We’re back with one of my favorite type of Major Crimes episodes. To make it more fun, Jack Raydor is back as well.
The episode starts in the courtroom instead of at a crime scene. The lawyers give their opening statements in the trial of a drunk man, Ken Song, who confessed (then recanted) to killing his wife. The expression on Captain Raydor’s face when Jack talked about “the maturity associated with the words ‘husband’ and ‘father’ was absolutely priceless.
Annoyingly, Jack’s “explanation” of why the video sat around for so long (e.g., why he let his client sit in jail for 10 months) is plausible, but I don’t believe it. Jack was a jerk, IMHO, when we first met him, but basically harmless. This version of Jack crosses into words I’d rather not use in this forum.
Raydor, being the professional she is, zeros in on the real issue. Who actually killed Song’s wife? The woman who provided the bar video reveals that Ken was with another woman in the bar; the dead woman’s sister, Mary. Mary confesses to having had an affair with Ken; more importantly, she provides timeline information that contradicts her mother’s statements.
Taylor expresses surprise that Raydor has left Mrs. Lowe with a way to squirm out from under murder charges. Really, Taylor? After all this time you still don’t have faith with this woman’s work? Really?
Needless to say that once she’s gotten the woman to admit to that much, Raydor nails her to the wall with the fact that they know she left her daughter lying there for 3 hours. Mrs. Lowe is arrested for murder.
Jack doesn't escape his just desserts. The judge had Ken Song released into LAPD custody so they can process him out of the system. Raydor, of course, explains the entire situation to Song. Song fires Jack. I cheer.
Rusty has his meeting with Slider, and it goes as, most of us expected it to go. Slider sings his ‘woe is me’ song. The system is against me; has it out for me; and put me here because I’m innocent. Rusty fails to get any kind of control of the interview (a lesson he will need to learn.) Rusty is so disappointed that he’s ready to walk away from the story.
Surprisingly, it’s Andy who talks him into taking another shot. He suggests that Slider may not be entirely wrong about the system being against him. (I suspect that Andy doesn’t mean in the same way Slider means it.) He suggests that Rusty try again but this time display the questions to Slider and see what happens. What happens is that Rusty discovers Slider is illiterate. I don't think he will be walking away from this story.
I confess to being slightly distracted during the scene between Andy and Rusty. I was watching Rusty putting away freshly laundered clothes. He did not put a single thing into a drawer. It made the scene feel more real to me.
I was wrong. It looks like Andy will be staying with the Raydor’s for the remainder of the season. Andy’s check-up revealed a blood clot in his carotid artery. If the medication doesn’t dissolve the clot, he’ll have to have surgery. My paranoid brain is telling me that there will be an unplanned visit to the hospital for Andy before the season is over. They had better not kill off Andy!
The scene where Andy tells Sharon the results of the doctor’s visit was a really nicely done scene. Andy was just adorable. He took careful notes, as though he were interviewing a witness, when talking to the doctor. He knew Sharon would have questions, and he had every detail written down, including the reason that Provenza knew before she did. On the other side of the desk was Sharon’s reaction. She presented a calm professional demeanor, but it was easy to see that, when he said blood clot, she barely contained a note of hysteria. My impression was that Andy deliberately presented this information under a professional guise to help both of them keep emotions in check.
They’d better not kill off this character.
All in all I thought it was a great episode. It was a nice way to bring Jack back onto the canvas. I couldn’t help think this was the guy that Raydor divorced. Did you enjoy the episode as much as I did?
