Major Crimes - Thick As Thieves - Review

This week’s case was one of those cases that’s filled with the unexpected. I especially love these types of cases when I don’t guess the killer. This episode hit all the marks that I love.

A young man, Cory Hewitt, is found dead in the basement of an empty house. The bail bondsmen/bounty hunters that stand to lose the million dollars they put up for his bail discover the body. We soon learn that he’s a petty criminal who was arrested for committing an armed robbery in which 3 million dollars worth of diamonds were stolen. Given Cory’s record, everyone is pretty sure he had an accomplice on this robbery who was actually smart. Excellent assumption considering the accomplice was smart enough to make sure the only face the victims saw clearly was Cory’s.

The unit’s initial focus is on finding that accomplice. They dumped the payphone Cory used when he was released from jail, and it leads to a stolen identity and a missing persons report.

Not surprisingly, the man behind the stolen identity (and several others) is a con man, Avery Cook, who, among other scams, was stealing money from investors for a restaurant. What is surprising is the fact that there is a physical location for this restaurant. Also surprising is that Tao, Sanchez, and Sykes find Cory’s mother in the restaurant trying to find the missing diamonds. Turns out Mrs. Hewitt and Avery Cook had been in a relationship for over a year. They planned the robbery and were planning to take Cory and skip town. Or not, depending on whether you believe that Cook was telling the Hewitts the truth or just scamming them.

Kudos to the actor playing Avery Cook; his performance during his interrogation was fun. I loved the way he used his eyes every time he had to craft a response to Raydor’s questions. It was a small touch that really sold the character to me.

What I did NOT expect was for the killer to have nothing directly to do with the robbery case. It seems Cory’s mom had borrowed so much to pay Cory’s bail previously that no one would loan her the $100,000 she needed to bail him out this time. So she paid the woman who owned the bail bonds company with two of the diamonds. Ms. Tamayo wanted the rest of the diamonds and killed Cory in order to get them.

I’m beginning to think Buzz is earning credits to get him into the police academy. He’s now taking a “reserve detective class”. I have been having so much fun with Buzz this season.

Slider’s murder case goes to trial this week. Rusty seems to have suddenly realized that he’s going to have to face a person he’s been avoiding: Mariana’s brother. He hasn’t communicated with the man since he left town, despite his attempts to communicate with Rusty. Sharon is not amused.

My parents vocalized when they felt I was behaving badly. Sharon prefers the Parental Disapproving Look. She is really good at it. When she finds out that Rusty never told Gus that he’s been doing a story on Slider, she’s not happy and Rusty knows it. Rusty promises to tell him. Unfortunately, the case is more of a slam dunk than anyone expected, and the jury is back before the end of the day.

Slider’s lawyer serves Rusty with papers requiring him to be a character witness at the sentencing hearing. This is how Gus finds out that Rusty has “befriended” Slider. Rusty was so focused on the Judge’s requirement that he not talk to Slider about the crime or the trial that he is completely blindsided by this maneuver. Gus, rightly, feels betrayed.

Not talking to Gus isn’t Rusty’s only mistake in this storyline. His inability to manage Slider without leading him on is a huge part of why he has been summoned to the sentencing and I keep thinking it’s going to bite Rusty in the butt in some other way we don’t yet know about. Gotta say it is all making this story a lot more interesting to me.

A couple of asides:

Andy’s 10 second pause in the courtroom was extremely effective because of his possible stroke story. I really wondered, for a moment, if he had had a stroke. From the reaction of the other Major Crimes personnel in the courtroom, I wasn’t the only person worried.

Early in the episode, Sykes tell’s Provenza that, having just gotten engaged, he should be happy. It got me to wondering about a young Provenza basking in the warm afterglow of his very first proposal. The idea of Provenza besotted with love is impossible to envision.

I really enjoyed this week’s episode. What were your thoughts on it.

About the Author - Prpleight

Prpleight is a screenwriter and senior software engineer with solid geek cred. When not writing code, screenplays, or watching TV (sometimes she does all three at the same time), she uses her broadsword Bessie to battle evil. She's been a frequent contributor to the SpoilerTV discussion boards for several years now.

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