Major Crimes - Chain Reaction - Review - "I Killed Santa Claus!?"

3.15 - "Chain Reaction"

In a strong holiday-themed episode, we met a trigger-happy Saint Nick, a deluded and shameless murderer, and a look into Sharon's family's Christmas dinner plans, and all the drama that has gone down over the years.

"A bleeding Saint Nick..."

The episode started with a Santa Claus flashmob: dozens of Santa Clauses dancing outside of a bank to everyone's amusement...Well, except for the poor teller who was being robbed, while everyone else was distracted by the joyful display of holiday cheer. After the robber instructed the teller and her supervisor, Mel, to hand over roughly $120,000 into a red felt Santa bag, he made off with the money in the middle of the crowd of dancing Santas, and then apparently dropped his gun, which went off and scared everyone in all directions.

One of the other Santas, an armed older gentleman, caught sight of the robber and shot him amid the chaos, but he was then shot down by a guard who thought he was the shooter. He died on the site, and was first seen as the primary suspect until they realized that not only was the money missing, but this Saint Nick had a real beard, while the bank footage showed the robber was wearing a fake beard...

They played "whodunnit" roulette, going from one suspect to the next, interviewing everyone from the flashmob choreographer to the bank teller while tracking the blood trail that eventually led to the thief himself. The robber Santa was found dead from his wound inflicted by the flashmob Santa in his car right outside the hospital, but still the money was missing. After searching through the choreographer's apartment, they found that the robber and the choreographer were lovers... But there was still a piece of the plan missing, as they couldn't have pulled off all that without prior knowledge of how the bank worked. When Mel, the bank supervisor was sought out, they found her returning home in a cab, while her son, Kevin had been left alone at home. They were brought into the station for more questioning.

"Mystery solved, justice served...Let's fill out the paperwork."

Mel immediately put on a show of waterworks when pressed for where she was. No one fell for it, and soon after they got her side of the story, which was that the choreographer, Lydia Manning forced her to partake in the robbery or else they'd hurt her son, Sharon had a group immediately disband to search Mel's house. Meanwhile, her son Kevin sheepishly practiced playing the cello (?) for Detective Sanchez in another interview room.

They found Lydia Manning's body stuffed in an instrument case under Mel's bed, but the money was still no where to be found. They weren't going to get anything from Mel yet, so Sharon thought to see if Kevin knew anything about where his mother had been that day. He mentioned that she had gone by the school earlier, and there was where they found the bag of cash that was missing the entire episode. When finally faced with the proof that they had on her, Mel spouted off about doing it for her son, but also more importantly, for the world. Yes, murder and robbery is totally on the table when you think your son is a wunderkind. Of course, she wasn't wrong about Kevin, he was a remarkably talented boy, and it was unfortunate that he had Mel as a mother, as she couldn't see that he didn't need her to rob people blind to put him in a special private academy, but rather work towards goals as such, and now he'll be a talented child with a mother in prison for the rest of his life. Thankfully, his father showed up, and it seemed as though they would maybe persevere without Mel, and her delusions.

"That looks like a guilt cookie!"

Throughout the episode, we had glimpses into the Raydor family's backstory. Emily and Ricky were in town for shopping, and Sharon pulled herself out of a day off to help find the robber. Later that day, Ricky and Emily argued about whether to tell Sharon about how their father was drinking again. They lamented their family's current state, and decided to not tell her that her alcoholic ex-husband hadn't been sober in a while.

Their squabbles seemed a bit pale in comparison to Rusty's, as when Emily asked about where he was going on that evening, he said he needed to speak to his drug-addicted felon mother, who had abandoned him more than once. He said that around that time of the year it's the best time to be present for someone struggling with addiction. He strongly opposed the siblings keeping their father's alcoholism from Sharon, and in the last scene he tried to coax Emily into telling Sharon, but she chickened out. Originally, they had a party planned for the whole team at Sharon's house, but when time was of the essence, they decided (without her knowledge) to have it at the station since no one could leave until the investigation was over.

In the end, Provenza's newfound friend Patrice showed up, and while he was still raving about getting a nice room somewhere in Laguna Beach, she said that she was there to spend time with him, and it didn't matter where they were. It was a nice moment, and it was great to see that character brought back into the show for a quick but heartfelt scene.

"Merry Christmas to you, and all the rest of your fellow reindeer assholes!"

Sidenotes:

- The Older Santa's wife/widow was a great play on an "All-American gun-totin' citizen" character, who gave legitimate reasons for carrying arms, and was clearly a knowledgeable person who was originally portrayed as a laughingstock. Then, when they told her about her husband's death, her heartbreak was potent and genuine. Fantastic small scene for a one-off character.

- Buzz was a great source of humor this episode. Poor fellow never saw that dye pack coming, and had to wear that green face for the rest of the episode. Every time I saw his face I had to giggle just like the other characters...

- Ricky said he put on a show for Sharon and made a big deal out of something he doesn't really care too much about, but he certainly still knew all the little figurines' names, and could list them out loud effortlessly, could he not?

- There were a lot of very funny one-liners and things here and there embedded in this episode. The robber dying from butt cheek implants making his blood loss worse? The bank teller saying "I have an online shopping problem...", "I'm Canadian!", and a few other things, had me laughing an awful lot during this episode.

- Anyone else notice that little exchange where Sharon was like "we are not bringing up our relationship to Emily or Ricky right now"? -- Good to see those little awkward moments haven't been dropped...

What did you think of this week's episode? Start a discussion below in the comments!

About the Author - Wilson Crawford

Wilson is an avid fan of television, music, and the occasional video game. He enjoys well-written, thought-provoking characters and series that get better with age. Current favorites include The Good Wife and Mad Men. Past favorites include Damages, Fringe, Breaking Bad, 30 Rock, and Veronica Mars.

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