, or heard from in the whole episode? I expected her at the crash site , but nope. It was actually good with just the old cast and I realised Elaine just does not fit in with the group.

As for the tech side, the dead bodies talking scene was done quite nicely. It was erie yet amusing, and a little disgusting with the open wounds. The train lurching and pulling away from Nigel was a really good effect.

The music was also good again and we got to hear Jill Hennessy sing again. A nice sounding Irish song with a warbly voice effect to go with it. There wasn't the usual 3 or 4 songs interludes we usually have which was nice as well. We also got to hear Ken Howard sing a song. At least I'm guessing that was him singing.

In the end it was a good episode where the b plot was better than the a plot. The murder was telegraphed way in advanced and so the interest faded a little. If they had engaged Stuart more it would have made the plot more interesting as we would have watched a cat and mouse game between Jordan and him. Nigel got some good character growth as did Lily. I give this one 3 out of 5 stars. RTMSTop Message Board

Episode 6

ONE TWELVE OR UPON THE WASTED BUILDING

We get a inside look into Garret's place as we see him lounging around in a easy chair,surrounded by a mess of stuff. For a guy who keeps excellent records and such you would think he would be a lot neater. The phone rings and he answers it and becomes serious right away. He quickly leaves.

Jordan isn't having so much luck in the sleeping dept. The phone rings for her but she just lifts it and hangs up. It rings again and when she answers it, she's in a bad mood and starts to tell the person off before being cut off and told to get to work.

We see a early morning shot of Boston but there seems to be smoke coming from somewhere. The whole gang is out for this crime scene and they come upon a huge devastation. They can only look on in stunned silence as they look up at a building which has been blown apart.

Later someone is calling for Garret and eventually finds him. It's a fire chief that Garret knows and the chief fills him in on what may have happened and what to look forward to. It's a six floor building with the first 3 floors blown out, happened about 6:00 am this morning. Garret hopes that since it was early no one was at work but the chief dashes his hopes telling him a law firm pulled an all nighter with all their lawyers working. That means at least a hundred and twelve bodies possibly. The chief says it looks like a shaped charge was used which amazes Garret.

Garret gets the gang together and hands out assignments to them. He makes Jordan senior Death Investigator, Nigel and Bug are working the grid, and Lily does the counseling back at the office. Elaine stays with Garret. Garret leaves and the gang get to work. While getting the proper clothing Nigel teases Jordan on her sudden promotion but Jordan says he can take it. She whines about the protective clothes until Bug gives the standard lecture rule to her and she quickly complies.

Woody comes up and asks about the FBI, with Jordan telling him they are HQ'd in a restaurant. She mentions his transfer, but he says he's just the liaison between the cops and Feds. She tells him she will be going in the building and he tells her to be safe and then leaves. A dishelved looking man who seems confused walks up to Jordan asking what happened but she gently pushes him towards the police.

Woody catches up to an agent caring coffee, whose name is Miller. Miller then seems to test Woody asking him who he thinks did it? Woody smartly says he can't really make that sort of call. When they arrive at the FBI OPS he tells Woody to stay quiet and make himself useful and learn as he watches.

3 hours later Jordan is looking and asking if FEMA is there yet. Someone says the red hats and Jordan spies one. She asks for the chief engineer who's name is MacGurder and who is not in a very good mood. He tells her he has no time for any one and any whining. Jordan agrees with him, and asks if it's okay to go in now. He tells her that while he can't garentee any thing, for now she and her team can go in. Then she asks if there are any survivors and he tells her that 2 hours ago a hundred people were on the second floor and now there is no second floor.

In hour 4, at FBI Ops they speculate that the car bomb was detonated in the underground parking garage. They drove it in the early morning and left it. Since it was a sizable blast it had to be a van or truck of some sort. Thanks to an AMT camera they zoom in on a truck going in and stopping to talk to a guy in a car. They get a close up of the face.

Garret and Elaine argue over whether they should tell the press etc. Garret wants to keep them out of the loop until they have definite proof and ID'd the bodies. Elaine wants to go out now and reassure them. Garret over rules her which start to ruffle her feathers. They then come to the tents out side and take the biggest one and make it the temporary morgue.

At the FBI Ops they have made a match for the car driver. A Mohammed Faraj who is a Saudi and who is seeking his immigration papers. They get his address and Woody knows the area as a middle eastern sect of Boston. They go full force to the guys apartment and break in, startling the man sitting at his table.

Hour 5, at the bomb site as Jordan leads a group into the building she tells them two rules. Don't touch anything and don't touch anything, which is simple to remember. They look around and spot many bodies lying in the rubble. Nigel and Bug start the grid while Jordan looks around more. She walks over to a blinking exit sign and starts to check the area out when a hand grabs her leg through a hole in the wall. Jordan shouts out that they have a live one.

Jordan starts to talk to the man and assures him that they will help him.

At the office, Lily has to console a large mass of family members etc who are grief stricken and angry over not getting answers. One of them gets angry with Lily and demands to know who the man in charge is. Garret walks in and tells the guy to pipe down and that Lily is in charge here. She then tells them that they will need to fill out questionnaires and give any photos, toothbrushes and combs to the recovery team so they can find out who is who. Since many bodies may be unrecognisable the toothbrushes and combs will provide DNA samples for the recovery teams. Later she talks to Garret and asks why he backed her up in there. He tells her she can handle it and says the next two days are going to be a rollercoaster for her and that in the end she can come to him for help.

At the bomb site, Jordan talks with the man she found. His name is John Morrissey he tells her before MacGruder comes in. Jordan leaves John for a moment and goes to MacGruder asking him how they are going to get John out. Unfortunately MacGruder says they can't do it, the place where the guy is, is a major support for the building and if they blast it out the whole building comes down on them. Jordan argues that's not what she wants to hear but MacGruder is firm, no way is the guy coming out alive. Jordan is upset that she will have to tell John the man will have to die.

Hour 7, and Garret is at the Temp Morgue telling a air conditioner tech to get the morgue cooled off for the bodies. Elaine comes along and fills him in on what's going on. Jordan is with a survivor she found which surprises Garret. The ID team is ready but they are only local people and volunteers the hospital's could come up with. This means that they don't know how to do a grid. Garret meets them and gives them the quick lesson on how a body goes from being a number on the wall to being a flesh and blood person they can give to a family. He then sends them out.

At Boston PD, Woody and a bunch of agents look on as Miller interrogates Farja about the bomb. Miller says they got power residue on his hands so he must be guilty. Woody wonders out loud about why a guy would help bomb a place and then go home and eat breakfast. The other agents look at him somewhat annoyed and he apologises and shuts up.

Garret talks with an agent Barker who is the lead criminologist but who has no experienced people yet.They found what looks like the van used to hide the bomb. He demands Nigel and Bug be brought on to his team since he's heard they are the best in Boston and Garret agrees.

Later inside Nigel and Bug sarcastically say they were down here earlier but the agents kicked them out and now they need them. Barker ignores them and they come across the burnt out van. Barker tells them they want samples taken and such. Bug wonders about organic samples but Barker says no way, with this blast there has to be no remains. Meanwhile Nigel is looking around and finds something and puts it in a bag. He holds it up and it is a charred hand.

Back at the office Lily has to argue with Brady again who doesn't like the questions and other ID stuff. He is quite upset and stalks out as Lily seems unable to sooth him. When she walks back to the lobby she sees all the people there and feels overwhelmed.

Hour 9, and Barker and company are at the temp morgue trying to find a print station which Garret directs him too. Bug fills him in on the hand found at the van. They then turn around when they hear Elaine's voice and see that she is talking on TV to reporters which Garret had said not to. He's less then happy with her.

Hour 10, and Jordan is still talking to John and holding his hand and comforting him. He asks about her, like did she always want to be a ME? No actually a ballerina was what she wanted. He wonders who survived the blast and she tells him he's the only one so far.

Outside, Elaine finds Garret who lays down the law to her about the press and tells her she's to stay in the tent from now on. Elaine gets even more ruffled but agrees. He then tells the ID team that they only have 65 bodies so far and there are suppose to be 112 so get out there and find them he says.

Hour 20, and it's night time now in Boston. Jordan and MacGruder talk about getting John out. MacGruder and crew have a plan that may work. She goes to tell John even though MacGruder says it's only 50-50 chance.

At FBI Ops, Woody, Nigel and agents stand around and talk out the senerios. They try to find out what kind of bomb was used. With Nigel's help they determine that the bomb was a controlled blast meant to go straight up and target a specific place and had a timer on it. Miller still thinks Farja did it but Woody is not so sure.

At the print station Barker is trying to scan the hand for prints but has given up. Bug comes along and tries while Barker says they have used every kind of scan they have. Bug tells him then maybe they should try a low tech solution. Barker gets bigoted and asks if Bangladesh U has a better forensic lab then the FBI. Bug ignores him at first and decides to hydrate the hand, since it's been dyhydrated by fire. He uses a needle to put a solution into hand and then scans it and a print comes up. He then tells Barker that he went to Oxford U and leaves.

Jordan is still holding John's hand and talking to him. She won't leave him she tells him. Then they talk marriage and John tells her he had a wife and two girls. The girls were posioned due to a factory plant around their place.

Hour 21, and Woody is reviewing the tape made of the arrest of Farja. He looks at it several times before he notices the model airplanes. He gets up and finds Bug and Nigel and asks about what goes into making real model airplanes. They mention a few materials but one gets his attention, Aluminite. Woody walks into the confused guy and brushes him off.

Hour 22, and Jordan is giving an oxygen mask to John to help him breath. MacGruder motions her to come over and she does and he tells her that unfortunately they can not get to the guy at all now, too much concrete and stuff. He tells her what she is doing for John is good and to keep it up.

Outside in the temp morgue, Elaine catches Garret asleep standing up, but he denies it. Elaine tells him that they have made a 99% match on the print. At the computer, a page is printed with the face of a black man on it and the name John Morrissey, which confuses Garret. He wonders if this is John Morrissey then who is Jordan talking to.

Hour 24, and it's morning time as the teams go about their business. Jordan and John keep talking, Garret and gang keep adding bodies, Elaine fights off reporters while making her way into the building. Woody lets Miller know his findings.

Elaine finds Jordan and tells her what they found. Then she goes back to Garret and tells him she gave Jordan an hour to tell the guy. Garret though sees through her, and accuses her of going to the press. She doesn't deny it and the two get into a big fight with Garret finally calling her a bitch. That silences her and then seems to cool everything off. They tell everyone else who was watching them to get back to work.

Hour 40, Andrew a man who is waiting to find out about his wife is talking to Lily. He goes on about how his wife first survived cancer then had miracle baby and then never got on a certain plane that crashed into the Twin Towers, only for this to happen. Lily starts to cry and loses it and runs out to the crypt. She then calms herself down and goes back to the people.

Miller and Woody are at Boston PD and are going to let Fajra go. Miller says he did a good job and he can tell the man himself. Woody goes in an apologises to Fajra who tells him that the reason he stopped to talk to the guy is the guy told him it was a holiday and to come back tomorrow.

Jordan starts to talk to the mystery man and will not hold his hand which he notices. She tells him they found the real John and it is then that she realises that this man was the one who set up the bomb. The problem with the daughters and the lawyers who finally gave up on the suit, compounded by the fact the mother killed herself over it and the man snapped. He never meant to hurt anyone just scare them and eventually Jordan sympathises with him and hold his hand again and sings a song his wife sang to his children while he dies.

At the temp morgue, Garret puts Elaine in charge and mentions that one more body, that of Charles Rutledge is still missing and then goes home. On his way out he see the man who has been wondering around and the man asks for help. The man takes off his jacket and has a large cut on his back. As he explains he was sitting at his desk when suddenly he was blasted from the place and ended up in a dumpster. Garret realises that this is the missing body Rutledge and Garret reassures him that he will be okay.

ANALYSIS:

This was a great episode, a little tribute to 9/11 of course. All the plots intertwined with each other. The picture of the building blast was great and the reactions of the gang over it. There was one confusing part concerning Woody which I will get to later. As well lots of good tech stuff was done in the show. I love it when they all get together and do one big job.

The main plot was the bombing itself and the aftermath. The show did a good job showing how all sections from police to firemen to engineers and finally the ME's work together to find the answers. The ME's have to have the worst and hardest job of finding dead bodies and Identifying the bodies for families. It was also nice to see that there was no heroic or magical miracle to get the bombing guy out of the building. Usually it's the opposite, with a tear and hanky resolution that makes everyone happy. Nice to see that real life is not always kind.

We also get the FBI in on the scene and they prove more annoying and dumb here then before. Miller gets upstaged by Woody who figures out the prime suspect is not guilty. Barker can't think past his gadgets to get a print and has to be bigoted towards Bug who comes thru again with a nifty idea. All told it was a poor outing for the Feds, but of course we wouldn't have a show if our heroes weren't doing the work. There is one thing that confused me and it seems many other viewers and thats Jordan's comment to Woody of getting his transfer done yet. Did she mean to the FBI? or to Boston. If it was to the FBI, one would have to know that no matter your experience else where you do not transfer into the FBI and become an instant agent. Everyone has to go through the FBI Academy since what they do is so very different then the average police work and such. I 'm not the only one who wondered if this episode was switched with another one. It happened last year with Jordan's apartment so who knows?

As for character growth, it was more a group growth then individual. Each person got some time, with the exception of Elaine. We again got to see the individual do his or her specific job and do it well. We saw that for most of them it's old hat and they get to it and put everything behind them. Lily was the only one who really had any emotional growth here. She finally gets tested big time and while she broke down briefly, was able by herself to pull herself together and go forward. She will be much stronger now with her clients and therefore a much better counsellor. Elaine got the least growth or for that matter work to do. All she seemed to be there for was to follow Garret around and argue with him. We finally got to see what they really think of each other, and it was a shock to hear her say that Garret shouldn't be chief ME. I would have asked why, since he's been there for years, knows everyone on staff and all the important people such as police chiefs and fire chiefs and has been there done that on every imaginable case. For Elaine to say she should be chief is stupid and naive of her, and just shows she's someone else's lapdog.

The tech issues were great and fun to see. We get to see how a grid is put up and then how a body finally gets ID and laid to rest. Bug and Nigel get a bunch of gadgets to work with and find neat ways to solve mysteries that puzzle others. Hydrating the hand and solving how the bomb went off and why was like playing the game without the reenactment of it. The FEMA engineer was great in letting Jordan realize that they were limited about what they could do with a collapsed building. It was nice to see their angle on things since we rarely do.

Music wise, Jordan again gets to sing a nice little lullaby to the dying man, and we had some beautiful singing over the images. The song seems to have been done in German if what my closed captioning showed me. Wonderful music for the episode.

Overall another great episode with the whole cast working together. As is always the case these episodes are always some of the best they do when they effectively have the whole cast working on one case. Lots of great tech/geeky stuff and great music made it even better. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. RTMS Top   Message Board

Episode 7

SCARED STRAIGHT

We see Jordan sitting in her chair reading a letter from her old boy friend. It's from Tyler who is getting married as Garret teases her about it .She doesn't mind that he is going to be married . She seems a little unhappy. She then is given a case to work on . She and Nigel go to an office where a young woman is dead in a chair . Nigel recognises the woman as Steffi Goodman, a Dr. Lisa's lover. The room has hate writings all over the place. They notice bullet holes in the chair that are bloody but no wounds in the body. She has been stabbed though which seems to have been what killed her. They are puzzled as to why there are bloody bullets around.

The next morning, as Elaine walks down the hall she sees someone she doesn't like and tries to avoid them. The person is Dr. Howard Stiles, the resident shrink and he's back for her he tells her. It seems she didn't get a psych test when she came to work and he would like to make an appointment. Elaine is less than thrilled with the idea but agrees to meet him. She then makes a excuse to get away from him and goes into trace evidence.

Inside she meets with Nigel and Jordan who immediately tells her that just because this is a high profile case she's not taking it away from her. Elaine tells her not to get all hot about it she can have the case, and leaves. Jordan is momentarily shocked but recovers and gets to work. They find that the blood on the bullets does match Goodman's but there are no bullet wounds, just some bruising and a cut on her hand. Garret comes in and says the body needs to go to the crypt for the next while so it can be ID'd. Jordan wonders why a picture won't do but Garret says Dr. Lisa is coming in and wants to see the body personally. Just before he leaves Jordan spots something and uses the florescent light to pick out some prints made post mortem.

Later in the crypt Jordan has to listen to Emmy explain how her cousin's marriage was going down hill until Dr.Lisa helped them out. Jordan looks bored at having to listen to this drivel, but is saved when Dr. Lisa comes in. Dr. Lisa Fromer is not in the greatest moods thanks to the crowds of reporters out side. She id's the body and Jordan offers her her condolences.

Later Jordan and Woody talk about the case on their way to Boston PD. Woody is not happy about the nature of the case since it will only mean a headache for everyone involved. He is also looking at Dr.Lisa as the main culprit, which Jordan questions. He tells her that he is meeting Dr.Lisa to interrogate her. Jordan offers to sit in, but Woody says no way she can just watch.

In the interrogation room Woody tries to be nice but is quickly ends up a mess. Both of them get mad at the other especially when Woody questions make Dr.Lisa feel like a freak. She leaves the room and runs into Jordan. She wonders how any one can like Woody, and Jordan tells her she does. Dr.Lisa is surprised, since she thought Jordan was gay. Jordan tells her she is not and then escorts her out of the police station. Unfortunately the press is there and they snap pictures as the two of them come out.

Back at the office Garret and Lily are dealing with a case of their own. Lily deals with the father while Garret talks to the daughter. Rose Laurer was her mother and she has died. Her daughter thinks it was foul play and that her father had something to do with it. Lily talks to Mr. Laurer who says his daughter is distraught and unhappy about her mother's death and wants answers that are easily explained. The daughter tells Garret that her mother told her about her father's mistress which she found out about only a few weeks before. Suddenly her mother's health went down hill. After they are done talking they all meet at the elevator and neither father or daughter will talk or ride the elevator together. After they are gone Garret questions Lily about what Mr.Laurer said but Lily pulls out the rule book about confidentiality and clams up. Garret warns her not to be stubborn about this. Lily leaves as Jordan comes out of the elevator and talks to Garret about the Dr.Lisa case. They also talk about how good she is at pegging someone. They talk about how it is to fall in love and his own love life, from Maggie to Lily and then Maggie again. Garret admits to liking Lily but that he never really loved her. He then wonders if this has to do with Tyler getting married but Jordan brushes that off and walks away. She turns towards the crypt to see some black guy looking in. She questions him and he says his name is David Black and he was Steffi Goodman's lover. He thinks Dr.Lisa did this to stop Steffi from leaving her.

Next morning Nigel is reading a Boston tabloid when he sees Jordan and starts to tease her with it. It seems the tabloid has written some gossip and is implying that Jordan and Dr.Lisa are more than friends. He even shows her the picture of the two of them coming out of the police station. He teases her about walking the fence but Jordan calls him on it concerning his own life. Nigel stops the teasing and tells her that they have a match for the prints they took. Just then Dr. Stiles comes out and teases Jordan about the tabloid pic. Jordan just rolls her eyes and leaves.

Stiles then meets with Garret to talk things over. He mentions he's made a appointment with Elaine to which Garret reacts with disdain. He then mentions that Lily talked to him and asked him about counsellors rights and such. He mentions the idea that the position she got was because she went out with Garret. Garret doesn't comment.

Woody is finishing questioning some of Dr.Lisa's patients when Jordan comes by. The patients, Mr. and Mrs. Harken say that recently they found Dr.Lisa abrupt and short with them. They leave and Jordan tells Woody about the prints she has. They match David Blake, who was Steffi's lover. Woody is a little annoyed with Jordan that she didn't fill him earlier since this strengthens his theory against Dr.Lisa. Jordan doesn't feel the dots connect but lets it go.

At the office Bug is doing the autopsy of Rose Laurer, while Garret looks on. Lily comes in and questions Garret's presence but he will not be pushed around. He can use the rule book as well as she can. She feels everyone is railroading her client. Poor Bug can only stand there while they yap at each other and try to get a word in edge wise. They both then leave the room leaving a puzzled Bug behind.

In the conference room Stiles and Elaine face off. Stiles starts off slow saying she is divorced and no children. He wonders about the 6 year silence and what happened but Elaine is not forth coming. He then hits a nerve when he says her co-workers don't really like her. Elaine could not care less and Stiles notes this strongly. It worries him because people who don't care either had that feeling from the beginning or now have it because they have nothing to look forward too and have already lost everything that may matter. Elaine is still closed mouth but it looks like he may have touched deeper than she wanted.

Woody meets with David Blake at a outdoor cafe and hears his side of the story. He says he found her dead. Woody questions him and leaves it at that for now.

Dr.Lisa is on the radio when Jordan stops by. She invites her to Max's bar where they talk about David Blake. Lisa didn't know about the two of them and Jordan has to tell her that she is looking guilty. Max comes by and introduces himself to Lisa. It seems he listens to her show. Woody and some police then barge in and arrest Lisa. They searched her home and found a knife that matches the one used on Steffi. Lisa is less than happy with Woody or Jordan.

Next day at Boston PD, Jordan is mad at Woody for yesterday. Woody who has read the tabloids thinks that Jordan is too emotionally involved and tells her bluntly that she should just leave the case.

At the lab, Nigel, Bug and Elaine are looking at the blood on the knife. They also gossip about Jordan and her love life. When Nigel tells Elaine Jordan may not be happy with her help Elaine starts to say she doesn't care but catches her self. She remembers what Stiles said to her and corrects herself. Mean while the blood under the microscope is id'd as coming from an animal not a human.

