I have a strange relationship with Chase; I'm never quite sure what to think about it. Not unlike the central relationship in this episode, which sees Jackson Cooper (played by Steven Strait, best known for starring in The Covenant and Sky High) disappear with his much younger girlfriend Corrina after offing her father (David Keith, most recently seen as con-man father John Allen on FOX's Lone Star, which should still be on the air). Being that she is a teenage girl, it's not hard to believe that he can get her wrapped around his finger by promising her everything she's always wanted, even if he's beating people to death in bathrooms. I think anyone can identify with how that entire period in life seems to make us all go vaguely stupid.
It's not long, however, before Jackson's true nature shows itself, and Annie and the team set out to track him down before he can make Corrina his next victim. The case itself is fairly straightforward, moving at a reasonable clip as Jackson continues to cut a dangerous swath from Texas to California, while the Marshals continue to close in on him. (What would we do without cell phones?) It's an interesting twist that he ends up on the doorstep of one of his past victims, with whom he's unknowingly fathered a child; unfortunately, it's dropped almost as quickly as it's revealed. It doesn't help that the two main guest actors are less than engaging; neither of them register at all. Chase has cast some pretty scary villains, but Strait is easily the weakest one.
The episode manages to depart from, as a family member of mine put it, "the part where [Annie] singlehandedly takes off and catches the guy," by allowing Marco to be the one to make the arrest. However, it doesn't live up to the stated promise in the press release that Annie "must confront her own family history." She used it as common ground but she certainly didn't confront it. The show's teased us with the promise of Annie's backstory, and it's out there to be had, but it's not in this episode. Shame, too, because it probably would've spiced up an otherwise unremarkable episode. After this, I'm still trying to figure this show out.
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Brittany Frederick
DigitalAirwaves.net