In Garret's office, he informs Laurers daughter that the autopsy found her mother died of complications due to cancer. The daughter can't take this and tells him that at one point when feeling fine her mother seemed to have a aura or glow around her. Garret gets suspicious.

In the kitchen, a picture of Jordan and Dr. Lisa is pinned to the bulletin board where Nigel, Bug and Lily gossip yet again about Jordan. Jordan walks in and the gang looks guilty at here which makes Jordan question them. They point out the picture which Jordan quickly rips up. She's fed up with the gossip and wants to know if they have the findings on the blood. They tell her that the blood was from an ostrich and Jordan tells them to trace it.

Later in the autopsy room, Garret and Bug are doing another autopsy of Rose Laurer. Lily comes in and informs them that Mr.Laurer is waiting for the body. Garret tells her they are looking for phosphorous and have found it. Lily says so what the body has natural phosphorous anyway. Garret repeats what the daughter told him, and Bug confirms that the body has an overload of phosphorous in the body which caused the liver to quit. Lily realises this means murder not cancer killed the woman.

At Lisa's place, Jordan stops by and even though Lisa is mad at her she lets her in. They play the game and Jordan realises that the whole murder thing was staged. It was done supposedly so Lisa would not be hurt.

At Boston PD, Woody questions Blake again and this time Blake confesses the truth. It was suppose to look like a hate crime and he was to wait for her. When she didn't come he went to find her and found her dead. Mean while Lisa and Jordan watch as he confesses and Lisa is hurt. The question now is who killed Steffi.

Later Jordan and Woody search the city and 20 or more places that serve ostrich. Woody can't believe there are so many place who would serve the stuff. He apologises about being jealous of Jordan and Lisa. Jordan says that he could so much better than her and he admits it. Jordan looks shocked at this and wants to know who. He teases her that she is now the one who is jealous. They go into one of the places and as they look around they spot one of the Lisa's patients Mr. Harken. They ask if he works here and he says he and his wife own the place. Woody asks to see the kitchen and when they walk in they see his wife with a bloody knife. Jordan looks it over and says it matches the knife that stabbed Steffi. Mr. Harken says there has to be other knives like that but Jordan says not with ostrich blood on it, which was found at the murder site. The wife breaks down and confesses what happened. She and her husband had gone to Dr.Lisa looking for help but got nothing. She was abrupt with them and so Mrs.Harken wanted to hurt her. She found Steffi in Lisa's office and killed her.

In Elaine's office she is looking at a picture which she places face down when Dr.Stiles comes by. He tells her that there is new therapy methods to help for post traumatic stress. She says she will pass it on, but Stiles tells her it's for her. She has all the symptoms he says and knows that something sad happened to her in the past. He tells her whenever she's ready he will talk to her about it. Before he leaves he raises the picture she put down which shows Elaine holding a little boy. Elaine is left to ponder his invitation.

At Lisa's place Jordan stops by to tell her who killed Steffi and to help console her. She again maintains that she is straight which Lisa accepts.

At the office, and on the roof Garret informs Lily that Laurer ran a dry cleaning business that used a phosphorous based cleaning agent. Lily thinks she is a fool for not seeing through Laurer since she is suppose to be trained. Garret tells her not to sweat it and that he feels she is a good choice for counsellor.

Back inside at Jordan's cubicle, a call she has made is put on hold. Garret comes in and notices it's another night alone at the morgue. She thanks him for not teasing her about the gossip, which he says he's above such things. When Jordan's call goes through he leaves and Jordan who has called Dr.Lisa's show wonders if she will ever find that somebody. Lisa reassures her she will. Afterwards Jordan leaves content.

ANALYSIS:

A good murder mystery where the obvious choices were not anywhere near right. The murder plot was well done, with the gossip teasing and the Rose Laurer case filling out the rest. Everyone got to act in this episode and we even got some character info on Elaine which makes her much more sympathetic now. The title of the episode Scared Straight was miss leading I felt as no one was scared here.

The murder plot of the stabbed lover, was not easy to see or solve. I figured either the Dr. Lisa character or the boyfriend had done it. The patient angle never even registered even when I saw them talking to Woody. A great way to hide the true culprit. The lesbian stuff I could have done with out since I don't personally agree with it at all, and to me it felt stuck on, as if trying to raise eyebrows. Big yawn, since this show has already showed it is quite liberal.

The teasing Jordan had to endure was cute in a way. Nice to see she can take it as she sometimes gives it herself to others. Jordan teases her dad on her upbringing but in the end makes it clear that she is straight. Of course we already know this thanks to previous episodes, so there was real no tension on whether she would state she was gay.

Elaine had a good outing and had some meaningful character growth. We find she has seemingly lost a child and gone through a divorce. Whether the two are connected we will have to wait to find out. This is one of the first episodes where she didn't come off as annoying. Seeing the picture and hearing Stiles tell her she can talk to him anytime pulled at the heartstrings.

Garret and Lily go at it yet again and I have to say Lily is getting annoying with her counsellor thing. For that matter Garret seems still stuck on her even though he says he still loves Maggie and never loved Lily. Either way he isn't acting in love at all with anyone. For that matter I don't feel he has guilt over giving Lily the counsellor job. As for his case he proves once again how professional he is. He knows his stuff so well that a suggestion from a client gives him an idea to check out and his findings come true. The phosphorous angle was a neat twist to what initially looked like a sad death by cancer.

Nigel and Bug got some work to do as well as some comic moments here. Nigel's continued teasing backfires when Jordan calls him on it. Bug gets caught in the middle of Garret and Lily once again and is left wondering what is going on at the morgue these days.

Dr.Stiles shows up and proves that behind the teasing, is a thoughtful and smart man. He pins Elaine's problem down with only a few questions and offers insight that she doesn't see. Saying she has nothing to lose because she has already lost everything make Elaine actually stop in her tracks at one point an correct herself. Not many people can make Elaine do that. I always enjoy it when Stiles come around and hope to see him more.

Tech stuff amounted to really nothing this episode. No really cool camera tricks or cool computer shots. In fact no real forensic stuff at all. Music wise we got a country song of all things playing in the beginning. As Garret read the Tyler invitation is was made funnier with the song.

Overall a good murder mystery that was not obvious from the start but continued to the end. The lesbian stuff could have been left out since it was not important. The Laurer case was neat with an interesting twist to the death. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. RTMS Top  Message Board

Don't Look Back

Episode 8

This review was done by Erica T or PRINCESS LEIA as they are known on the message boards. Thank you so much for the time and effort. Please enjoy the review and send a thank you to Princess Leia.

Jordan drives to a scene: a fatal traffic accident where a man, apparently a truck driver, has died. He's been partly pushed out his window, Jordan can see his head. She asks the paramedics at the scene to get him out of the car. Woody shows up and Jordan jokingly asks if he got demoted? Woody, looking annoyed, sarcastically says "Sure, rub it in..." and continues by saying he doesn't want to be there, but another officer who usually takes these cases wasn't at work today and he was assgined to go to the scene; the police seem to think they can take advantage of him. Jordan encourages him to show his "surly side" more often and Woody starts to say that he's a homicide detective and shouldn't be forced into these inferior cases. Jordan and Woody go into the truck that was involved in the accident, and after a bit of snooping around, Jordan finds a woman's dead body among everything in the truck - it seems Woody got his homicide.

[Opening Credits]

Trace Evidence: Nigel and Jordan are further examining the woman's body. Woody gives them a bit more background information. Nigel says he's excited because he found an unknown white substance under the vic's fingernails; he thinks it's drugs of some type, and takes a sample to test. Jordan tells Woody that the vic died simply as a result of trauma to the back of the head. Nigel is disappointed that the test proved negative- the white substance isn't any kind of drug. Jordan discovers that the vic wears coloured contacts and Nigel says that that's useful because every contact lens manufactured has a code on the side, and they can try to trace the vic by finding out where these particular lenses were purchased. Woody jokes about how Nigel knows every piece of random information. Nigel leaves the room happily to pursue the contact lens code.

There is a man looking into the crypt, someone we've never seen before, and he's holding a leather bowling bag. Nigel spots him and tells him to get out, he isn't allowed to be there. This man spots Garret and calls to him. Garret doesn't appear to know him. The man explains he's Peter Nash, and he and Garret went to college together. Nash says he's looking for his wife, who he thinks is dead.

Lily hears an older woman's voice critiquing her makeup. It's Lily's mom. Lily is shocked to see her; they hug. Lily asks what she is doing in Boston and how long she'll be in town. Mrs. Lebowski says she came to see her daughter, and will stay for as long as Lily will have her.

Woody tells Jordan that the victim's contacts were purchsed from an optometrist on Hollywood Boulevard. Jordan asks if he called the FBI, but Woody says that the case can have local jurisdiction, therefore it's his case, so the FBI doesn't need to get involved. Jordan offers to go to Los Angeles with him, but Woody refuses, saying that the last time they were in LA together, he had to shoot a man.

Lily complains about her mom's sudden appearance to Nigel, and that she lied to her mom. She tells him that she said to her mom that her fiance is moving in with her, so she wouldn't have her mom living with her. Nigel flat-out refuses to be part of her little scheme, but Lily says "Well, we almost got married once..sort of.." Bug tells Lily he'd gladly help her out, but Lily is reluctant because of all that's happened between them recently. Bug says he doesn't mind.

Garret is with Peter Nash in the crypt, looking for Nash's wife. Nash talks a bit about his personal life, and says that Garret was always the "cool" one, the one that would end up doing something cool like motorcycle around the world, and that he was surprised that Garret is now a medical examiner. Shortly after, Garret asks Nigel to check the missing-persons reports to see if Nash was telling the truth when he said he reported his wife missing. Nigel inquires about Garret and Nash's friendship back in college. Garret explains that they weren't really friends, they just took a few creative writing courses together, and Nash "hero-worshipped" him. Nigel says, "Don't we all".

Hollywood. Woody is walking down a street, then sees Jordan standing in front of him, leaning against an old, shiny, red Elvis-style car. Woody says, "I hate you, Jordan". They argue a bit, Woody threatens to leave her behind on the sidewalk in the sun to die of dehydration. Woody asks what Jordan is doing there, and Jordan says she has 5 years's worth of vacation, so he might be stuck with her for about a month. Woody laughs and says "I'm in hell!". Woody tells Jordan that the victim's contacts were purchased by a Shirley McGinty-he's therefore identified the victim. Jordan offers to follow him as he finds more info, but Woody says he doesn't have a car. Jordan tells him to get in the car, and Woody does so. He makes jokes about the car, that it probably leaks oil like a sieve. Jordan laughs fakely and says it's from 1959, the "Cadillac of Cadillacs". Jordan starts driving, and we see that the car does actually leak oil a bit.

They go to the victim's last known place of residence, and Woody finds mail adressed to a Krystin Watkins. Jordan wonders that if there's someone else's mail, why is there a picture of Shirley inside on the table? Jordan picks the lock and they go in. They find more proof that Shirley McGinty still lives there. They find a tape labelled "Screen Test: Krystin Watkins"; they put it in the VCR. Shirley is on the tape, playing the part of a woman who's been leading a double life(ironic). A gun cocks and a man tells Jordan and Woody to get on their knees. Jordan takes a bit longer to kneel than Woody, she's explaining to the man that they're just looking around. The man asks Woody if he's been sleeping with her(Shirley). Woody says no, he's with Boston PD and gets out his badge. After Jordan and Woody tell the man that Shirley is dead, he reveals that he's her husband. The husband says that because of work, he doesn't live in this apartment, he lives in San Quivera, which is near the Mojave Desert and where they grew up. He tells them that Krystin Watkins is a fake name. He tells them that she was in a movie, and when Jordan asks what movie, the husband just says, "her movie".

Boston. Garret is flipping through a book about novel writing. Nigel comes in and says that Nash never filed a missing-persons report. Nigel also asks Garret if he got to see the contents of Nash's bag, that it had a bit of a dismembered-head shape. Nash is standing in the doorway. Nigel leaves the room. Garret tells him that his wife hasn't turned up at the ME's office yet, and asks why Nash lied- Nash says that he knows from crimenovels that he husband is always the first suspect and didn't want to be seen that way. Garret asks what's in the bag, and Nash says it's his greatest accomplishment, something he's wanted for 20 years, and tells Garret to see for himself. Garret is a bit freaked out but opens the bag- inside is a manuscript. It's a novel Nash has written and he wants Garret to be the first to read it.

California. Woody and Jordan are talking to some businessman, probably a film producer or something, who worked on the movie that Shirley McGinty/Krystin Watkins acted in. The producer is sad to hear she's dead, says she could have been America's Sweetheart. He then shows them an anonymous package he was sent containing a CD-ROM: it's a porn movie that the victim was in. The producer explains that the (legitimate) movie that the victim acted in is to be released soon, so no one could know about this porn movie, it would be bad publicity. He says that later on he received threats that if he didn't give the caller $500,000 that the porn movie would be put all over the Internet. He told Krystin/Shirley about it, but she said nothing. The producer said he then called a private investigator, who traced the threatening call back to somewhere in the Mojave Desert.

Woody and Jordan are now driving there, to the Mojave Desert. They're looking at a map because there's supposed to be a shortcut somewhere ahead. Woody tells Jordan that this car is no good for driving this fast in this heat, as Jordan makes a sharp turn into the supposed shortcut. Then the car overheats and stalls- they're stuck in the desert. Jordan says that it's 10 miles to the highway, but Woody says it's too hot to walk and he would rather wait there. He also says he was right that the shortcut isn't a real road, and jokes that if need be he has no problem with eating human flesh.

Boston. Lily is telling Bug about how terrible her mom is. Bug tells her it could be worse, and that they should work on getting their story straight. Lily's mother shows up; Lily introduces her to Bug and vice-versa. Mrs. Lebowski says that Bug "must not make much money playign with insects". Bug says that Lily's raise can buy them a condo in a year and a half. Lily's mom criticizes how Lily handles money and angrily tells Bug how Lily once gave a whole summer's paycheck to a homeless shelter, but Bug says that he likes her sense of charity. Lily's mom uses the same lie on Bug that she used on Lily's other boyfriends: in high school, Lily slept with the whole football team. She also talks about Lily's weight problem, but Bug says he doesn't mind, that it would just be more of her to love. Lily smiles, genuinely. They drink to that.

California. It's nighttime. Woody is building a fire. Jordan says she admires the victim for "reinventing herself", that she could never do that. Woody says that people do it all the time, in a serious tone. Jordan says she is who she is. Woody says, "I'm talking about changing your basic situation, leaving the place where people only think of you in a certain way." Jordan says she can't escape her past. Woody tells her how he only had $1200 when he moved to Boston. He rented a studio instead of a 1-bedroom apartment so he would have money for a new suit. He thought it was important to look a certain way, he didn't want to be seen for all the unfortunate qualities he has. Jordan apologizes for not knowing him better, but Woody says it's okay. Jordan says, "I could try a little harder", and kisses him.

An oldish-looking man with a beard drives by in a pickup truck and comments on the Cadillac, but criticizes that it's no good for desert driving. Woody says "I told you so" to Jordan, who tells the man in the truck that they were trying to get to San Quivera. It turns out that Woody was right again, when the bearded man tells them that they chose a bad route to get there. Jordan asks if he could take them to a service station. The bearded man says that the closest one is 6 miles away, but he only has room for one person, and offers to bring Jordan. Woody laughs and says he's seen that movie, where the lady gets in the truck and he never sees her again. He says he'll go in the truck, and the bearded man tells him to hop in. Jordan looks angry.

In the truck, Woody thanks the man, who says it's the least he could do since they've travelled so many lightyears. Woody takes this as a joke about L.A. and laughs. The bearded man asks what Woody and Jordan are doing in the area, and Woody says it's just business. The man says "Don't think I don't know who you are; the Cadillac gave it away." It turns out he thinks that they're aliens that will suck the bile out of his liver. Woody is scared and surprised, and the bearded man says he is protected by the good old American know-how of tinfoil. He's obviously a psycho. The bearded man sprays Woody with bug spray, and Woody passes out.

When Woody wakes up, the bearded man has taken him to his house, removed part of Woody's clothing and is shocking him with a stungun-like weapon on a stick. The bearded man repeats that he thinks Woody is an alien (he calls Woody "R2D2", which is partly appropriate because Artoo is from another galaxy, however Woody is obviously not a beeping robot). The man asks Woody what role Jordan has in their alien society, and Woody tries to prove he's human by telling the man to look at his police badge. The bearded man does so, but thinks it's fake because he doesn't think that Boston is spelled B-O-S-T-O-N. Just to please the man, Woody admits to being an alien, says he's a Klingon. The bearded man gets angry and says, "Do you think this is some kind of joke?" and tries to shock Woody again. Woody sarcastically replies "it looks like your little lightsaber's broken there, Yoda". The bearded man fixes the stun-weapon, says "Yoda? Yoda this." and shocks Woody again.

Immediate cut back to Jordan, waking up in the Cadillac in the morning wrapped in Woody's suit jacket. A sheriff gets out of his car and approaches Jordan; he asks what's worng and what she is doing there. She says she's an M.E. from Boston investigating a homicide. The sheriff asks if it's Shirley McGinty, and says he knows that because he knows about everything that goes on in the area. He tells her that he'd spoken to Shirley's husband, who told him that 2 people had come from Boston on that business. Jordan tells him about the man in the truck and that Woody went with him. The sheriff says he knows the man that Jordan referred to, and tells her to come with him, because her partner might be in a bit of trouble.

Boston. Garret is in his office. He's telling Nigel, who is stading in the doorway, that he owns the same kind of typwriter that hemingway used to use. The typewriter is in Garret's desk but he's never written the novel he's wanted to write for 20 years. he admires Nash for actually doing so. He says he read Nash's novel; Nigel asks if it was good and Garret says it was terrible. The scary thing, though, is what happens in the novel: A man kils and chops up his wife. he puts his wife's remains in the freezer then becomes delusional, goes to the crypt looking for her, writes a novel based on those occurrences which he gives to the medical examiner who happens to be an old college friend of his. Nigel is freaked out, and asks what happens in the novel after that. Garret says that the last chapter of the book is missing. It's exactly like what's in the novel. The medical examiner reads the whole book minus the final chapter which is missing, tells a colleague about it, then the man who wrote the book calls him at work to discuss what he thought of the novel. At that moment the phone rings.

California. Woody is struggling to get out of the chair the bearded man strapped him to, while the bearded man is sleeping. The sheriff and Jordan go into the house, and Jordan runs to untie Woody from the chair. The bearded man wakes up and tries to shock Woody again. Jordan asks if Woody is okay, and Woody tells her everything that happened to him. The bearded man tells the sheriff that he thinks Woody is a real alien, and the sheriff tells the bearded man to apologize to Woody. Woody gets mad, saying that the man should be arrested, but the Sheriff explains that the bearded man's uncle is a judge so he'd be released in two hours. The bearded man apologizes  to Woody. Jordan and Woody ask the sheriff if a private investigator had come around asking people questions, but the Sheriff says that no one did that he knows of, but gives them the address of Woody's sister and father.

Jordan and Woody change and go to the McGinty farm, being careful when they arrive not to hit any of the chicken. Woody asks the woman on the porch if she is LouAnn McGinty; Jordan and Woody introduce themselves and ask about Shirley. LouAnn says she thinks that Shirley would still be alive if she hadn't gone to the city and left San Quivera. When they tell her that Shirley was in a porn movie, LouAnn isn't suprised. She then asks to be left alone, and goes into the house. We see Shirley's father: an old man sitting silently in a chair.

Boston. Lily's mother tells Bug that she doesn't think he's man enough for her daughter. Bug asks why she thinks so, and Lily's mom says that he loves her more than she loves him, and he should leave her now- all the Lebowski women are "man-eaters". Bug tells her that he only knows two Lebowski women, and that one of them is incredibly kind, and the other quite simply is not. He comes clean and tells Mrs. Lebowski that he and Lily are lying about being engaged.

California. Woody is complaining to Jordan about the trip. He also says he wants to set the record straight about the kiss, that he wasn't the one who made the first move, and that they should pretend it never happened. Jordan agrees. Shirley's husband shows up and picks a fight with Woody. As the fight gets serious Jordan takes out a gun and prepares herself to shoot as a shot is heard. It's the bearded man from the pickup truck, who fired his shotgun into the air. Shirley's husband and the other men he was with leave. The bearded man tells Woody and Jordan that a private investigator did show up in the area last week, but after he drove past the bearded man's house, near a dead end, he was never seen driving back. They find the investigator's body: he was shot and had been burned postmortem. Woody asks if anyone had been down that road. The bearded man says no one, except for the sheriff.

Boston. It's raining gently. Garret, looking very interesting wearing a fedora and a trench coat, is going to Peter Nash's house. Garret tells Nash that there is still no sign of his wife at the morgue. Nash asks Garret what he thought of the novel and if he would like a drink. Garret accepts water, and when Nash brings it to him, says there's ice in the freezer if he would like. Garret gives Nash an envelope, and says that he finished the book for him. It is assumable that what he wrote was the truth: The novel mentions that the wife actually moved away and has a family elsewhere, among other things. Garret takes his hat back and leaves the house.

Lily stands up to her mother, who starts to talk about how independent Lily was as a child. Lily's mother tells her that she is going to stay in Florida with Lily's Aunt Edna for a while. Lily's mom also mentions that, as Lily has heard a million times, there are two things she knows about: Men... and men.(Lily joins her in saying this.) Lily's mother tells Lily that Bug truly does love her.

California. Woody and Jordan are outside the sheriff's house. Woody tells Jordan to stay back. Woody enters the house, and when he goes into the bedroom it is obvious that an adult movie had been made there- the bed was unmade, camera on a tripod etc. The sheriff shows up and threatens to shoot Woody. Jordan, who had snuck up behind the sheriff, hits him over the head with a shovel. The sheriff obviously falls to the ground. Woody is angry at Jordan for doing this, because it's assumable that the sheriff had made the threatening call to the film executive in LA, therefore he knew who had killed Shirley.

Nigel calls Jordan on her cell phone, and tells her that he finished the tests on the substance underneath Shirley McGinty's nails. It was chicken poo. They go back to the McGinty house, again there is a slew of chickens, and Jordan confronts LouAnn(Shirley's sister) about killing Shirley out of jealousy. LouAnn had wanted to live the life that Shirley had.

Boston. At the pub Lily, who looks like she's been crying, tells Bug that her mother left town, and thanks him for helping her out. Bug looks a bit sad. Lily asks him to dance and they head toward the dance floor. We see Garret in his office, typing what is presumably his unwritten novel that has been in his mind for the past twenty years.

California. Woody is sitting alone, and Jordan joins him. She asks him what he's thinking about and he tells her he's been thinking about the kiss they shared earlier. Jordan says "It was no big deal", but Woody tells her he liked it. Jordan just clarifies that she doesn't want either of them to get hurt. Woody agrees, but asks for one more for the road. Jordan also thinks it's a good idea. Their bottled-up emotions manifest themselves as they kiss one more time, then Jordan smiles and leans on his shoulder. Woody smells her hair and kisses her head.

The episode ends with a crane shot of the Hollywood Hills.

Analysis: This was a good episode in terms of character development. The work-reltaed storyline, the one with the death of Shirley McGinty, was an interesting one but also let the development of the continuing Woody/Jordan storyline take prevalence. There is some debate as to whether Woody is "tough enough" to handle dating Jordan, but I liked the moments where it turns out Woody was right when he said something to Jordan. There was some real chemistry between them in this episode, both personally and professionally. It was good to see them opening up to each other by the fire, and the fact that Jordan was wearing Woody's jacket at night had a sweet nostalgic feeling to it.

Bringing in Lily's mother was an interesting way to take her character and her relationship with Bug to another level. I hope that their relationship will change for the better soon.

Garret's storyline was made even more suspenseful than it seems in theory. I liked especially the parts at the end, at Nash's house(where he looked like a mysterious fictional character. Maybe it was because of the fedora he wore) and where he was in his office typing.

Nigel's part in this episode wasn't a very heavy one, but he had some importance and he proved to be a good enough confidant for Garret.

(As a Star Wars fan, I was a bit perplexed by the wrong references to the film in this episode. I mentioned earlier the R2D2 reference, and explained it's wrong because Woody is not a robot, and he talks, he doesn't beep. "It looks like your little lightsaber's broken there" was kind of incorrect, but it was witty. When Woody called the bearded man Yoda, however, was wrong. The man is pretty far from being a little, green, grammatically incorrect, cute, wise, 8-century-old Jedi master. Good try, though. But the man's response, "Yoda this"? Made no sense. But I digress

Tech/Music: There wasn't much technology in this episode that we saw used, except for when Nigel ran the test to see if the mystery substance was a drug. Music, however, was very well chosen. During the scene where Woody and Jordan are driving on the highway in the Cadillac, there is some great retro-style rock playing, and it's very effective. Two other parts in the episode, have a music segue between Boston and California. The one at the end of the episode, where "Lonesome Town" is faded in and out for effect, is especially remarkable. I like how the lyrics, not only the tone, of the music were relevant to the scene

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Episode 9

 Episode 10

OCKHAM'S RAZOR

Early evening and the gang minus Jordan are all decked out in gowns and tuxes. They seem to be betting on something when Jordan walks in, dressed in her ME togs. She naturally has to crack a joke then is remided why they are dressed up. The Annual Coronor's Convention is in town and Garret is supposed to give the key note speech. At least he was going to until a short while ago. Seems he has been hastily replaced by a more popular Doctor Ben Hawthorne. The gang are betting on what Garret will call him. Jordan tries to jump in but her suggestion has been taken by Bug. Garret walks in all ready to go only to be told that he has been replaced by Hawthorne. Why wouldn't he be picked Garret says since he caters to the rich and gives them what they want instead of what should be given. As he walks out he calls Hawthorne under his breath a vain glorious bastard which just happens to be what Bug gussed, and he takes his winnings.

At the convention, Garret introduces Hawthorne, who makes quick joke about it. During the man's speech Bug,Elaine, Nigel and Garret's pagers all go off , to the annoyance of Hawthorne. Garret gets up and leaves the conference.

The murder scene is at a Cassandra Morgan's penthouse. Woody is the detective assigned the case and he meets Garret in the living room. Morgan has been stabbed, and Woody wants to know who is the husband. Garret already knows as he looks at a picture. She is Hawthorne's wife.

Later Garret and Woody are still at the scene and Garret spots a cop without gloves. He gets angry with the cop and tells him to put some on. Woody says slow down, but Garret tells him that they are dealing with one of the formost experts in forensic sciences and pathology and he will tolerate no screw ups in this case.Hawthorne will have the ability and the name to second guess everything so they can't let their guard down. Garret says this was crime of passion, not burglary as everyone has been saying. Woody wonders if he is going Jordan on him, and Garret wonders at him. Woody says he's already assuming who did it, and that he should keep a open mind.

At the convention, Garret and Woody meet up with Hawthorne and inform him of his wife's death. His reaction to the news is to act uninterested almost. Garret questions his wearabouts earlier but Hawthorne gets defensive and will not answer him. He tells Woody when he wants to arrest him he will be in his presidential suite.

At the office Jordan is readying to leave when Emmy tells her she had a phone call earlier for her. At least she thinks it was for her, since the guy on the phone asked for a Emily Canvanugh, or any Canvanugh since he's been calling all of them for awhile. Jordan phones back and finds out it's a photo shop that is going out of business and they came across some old film. It had Jordan's mother's name on it. Emmy wonders why her mom didn't pick it up and Jordan informs her that her mother's been dead 23 years. Emmy actually thinks this is cool since it's like a time capsule, having the memories on film. Jordan kinda agrees.

Later Jordan goes to the photo shop to get the film. She meets a old guy behind the counter who gets startled by her. Jordan tells him who she is and asks for the film but the old guy says some one else has already taken it. The film was from 1963 Aug,18 the old guy tells her. He can't tell her who took it and to come back tommorow and see the day clerk about it.

Back at the penthouse crime scene, Garret lets Bug and Nigel inside. They are decked out in contamination uniforms and have a host of equipment with them. They are all going over the place with a fine tooth comb and strictly by the book. Garret knows Hawthorne will be looking to poke holes in anything they do and accuse Garret of being biased against him. Garret wants no mistakes and then tells them that since Hawthorne and his wife were separtated there should be no trace of him in the house. They get down to work and mark everything in the house.

At Max's bar Jordan tells Max about the photo place and the film she was going over to get. Max says that they did live in another place in 1963, over on Broadstreet. He doesn't seem very upset or anything about the photo and she wonders over this.

In the trace evidence room, Garret and Bug discuss what they found at the place. It doesn't look good even though they have the murder weapon. Blood evidence is small and they can't say it's Hawthorne with out a sample. Just then Hawthorne shows up himself and he and Garret go to talk. In the office,and Hawthorne admits he was at Morgan's place Saturday night for dinner and they fought. He then says that he knows Garret can prove him innocent which he claims he is.

The next morning, Jordan visits the photo shop again and talks to Jenny the clerk who is vague on telling her who took the film. She then says a man gave her 20 dollars to not tell her any thing. Jordan offers 40,but the girl is still relutant. Jordan then starts to describe the man to her, about 6'5 older man with blond grey hair etc. Jordan instantly knows it's her father and walks out.

At Boston P.D., Woody and Garret are talking about the case and Hawthorne in particular. Woody tells Garret that Hawthorne walked in today and with no lawyer starts to answer questions.

During the interrigation, Woody plays it cool and tries to draw Hawthorne out. Hawthorne thinks the cops are out to get him. He says on Sunday when Morgan was killed he was at his suite working on his speech. Woody notices a cut on hand and Hawthorne says he cut in on broken vase. Woody also notices scratches on arm and Hawthorne can't recall how they got there. Woody then lays out the seneirio for him, saying he killed wife. Hawthorne says his dead wife has framed him. Says his wife once defended and got an aquittal for a client when they claimed the wife framed the husband for a murder, with the defense saying it was suicide. Woody leaves the room and meets Garret, saying he wants a sample of blood and wonders about the scratches.

At Max's house Jordan arrives and lets herself in. She sees a projector on the table all set up and pointed at a screen. She reads a note on the table, that reads "Gone to finish this". She finds film in the garbage can having been burnt with liquid flame. She takes it and brings it to Nigel, and asks if he can salvage anything on it.

Garret and Bug have done the tests and are going over the results. Hawthorne matchs blood found near sink, but not the scratches. They belong to someone else.

At the convention, Hawthorne is listening to a lecture when Garret stops by to talk to him. Garret asks why his blood was near the sink, and is told the vase was thrown at him by Morgan and he got cut. He admits it was a phycial fight. Garret then asks if Morgan scratched him and Hawthorne admits that as well, only Garret knows this is a lie and calls him on it. Hawthorne belittles him saying he's always had to clean up Garret's messes and says he is a sloppy ME. He then admits to having a girlfriend and says it was she who scratched him.

In the trace evidence room, Nigel and Jordan talk about the film she retrieved from her father's place. Nigel says he managed to save about 64 frames worth, about 3 seconds of film fotage. He has looped it so it repeates indefinitly. They run the film and Nigel comments on the woman in it. Jordan says it's her mother. She then takes a closer look at the film and notices some thing behind her mother. Nigel stops and zooms in on the spot and they notice its a baby. Nigel says Jordan was cute little tyke, but Jordan tells him the film was made in 1963. Nigel realizes that since Jordan was born in 1969 how can this be her. Jordan realizes that there was another baby before her.

Garret and Woody are at Boston P.D., and Woody tells Garret they have gone ahead and searched Hawthornes place. Garret gets a little mad about not going along but Woody says they didn't need him, and it would have created a conflict of intrest. Garret is still not satified and says to weight the evidence so Woody pulls out a evidence bag containing a sock with Morgan's blood on it. Woody asks how it got there, and Garret is stumped.

Back at the office Nigel and Jordan have gone through the phone logs from Max house for the last day and find he placed a very long call to Framingham, to a Sam and Doris Horton. Nigel pulls up a newspaper article about them which states that their son James was kiddnapped and killed in 1962, and that after a tip came in a rookie cop named Max Cavanugh found the body.

In the trace evidence lab Garret is doing samples on the sock. Later in the conference room Woody and he talk. Garret tells him the sock had EDT a blood preservation chemical and that means the blood came from a vial-in other words he thinks it was planted. Woody suddenly gets quiet and intense, telling him that he found the sock, place it in bad, personally brought it to the crime lab and waited there to see the results. At no time did it leave his sight. He asks Garret if he is accusing him of planting the blood. Garret at first is shocked then realisation hits him and he sees he has been played for a fool. He mentions Ockham's Razor theory, the right answer is the simplest answer. Garret has been burying himself with so much evidence that he has lost track of what should be the real answer. He sees that Hawthorne knew Garret, out of a sense of professionalism would go the distance and do exactly as he has, thereby hoping to get off.

Jordan visits the Hortons who are not happy to see her. At first they tell her to leave but Jordan refuses and wants answers. Sam decides to explain the whole story to her. Her father helped them on the case for their missing son and was the one who found the boys body.After the case Max stayed in touch with them. One year later Max came to the house late at night and gave them a baby boy and never returned. They called the boy James after their first son. James grew up and during his teens became mentally unstable. One day at the age of 16 he found out who his real father was and such and ran off. That was 23 years ago and they have not seen or heard of him since. He left on Sept 17,1979, after threating his parents to kill them. Jordon is stunned since it's one day before her mother was killed.

In the evening, Jordan arrives back at the office and gives Nigel a trophy from James's room. She wants him to lift any prints from it and compare it to the phantom print that was found at her mother's murder scene. Nigel gets upset a little since he's worried for her but Jordan just cuts him off and tells him to run it.

Woody and Garret are at Morgan's apartment and decide to play the game. They check everything Hawthorne touched against a list they gathered from the prints they lifted earlier. Garret says he had to come back Sunday and they need to find something he touched on that day to prove he came back on Sunday. They call out and check many items until they come across the Sunday paper which would not have been there Saturday for him to touch. It means he did come Sunday and killed his wife.

In the interrogation room, Woody and Garret lay it out for Hawthorne who still does not look impressed. He says just a print couldn't harm him but Garret promises to lay out his theory and go the extra mile and with his name the jury may very well convict.

Back at the lab Nigel runs the print anaylizer and compares the phantom print to the prints taken off of James trophy which he was the last to touch. The computer lines them up and hits mutiple points making a match. The phantom print is no longer a mystrey. This means James may be the killer of Jordan's mother.

Jordan realizes that Max must have gone after James and needs to pick up a trail. She goes to Max's place and looks around, but stops when the phone rings. It's James and he tells her that he has Max and she's to go the old home on broadstreet. Jordan arrives there and spots Max, but before she can do anything James points a gun at her. Max has been beat up but James is in a foul mood. James goes on a rant, about how his life was screwed up with the Horton's who believed him to be their real son and not adopted. Jordan says her life was no better and accuses him of killing their money. James says she can believe that if it makes her feel better. He then goes on a rant and Max tries to tell him that Emily was disturbed and had even tried to drown him once. He tells him that he gave him away to save him but James says that was not the reason and tells him to tell the truth. James says when he visited Emily that night before she died she told him alot of intresting things. Finally he tells Jordan the real reason for Max giving him away, that Max is not his real father and Max knew it from the day he was born.

After revealing this he tells Jordan to turn around and cocks his gun ready. Max and Jordan wait for the bang and then hear nothing. Jordan turns around slowly and sees that James has left and unties her dad. She then runs out to try and find James but he is no where to be found.Max runs to her and tells her it's over and to forget about all of it now. He makes her promise that's its over now and she agrees.

This was a great episode all around, with Garret having another great outing and Jordan having more angst for her mind to deal with. Woody was back and he's always great, but this time we see him with a differnt character and that was even better. He needs to help the other doctors more. I can just see him with Bug and Nigel. Both cases were suspenseful and didn't really let on who the killer, or perpetrator was with ease. While the Hawthorne case seemed easy the clues easily lead to different people. And who knows if Hawthorne will really get convicted?

I will deal with Jordan's family first. You know the family right? The rich, shadowy I got so many skeletons in the closet I can't believe they haven't come out before this family? Poor Jordan, she now has another cazy relative to bend her mind on. Her father is not helping her at all I must say, and it really looks like Max is living in denial of what went on earlier in his life. We find out Jordan now has a half brother who is not Max's son. Not only that but while Jordan seems to have escaped Emily's illness James seems to have gotten it in spades.My guess is Koo Koo Emily was out on the town when Max was working. Or something like that since I can't see how a poor Irish boy from the wrong side of the tracks marries someone as rich as Emily. My bet on James' father is Blackie the mob boss since he and Max of course have a history. I also get the feeling that were going to find out that Emily may have pulled an even more nasty stunt with Jordan then she did with trying to drown James. No wonder this girl needs counseling. This whole issuse is getting convoluted, and we don't even know if Jame did kill his mother, although he seems to be innocent. Kudos to Micheal T Wiess (The Pretender)on a great but short scene. I actually do hope to see him again.

The other case, involves Garret and a highly respected doctor. It was neat to see these two men match wits with each other. I have always felt Garret was a great ME, and to see that some don't think he is becuase he doesn't cater to the rich is low. He proves that with a little help from Jordan's game he is just as good as Hawthorne. It was great to see him realize how Hawthorne had manipulated him into getting buried under the evidence when the simplest would do. He tells the good doctor, just as he told Wolcott earlier that he will tell the truth and hit hard when he does.

Woody comes back and he gets to work with Garret this time out. I like this, since always working with Jordan can get boring. Now he just needs to work a case with Nigel and Bug and let the comdey flow. Anyways he's good here and he stands up to Garret in this ep wonderfully, showing us that while he may be from a small town, he has lots of courage. Where he confronted Garret over the blood sample was a great scene and moving since he obviously looks up to Garret as the responsible one in the ME office. He looked hurt that Garret would think he planted the evidence.

Nigel again gets sucked into Jordan's family history and while he seems reluntant he always helps her in the end. He is a kind friend to her and seems to genuinely care about what happened with her mother. These guys are great friends.

The tech side had the flashback in black and white to 1963,kinda a film noir look to it. The old film of Emily and baby was neat as well. The sprayed Luminal / prints in the apartment was neat to see as they listed off everything that was touched or bloodied.

I thought this was a great episode, although give Jordan a break on her family life.Nice affects in the apartment. Hope Jame actually comes back. I give it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.RTMS TOP  Message Board

 Episode 11

Family Ties

It's morning in Boston as Jordan makes her way to the docks. She meets Det. Karver who tells her that she and her boys in blue haven't touched anything. Jordan thanks her for being good. Karver tells her that the victim is Anderea Soriano, and that a gun registared to John Soriano was found near her. There were two shots fired through the windshield as she and Jordan approch the car. Jordan starts to look at the woman's body slumped over the passenger side when something startles her. There is movement underneath the body and as Jordan gently pushes the body aside she and Karver see that it is a baby underneath, very cold but alive. Karver calls a squad car over with a blanket and they rush the baby to the nearest hospital. The women are stunned to find a baby alive. Then a car comes up and distruaght man comes out calling for his wife. Karver approches him and he tells her he is the husband. Jordan then comes over and tells him his baby will be okay, only for the husband to say they never had a baby.

Later at the hospital, Jordan is looking in on the baby, and asks the nurse about it. The nurse says the baby will be fine and its' a girl. Jordan then asks for the clothing it had on, since she needs to test the blood on it and such. The nurse gives her the evidence bag.

Karver and Jordan then question John Soriano about his wife and the baby. He tells them they were separtated and the kid is not his. Jordan wonders if this is true when Soriano says it is since he is sterile, which was the reason for the breakup. He starts to get upset about his wife and who the other guy is.

Lily and Nigel are talking when a Englishman comes in by the name of Mr. Gibson. . Nigel notices his accent and wonders if he's from the east end london. Gibson says he is and Nigel mentions a aunt Beatrice there who sells t-shirts. Gibson says he may have come across her.He has really come here to know if his son is dead. He came here a few years ago and stopped sending letters. He thinks he might be a homless man. Lily and Nigel promise to look for him.

Jordan visits Bug in the foresic lab and and hands him the bloody baby clothes. Bug is already runing prints on the gun found at the site. He wonders how anyone can leave a kid alone like that. Jordan then goes to look at Andrea Soriano.

Mr. Gibson gives Lily and Nigel a picture of son, whose son is named Marty. They promise to help.

The secetary asks Elaine to meet with Mr.Soriano since Jordan is busy with his late wife. She agrees and they meet. He has an odd request, he wants to see his wife right now, he wants to know why she cheated on him.

In the autopsy room, Karver and Jordan are looking at the body. Karver asks if she is the mother and Jordan confirms this, since the woman was lactating and such. When they look at the x-ray though it only shows one bullet not the two that were from the windshield. Elaine comes in and tells them of Soriano request to see wife. Jordan says only show the face since she's not done the autopsy and the body is a mess.

Later Karver and Jordan discuss the case and Karver thinks Soriano did it. Then Bug comes along and tells them the prints off the gun are Andrea's prints not the murder which means she used it at some point to protect herself. One man one woman, but no blood trail if she hit someone outside the car. Not one you can see with the naked eye says Jordan. It's luminal time she tells Bug and Karver.

In the crypt Andrea's body is brought in and Elaine reveals the face. John is still upset and only wants to know who the father was, seems uncaring about wife.

Night time and Jordan, Karver and Bug are at the crime scene spraying the luminal around. They quickly spot drops of blood and follow the trail to the egde of the dock. They look down to see a man's body floating at the bottom of the ladder in the water. Karver wonders how he guys missed this but Bug says he could have been taken under by the tide and then when it came back in the body popped back up.

In the Trace Evidence room, the body has been given a name of Jimmy Jack Logan. Bug has gotten the info for Jordan and Elaine is doing the autopsy of Logan. The guy has many arrests and his gun killed Soriano.

With Soriano's body in the background and the windshield in the foresic lab, Jordan wants to play the game with Elaine. Elaine doesn't understand the idea and will not play along saying to leave it to the police. Jordan disappointed that she can't play.

Lily and Nigel have found the body of Marty Gibson and Nigel wants to get body for the father. Lily tells him that's a problem since he was shipped to University Medical School and used as a cadaver. Who knows what they did to the body and what it looks like now. The secertary comes in and tells them Garret wants to see them in the conference room. Once there they meet up with Inspector Gloser from Interpol. When they ran the search for Gibson they inadvertantly alerted Interpol. It seems Mr. Gibson is wanted for a money heist in London 3 years ago and his partner escaped to the U.S. They lost track of guy until now. He wonders if they found the son but Nigel says no and they leave.

The autopsy of Andrea Soriano is still going with Jordan while Elaine does Jimmy Logan at the same time. Jordan starts to get philisophical and wonders why people die. Elaine says they are suppose to search for the how. Easy says Jordan, Andrea died when the bullet tore through the lung and she couldn't breath anymore. She wants to know how two unconnected people would end up shooting each other dead. Jordan looks at a picture of Logan and the angle of the shot. They say he was maybe on windshield when shot. Jordan determines that they have to go back and look at crime scene, both of them she smirks at Elaine who can only sigh.

Lily meanwhile is not happy with Nigel and his lying. Nigel explains he knows this kind of guy, the down trodden, drink at the pub blok.Lily reminds him he's a criminal, but Nigel doesn't really care, thinks the man is looking for redemption and to put things right. Nigel wants to exume the found body to make sure it's the son.

Jordan and Elaine look at the bullet holes in the windshield angles in the lab. Soriano shot first from the pattern in the windshield. Elaine wonders why if it was a carjacking did the carjacker not just open the passenger door? Jordan can't answer that. Elaine says she should leave to the police to figure out.

Later Elaine is again taking to John Soriano who is still thinking about what his wife supposedly did. Elaine finally sets him straight and tells him that he now has a baby to take care of and to stop being selfish.

Jordan visits her dad at the bar and tells him about the case. He doesn't believe it's a carjacking either so they end up playing the game. They theroize that Logan was after the baby and Jordan suddenly realizes something and rushes back to the lab.

Once at the lab she and Bug run a DNA match against Logan and the baby and find he is the father. This makes everyone puzzled.

At Boston P.D., Karver and Jordan talk about the case. Jordan tells Karver the deal on the baby, and Logan and Soriano. Karver can't believe Logan is father, but it makes sense now since they couldn't seem to find anything on Soriano until lately. Karver thinks the case is now solved, but Jordan not sure.

At the cemetary, Nigel and Lily watch as a coffin is lifted and placed in front of them. Lily wonders if they will find the stolen money. When they open it up they see a very cut up face and body and so they take a picture to compare to other pictures.

At Soriano's place, Jordan and Karver are going over the place looking for any clues. They notice a prayer card from a nunnery a block away from place. Karver thinks the case is closed and leaves while Jordan stays. She looks around more and notices a nice new baby room. She then goes to the nunnery and talks to a nun who says Soriano was being counseled there. The nun says Soriano lived at the place until 3 weeks ago. Jordan mentions Logan but the nun doesn't recongnize the name. Jordan says he's the father of her baby but the nun says Soriano could never have childeren which is why she was a troubled young woman. She says she was never pregnant.

Back at the office Jordan and Garret talk about the latest development. They can't figure it out, and blames herself for not checking the DNA against Soriano. She assumed the baby was hers. No problem Garret says, everyone else also assumed. He wonders why Jordan is so concerned with the mother, could it be she remembers her own?

Nigel and Lily are in the conference room with a slide show and are looking at blown up pictures of Marty Gibson,the dead body and survelence photo. They run a recognition software program and find the dead body that is suppose to be Marty is not it.

At the hospital Jordan arrives to find police everywhere. Karver sees her and tells the baby was snatched by someone posing as a nurse. Karver whats to know what is going on, Jordan says the snatcher might be the real mother. They walk down the hall as Karver thinks that with Soriano's mental illness she snatched baby and Logan was just trying to get it back. Then why would the real mom not come forward and Karver suggests outstanding warrents? Jordan then gets the idea of using the stop light camera's to track the car the snatcher was in. Since they are one every block they just need to string them together and perhaps see where she went. They do it.

At University Med School, Nigel and Lily talk to a doctor who at first assures them there was no mistake. Nigel though doesn't buy the act and gets intimidating and the man comes clean. Many times the cadavers are cremeted and that's what happened to Marty Gibson. They put a fake body inside coffin.

At the camera control place Jordan and the rest look at the camera's and try to spot the car the snatcher took. They spot it and get a close up of a woman's face, which makes Jordan crack a joke about not talking to her self anymore. They follow the car until it turns into a apartment complex.

Karver and Jordan arrive there and knock on the door. A timid looking young woman answers the door, and they go in finding the baby. The woman acts weird and says it was all Logan's fault he wanted to sell the baby. She keeps looking at the time though and Jordan wonders why. Karver is about to arrest her when someone knocks. Opening it up there is a couple with a baby basket waiting for the baby. She's selling her kid as well.

In the conference room Nigel and Lily meet up with Mr. Gibson and give him his son's ashes. They say they found him at a hospital and Mr. Gibson is suddenly happy,thinking the boy had become a doctor. Nigel lies and says yes he did become a doctor. Lily mentions the money heist and Gibson says that now that he has found his son he is going to turn him self in.

Elaine is in her office when Mr. Soriano comes by to apologize for his behaviour. She offers to listen to him if he wants to talk and he agrees. He tells her that Andrea was the only woman he loved and it was hard for him to lose her. He asks Elaine if she ever lost someone she cared about and she admits she lost her seven year old son. She understands about losing people.

Jordan is holding the baby and cooing at her when Garret walks in. She says the name is Emily Logan. He wonders if she's serious about taking care of the baby and she says she could, maybe? Karver has filled him in on what was actually happening and Jordan says the mother was a pro, having the whole waif poor look to her and all. Karver comes in with someone from social services and takes the baby away. Jordan wonders what it would like to be a mother, and Garret says no one knows what kind of parent they will be but that they should all get rid of their problems before having one. Says it would have helped with Abby. He offers her dinner but she takes a raincheck.

Lily visits Nigel who tells her why he acted the way he did with this case. He and his father have never gotten along and Nigel purposly left home at nineteen and then came to the states later just to stay away from him. He's talked to him once in three years. He wonders if his dad would come looking for him the way Gibson did for his son. After Lily leaves Nigel phones his dad.

Jordan and Max are at the bar and are talking about the case. She tells him the baby was selling for 15 grand, then Logan would carjack the car and take both the baby and the car. It was never reported to athorities since the baby was involved. Then of course she wonders about James her brother and what it was like growing up not knowing who you belonged too. Max questions her, tells her HE IS HER FATHER!, but Jordan does point out he has lied to her before. He says he kept things from her and asks if she wants the DNA test done. Jordan just smiles and asks her DAD for another drink.

A weird episode, with not much punch. Why is it that ones involving Jordan and a baby lack punch? Of course the baby wasn't in much trouble until the end so maybe that's why. It was good that this case and the dead son case were not easy to figure out and even I didn't think about a baby selling case until they showed it.

The baby case was okay but the people involved were off. The husband who has been separted for a year acts all jealous when he thinks his wife has someone else. Hello your separated for a year and that's all he thinks about. Why didn't he report her missing since the separtion seemed forced thanks to her mental illness. I have to say it was kinda stretching it that Jordan never bothered with the DNA test which would have solved alot of problems, but of course there would be shorter show then.

Jordan gets to act her usual self, playing detective and even trying to get Elaine involved. That was fun to watch and even funnier when Elaine wouldn't play with her. Jordan thinks the game is fun, and a great way to figure out the case. Elaine just thinks its silly and a waste of time, or at least its the police time. Jordan thinks up the blood trail and follow it to find the second body, when no one else saw it. She plays the game with her dad and finally realizes that Andrea is not the mother. And she gets to play with another baby in the end before someone takes it away. It always looks sad when this happens becuase you think she would make a great mother and then realize she wouldn't.

Det.Karver shows up finally again, and she stays along for the ride. She's always great to see and such a down to earth officer. She and Jordan work well together as I think they both respect each other and try to keep their places separte. Karver indulges Jordan to an extent but will cut it off if she feels it's neccessay. She did so here only to be brought back in thanks to the baby snatching. Still she lets it slide in the end and even likes Jordan's idea of using the stop light camera's to track the car. She'll probably keep that idea for another time.

As for Nigel and Lily's case, it was sad in someways but not very urgent or important. It was nice to see that Nigel really wanted to help the blok even if he did wrong in his past. He saw a connection to his past and in the end we learn about his father and we see he may even try to patch things up.

As for the rest, Bug helps out in finding the blood trail and prints and the DNA, just doing his great job as usual. Garret offers advice and a shoulder for Jordan if she wants. Elaine gets amused with Jordan but doesn't seem too bad this ep. And Max helps out Jordan again only for her to bring up James and her own DNA, although she's only teasing him.

Some good music, and the game was fully played this time. Nice transitions in the game between the real and the fake. Nice shots of Boston at night.

The ep was let down by a bit of a lackluster story, although it did keep the perpetraitors in question to the end. I give it 3 1/2 stars out of 5. RTMS TOP  Message Board

 Episode 12

Episode 13 Strangled

It’s night time in Boston as Woody and Jordan enter the office lobby. Jordan invites Woody to dinner, but before she can explain it further Woody gets jumpy. He notes the kiss back in LA and wonders if this is going someplace they may not be ready for. Jordan looks at him for a moment, probably wondering if he’s finally cracked and then goes on to explain it’s dinner at her father’s bar with a group of people. Then Woody gets really paranoid and wonders if he’s going to have to sing or something. Jordan pats him on the back and says not to worry just be there.

Later at Max’s bar, the gang’s all there, Garret, Bug, Lily, Woody, Jordan and Nigel. Max explains what the deal is, as Jordan pipes in her two cents. Every year he likes to open a cold case and play act the crime and investigation out. Some are big known cases others small unknown cases. Part of the gang has participated before while Lily and Woody are new to this and find it interesting. They all sit down and get comfy and Max says he’s chosen a case from when he was a rookie detective, about 40 years ago. He gives Jordan the role of Joyce Quinn, the first woman ME Max ever met. Garret gets the role of her boss, Roger Vallone, chief ME at the time. Woody is James/Jimmy Moran a detective along with Max and his superior.

Garret starts the case, Feb.3,1964 ,7:33 am in the morning and we fade back to the early sixties, and cheesy music starts to play. We see a striking young woman driving a car to a crime scene. When she gets there the cop on look out wants her to move , but she id’s herself as the ME, which sees to stun the cop. She gets out and asks for the detective in charge. A young man, who had been looking in a car which has a body in it comes out and tells her he is, Max Cavanuagh. She introduces herself and gets another look from Max who has never met a lady ME before, at which Joyce says she’s no lady.

He starts to give her the facts, the young woman is named Ruth Carter, worked at the diner behind them and was 24 and single. Her shift ended at about 2 am and Joyce agrees she was killed around that time. The scene has been wiped clean and Max wonders if she was raped? He then wonders if she is the latest, and Joyce says mentions the Boston Strangler? Carter has been strangled it seems with her own nylon just as the others were and when they look at the back window , a number 14 has been scrawled on it.

Back at the bar, the group read the stats out of the Boston Strangler. The murders were between June 1962 and Jan 1964 , and there were 13 murders in all. Woody then mentions that a DeSalvo was convicted wasn’t he? Max says that was just a cop out, DeSalvo just confessed in order to avoid the electric chair, he was never formally charged.

Back to the crime, Roger Vallone is talking to the press and tells them that info will be coming soon. He leaves and det. Moran follows him wondering if this is the latest of the Strangler. Vallone can’t say and then bristles when Moran tells him that the Feds may come in if they think it’s the Strangler. This is his case he says. Moran then wonders if it’s a good idea that Joyce is on the case, but Vallone sticks up for her and wonders if it’s because she is a woman.

In the lab, Joyce is doing the autopsy on Carter, with Max looking on. Joyce says there are signs of intercourse and bruising. She was killed by blow to head. Vallone comes in and gets the facts on the case. Joyce tells him it doesn’t look like the Strangler and that’s all Vallone needs to hear. He tells Joyce to put the case on the back burner and concentrate on the Strangler case. Joyce is not happy with the decision, but Vallone won’t hear any arguments. He needs the Strangler case to close.

Back at the bar, the gang realizes it’s not a Strangler case and are a little miffed with Max that he lead them on. Max insists the before details were important. Garret meanwhile agrees with Vallone’s decision to look at the bigger picture. Lily doesn’t agree with him saying the woman’s family would not have been happy with the decision. Bug wonders why Max ever continued with the case and Max tells them it wasn’t his choice.

Back to the story, Max and Joyce have a talk and they both agree that neither want to stop investigating the murder. Joyce has had to talk to Carters parents and they are grieving big time. Joyce says she would like Max to help her, but he’s hesitant since he just got promoted to a detective. Joyce argues her point with him.

In the forensic lab, Dr.Morehouse (Bug), a beatnik, poetry loving, anti-establishment guy is focused on a microscope. He’s not happy with Max there since he doesn’t like the cops and gives him the cold shoulder. With Joyce though, he’s flirty and hits on her. He tells them the hair found on Carter was white not grey as everyone thought. He tells them not to look for a nessarily older man, but that the person went white early on.

Back at the bar, Max mentions that Morehouse had a thing for the ladies and Bug smugly says most intelligent do. He then goes on to say that starting in ‘62 there was an explosion in science and starts to ramble on when Nigel interrupts him and asks when his character is coming up? Bug mentions that Joyce didn’t seem to shy about using her "assets" and the guys somewhat snicker at this. Lily and Max both defend what Joyce did.

In the story, Max and Joyce visit the crime scene-the diner- and question the owner. He says Carter was a flirt with the customers but didn’t do any sex with them as far as he knew. She did spend time with the young dishwasher they have named Simon. The owner notices him and calls him over, but when Joyce and Max see him he runs. Max catches him and takes off the toque he’s wearing reveling white hair.

Back at the bar, Nigel is upset and goes to leave. Seems he’s always playing the creepy perv etc. At first the gang denies this until they start to list the previous roles he’s done and realize that it’s true. Oh well just play along they encourage him. He and Bug get into an argument about it but Max then tells Nigel that if he stays maybe it might change for his character. Nigel decides to stay and play on.

In the story, at police HQ Simon is being interrogated. He says Carter and he were just friends that she gave him rides etc. which explains the hair in the car. He tells them that the manager Savatas was obsessed with her, and had a peep hole in the change room in order to watch her change.

Later at the diner, Max roughs up Savatas while Joyce looks on. They wonder what his deal is, and Savantas admits to looking but swears that’s all he did. He says he could do her if he wanted to and Joyce realizes he’s impotent. This rules him out as a suspect.

At the bar, the gang discusses this and confirms the problem with Savatas. Woody meanwhile has been researching Moran and is a little suspicious of him. The guy had made it by 35, with 400 career busts and that he was the division chief 17 yrs ago. Garret pipes up that Moran was responsible for Vallone getting fired later on.

Back in the story, Moran and Vallone talk about the Carter case which Moran says was supposed to be put aside for the Strangler cases. Moran threatens Vallone about straying from the course and that if he doesn’t get back on he may have trouble.

Late at night Joyce is sleeping when Moran enters her apartment and climbs into bed with her. Seems they are having an affair.

In the bar Woody gloats to Jordan about their characters love life, until she mentions that Moran was married. Lily comes by and tells them that Max has another case file. Both of them look surprised since they thought they were doing only one case tonight.

In the story, Joyce wakes up when the phone rings. There is another murder case and it looks like the strangler. Joyce hangs up and tells Moran mentioning the address. Moran realizes to his horror that the address is his apartment building.

Crime scene, Joyce shows up and meets Max, and sure enough it’s Moran’s wife who is dead. Joyce mentions that Moran drove her over which is how she got here so fast. Moran comes in and sees his wife and becomes distraught.

At the bar, Woody says Moran must have been upset to find wife dead, but Max says don’t be so sure. It seems Peggy Moran was another copycat murder.

In the story, the autopsy of Peg Moran is being done by Joyce. Max and Vallone look on. It looks like a Strangler case, but no sex. Everything seems to match up. Then Joyce mentions the nylon. Its brand new, meaning it wasn’t taken off the victim.

Back at the bar, the gang wonder if Peggy was killed by the same person who killed Carter. They then talk about how different if was for ME’s at that time, not like it is today with all the technology they have.

In the story, the Boston P.D. force seems to be packed into one room as they listen to Moran talk about getting the Strangler, and how now it’s personal. Max is there as well and listens in. Moran has dismissed the ME’s report saying it’s a copycat and says he’s sure it’s the work of the Strangler.

Later Joyce and Max talk, and she shows him the photo’s of all 13 confirmed Strangler cases, focusing in on the knots of the nylons. She compared them to Carter and Moran and found the two cases are different from the Strangler ones. The other women had square knots while the two of them didn’t. Max realizes the killer was sloppy but it’s still not real evidence.

At the bar Lily is asleep, with a number of shot glasses stacked in front of her. She awakes and comments on the obvious in front of her. She’s saved from embarrassing herself even more when they finally give her a role to play. Annabel Costa a psychic.

Costa is sitting in the ME office, talking to Max and Joyce about the case. Joyce glances over her file only for Costa to interrupt her. Joyce wonders if this was a mistake. Joyce then gives Costa the nylon from Carter and Costa goes into her routine. She leads them to an ally way which is not near the site Carter was killed. They wonder what is going on when Costa leads them to a shirt with blood on it and lipstick. The killer tried to hide it.

At the bar, the gang reveals the lipstick did match Carter but not the blood. The gang realizes that with no blood match, its back to square one.

In the story, Joyce is back at her apartment in the evening. Moran is there as well and while he is gone goes to put his shirt away. She notices the label on the inside back of his shirt and seems to remember seeing it somewhere before. She makes an excuse to Moran and leaves to go back to office.

At the office, Joyce checks the shirt with the blood on it and finds the same label as that of Moran’s shirt. She phones Max.

At the bar, the gang starts to argue with Woody disbelieving that Moran was the killer. At best it’s circumstantial evidence and the gang wonders if they ever got a blood sample from Moran.

Back to the story and Max and Joyce who discuss the idea. Max says he could get the file on Moran. He mentions she could just ask him for it, and Joyce apologizes for not telling him about her and Moran. Max takes it in stride and says everyone makes choices. He does tell her to be careful from now on. Vallone comes along and spots the two of them. He inquires as to what Max is still doing there and Max says he was just leaving.

At police HQ, Moran and Joyce talk. Joyce wonders if he slept with Carter as well. Moran gets suspicious and wonders if she’s accusing him of killing Carter. She lets him know about the shirt and then asks for a blood sample. He denies her the sample but does admit to having a one night stand with Carter. He wonders if she still wants blood? She takes it.

At the bar the gang finds out that the blood is not Moran’s. Then they try the victim/killer game. They believe that Peg knew or caught Moran with Carter that night. Carter and Peg have a fight and Peg throws Carter down, who hits her head on the curb and dies. Moran sees the trouble he could be in if this gets out, and makes the body up to look like a Strangler killing. Moran also realized that Peg knew about his affairs and would not put up with them so he kills her by strangling her to death. Max wants to know how it all connects, how is Peg at the diner. Jordan mentions the blood and wonders if it’s from the fight between the two women. They wonder if the evidence is still around.

They get the evidence and in the lab they test it against a sample of Peg’s blood. It all matches and they all realize Moran did indeed kill his wife. Woody gets all gung ho and is going to get a warrant for Moran’s arrest when Max informs them all that Moran died three months ago, meaning he got away with murder.

Back at the bar, everyone says goodbye. Lily and Garret leave together, as does Nigel and Bug. Max kisses Jordan goodnight and tells her to lock up and then leaves. Jordan and Woody sit at the bar and both start to talk then stop. Then Woody goes to his favorite jukebox and starts the music and motions for Jordan to come and dance. She does and as snow falls out side the two enjoy a nice quiet evening.

COMMENTARY

An episode with a good idea that fell flat for the most part. The ending/mystery of who was guilty was again telegraphed way before hand and the fact the guy was never going to be charged for it was also cliched. The characters were the biggest obstacle to this episode.

Plot wise, it was an okay story. Cop has an affair and needs to hide it so he kills wife. A little bit of a twist is the wife acciendently killing the girlfriend, but it’s not by much. The way the story was told was also bland and boring. The story just did not bring you in and grab your attention or even make it interesting. Even though the story happened against the back drop of the Boston Strangler case, even that real story couldn’t help the episode.

Character wise is where the story was hurt the most. There was no originality, everyone played themselves only with different costumes and hair do’s. They even used the same ME office. Only Nigel got to play a different character, and even that wasn’t too original. If they had mixed the characters up, say making Woody the ME or Bug the weird dishwasher or even Joyce the victim, someone against type, it may have been more interesting. As it was it was just boring, the actors just going through the motions of a familiar routine. It was interesting to see Max at a young age and to hear his beliefs and such. Given that his wife was already fooling around on him and acting weird at that time I found it sad that he knew life wasn’t always a bed of roses.

The tech side was interesting and neat to see. As Bug pointed out forensic science was just beginning really and cases relied on good old detective skills. DNA and such was in it’s infancy but the good old microscope was just as good then as it is now. The last part of the episode showed what you could do even with 40 year old evidence that had been stored away. In the real world many old cases are being reopened and examined more closely because of the power of the new technology.

The music side was corny at times, with the sax in the back ground. Sometimes it was a good mix, and at other times I just rolled my eyes when they paired it up with a scene.

In the end, the lack of originality with the characters pulled this episode way down. Even with a cliched plot, it would have been a good episode if everyone hadn’t played the same part they do now. I give it a 2 out of 5 stars. RTMS TOP  Message Board

Episode 14 Wildcard

A winter morning in Boston has some of the gang watching Nigel do card tricks. Nigel is telling a story with the cards as part of the trick. Jordan interuppts Nigel’s story telling him their getting bored and Nigel quickly finishes the trick. Peter comes in and seems moody, then wonders if this is how they deal with a colleagues death. Of course he means Elaine and the others can only look on in embarrasement.

Later at a crime scene, Jamacia Pond a angry and impaitent detective is wondering where the hell is the M.E.? Jordan hears him and annouces herself to the other detective on the scene Jack Hanna. The mouthy one is his senior partner Eric Brazil who stomps over to the two of them and leads her to the body. The body is under the ice and only 14 years old. His name was Cameron O’Day and was the star witness against Struther Mattews, the biggest herorin dealer in Boston.

Later at the office, Brazil is on Jordan’s back to start the autopsy but Jordan informs him cooly that the body has to thaw out first. Hanna apologizes for Brazil’s attitude but Jordan doesn’t mind. Hanna explains that while they know that Matthews is behind the herorin trade in Boston, until now they have never had enough evidence to put him away. Jordan says maybe now you will this time.

Lily and Garret discuss Elaines office and what he wants done with it. She mentions that the office should be cleaned out Garret tells her to do so. He doesn’t seem to hurt or upset over the issue and Lily mentions to him that this was a colleague and friend. Colleague yes says Garret, friend no and leaves it at that. Peter comes in and notices them talking. Garret wonders what he wants and Peter mentions the dead stinky guy- 5^th one this week thankyou very much he says- seems to be fitting a pattern. He thinks they should call cops. Garret sighs and probably wonders why he has all these screwy doctors who won’t just find out how a person died, but want to solve the crimes as well. He goes to check out Peter’s theory, and tells Lily that he just doesn’t have too many feelings for Elaine.

O’Day has finally thawed out enough to start an autopsy. Stabbed 6 times, 3 upper chest, 1 heart and 2 stomach wounds. Jordan is disturbed by how young he was and Brazil says he was already a vet of the street.Jordan pulls off his sock and finds a drawing there.

O’Day’s mother comes into the hall and is terriably upset. Brazil and Hanna go to talk to her but they only make things worse. She singles out Brazil and lashes out at him verbably but he ignores her and comes back into the lab. Jordan get mad at him for his uncaring attitude and tells her it’s not in his job discription. Jordan angerily tells him to get out of the lab and he leaves but not with out calling her a bitch. She gives it right back at him.

Peter and Garret are in another lab looking over Peter’s case. The body of a man Ezekial, who was found near the warf. Peter points out the blue substance around the neck area. Garret feels it is just from a pen, so what? Well it’s the third time this week that a body has the same wound Peter tells him. They also had similar chest tramua says Peter but when Garret asks for specifics Peter is unable to give him any but still thinks it’s a lead. Garret tells him that while it’s good he’s getting interested in his cases, don’t go all conpirisy on him and goes to walk out. Pete whines that he won’t disturb him again and will put a do not disturb sign on door. Garret comes back and lays down the law on him saying he’s the boss and don’t even think of crossing that line. Garret then seems to pull out an ace, mentioning that this is the last place he has considering his circumstances. Peter says his records were suppose to be sealed. Garret just smiles and said they were.

At Boston PD Jordan meets up with Hanna and Brazil, who were just going out to find Matthews who has slipped police survaliance. Jordan says she can help them perhaps nail him for the murder of Cameron, handing them a cast of a knife. Seems since Cameron was frozen it was easy to make a mold of the knife that killed him. Brazil gets sarcatsic on her but Hanna is thankful for the help. Just then Brazil gets a call, Matthews has been spotted and the officers head out. Brazil looks behind him and invites Jordan along, which surprises her and makes her a little happy.

Of course she may think she’s made a mistake as they speed along the Boston streets. When a bulletin comes across the radio about where Matthews has been spotted Brazil seems to ignore it which Jordan questions. Brazil says he knows how Matthews thinks and knows his routine and soon he is proved right as they corner a car in an alleyway. They all get out and while Hanna confronts Matthews, Brazil searches the car trunk and comes up with a knife. Jordan matches it with the mold and Hanna arrests Matthews. Jordan comments that the whole thing seemed to come off quite easy.

Evening at the Boston PD, and Matthews and Brazil are going at it verbably in the interrogation room. Brazil gets frustrated and punches Matthews, which brings in Hanna and Jordan. While Hanna tries to cool things down Matthews justs laughs at him. Jordan then questions Brazil’s methods, which she’s not impressed with and then lands a doozy on him, accusing him of planting evidence.

Next morning and Peter is still trying his theory out on Garret. He comes to him with what he thinks is more evidence and info on his guy and others. He says all 5 guys were found by the same guy. This gets Garret’s attention but he tells Peter to call police. Peter then says he would like to help his victim, and offers to go to a tatoo place and look around. Garret goes with him.

At Bull’s tatoo place a bald guy is locking up the place when Peter and Garret show up. At first he’s reluntant to talk until Garret pulls out his badge. Garret asks how it is he found five dead guys in a row? He says since he gets his supplies down at the Warehouse district, he finds dead people since there is a large homless community there. Peter calls him a good samaretin but it’s not said with kindness. Bull is no kinder, sarcasticly saying yes and leaves. Peter wants to follow him but Garret says no, now they call the police. While Garret calls Det.Karver, Peter spots a homeless guy in the alleyway and talks with him. Peter finds out that Bull actually owns a warehouse down in the district.

At Max’s bar Max is playing poker with some of his old police buddies. Jordan walks in and notices he’s losing but he’s not too worried. Jordan asks the guys if any of them know about Brazil and she gets some info on him. At the same time Jordan is not thrilled to see her dad playing poker with the same men who basically ran him off the force. Max says that’s water under the bridge and to forget it.

Later at the office, Nigel and Jordan are looking at a pic of O’Day. The make of graph of the stab wounds and find that some of them are clean a perfect while some are ugly. Nigel has also found metal fragments. While they analyze it Nigel mentions Elaine and wonders if they are dealing with her death in a good way. Jordan sarcasticly says that playing cards and telling jokes always work. Jordan then tests the fragment and puts it under a scope. She finds that the fragment is from a gun not a knife and Nigel confirms this. They theorize that the killer shot O’Day 5 times then dug out the bullets. Then they stabbed him 3 times to make it look like a stabbing.

At the Boston Warehouse district, homeless people and street people in general wander around as Peter and Garret enter a huge warehouse. There are people in here too but they seem sick and hurt. They suddenly hear screaming and they run and find the source. They find Bull delivering a baby. Garret tells him the mother and baby should go to a hospital and Bull shouts back that this is a hospital.

At a shooting range, Brazil is taking target practice when Jordan comes in. They have talk which escalates into an argument. She tells him that the murder weapon is a gun not a knife as they thought and Brazil is angered by this. Then she gets him more angry when she accuses him of planting evidence just to get a case. He tells her all about Matthews and say one way or another he’s going down for O’Day’s murder. Jordan gets a call then from Nigel who has traced the gun fragment to one’s used in police 9mm guns. Just like Brazil’s.

Back at the bar, the poker game is still going strong and Max is the one winning now. Jordan has come back again and they all play the game, coming up with different senerios . They settle on the theory that Brazil shot Cameron then dug out the bullets and stabs him. Then dumps body and plants evidence of it on Matthews to frame him, hopeing he can’t talk his way out of it. Max wonders how to make Brazil roll, and Jordan says the same way the force dealt with Max, by pressing his partner.

At the warehouse hospital, Garret and Peter learn that the place is a illegal medical facility. Bull was a U.S. Medic and served in the Gulf and Bosnian conflicts. He tells them that the men brought in had had bad herorine laced with strictnine. This gave them Rhesus Sardonicus which cases respistory faliure. He couldn’t save them. Peter wonders why here and Bull tells them there used to be clinic just up the road but it closed down and even though there is a hospital around these people will not go. They are the kind of people that are usually hiding something and such. Peter says he wants to call the cops but Garret stops him from doing so. Think about it first.

Lily and Bug are in Elaine’s former office, going through her stuff. Nothing seems to tell Lily anything about her. Bug on the other had says he has all the info on her from her autopsy report. He begins to read the report explaining some of the things he found. He found she dyed her hair and had calluses on her hands from playing guitar and that she was a hockey fan since he found a stamp on her had. Garret comes in after listening in on the conversation and says she was a hockey lovin, guitar playing mother who had a dye job. He says today would have been her son’s 14^th birthday. He then repeats that they could do nothing that they did not try for her that night.

Jordan is in a café talking to Hanna. Actually she’s pressing him to come clean and rat Brazil out. Hanna is not comfortable with the idea. While talking they do not notice that Brazil is across the street watching the exchange between them.

They then go to Brazil’s apartment and look around. They find wire taps and wonder why. They also find a gun in drawer and Jordan takes it and fires into a pillow. It muffles the sound and she takes to bullet for testing and they leave.

At the warehouse Garret stops by to see how things are going. He talks to Bull and tells him he would like to help. He checks on the mother and baby from the day before and gives the woman a teddy bear that belonged to Elaine.

Jordan comes home and has a shower. Then the lights go out and Jordan is on guard. She gets out and goes for her gun only to find Brazil there holding it. He tells her to lay off his partner and repeats that he will get Matthews. He then leaves a shaking Jordan.

Morning time and Jordan is at her desk working on the computer. Hanna comes up from behind and startles her. She tells him that the fragment and the bullet from Brazil’s gun match. This means that Brazil’s gun shot Cameron. Hanna says he will make sure Brazil dosen’t bother her again and leaves. Nigel comes in with prints on bullet and since Brazil is a cop his prints should be on file.

At the warehouse, the place is swarming with cops and ambulances. Bull is cuffed and being led away when Garret come up and asks what happened. Bull accuses him of telling the police about the place. Garret denies the charge. He asks an officer and they tell him that the ME office gave them the heads up. Garret believes Peter has called the police on the place.

Back at the office Jordan takes a call, from Elaines office that now seems to be Jordan’s again. It’s Hanna and he asks her to come down to Brazil’s apartment. She goes there and meets a jumpy Hanna. Hanna starts to talk but it soon turns deadly. He says that he’s going to tell the police that when he got there he found Brazil and Jordan dead as he points a gun at Jordan. Jordan is confused but Hanna clears it up for her, confessing to killing Cameron. He knew from the way Jordan and Brazil were going at the case they would eventually find out he was the guilty one. His prints were on the shell casing. It turns out Hanna has been on the payroll of Matthews and Cameron found out about it and was going to snitch on him. Brazil suddenly comes in and confronts him about what it going on. Just as Hanna lets his guard down just a little Brazil pounces and knocks him out.

Boston PD, and Brazil and Jordan discuss what has happened. Matthews struts by with a smirk, he’s free to go and Jordan can only pat Brazil on back. He shrugs her off and walks away.

Garret is calling Wolcott’s office just out side the Boston PD, seeing if she can do anything for Bull and the make shift hospital. Just then Peter comes by and Garret accuses him of telling the police about the place. Peter denies it saying that it was due to the call Garret placed earlier to Karver that the police knew where to look. Peter leaves somewhat offended while Jordan comes out of the building and talks to Garret. Garret tells her that she can now have Elaines office. Jordan mentions that she does miss Elaine. Garret says that while Elaine called her head strong, obnoxious and that she dressed inappropiatly, she noted that Jordan took the high road. Just then Wolcott gets on the line and the two of them part.

Jordan goes back to talk to Brazil. Brazil tells her about Cameron and you can see that he cared for the kid. In the end Jordan says that he’s not the bitch she thought he was. To which Brazil replies "That makes one of us". Jordan can only snort and smile away.

Later at Max’s bar, Jordan and Max talk. She tells him about the case and then asks how the game went with his pals. He shows her the keys to a new converitable. She then tries Nigel’s card trick on saying she will work the bar for him one day. Max already knows about the trick and Jordan can only sit stunned while Max tells her she works Saturday.

COMMENTARY

Good strong episode that had you wondering who the culprit was until almost the end. That’s the way I like the episodes to go. I honestly never suspected Hannah of being the bad guy and really thought Brazil was it. As well the B story was strong and interesting and they finally dealt with Elaine’s death. Again a strong episode all around.

All three plots were strong and kept your interest throughout the episode. The main plot of finding Cameron O’Day’s killer and who was helping Struther Mathews was the best. We have another big drug dealer on the streets of Boston, wreaking havoc among the youth. The O’Days of the world are a common, and a sad sight as young people get drawn into the drug trade early on. The ethics of using such a young person to be an informant also help push the story along, questioning whether it’s worth dying for. Ethics was again the focal point in Garret’s story, whether to let an illegal hospital to keep running or shut it down and force many people to risk their health. Lastly we finally get a resolution concerning Elaine and her death, which for some reason was not addressed in the episode following her passing. We got to see the reaction of her colleagues and find some things about her.

The A plot was really good and had me convinced to almost the end that Brazil was the culprit. I didn’t pick up on Hanna being the stooge of Matthews, he came off as just too nice. Great acting on this guy’s part. Brazil is yet another detective, but he’s different and I hope we see him next season. He’s not the push over many of them are, such as Woody. I loved the antagonism between he and Jordan. Those actions alone made it look like he was guilty and yet in the end we see he does have a caring heart, it’s just the job that makes him cynical. The fact that he would use a young kid to be an informant seems questionable, yet the reality is as Brazil pointed out, it’s the young people the dealers go after and O’Day was already a veteran of the street.

The other main plot, that of Garret struggling and wondering if he should reveal an illegal hospital was also good. The fact that he inadvertently gave the hospital away when he phoned the PD early on was of course ironic. In the end he clearly was going to let it go and maybe even help out. Again we get Peter tagging along and starting the case, and he and Garret really do play off each other well. Garret is really becoming a mentor to Peter and not letting him make mistakes that cost him a career. It was interesting that it was Peter who was questioning Bull and not Garret who held back and took everything in. Bull was an interesting person, but whether he was the best person to do the stuff he was doing was questionable. I believe he said he was a medic in Nam, which means he wasn’t a full doctor. If he was an actual surgeon then it might have been a better situation. He got found out because he was messy and Peter noticed it. Did he put those people in more danger, and for that matter would they have lived longer if they had sought help at county hospital? Since I’m from Canada, just about any one can come out off the street, get treated and not have to worry about it financially. It seems it doesn’t work that way in the states.

Lastly we have Elaine’s death resolved albeit later than usual. It was telling that it was Peter who barley knew her that cared about her memory. The others reacted the way any one would towards someone who wasn’t all that liked. Yes Jordan did weep at her bedside but they were never really friends and neither were the others. Garret’s attitude basically sum up the feelings of everyone. She was little known, but did have an interesting life out side the office.

Characterization were really great in this episode. Jordan got to cut loose a little with the detective who seemed to bring out even more passion in her than before. Detectives Brazil and Hannah were great playing off each other. As I said earlier Hannah had me fooled until the end because he just came off as a good, naive, innocent boy. Brazil and his attitude at first rubbed me the wrong way, but by the end he grew on me. Again I hope he shows up next season. Bull the medic, was ambiguous which made agreeing with him hard to do. You felt for him and the others and tried to see the problems from their point of view, yet at the same time you saw the terrible results. Great casting of the character though, he certainly didn’t look like a medic or even a caring individual.

Tech wise, nothing much going on except that Jordan got the knife mold thanks to the guy being frozen and all. Thanks to Bull and the illegal hospital we got to see some messy medical scenes and that helped question what he was doing as right.

All in all a great episode, with an unpredictable culprit and lots of questions that made you think a little. Some great characterizations made this episode and enjoyable one to watch. I give it 5/5 stars. RTMS TOP  Message Board

EPISODE 15 JOHN DOE

Jordan and Bug are gabbing about something as they walk to a crime scene. Its in an alley and while Bug begins to inspect the body, Jordan greets the bored cop on the case. His name is Rorbach and he seems to think the case is already solved. He calls the victim a dead vagrant. Jordan notes the victim was not killed in alley but again Rorback couldn’t care less. Jordan get annoyed with him and wonders if the skin color, the victim is of darker color has any thing to do with his attitude. He denies it but Jordan wonders if he’d jump a little more if it was white Irish kid laying there. She goes to help Bug.

They look the body over, noting the liver temp puts death around midnight, and has scratches on him. In his hand is picture of a pretty girl.

Meanwhile in East Boston Park, a young cop seems to be sick as Garret walks up to him. It’s the cops first homicide. Garret doesn’t blame him if he can’t walk him through the scene. Garret takes a look in side the car where the body is. There is blood splatter over the front area. Garret looks for ID and finds it and then asks if the cop knew this guy. Garret mentions the victims name, Kevin Strahan and notes that he’s a cop.

Back at the lab, and Bug is starting the autopsy of John Doe. He takes photos and prints and searches for a match. He then sees the pic of the girl. He scans it as well. Lily comes in and wonders if any next of kin have come by. Bug tells her the guy is a John Doe. Lily then looks at the pic of the girl and Bug says it’s either a girlfriend or wife.

Jordan then comes by, apologizing for being late. She was laid up with Garret’s cop killing case. Bug gets snarly saying it must have been sooo important. Jordan tells him she doesn’t play favorites and then asks what’s up. Bug says the body was in a trunk of a car of a CHRYSLER ‘85-87. He says the attacker was bigger and stronger than Doe but that Doe fought back. There is a shoe mark from a steel toe boot and a cut on the arm. Jordan then spots black stuff on the feet and take a closer look.

At the Kevin Strahan autopsy, Garret and Nigel are working together. Shot in head, with a high blood alcohol level that indicates he was drinking right up until he died. Garret wonders at this since there was no bottle found in the car. Emmy comes in and tells him he has a visitor in the conference room.

In the conference room, Garret meets up with Mrs. Strahan who is upset. Garret comforts her and tells her how her husband died. She doesn’t seem surprised and says he was a witness for the D.A office in a police corruption case.

Jordan and Bug meet up with Nigel who tells them he put aside Garret’s case to help them out with ID on the black stuff on Doe’s feet. It’s liquid asphalt used by city paving crews. It indicates he walked on the stuff just recently. They wonder if any paving is being done in the city. Nigel again is ready and pulls up big map on the wall with all the paving jobs going on. They notice that there is one job going on near where Doe was found. Bug decides to call Roabach.

Garret is continuing the autopsy of Strahan, taking a bullet out of his head. They now have two bullets and Nigel comes in to tell him that the other one belonged to a .385 Beretta. The weird thing is the gun was confiscated by the Boston P.D. 8 months ago.

In the lobby, Jordan runs into Roybach and thinks he’s there for her case, but really he’s there for the cop killing.

On a street near a paving crew Bug is taking a good look around. He spots a 5^th ave CHRYSLER car which is the same kind of veichle that John Doe was in. He looks it over and then looks up and over to the tavern that it is parked in front of. He walks into the tavern and looks around at the patrons. At the bar he spots a mean looking guy who has steel toed boots on. He sits down and immediately the guy is barking at him, saying he must be lost, that his kind don’t belong here. Bug gets to the point and accuses him of killing John Doe, and the guy is on him attacking Bug. Bug though defends himself and knocks the guy out.

Later at Boston P.D., Bug and Roybach are in the interrogation room and Roybach is not happy with him. He says Bug cracked the head of Wayne Bifford and he’s in hospital. He says Biffords considering charges saying Bug attacked him. He asks for evidence that Bifford is guilty of killing Doe but just then Jordan walks in. Says that there is blood in Bifford’s car and it matches Doe. Bug is let go for now.

Outside Jordan comments on Bug’s new attitude and where is comes from. She wonders why he is so obsessed with the case and warns him he should take a step back. He tells her sadly that he can’t stop now, since they still don’t know the name of John Doe.

At the office Nigel comes in and Lily tells him Jordan called to say someone is being charged for Doe murder. Nigel preens a little but then Lily tells him Jordan asked her to talk to Bug. Jordan told her that Bug seems obsessed with case and would like the two of them to talk to him since they are friends. Nigel gives in and decides to do so.

Garret is meeting with Walcott, wondering why no one has come from her office about the cop killing. They talk and Walcott makes it clear that she thinks it’s suicide and tries to make her case for it. Garret is not fooled and knows she’s trying to railroad his decision. He tells her he thinks it was a inside job since gun was from the police evidence room. Walcott is stubborn and says she’s going with her decision, which makes Garret angry.

Back at the lab Bug is continuing his autopsy of Doe when Nigel comes in and tries to talk to him. Bug though realizes that Jordan has talked to him and angrily tells him to leave him alone. Nigel leaves and Bug continues with autopsy. He examines the stomach contents and then picks something out of it and looks at it under the scope. It looks like a bug.

It’s busy at Max’s bar today as Garret comes by for a drink and a talk with Max himself. Garret would like some info on Strahan. Max tells him that the rumor is Strahan was mostly true blue. Garret latches on to the "mostly" part. Max says the guy cut a deal to be a witness and that he was corrupt. Then Max asks about the crime scene, gun powder etc. If it was an accident or murder the family collects benefits, if suicide nothing.

As Bug leaves the office, Lily tries to talk to him, congratulating him on finding Doe’s murder. Bug asks what else has Jordan been saying, and Lily confesses about Bug’s new attitude. She wonders why he cares so much for Doe and Bug says he relates to the guy.

At Boston P.D., Garret greets Officer Ficher and they talk about how he found Strahan. Fisher wonders why, but tells him that he was patrolling and came by the car and found the body bloody. Garret wonders how it took 48 min to call him, but Fisher says he had to secure the scene first. Garret then accuses him of taking the gun or bottle out and tampering with scene. Fisher gets mad and leaves.

Jordan and Lily go to Bug’s apartment and look around to find a clue as to where and what is bugging him. Jordan finds a notebook with some disturbing words on it-"I don’t belong"- which gets both of them worried.

It’s night time now and Bug is wandering around some woods with a flash light. He seems to be looking for something and comes upon some kind of cord along the ground. He follows the cord to a cabin of some sort and knocks. He then busts in and finds a ton of illegal immigrants, huddled in a corner all filthy and scared. Before he can say anything he’s knocked out from behind by a shovel.

Morning now and Garret is wondering where Bug is. He gets everyone working on the case while Jordan looks at John Doe and the notes Bug put down.

Nigel and Lily are using the computer but are not having much luck. Then Nigel finds the pics of the soil and bug. Garret comes by the autopsy room and checks in with Jordan. Jordan says Doe was jaundice , and had bacteria leploproisis which is usually from the tropics, which means he could be from cental America. She can’t seem to connect what she found in the blood tests- metalypyrolodane- industrial solvent. Emmy comes in and says Nigel needs him.

Nigel is all happy, he’s showing Garret a pic of a sweater, the pattern on it since its distinct. Garret decides to call the INS and see if they have any one matching Doe’s description. Meanwhile Lily has been back to Bug’s place and notices he’s bought a pair of boots and is wearing them.

Garret then tells Jordan about Lily’s find of the boots, and Jordan surmises that Bug is perhaps retracing Doe’s footsteps in his last days. They check the stomach contents which was in the fridge, and notice that the guy was starving since they find tree bark and then the bug.

Nigel and Jordan are searching a bug book trying to match the bug with any of the pictures in the book. Nigel says it’s a lady bug but Jordan disagrees. They finally find the right one, its from Japan though.

Bug finally wakes up in a shed that’s locked up. He tries to get out but can’t do so. He then hears voices and looks out a crack and sees people digging.

Bug then tries to dig his way out but then spots someone coming. He tries to defend himself and watches the door. It opens and the police come in.

Later det.Roybach comes by and offers Bug a drink, and while taking his drink he looks around at all the cops and asks what was going on here. Roybach says it was a smuggling operation and slave labor. Thanks to Bug the ring has been broken and the people will be sent back. Jordan and Nigel come up to him and are happy to see him. Nigel relates how they eventually found him, but Bug is still disturbed by the fact that he still doesn’t know who John Doe was. He spots some of the immigrants and starts to ask them if they know the guy in the pic he’s holding up. Jordan helps him by translating for him and one of the workers recognizes the person as Juan Nogales. Says they came to work but he came to find his girlfriend. Bug shows them the girls pic and they says her name was Rosa and that the two had planned to meet. Juan was suppose to meet her in a bar the night he escaped. Bug has an idea of which bar he’s talking about.

Garret and Walcott meet and Garret informs her that he is going to tell the truth. He says Strahan was murdered. Walcott not happy and would prefer he say it was suicide since he could endanger other witnesses for another case. Garret won’t budge.

At Buck’s Tavern, Jordan and Bug go in and find Rosa. They inform her that Juan had come here looking for her but she was gone at the time. They sadly tell her he was murdered.

Later at Max’s bar, Garret and Max talk a little about the Strahan case and Max tells him he did right. Jordan comes in and wonders why people who try so hard to get somewhere or someone end up on the losing end.

Bug meanwhile enters his apartment to find Lily there. She wants to talk to him and gets him to open up. While she snooped around she found a certificate. It’s for U.S. Citizen ship, Bug is now an official resident of the U.S. He came from the U.K. to study and never wanted to go back. It took a lot of years to get his citizenship and he wonders if it was worth it, if he fits in now. Lily says he’s right where he belongs and then hugs him.

COMMENTARY

A good episode with two plots both about doing what’s right or a least trying to. Juan was trying to find his girlfriend , only to be cut down. Strahan while not a white hat, did in the end try to correct things and paid with his life, but in the end his family does get justice.

The episode showed good detective work, especially from Bug. This is what should have happened in Strangled but didn’t. Bug got obsessive about the case and we got to see how he came to his conclusions. We also got to see some things he left out and the others had to find. We got to see the underside of immigration and with this past summers events in Texas about illegal smuggling, it became even more relevant.

More character building for Bug in this episode. We again see his caring and compassion side showing through. We also get to find out that he is now a citizen of the U.S., something he should be proud of and yet is not embracing as eagerly as he feels he should. Bug seems to have problems about his ethnic background, whether he’s in the U.K. or the U.S. From past episodes it sounds like his parents tried to instill in him traditions from their heritage, but that they didn’t completely take thanks to living first in Britain and then the U.S. Behind Bug’s confidante demenor I feel lies a persecution complex which leads him to feeling depressed at times. Depression happens to every one and hopefully this won’t overwhelm him.

Jordan, Nigel and Lily didn’t do too much this episode, but we got to see how much they care about each other and Bug. Jordan led the charge this time out and really tried to find out what was wrong with Bug. She was kind of every where in this episode but I didn’t mind it becuase she was still important, not just shuttled out of the way. Nigel tried to help as well and while he was shut out by Bug he didn’t give up and really searched to find out where he had disappeared to. Lily was the one he turned to and opened up to. It was nice to see her comfort him, although she still seems clueless about his feelings for her.

Garret was his usual self, standing up for what he believes in and clashing once again with Wolcott. His plot wasn’t as interesting, in fact I didn’t really get much drama out of it. Although they tried to build it up, the fact that it was just another corrupt cop making good at the last moment just did not grab my attention.

Tech wise, we got good old fashioned foresic work in this episode. I love it when they do this. Bug took every sample he found and traced it back to the illegal immigrant place. I just shows how great he is at his job. The same goes to Nigel although it took him longer than Bug to find the same thing.

Good episode for the most part, with Garret’s story being kinda weak. More good character building for Bug and more backstory on him as well. Good detective and foresnic work was shown through the episode and that helped it along. I give the episode 4/5 stars. RTMS TOP Message Board

Episode 16 Conspiracy

Night time as Jordan rushes into an emergency room, while talking to Nigel on the phone. She mentions a Henry and how she needs info now to help him. We see said Henry on a stretcher while doctors try to revive him.

Going back two days earlier, Jordan is about to call it a day after a double shift when Lily comes up. Lily tells her that there is a weird guy asking for Jordan and who is looking for his friends’ body. The thing is there is no body to be found. This should be Garret’s problem she tells Lily, but Garret has taken off after his ex called with an urgent message. It would seem Jordan is the next person in charge these days. She can only watch the elevator doors open and close without her in it and sigh. She meets Henry Ross, who says he’s here to stop a murder.

Jordan and Henry talk, and Henry tells her about his friend Frank Arnett, and shows her a drawing of him. Jordan thinks he’s a dork and tells him they usually use pics. Jordan asks why frank would be in danger, and Henry mentions that Frank works for a defense contractor, as a chemist. He said his work was secret and that people wanted him dead. Jordan asks who wanted him dead? A govt. agent responds Henry, who adds he’s filed a report with police and det. Roybach. Jordan tries to get out of this mess, saying she can’t really do anything and goes to leave. Henry pleads his case, mentioning that for 3 ½ years he and Frank have been playing chess in the park and he didn’t show up the last time. He’s never missed their game. Last night he got a call from Frank who said he was sick. He checked hospitals but can’t get answers. He came to her for help. Jordan starts to look sympathetic and knows Henry is pushing all the right buttons.

Meanwhile Garret arrives at a nice looking mansion, where is ex wife is there to greet him. He wonders if Maggie has come into some money. Maggie though looks worried, while another woman comes in from the kitchen. Her name is Joan and she needs his help. It seems she and her husband Martin were/are friends with Garret and Maggie while they were married. Garret immediately suspects something is wrong with Martin and sure enough Martin is found on the floor in the kitchen dead. Joan says she found him there this morning like that. Martin had a bad heart, his family having a history of it. Of course Martin Hewitt never did let that stop him and never really took care of himself. Joan asked Garret here to help keep everything quite, not get into the papers.

Jordan goes to Nigel for some help but Nigel is in a bad mood. Seems he’s getting fed up with everyone using him for his computer skills and not for what he’s supposed to do, criminology. He knows she wants help with the Henry Ross case but declines. Jordan agrees with his tantrum but smirks about it as well, and Nigel notices this and stomps out. Jordan can only stand there a little stunned that he went through with his threat.

Garret and Maggie are back at the office, and remember when they hung out with Martin and Joan. They were the super couple Garret and Maggie looked up to. Maggie eventually leaves and Garret calls in Peter to tell him that the deal with Hewitt will be private and to just do the minimal autopsy. Garret tells him the guy died of a heart attack. Peter wonders why he doesn’t do it himself, and Garret tells because he’s the boss and he’s giving it to him, so do it.

At a hospital, Jordan has found out that no Frank Arnett was admitted last night. She has spotted a name though, a John Smith that matches Arnett’s description. A Dr. Echart saw treated him. Jordan finds the doctor, but just as she is about to question him Henry shows up dressed as a doctor himself and passes himself off as one to Echart. Jordan is annoyed but questions Echart anyway. Echart says the guy came in complaining of a rash and that someone was after him. Unfortunately he left before he could get treatment for the rash. Echart wonders if something was really wrong with him and Henry says yes.

In the autopsy room, Garret stands over Martin Hewitt’s body thinking. Peter comes in and apologizes for his attitude earlier, saying he now recognizes who the guy was. It seems Hewitt was a big time surgeon and he and Garret went to med school together. Then they look at the photos taken of body and notice that Hewitt’s got levity marks on the back. Peter assumes they were from the floor, but Garret says he was found on a hard wood floor which would not show any marks.

Jordan, back in her old office again, is trying to use the computer to search for something, but is having a terrible time of it. Nigel comes by looking apologetic and cringing every time she makes a mistake with the computer. He asks how it’s going and Jordan pretends she’s fine. Nigel knows better and tells her to get out of the way he can do it. He’s happy again and so is Jordan. They look for Arnett’s car which they find has a tracking system on it. The computer traces the area where the car is located, although it’s not moving.

Out in the woods Jordan and Nigel drive to the area indicated by the tracking system. They get out to look around and spot a place where it looks like a car went off the road. They follow the path down a hill and come to a car over turned. Jordan opens the door and Frank Arnett falls out, dead.

Next day, Jordan is in the lab with Arnett. Roybach comes in and is not sorry for how he acted, he made a judgement call and anyway the crime scene does not suggest anything out of the ordinary. Jordan questions this but all Roybach wants to know is if it was a homicide or not. Jordan promises to find out and he leaves. Nigel comes in then, telling her he’s no longer just a computer jockey which she agrees with and then tells her what he has found. In Arnett’s belongings he found a redemption check, worth 5 million. Jordan says the x-rays show that he had fractures but not from the crash since there is no bruising or hemorrhaging to go along with them. She says he was dead before the crash.

In Garret’s office, Garret and Joan are talking and Garret is questioning Joan on how she found Martin. Joan sticks by story and is insulted that Garret would question her word. Garret says he wants to do an autopsy but Joan refuses.

At the home of Henry Ross Jordan is there to talk to Henry. She asks what Arnett did but Henry doesn’t know and wonders if maybe the case should just be dropped. Jordan tells him that maybe Arnett had a reaction to some sort of poison but needs to know where he worked.

They go to Arnett’s place which is a complete mess. Apparently he lived like a slob. This surprises Jordan who tells Henry that Arnett was rich. Henry is shocked to learn this since he’s a certified financial planner. Henry gets paranoid and wonders if he’s next to go. Jordan then spots an ID card for a place called Paramax Ind. They go and check it out.

Garret is looking a photo of him and Maggie along with the Hewitts. Peter comes by and gives his report but Garret tells him he’s reopening the case. He says now it looks like a possible homicide. Peter is not happy with being jerked around like this, and thinks he’s doing a bad job or being made to look bad. He goes off as Garret gets a call from Maggie.

Garret meets her at a café and she wants to know why he can’t honor Joan’s request. Garret tries to explain to her that he thinks it was a homicide but Maggie just gets mad. She accuses him of being jealous of the Hewitt’s marriage and angry that theirs did not work out. Garret protests this idea but Maggie doesn’t listen and leaves. When he gets back to the morgue, he finds the body of Hewitt gone.

Jordan and Henry are at Paramax Ind. and Jordan takes some time to talk to Nigel on the phone. Nigel says the poison was either injected or inhaled, but still can’t find the toxin. She and Henry find out that Paramax make chemicals for the Govt. and they are going to check the place out, she tells Nigel who can only look left out of things.

Jordan decides to BS her way into the place, only to come out a few minutes later with guards at her side telling her to get lost. When she goes to talk to Henry she notices his neck has a rash, just as Arnett did. Henry suddenly collapses.

At the hospital Henry is looking bad. He’s unconscious and his wife and Jordan are with him. No one knows whats wrong with Henry, but Jordan promises to find out who did this to him. Dr. Eckart says he has no idea what is shutting down his organs, but he only gives Henry perhaps a day. Nigel comes by and tells Jordan there are still no matches on the tox screens.

Back at the office, Garret gets off the phone and says Hewitt’s body was just cremated. Peter is there and explains that since Garret wasn’t around when they came for the body and he hadn’t revoked the death certificate, Peter was forced to hand over the body. Garret angrily asks why no one called but Peter says he did try to call him. Peter then wonders if they still have enough for murder, but Garret says no. Then Peter mentions the swim Hewitt took before he died. Garret has no idea what he’s talking about. Peter mentions that the body smelled of chlorine, which is strange since the Hewitts don’t have a pool. They then both go to Bug who they have to beg to help since they want to use him like Nigel is used. He’s not happy at first but eventually works with them. He tells them the body was in a car and the impression on the body in the photos is from a seatbelt. They then go searching on the computer and find that Hewitt bought gas in Bedford at 1:20 am and then liquor. Garret then wants to know where the pool came from and Bug suddenly knows how Nigel feels.

On the Paramax lot Jordan, Nigel and Det. Roybach check out the warehouse where Arnett worked. Some executive is with them and when Jordan wants know where Arnett’s desk is he points over to the fork loader. Apparently Arnett actually worked as a loader in the warehouse, and was not some chemist. He’s the nephew of the boss which would explain why he has money. When Jordan mentions the chemicals, the ex says they make deodorant and such. Roybach gets mad and leaves while Jordan and Nigel can only stand there looking foolish. Jordan then checks out the loader and notices a pile of cigarettes in it. She then realizes both Arnett and Henry both smoke. They take a few smokes with them to the office.

Back at the lab they analyze the smoke from the cigarette with a neat gadget and find a chemical, Fentanyl. Nigel says this was the same chemical that killed Moscow theater goers last year. He knows of a lab in Dallas that knows all about it. Jordan tells him to hit the phones.

Night time and Garret and Peter check out a large home that Bug has directed them to. It’s closest to the gas bar and liquor store from the receipts. Meanwhile Nigel walks by and notices that Bug is helping them and confronts him over it. Bug can only smile.

At the home, Garret and Peter are greeted by beautiful blond and walk in. It’s low lighted and when they come around a corner they find a bunch of naked and semi naked people in hot tubs and massage tables. Both sexes are here and as Garret looks around Joan comes up to him. She confesses what happened, that she and Martin came here often and the last time Martin, with his bad heart died in one of the hot tubs. She didn’t want an embarrassed story getting out about Martin, and to give him dignity in death. Garret realizes that the perfect couple were not so perfect.

At the ER, Jordan is talking to Nigel about getting Dallas to pick up the pace but he says they are not co-op very well. We are back at the beginning of the episode and Jordan watches as Henry is being worked on. Eckhart then calls it and pronounces him dead and Jordan can only look on in shock.

Next morning, Jordan is at her desk as Nigel comes in. He tells her she couldn’t help Henry. He thinks they should keep up the investigation though and revels he’s found something. Henry’s bank statement shows he had life insurance and his wife is the beneficiary. Soon they are watching Roybach interrogate Henry’s wife over his death. Jordan though is not convinced she is guilty and says nothing is adding up.

At Joan’s place, she again explains why she did what she did but Garret is not happy with her. He feels she used him and Maggie’s friendship with her to manipulate the situation. He leaves her there.

Jordan and some cops search Henry’s place. Jordan goes into his office and looks around. Nigel phones her and tells her that Arnett’s 5 million is now gone, and has been transferred to the Cayman Islands. As she talks to him, she finds press clippings about her, in fact a whole file is on her. She asks if Henry’s body has arrived from the hospital and he tells her that the hospital screwed up and the body is missing. She tells him to meet her at the hospital.

At the hospital Nigel questions Jordan on her theory, that she saw him die. Jordan says she saw what appeared to be his death. So why fake a death he asks and Jordan says for the money. Henry was a financial planner and that he poisoned Arnett and then staged the conspiracy and death. He used Jordan after studying her from the press clippings and playing on her sympathies.

At the desk they ask for Dr.Eckart and are told he’s on vacation, and realize he was in on the scam. Jordan guesses they will head for the airport.

At the airport Jordan and the cops including Roybach look for Henry and Jordan spots him first. Henry comments on how she figured it out and then tells her why he did it. He needed the thrill in his life since it was boring. She tells him Eckart been nabbed as well. Henry says if he had gotten away with it he could have started over and no one would see him around here again. Jordan comments that she doesn’t see him now. Och!

At the office, Garret and Maggie talk about Joan and Martin. He asks her when she knew it was over between them and she tells him. He wonders if they could have done anything to change what happened. Maggie asks what was up with the Hewitt’s and if they were the perfect couple. Garret decides to tell her yes they were.

Out in the hall Garret meets up with Peter and asks him not to mention the orgy house. Peter says don’t worry.

Jordan and Garret then talk about cases and blind spots. He tells her she’s a sucker for the underdogs while he tends to put people on a pedestal who then fall off. Jordan jokes that he’s safe with her, she’s already fallen off the pedestal. In the end she finally makes the elevator.

COMMENTARY

This was a quirky episode, that again managed to hide who was responsible until near the end. The character of Henry was sympathetic from the start and had you hooked just as he hooked Jordan. Garret mean while has a sex case and has to deal with his ex again who he seems to have cooled off with.

The main plot, the dead so called scientist Frank Arnett and his friend Henry who supposedly would do anything for him was fun to watch. Henry played everyone and was smarter than anyone took him for. He’s more evil because he didn’t see anything wrong with what he did, he was bored with life, his friend had money so he killed him for it. He certainly went to great lengths to deceive everyone, finding a gullible doctor, staging his own death in front of every one and looking up Jordan through newspaper articles and duping her into helping him. I honestly thought the company had done something sinister to Frank until they made it clear he was nothing more than a lowly minion, hired because his uncle worked there. It was a great little mystery all the way through to the end where he almost got away. Henry and Jordan had great working chemistry which made the conspiracy work so well.

Garret’s case was weird, and annoying thanks to his ex wife Maggie showing up. The Hewitt’s were an odd couple and it’s interesting that Garret and Maggie once compared themselves to them. Of course it would have meant more if they acted as if they were going out again but for some reason they are acting the way they did early first season. Last we left the two of them they were hot and heavy. Since the second season started the whole relationship between them and Lily disappeared, with no explanation. As a viewer from the first episode it’s frustrating that the show won’t give a little explanation about what’s going on. In any event the case was resolved with a little funny stuff thrown in, as well as Peter who once again gets into the middle of things. I’m really liking him a lot and love how he has to learn everything from the beginning, which was not really shown with Sanders last season.

As for the other characters, Nigel was funny and sympathic as he groused about being used more for his computer skills then his criminologist know how. Loved how he just caved in when he saw Jordan helpless at the computer, lol. He does have a point, as he has been seen using his computer skills more than anything else lately. Perhaps a bit character should come on and take over that sort of thing. Bug got to play like Nigel a bit and seeing Nigel jealous was another fun moment.

Tech wise, we got to see the cigarette smoke gizmo that help detect the poison and got to hear a niffty real world event tied to it. The Russian theater where so many people were hurt was a nice throw in.

Overall a good episode that again hid the culprit for most of the show. The character of Henry the financial adviser will be remembered as one of the more memorable people Jordan has come across. Garret’s case would have had more power to it if he and his ex weren’t so cooled off with out any explaining. I give the show a 3 and a half stars out of 5. RTMSTOP Message Board

Episode 17 Cruel and Unusual

It’s a nice day in Boston, as a tv reporter talks about a Roland Wintin, a convicted rapist who was put to death in North Carolina. The family is suing the state for Cruel and Unusual punishment. Walcott is in the office talking to Garret about it. She is of course for the death penalty he isn’t. He asks why she there and she tells him that the North Carolina DA wants him to perform the autopsy of Wintin. Garret naturally asks why, since they have their own people for that. She tells him they want someone impartial to the case. She then tells him she’s coming along since Wintin once took a detour and murdered someone in Boston. She wants to make sure Wintin’s family doesn’t prosper or milk their son’s death. Garret is not thrilled with the idea and neither is Walcott who says it’s cruel and unusual punishment for her. Such a nice lady.

Jordan is coming out of the lab when Garret spots her and catches up to her. He tells her while he’s gone she’s in charge which surprises her. She wonders when she got the leadership skills for such trust. Garret just tells her to supervise Peter on his first house call and NOT TO SIGN ANYTHING. Can she at least sit in the big chair she wonders, Garret ponder this and says a firm NO!

Later Jordan and Peter arrive at a crime scene, a female O.D. case and Peter starts his first house call. Jordan tests him as to where they should start and he says the room? Nope first you start by finding the head detective on the case and getting the facts. She then tells him that the bedroom is down the hall on the right. Peter wonders how she knows this and Jordan is a bit confused herself. He says she’s probably been on so many of these things it’s intuition which she kind of agrees with. Just then the owner of the place comes in and calls Jordan by name and looks shocked to see her. She knows the guy, Tom Crane and now knows this is his place. She pulls Crane aside and asks what’s going on, does his wife know about the woman. Tom looks at her and says it’s his wife that’s the O.D.

Back at the office, in the conference room Lily is counseling a woman, Mrs. Sullivan over the death of her son. Mrs. Sullivan is upset since she never had a chance to reconcile with her son. As she talks with Lily she notices the tattoos on Lily’s hand and suddenly gets hostile and wants another counselor. She leaves the room, leaving a puzzled Lily.

Jordan talks to Tom about he and his wife. He tells her that they were separated. He then inquires about her and would like to meet her again later. They separate and she walks back to her office and remembers her past with him as she gazes at a keychain.

Back in the present, Lily is in the morgue taking a look at the Sullivan body. He has tattoos covering most of his upper body. Bug comes in and asks if Mrs. Sullivan saw her since she seem to need counseling. Lily says she did and that Mrs.Sullivan took off angry, when she saw some of Lily’s tattoos. Apparently the son died of AIDS thanks to a needle that was used to put a tattoo on. Lily is upset that she couldn’t help Mrs. Sullivan and that she turned her off with the tattoos.

Nigel and Peter are working on Mrs. Crane with Jordan. Nigel tries to give Peter some advice on Jordan but she beats him too it saying she’s annoying pain in the ass. The tox screen on Mrs.Crane comes back with a lethal amount of sleeping pills and booze. Jordan wonders if it was accidental , but Peter says it would appear it’s not the first time she tried to kill self. There are scar marks on the wrists and the report on her says it happened six years ago Sept.20,1997.

Jordan listens to this and leaves the lab, somewhat in shock. She wanders to Lily’s office and asks her if she’s busy. Lily asks what’s up but then Jordan seems to get scared and shrugs it off saying it’s nothing and leaves. Lily is left to wonder about her.

Over is NC, Garret and Walcott are waiting for the DA there. Garret is fidgety and paces back and forth which doesn’t make Walcott any more happier. He feels there sucking up to the DA and doesn’t like it. Walcott admits to wanting to make friends since you can always use your fellow DA for something. The DA finally comes in and greets them, telling them that the case is important. He shows them the file and makes a comment about all being on the same team. Garret is not impressed, choosing to stay neutral and stating he’s is seeking the truth, regardless of who gets hurt. They leave and Walcott has some choice words for the moody ME. Out in the hallway they meet the Wintins, and while Garret stays to listen to them Walcott stomps off. They make no apologies for their son, who they admit was evil. They just believe that he should have had a dignified death, not the terrible one he was given.

Back in Boston, Jordan has decided Dr. Stiles would be better to talk to. She tells him that she may have inadvertently killed Mrs. Crane.

Six years ago again, Jordan and Tom are dancing in her apartment and enjoying themselves. They again discuss their affair. For Tom, the relationship makes him feel real and he wants to stay the night. Jordan hems and haws and eventually tells him to leave, gently pushing him out the door.

Back at Dr. Stiles office, Jordan tells him about the affair. Two days after she ended the affair, Mrs.Crane attempted suicide. She feels guilty over it, thinks she made Mrs. Crane unstable. Stiles understands what she’s feeling but then asks about her parents relationship which confuses Jordan. He explains that people often repeat what they see and thinks Jordan’s problems with relationships stem from something about her parents. She thinks on this and says her parents life was fine, although she knows this is not really true.

Over in NC, Garret is going over the case of Wintin’s death in his hotel room. Walcott comes by and attempts to talk to him only for Garret to interrupt her. He believes she wants to know what the Wintins wanted and goes on a rant at her. Cooly she tells him she was just going to invite him for dinner but that’s out of the question now and leaves.

At the Pogue Mahone Bar, Max who has noticed her silence talks to Jordan. She asks him a strange and volatile question on whether he was ever a Yankees fan. Max gets all puffed up as says as if, he’s a devoted Sox fan. He wonders why she would ever ask, and she tells him he won’t like the topic. He guesses it anyway, Emily his wife and indeed he is not happy. She tells him about remembering a happy family with her mother, a loving couple. Max agrees with her saying even when she was sick, they were a good couple. She then questions whether there was anyone else, and Max says while there was none on his part she of course knows about her mother’s affair. She asks him if he knew what was going on, but he asks why she’s got all the questions. She quickly drops the subject.

Next morning, at the autopsy lab in NC, Garret is greeted by the local ME for the state. Garret apologizes for interfering in his case but the ME is not concerned. They talk some shop and wonder about the case. The local ME isn’t sympathetic towards Wintin’s death or how it came about. Walcott comes by and tells them the prison is ready for them and walks off. The ME takes note of Walcott’s classy looks and such. He warns Garret about their own DA, and how he’s called steamroller Jenetta.

Back in Boston, Emmy is bugging Jordan to sign some papers. Jordan tells her she’s not suppose to do anything remotely official, but Emmy assures her she’ll take the rap for anything. Jordan signs away saying she’s in charge, while Emmy just laughs, saying she’s the one that keeps the office running.

Jordan then speaks with Nigel, and hopes for better news on Mrs. Crane. She wonders if she accidently overdosed? Nigel says no but does say she was taking another drug, alprolzoam. He then mentions Jordan’s rumored relationship with the husband. Jordan just shrugs him off.

Later Lily asks Nigel whether someone should get rid of something if it’s hurting their profession but is meaningful to them. He says it’s not worth it but Lily believes it’s not so black and white.

Back at the NC prison, Garret and Walcott are being briefed on the procedures accompanying an execution. The guard tells them that it goes like this:

The prisoner has their last meal. They are then taken to the execution chamber, where they are strapped to a gurney lying down. Cardiac leads are placed on the chest. They are given a saline drip. They are asked for their last words. Then they revel a mobile table with syringes on it. One has Sodium Pentothal which helps them lose consciousness. Second Potassium Chloride which induces heart attack. Finally Paneurorium Bromide which stops the heart completely. At that point the patient is dead, with no struggle or any thing else. This is what is suppose to happen he tells them. Garret mentions coldly that it didn’t happen that way which the guard grudgingly agrees with. They sit down to watch the execution on tape.

Jordan meets with Tom and they chit chat. She asks him if his wife killed herself but he can’t really tell her. He then brings up the past, saying when she left he looked for her a long time. After a while he realized she didn’t want to be found and left the matter. Jordan tells him he wouldn’t have understood but he tells her maybe he would have if she would explain. She sidesteps the question with the same one from before, although she changes it a little, asking why his wife would kill herself. He gets angry and leaves.

Back at the prison, Garret and Walcott watch the tape. They see Wintin get the injections then start to convulse on the table. The IV in the neck comes out and the scene turns ugly. Walcott turns away from the screen disgusted.

Later at the hotel Walcott again comes to Garret’s room. This time he lets her in and both admit they are wigged out by the death scene. They start to bicker about the whole thing and Garret decides to get them a drink. He hands her the drink and after taking a swig the two start to bicker about each other. They move closer with each hurled insult until they are inches apart. They then suddenly kiss.

Jordan is in flashback mode again as she remembers telling Tom to leave and pushing him out the door. The phone then rings and she answers it. On the line is Tom’s wife Eve. Jordan doesn’t say anything as she’s too shocked to respond. Eve rants at her about her affair with her husband and Jordan just stutters and then hangs up. The phone rings again and Jordan yanks the cord out.

Back in the present, Jordan jumps when Garrets’ phone rings. Later Dr. Stiles comes by and they talk. Jordan tells him Crane’s wife knew about the affair. Stiles asks what her response was and she tells him she panicked, packed her bags and left town. Jordan says she just couldn’t face it. Stiles still thinks she’s holding something back. Then Jordan remembers being young and at home. She’s suppose to be asleep but something is happening. She stops and tells Stiles she needs to look at Eve Crane’s body again and leaves.

At a doctors office we see Lily who has gone there to remove her tattoo. She’s alone and looks uncomfortable.

In NC, it’s morning and Garret and Wolcott are back at the lab. Garret seems a bit uncomfortable with sleeping with Wolcott. She on the other hand seems amused and comes out and says they had good sex. Garret says he was trying to be discreet but okay on with the day’s work. Dr.Marten comes in and Wolcott leaves he and Garret to work. They look at the tox screen and notice that Wintin hardly got any Sodium Penathal which means Wintin felt the whole experience in a lot of pain. He slowly suffocated to death which could be labeled cruel and unusual punishment. They need to know why this happened.

As they work Martens apologizes for having Garret dragged all the way here. The reason why he himself couldn’t do it was because he got involved the local female ADA and ever since big cases have skipped his desk. Garret wonders if that’s a warning, but Martens says no just a heads up.

Back at he office, Peter is angry that Jordan is taking his case. They argue and Peter says he did everything by the book, checked everything and all was negative. He wonders if this is to do with the husband she knows but Jordan tells him to back off. He then asks if it’s to do with her mother, and this really gets to Jordan who gets upset and denies it. Peter quickly apologizes for the accusation. Jordan then scans Cranes head which shows nothing there, while Peter wonders why it just can’t be a case of suicide? Jordan, racked by guilt just keeps looking.

Lily is back at the office with her hand bandaged. Bug comes by and she tells him what she did and tells him she hates her job. Bug knows she really doesn’t and tells her so saying how needed she is. She tells him she had to change just so people will want to talk to her but he says she should be herself. She’s not the plain old everyday person but someone unique and that can help her.

In NC, Wolcott comes by the lab and asks for an update. Garret tells her he couldn’t find anything that lead Wintin to suffer the way he did. She tells him she brought dinner, holding up a paper bag saying it’s Thai. He tells her he can’t eat the stuff because he’s allergic to peanuts and peanut oil which they use. He tells her it’s not a pretty sight, he can’t breath throat swells up. That’s when Garret realizes something and asks Wolcott to shut off the lights. He shines a fluorescent light over the body and it shows Hives on the body. He had an allergic reaction to food he ate. Stomach contents showed nuts, but his last meal had not nuts or nut oil in it. Garret thinks someone was trying to poison him which doesn’t make sense since he was going to die anyway. Then they realize maybe the person was trying to save him and delay the execution.

Later a montage of scenes, as Garret and Wolcott again spend the night with each other, Lily looks at the Sullivan body and Jordan is remembering the past, walking to the bus stop and dropping off her resignation at the mail box and leaving Boston.

Later still, and Jordan is at Dr. Stiles home. They again go over the dream.

She remembers she was suppose to be asleep, but heard the door open and rushed down to see daddy. Only it wasn’t daddy but a strange man with her mother. She notices a Yankee’s cap on the shelf. She runs back to her room and shuts the door, thinking it wasn’t safe anymore, her heart broken and promised never to love again. With Tom Crane she broke that promise. Jordan wonders if she will ever escape her mothers memory and Stiles says it’s up to her to rid herself of her mother’s shadow.

At the NC DA’s office, the DA is smug and tells the Wintins no deal. Garret tells him not to gloat and explains. He reveals that Mrs. Wintin saw her son before he died and brought him a cake to eat. In it were nuts which she knew her son was allergic to. She had hoped that the allergic reaction would make him sick and delay the execution. Mr. Wintin can’t believe it until his wife confirms the story. Garret says the state is not responsible for the death, that Wintin’s adrenalin rush delayed reaction until he was strapped in.

Back in Boston, in the conference room Lily meets Mrs. Sullivan again. She notices Lily’s hand and Lily then starts to tell her what all the tattoos on her son mean. Sullivan breaks down and starts to cry and Lily comforts her.

In NC, Wolcott congratulates Garret on his find and solving the problem. Garret mentions Martens dilemma with the local ADA and wonders if he will have problems with Wolcott. She tells him they will work it out, while he mentions it won’t be easy back in Boston. He still doesn’t like her but it’s not as convincing as before.

Jordan and Tom talk on the steps of his home. She wonders about his wife and he tells her she had been mentally sick for years- bi polar disorder. She tells him she ran because she was in love and afraid. He wonders if they could ever be together again. Jordan says no, but they can be friends. They hold hands in the end.

COMMENTARY

A solid episode, a character story than a crime story. This one got to focus on Garret and Jordan and we get another chapter in the bizarre Cavangauh fractured history which shows us just how dysfunctional this family was.

As mentioned before this was a character- driven episode than a crime story. Garret and Jordan were the main stories with Lily being the minor one. We learn more things about both Jordan and Lily then Garret who is his usual self.

The three plots of the episode, the bad execution, Jordan’s guilt over possibly causing another person to die and Lily learning to compromise were all good plots and helped to develop the characters.

Starting off with Jordan, we learn about both a personal and a family problem. The personal problem stems from the family one and provides yet another insight to the dysfunctional goings on in the Cavanguah household. It also contradicts Jordan’s stated reason for leaving the examiners office the first time over 6 years ago.

Jordan comes off as somewhat sleazy as she doesn’t even blink over having an affair with a married man. At that time Tom doesn’t give any real reason for having the affair, so why go and possibly be hurt. If he was seperated or divorcing his wife then fine, let Jordan have her relationship, but there is no outward appearance of trouble at this time so why go out with the guy? Of course we see that Jordan is not straying far from her mother’s actions when Jordan was young. Dr.Stiles question brings back a memory for Jordan, that of seeing her mother with another man. At that time Jordan emotionally shrinks from the world and from love it self, always ready to believe that she can not find true happiness. When confronted of her love for Tom by his wife she flees, the affair, and the job. Which brings up another problem. Back in the first season it was stated that the reason for her leaving the first time was her obsession with finding her mothers’ killer and her death. Just as she started to obsess at the end of the first season she supposedly did the same the first time. Now we have a completely different version that has nothing remotely to do with her mother’s death, but with the fear of loving someone. Can the two versions be reconciled? From what I can see no, the versions are completely different and don’t make sense. The writers this season seem to have either forgotten or deliberately rewritten every thing from the first season.

Garret gets to make nice with Walcott which I honestly saw coming from the moment they met. I have to wonder why Walcott thinks Garret is nothing more that a glorified lackey of the previous DA when he wasn’t even in charge for most of that DA’s term. Garret came in to the chief job a few episodes in to the first season, as Yakura was the chief before him. So even though he was friends with the DA, he was in no position to influence results. Yet Walcott hates him. Here they are forced to work together in another state to determine the reason why a prisnor died so horribly at his execution. Garret is his usual self and doesn’t back down from confrontation as we have seen him do many times before. He’s a very stand up guy and a smart one too. It’s not surprising that he would have feelings for someone who is like him to a point. Walcott as we have seen, while a strong attitude is willing to compromise some things to get the case won. Here they quickly fall into bed and it’s obvious that Walcott doesn’t think much of it while Garret is a little uncomfortable with it. The fact, is both realize there will be consequences later on is enough to leave the subject and let it go where it may.

Lily has to face a tough choice and whether it’s worth it or not. Lily being the free spirit and deep thinker she is feels that to comfort the ones left behind she has to change her outward appearance to appeal more to them. The mother is thankful that Lily removes her tattoo as her son had so many, but in the end Lily shows her that many of them held meaning to the son. Should she have removed hers? I didn’t think it was all that big but when you have to work in the outside world some things may have to be sacrificed in order to get along with people. I think as long as Lily keeps that wonderful attitude and caring nature she won’t lose herself in the world.

Not much tech wise, aside from the pinpointing of the cause of Wintin’s death. It was neat to hear how a execution by injection is actually performed. Music wise the show is as good as ever, putting the montage of clips to music made it seem like the calm before the storm.

In the end it was a strong character building episode. We find out the supposed reason for Jordan’s earlier departure, that Garret is against the death penalty and is allergic to peanuts, and Lily grows up a little. The cases were mundane but they were not the focus of the episode. I give the episode 4 of of 5 stars. RTMS TOP  Go to Message Board to Discuss

Episode 18: Fire and Ice

Night time in Boston as Jordan and Garret finish a tiring day at work. They both head to the elevator and walk in. Garret’s pager goes off , then Jordan and both are surprised at the fact it’s from the same person. They head to the crime scene with Jordan teasing Garret about whether it’s business or pleasure for him since it’s Walcott who paged.

They come upon a messy crime scene, burnt ashes resulting from a meth lab being blown up Walcott informs them. She hopes to tie this lab to Freddy Paxton a big drug dealer in Boston. They find a body of a young woman, but when Garret and Jordan go to her they find her alive. Her name is Grace Whitford, 16 years old. They work on her and see her off to the ER. Walcott stands by, not at all pleased with the events.

Later at the hospital Jordan watches the doctors work on Grace. A woman comes up and asks her if her daughter will be okay. Jordan tries to comfort her but all the mother wants to know is about a Connor Marshall. Jordan can only tell her that her daughter was the only victim. The doctors come out and while they have stabilized Grace, the burns to her body make it day today.

The next day, Bug tries to talk to Lily who he’s noticed is looking upset. It seems she just got out of a counseling session with a wife who wouldn’t believe her husband was dead. Because there was no ID, there was no processing etc. This she feels has made people mad at her. Bug gives her good advice, that she can’t please everyone all the time. She then asks him what he wants and he hands her some papers. They are the last will and testament of a guy called John Smith- alias- a flophouse vagrant.

The man is Chinese and wants his remains cremated and spread on Fenway Park.

In the crypt, Jordan uncovers a body , only to find it’s Grace which shocks her. Garret comes in a says the burns were to bad to save her. Jordan now has to tell the mother which will not be easy.

Meanwhile, the always lovable Dr. Stiles is around again and this time he’s looking for Peter. They meet up and chit chat for a bit. Peter mentions he called the doctor since everyone has to get the psych. test eventually. Dr.Stiles mentions this is unusual and seems to feel there’s more going on here than just expedience.

Lily dumps Smith’s stuff on a table and looks it over. Bug comes in and they notice a book with a strange language. Nigel comes in after looking for the ID and announces the language is Tibetan. Apparently he came to US in 1954 as a 17 year old and earned a degree from Princeton in molecular bio. He worked in a grant program there until he mysteriously disappeared. He was tracked thanks to the IRS database and paying his taxes. Bounced around from one menial job to the next. To Bug and the rest it seems the man either had a short attention span or didn’t want to be found.

Lily leaves and enters her office to find a monk standing there. She asks who he is and he tells her he is Smith’s brother who he hasn’t seen in 40 yrs. The victims real name is Geshi Rabten and his brother wants the body as soon as possible. It seems there is to be a ritual performed on the body. Lily tells him that Rabten had a will and different plans for his body. The brother says that’s not good or possible because his brother doesn’t realize he is dead yet. Lily is too wigged out to respond.

Garret and Stiles play chess in his office and talk about Peter and his upcoming psych. test. Garret mentions Peter has been there for 3 months and now he wants the test. Stiles thinks Garret doesn’t like Peter and Garret tells him he has to earn his trust. The guy did have a drug problem anyway. Walcott comes by and Stiles leaves while she and Garret talk. She finds out Grace is dead and is more determined to bring Paxton down. They then talk about their relationship or lack thereof. They are suddenly awkward with each other as they realize that there will be new rules for the two of them. After getting that out of the way Garret turns back to the business at hand and asks Walcott to go easy on Jordan since she’s feeling low about Grace dying.

Over in the autopsy lab, Jordan is doing the autopsy of Grace. She notes the body took the brunt of the explosion. Nigel says she must have been very close to the origin of the explosion. Walcott comes in and Jordan mentions the name Connor Marshall, the man Mrs. Whitford told her about. Walcott is visibly spooked by the name but gives nothing away. As they scan the body they find a bullet hole. She was shot before the explosion.

Peter is talking to Dr.Stiles in the conference room. They talk about his drug use in medical school and how it almost cost him his career. Dr.Stiles jokes about the stress of med school and asks if Peter really likes it here at the city morgue? Peter gives a maybe answer and says it was kind of a last chance deal. Then the big question comes up, does he like Dr. Macy? Peter whines that Macy is judging him unfairly and would like him to get off his back. After whining, Peter wonder at all the unusual questions. Stiles says the regular ones are too boring.

Later in the autopsy lab, Garret is now working on Grace and pulls out the bullet he’s found. He hands it to Nigel while Walcott looks on with a sick look on her face. She wonders why the hospital didn’t find the bullet. Garret says that with all the burns on the body the hospital didn’t bother looking for anything thing else that could have hurt her. They assumed the burns killed her. On a computer they trace the bullet route in the body and see it bounced around the body causing internal bleeding which is what actually killed her. The bullet is a .38 caliber bullet and they run it through the database. Garret then asks about Connor Marshall and Walcott admits she knows about him but won’t say anymore.

Bug is doing the autopsy of Smith and talks to Lily about the guy. He says that Smith died of a heart attack, which means they can bury his body the way he wanted. Lily stall though because she hasn’t made up her mind yet about it. She also wants to know what he was running from.

Jordan has gone to Mrs. Whitford’s apartment to talk to her. The mother is upset as she talks, blaming Connor for killing her girl. She had begged her daughter to leave him , since he was the one to hook her daughter to meth. She decides the best thing to do is go after Connor herself and gets ready to go but Jordan stops her , telling her the police have him in custody and she will let her know anything.

Boston P.D., and the police do indeed have Connor there, interrogating him. Jordan watches the questioning when Walcott arrives. Connor is thankful she’s there as we find out he’s an informant for her.

Later as Walcott and Garret have dinner together she finds out Jordan was watching the interrogating. She tells Garret Jordan is an a problem and should be put on a short leash and stay on her side of the fence. Garret defends Jordan saying she’s not all bad, she just has a strong sense of justice. Walcott gets a call and while talking looks more upset. She asks Garret where Jordan is now but he can’t tell her. She tells the det on the phone to find her and pick her up. She then gets up and leaves.

Jordan is now at the Pogue Mahone, talking to Max. She decides to risk Max’s anger by mentioning James her brother, and wondering if James is her mothers killer. She also wonders if Max still wants revenge and he say no, he’s made peace with it. He asks why all the questions but before she can answer the police come in and ask her to come to the station.

At the police station, Walcott is waiting for her and verbally attacks her the moment Jordan gets into the interrogation room. She asks where Connor Marshall is but Jordan tells her she has no idea. Walcott takes out a bail paper out with her signature on it and shows it to her asking why she bailed out Connor. Jordan denies she even did this and then realizes it was Mrs.Whitford who bailed Connor out. Jordan tells Walcott that she had earlier told the mother that Connor was here. Walcott realizes Whitford wants to kill Connor.

Later Jordan goes to Mrs.Whitford’s apartment looking for her but she’s already left. She finds a notebook but is caught by Walcott and detectives when they come looking for Whitford as well. Walcott is already in a bad mood and seeing Jordan there only makes her worse. She tells Jordan to get lost and asks where Whitford is anyway. Jordan doesn’t have clue, but does give Walcott the notebook who wonders where the missing pages are. Jordan tells her not to take her anger out on her and to read the book.

In the forensic lab Nigel and his computer skills are put to work. They scan the pages and manage to read what was on the previous pages from the indents etc. They learn Mary and her mother were trying to rip off Paxton. Connor is after mother now and she’s after Paxton. Walcott comes by to tell her again not to go near case which Jordan agrees too. That is until Walcott leaves, and Jordan makes plans for traveling to Philly.

Peter is boning up on Drowning victim research when Garret comes by. He asks how his physc tests are going. Peter says he’s only had to have one, but Garret says Stiles is not done with him yet. Peter can’t believe it’s going to take longer as Garret leaves laughing.

Lily visit a Asian tea shop, and asks a friend at the counter if he knew who Sama Rabten was. He does and say the guy was found by monks when young and trained by them. He says the guy was set up to be a great spiritual leader, came to see the ‘59 World Series and then disappeared. He wanted to change his destiny.

Peter is reading his paper when Stiles comes by, and wonders what Peter wants. Peter argues his session was suppose to be over, not ongoing. Stiles counters and wonders why he wanted an early evaluation . Peter continues to argue with him and Stiles leaves, saying he’ll come back when Peter is really ready to talk.

At the Philly airport, Jordan wanders over to the locker area and tries to get into one of the lockers. She is suddenly surrounded by security guards and offers a feeble excuse as to what she was doing. She gets taken to the airport security room where Walcott is already there. Before she can say anything Walcott turns to her and tells her to shut up and sit down. Jordan offers a teasing thumbs up to her.

As they watch the monitors they find that Connor has already been to the lockers and has gotten into a cab. They try to zoom in on the plate number, but while they do so Jordan notices that Whitford is in the cab right behind Connors. Jordan sneaks out the room to find Whitford and when Walcott looks back she notices she’s gone.

Back in Boston, Lily is telling the monks that their brother wanted a different life and that’s why he left and disappeared. The monks don’t believe this and say they must perform the ritual.

Dr. Stiles and Peter meet in the conference room and Peter tells him that he thought an early evaluation would get Garret off his back. Stiles tells him that they are not done yet. He asks him what he thinks he doing at the city morgue and Peter tells him it was the last place to go for him. He want to become a good ME. He mentions the past drug use and Stiles wonders why he went that route. Peter is evasive and makes excuses. Stiles then mentions the fact that Peter was married, but this just makes him mad and he stomps out, leaving a puzzled Stiles behind.

Lily and Bug are talking about the situation with Rabten. She says she can’t really do anything since the will is not legal, which means the family has priority. Lily’s not really happy with this mess believing the man should get what he wished for. Suddenly she gets an idea and rushes out. Bug asks her what she’s going to do but doesn’t get an answer. Later though he and Lily are in the crypt and they watch as the monks surround the Rabten body and perform the ritual. This way both sides get their will done.

Back in Philly, Jordan has traveled to a car repair shop, with the same driver as Whitman took earlier who has lead her to this place. She wonders if this is the right place and he says yes. She phones Nigel and gets some info on Connor who grew up in Philly. He has family here, in fact a brother named Scott who is a mechanic. He works at a Kirby’s Brake Shop, and when Jordan looks up she sees the sign for it in front of her.

Jordan finds Scott and asks him where Connor is. Scott mentions his brother is popular today since another woman asked for him earlier. When Jordan hears this she tells him his brother could be in real trouble, as the woman may want to hurt Connor. He quickly realizes this and gives her the address to find Connor.

When Jordan arrives at the address she finds, Whitford already there pointing a gun at Connor. Jordan talks to her and eventually convinces her to lower her gun. Wolcott arrives with the cops and they take Whitford away as well as Connor. As they leave Jordan wonders if Connor is going to walk. Walcott says he can still give her Paxton as so he most likely won’t do much time or none. She offers a ride to Jordan who refuses, wondering how Walcott can sleep at night with her job.

Back in Boston, at the office Peter phones his ex wife and tries to talk to her. It quickly turns into a shouting match and she hangs up. Peter is upset and busts the phone which Garret witnesses. They talk a little about exes and Peter tells him he’s not interested in the past. Garret keeps at him though to remind him.

Jordan visits Whitford at her apartment who is not happy with her. She wonders why Jordan even bothered with her or with people in general. Jordan says she just wants to help, but Whitford just sneers at her and tells her too bad and slams the door in her face.

Lily and Bug walk in a corridor at Fenway Park. They are carrying the ashes of Rabten. Bug likes the fact she takes things personally and doesn’t back down. He tells her she is who she is- wonderful. Bug is starting to get all mushy when the park keeper tells them to hurry up. They enter the park and spread the ashes.

At the Pogue Mahone, Max teases Jordan over not getting a Philly cheese steak sandwich while in Philly. They don’t say too much as they play a friendly game of pool. Just a nice quiet evening in Boston.

COMMNENTARY

A good if predicable story, with some humor thrown in at places to liven things up a bit. Three stories this time out and all were solid. We get to see Walcott again and get a nice follow up with her and Garret. Jordan gets to annoy her even more which is always fun to watch. As well Lily and Bug keep showing us why they would be great together. We also get to find out about Peter a bit this ep, and the always amusing Dr.Stiles showed up to get under people’s skin, this time Peter’s.

The main story of the Whitfords and Connor Mathews and the problems therein were solid, but also predictable. The moment Mrs. Whitford raved on about Connor you knew she would go after him and try to kill him. It was the detective work by Jordan and Nigel that moved the story along and found out the real reason everyone was mad at the other. The double cross by the Whitfords led to their downfall, while Connor looks as if he’s got a free get out of any trouble card. In the end even Walcott is hesitant to go after him. Which brings up Walcott’s and Jordan’s animosity for each other. It’s still not clear what Walcott has against Jordan unless she just doesn’t like her previous work record. Jordan naturally doesn’t trust lawyers and Walcott is the biggest lawyer around. In the end they pick their sides and go their separate ways but in between Jordan takes a few good shots at Walcott’s expense. Jordan’s mockingly thumbs up when Walcott tells her to sit down and be quiet and when Jordan and Nigel defy her after telling them to stay out of the case, were both amusing to watch.

Lily’s B story was solid as well, and just as interesting. Again you kinda saw that they would allow both the ritual to be performed and let the dead man’s wishes be granted. The telling of the story and how they resolved the conflict was sweet and nice. Lily as always stands up for people, especially if no one will. Bug was right there to help her out and be with her at the end when they went to the ballpark. It is so obvious that he likes her and she’s always going to Bug now to talk about things. I hope they become a couple.

The C story of Peter was a good character building part. We find out that Peter got kicked out of his resideny for drug use, which is why Garret doesn’t seem to like him much. It seems he kicked the habit after seeing his future career going down hill. We find out he was married and seems to have a uneasy relationship with his ex. He tries to pull one over on Stiles, but the doctor doesn’t let him off the hook. He’ll be back soon I think.

Characters in this ep were good as always, and the strongest guest stars were Walcott and Dr. Stiles again. The actress brings such intensity to the character, that you either hate her or love her. I actually just like her, since she has yet to stand up for either side. Dr.Stiles is as amusing and straight forward as always. Here he showed he get ask the right questions and get almost any response. He knows how to get a reaction, and he did so with Peter. The Whitford character was a bit bland and whiny, and I didn’t like the way she pouted at Jordan in the end. She acted selfish then and it was selfishness that got her into trouble, but when your self centered, you become blind to your own faults. The main characters were great as usual, Jordan and Nigel are becoming quite the investigative team while Bug and Lily are becoming the moral and emotional core of the group.

A good episode with good story telling that helped the episode along a prediable path. Walcott was again strong and Dr. Stiles added some humor. The regular characters were as strong as always. The story could have used a twist just to be different, and I think they should try some unpredictable endings that ordinarily would be cliche’. I give this episode 3 out of 5 stars. RTMS TOP.Go to Message Board to Discuss

Ep 19 Dead Wives Club

Another murder at Boston Harbor - one wonders why they don’t keep a temp morgue there. Jordan arrives all bundled up from the brisk wind and needles the acting detective whose name is Rodgers. He’s impatient and a bit crabby with her , which makes her more cutting. They move over to a fishing boat and look inside of a large box. They find a body of a woman, perfectly perserved. Before Rodgers can do his check list of things he would like done such as ID, Jordan speaks up telling him the female’s name is Linda Ferris. He wonders how she knew and remarks it must have been a recent killing given the state of the body. Jordan shocks him when she says the woman has been missing for over 13 years. From the looks of it a head wound did her in.

Meanwhile in the crypt, an Allison Davis is being processed and photographed by Bug and Garret. Garret is annoyed that Peter is again late and is grousing about him when Peter shows up. He comes in with Lily and looks sickly as he gazes at the body. Garret starts in on him and asks Lily if a family member has come to ID the body. Lily says the husband has come and looks directly at Peter who confirms this is his ex wife Allison.

Later Garret and Peter talk about the situation. Peter says the two divorced, but before that they took drugs together. Apparently she started when she was 12yrs old and he remembers them getting high together. All the drug using though was hurting his residency and so he cleaned up. Allison did not.

Jordan is watch an old news video on the disappearance of Ferris. We see the husband plead to the public for help finding his wife. Nigel comes in and sees the video pictures of Ferris and then looks at the current body on the table. He’s stunned by how well the body is preserved. Jordan says the water temperature kept the bacteria from growing and decomposing the body. Jordan then relates that Ferris was a cellist and played for the Boston Conservatory, that she quit to teach music in public schools. Nigel marvels at Jordan’s knowledge of the woman and Jordan tells him her father was assigned the case at the time. Jordan muses that everyone loved her, that she was beautiful, tall successful and had a family only to lose her life at such a young age. She wonders why the good ones are always the ones to go. Nigel gets her back on track by mentioning that the husband was the prime suspect at the time. They are told her father is here to ID the body. Mr. Berstrom comes in and is stunned to see the body so well preserved. He remembers always hopping to find his girl alive. He tells Jordan that Linda phoned the night she disappeared, upset about her husband who had an affair she found out about. Wanted to make him pay. Berstrom asks to be with the body alone for a while and she leaves him alone.

In Lily’s office, a Michel Barns is getting counseling over the death of his wife. She was killed by a drunk driver, and Barns is wondering how he’s going to continue on without her. They have kids and now he has to raise them alone. He teaches history while working on his PhD and Gwen worked and looked after the kids so he could continue. In fact he is graduating tomorrow he says, and mentions she was going to pick up his cap and gown when she was killed. Barns breaks down again and Lily can only offer sympathy.

Later Lily talks to Bug who is doing the autopsy of the Barns body. They both realize they can only do whatever they can to help ease the surviving members pain.

Garret and a couple, come out of his office, talking about Allison when they bump into Peter. The couple are Allison’s parents and the father is not happy to see him. They blame Peter for the drug problem, but Peter won’t back down or take the blame saying if they had paid as much attention to Allison as they did their money and business she won’t have turned to drugs in the first place. Garret tells him to cool it and back off and Peter reluctantly leaves, but not before whispering to the father that Allison hated his guts.

Jordan and Nigel are doing the autopsy of Ferris, gathering trace evidence and come across rope markings. They also find the drug Dramine which is usually used to combat seasickness or nausea. They look at the blood tests again and find that she had elevated progestern levels, which means she was pregnant at the time of murder. They find a fetus of a boy in her.

Later Jordan visits the Ferris home and talks to Brad Ferris. She tells him about the finding of the body and the baby of which he didn’t know of. He’s indifferent to it all and informs her he already heard about the finding. He closes the door on her.

Arriving back at the office Jordan talks to Max about the case and he knows she’s fishing for more info. She comments on the husbands coolness, but Max is not so sure Brad killed her. She also mentions that they had taken out life insurance two weeks before the killing, and the sudden selling off of her stuff which to Jordan seem to spell suspicion. Max still says it doesn’t add up to killing her. Jordan gets snippy with him, implying he gives husbands the benefit of the doubt, subtly suggesting his own wife death and mystery. Max gets mad and walks out on her, leaving a frustrated Jordan behind.

Bug is in the tox lab when Peter walks in asking for the tox screen of Allison. Bug tries to persuade him from looking at the results, but gives in eventually. Blood tests show she was on anti-depressants. Peter leaves taking the report, with Bug telling him Garret should see it first.

Nigel gives some more info to Jordan. Tests indicate she faithfully took Pramine, but that it was low when she died. This they surmise meant she was alive for at least a day before she died. They look at X-rays taken of head, which show she bleed to death when hit. They then see an object in the throat area. They open it up to find a button lodged there. Later they have it analyzed and find that it is a mattress button. Jordan thinks Ferris bit it off since she’s found a hairline crack in her teeth. Nigel finds out that the button came off of a out of style mattress that went out a decade ago. He goes into a detailed description of mattress and so on, while Jordan can only grin and bear it. They run it through the computer to find any matches. The computer finds that it is called a Sleep Nice 46-10, low cost, produced in 1988 for low accommodation places. Cheap hotels and the like are the ones who bought the mattress and 500 were sold in Boston at the time.

Jordan goes to see det. Rodgers with the info, but unlike many other detectives he’s not impressed with her or her info. Just then Ferris comes in mad at having to be questioned again.

At a university, Lily watches as Barns graduates. They meet and talk, Barns is still upset, but Lily tries to help giving him a grad gift. He thanks her for everything she’s done so far.

At a doctors office Peter waits patiently while the doctor finishes up with someone. Afterwards he greets Peter warmly. His name is Dr. Cassidy and he was treating Allison with anti depressants. Peter accuses him of killing her, of simply handing her drugs to abuse. Cassidy counters saying Allison still needed help even after Peter left. He then goes over to a cabinet and takes a syringe and drugs. He slips it into Peter’s pocket.

Night time and Lily is getting off work and walking to her car. Barns shows up scaring her. He starts to get physical, holding her arm too tight. She wonders if he’s drunk and breaks away from him. She runs back to office, and into Bug who is leaving. She tells him about Barns and the car, but when they look back he’s gone.

Nighttime and Jordan and Nigel are looking around in a hotel, Fairway. They are on a mattress search and this is the 3^rd hotel. They’ve been through 27 mattresses so far and no leads yet. Manager comes around and is not happy to see them, scaring off customers and such. He lets them into a room and proceed to spray it with luminal. They then scan it with the ultra violet light. They find a big blood stain and they rip up the mattress to see even more blood. While Nigel takes blood samples, Jordan is talking on the phone. She realizes that since the news reporters were camped out at the Ferris home when Linda went missing her husband could not have killed her. Then detective Rodgers comes in, looking incredibly mad with Jordan saying that even though they may have proved Ferris was killed here, the evidence has been tampered with thanks to them.

Peter is looking sad as he walks into the crypt and stares at Allison again. He takes out the needle and drugs.

Jordan has made her way to Max’s bar and is trying to apologize to him. He takes in stride and then talks about the case. He remembers the case well because of the similarities to Jordan. They both liked to run in the evening , in the same area in fact. At the time it happened Max was worried it was indeed Jordan who was missing until she called him later. She relates that at the time she was going through a tough time with a boyfriend, that she lost her virginity,- at this point Max says he doesn’t need to hear this. Jordan goes on says she lost her virginity in college but the guy was a jerk and broke her heart. Jordan went for a run that night and ran the same path as Ferris. Next morning she heard Ferris was missing after running in the same area. She wondered why was Ferris chosen and not her? The whole talk is getting depressing and Max tries to cheer her up by bringing out the case files for Ferris. They notice where the body was found and wonder how it got there.

At Boston PD, Barns is sitting out side an office. Lily shows up and asks what’s wrong. He’s upset that he was brought in last night, he didn’t mean anything by scaring her. Lily says he needs to get control of himself and for his kids. She gives him some doctor recommendations to consider.

Down at the Boston harbor, Jordan and Max question Rendall, the fisherman who found the body. After threatening to expose his illegal fishing habits he admits to finding the body in a inlet reserve. They realize the killer knew enough to hide the body there where it would not be found easily.

Evening at the office, as Garret comes into the lab and sees Peter trying to take some tests on Allison. He seems pale and distracted and Garret realizes he’s been using. They get into a scuffle, and Peter shouts out that he quits and leaves. Garret is left to simmer.

Max and Jordan play their game, they know the killer was looking for a victim, had a vehicle and brought her to hotel and then killer her. They figure he put her in a trunk and boated out to the reserve and threw it overboard. Jordan thinks she knows who may have killed her.

At the hotel Max and Jordan intimidate the manager. They believe he knows who killed Ferris. They tell him they know about his record, attempted murder and he finally gives them a name, Travis Hubbard.

Back at the office later, Garret and Jordan talk about cases. He mentions Peter’s quitting which surprises her but she says he won’t stay mad at him for long. He’s got a St. Jude complex- and likes to help out the lost cause. She points to her own problems and how he helps her out. Nigel sees her and motions her over to tell her some info on Hubbard. They find out the guy is in prison.

Evening at Max’s bar Peter is having a few drinks and looking sorry for himself. Garret decides to drop by which just makes Peter’s day. Garret though isn’t there for a confrontation, he’s come by with info on Allison. It seems she didn’t overdose, since the anti depressant was too low a dose. It seems she was trying to kick the habit and was going through withdrawal. She unfortunately did it too fast and dehydrated herself and had a seizure. Garret tells him to go home and glances at Peters arm where a needle mark is. This makes Peter mad and he tells him off. Garret tells him at least Allison was trying to get her life back together, what’s his excuse?

At the Mass. Correction detention Jordan talks to prisoner Hubbard. He’s leery of her at first, and Jordan presses her case, that he has really nothing to lose. She shows him the picture of Ferris.

Lily and Bug are talking and he tells her that just because this case kinda got screwed up, she should throw in the towel. She wonders if she will ever make a mistake again and Bug says yes, but that is what may happen when you help others, which is something she told him once.

Dr.Cassidy’s office again and Peter is once more there. They talk and Peter seems frustrated. He request more drugs from the doctor, and Cassidy says he understands. He goes to his cabinet and takes the drugs out and goes to hand them to Peter. Just then he notices a mike on Peter and Garret and the Police burst in and arrest the doctor. It seems it was quick sting operation that Peter and Garret took to the police. Outside as Cassidy is led away Garret congratulates Peter. Peter wonders why Garret would help him and Garret says he’s a glutton for punishment. He also tells him to be at work on time tomorrow.

Next day and Jordan visits the Ferris house, informing him of who Linda’s real murder was. She moves aside and reveal Linda’s dad who would like to talk to him. Jordan apologizes for her earlier assessment of him.

Later at the bar, Jordan shows up and goes to get a drink when Max tells her it’s already taken care of. It seems Det. Rodgers paid for it, his way of saying thankyou for helping solving the case. Max teases her asking how old Rodgers is,12? Jordan plays along saying Boston PD is recruiting from summer camp. They talk about Hubbard and Jordan says there is still no real answers as to why it happened. Max tells her in the end questions are sometimes all you have left of the person.

COMMENTARY

A really good episode with three stories all dealing of course with wives and the differences between them. I found the ironic twist of Jordan’s case coupled with the dread that she could have been hurt, a great way of solving the case. Peter on the other hand had to deal with a dead ex wife who he had just tried to talk to last episode. Then we have the Barns case and see what losing a beloved wife can do to the people left behind.

Jordan’s case was both scary and thanks to current events ironic. Jordan, before she really knows anything, judges the husband guilty in the Ferris case. She won’t even listen to her father Max who handled the case 13 yrs ago, even going so far as to make a snide comment that upsets him. Only when she starts to look at the evidence and finds that the woman died later then immediately, does she find out that the husband was innocent. Before she finds out who did kill Ferris, we find out that she herself could easily had been the victim so many years ago. She ran in the same area, in fact the same path as Ferris did and yet was not chosen. She keeps wondering why, even when she finds the guy who did kill Ferris in jail. Why didn’t he go for her is all she can ask. Of course the whole story takes a twist considering the real life events of the Lacey Scott case now going on. Everyone is pointing the finger at the husband and he’s been charged unlike the Ferris husband who was only a suspect.

Peter’s problems just seem to get worse at first glance when the episode starts. He has to id is ex wife who he just had a shouting match with last episode. When he takes the drugs from Cassidy and later seems to have taken them I thought for a moment we were going to lose another doctor at the morgue. Luckily Garret really doesn’t give up on him and together they trap the doctor in a sting. I’m glad to see that Peter didn’t go down the obvious drug way but decided to get rid of the source of the problem. It was also nice to know that Allison was finally trying to kick the drug habit, sadly only to be killed by cleaning up too fast.

Finally we get the Barns case and Lily is again shown to be the ever helpful person she is. This time out it almost backfires on her as Barns becomes too emotionally attached to her and wants someone to let out his frustration and sadness on. He focuses on Lily too much, but she sets him straight in the end. She herself wonders if she should give so much of herself when counseling , and Bug tells her that’s the risk she takes to make people feel better and deal with their lose.

Characterization was great all around, the main characters especially. Jordan and Max have another spat and her cutting comment to him was uncalled for but understandable given the many secrets he seems to continue hiding from her. She must have this going on in the back of her head as she makes the remark. They smooth things over in the end and are thankful she wasn’t killed all those years ago. Peter gets emotional whiplash here as he goes from grief to feel good satisfaction seeing the doctor who helped hook he and Allison on drugs get arrested. Lily on the other hand has to struggle with the idea of not getting so involved with her patients. She seems to go to far with Barns, coming to his graduation and getting him a grad gift. In the end while she has to kick him between the eyes to see straight, she won’t hold back when helping others.

A very good episode, with three strong stories dealing with the lose of a woman in different ways. The main characters had to deal each with a personal issue, Jordan wondering what if she had been chosen to die, Peter dealing with his ex wife who he never had a chance to reconcile with and Lily wondering if she should get to involved with the people she helps. An solid all around episode. I give it 4 stars out of 5. RTMS  TOP