2.18 - "BADGES AND BOMBSHELLS"
Directed by Milan Cheylov
Written by Todd Harthan & Marc Halsey
Reviewed by Kelly Anne Blount
The episode starts with a bang, literally! A nervous man heads down an elevator while holding his chest and races away from his office building in a car. A few moments later, a police officer investigates his car, which is pulled over on the side of a bridge. As she walks away, it explodes! Nice hook!
We quickly cut to the East Miami PD Ball, made possible thanks to a big donation from Rosey. Aw! Thanks nice! The Captain is making a speech and everyone looks amazing! He does ask the DJ not to play any Pitbull. What’s up with that? He’s Mister World Wide!
Mitchie is still obsessing over his “lip glaze” with Tara. I’d say it was a lot more then a lip glaze. It was a full-blown kiss with feelings attached! He thinks Pippy is throwing him shade over the situation. Tara reassures him that she explained what happened and that it was all her fault. She and Pippy are focusing on their wedding, which is only two weeks away. Side note, they are both going to make stunning brides!
Holy cow! Dream-like-hook-up-sequence! Clearing tables and dropping dresses! Le sigh… It didn’t really happen. Good news though, Villa just invited Rosie to hang out this weekend! Hashtag, #ItIsOn!
Captain interrupts the moment saying there’s a problem. I guess I should expect this, they are cops and there is always a problem, but I wanted more Rosie and Villa!
Everyone arrives at the bridge where the mystery guy’s car blew up. Rosie and Villa confirm their date. *squeal* Then, it’s back to business. Someone used C4 to blow up the car. Body. Parts. Are. Everywhere.
Rosie’s crew arrives and he quickly instructs them to bag and tag everything that was once part of the victim.
The next morning Mrs. Rosewood comes into the office humming. Must be a new man! Pippy and Rosie are on it! She only shares his name is Gerald and that he’s from Daytona. It seems that Rosie and Pippy are okay with their mother dating now. Maybe we’ll get to meet the elusive Gerald later in the episode.
Villa stops by to check up on the team’s progress. She and Rosie are all, “Hi.” *batting eyelashes* “Oh, hi!” *smiling coyly* Not going to lie, it’s adorable!
The team updates Villa that there was one male victim who appears to work at a pharmaceutical company. He appears to have been drugged and his heart was purposely stopped before the explosion, but they can’t figure out the drug. Why would someone take the time to blow up a dead victim?
Even as they are on the way to the victim’s place of employment, Villa and Rosie can’t stop talking about their date. They are so going to hook up!
Ooh, Rosie can speak Italian. I’m pretty sure if they weren’t on the job, Villa would rip off his clothes right now. But they are at work, so they refocus on the victim’s boss.
The boss shares that the victim, Joe Campos, is a junior associate at the company. He asks for Joe’s files and then shares that his father told him to get into real estate. He brags that he took the money from his real estate earnings and created the pharmaceutical company, which now brings in two billion a year. I’m pretty sure if this guy were writing a memo right now, it would say, “I don’t know if you got the memo, but I’m kind of a big deal.”
In comes his high-powered female associate. She is all business and she acts like she could care less that Joe Campos is dead. Hmmmm… Is she really that heartless, is she all business, or does she know something more about the victim?
The boss hits on Villa. He asks her on a date, but she tells him she’s busy. Yeah, busy with Rosie! *wink, wink*
Pippy and Tara grill Rosie on his date with Villa. He doesn’t share much, just that it’s a date on Saturday.
We find out that Joe Campos, the victim was once in prison. Interesting! Rosie and Villa go to visit Judge Walters, the man who sentenced him. It turns out that Joe Campos went to prison as a juvenile for selling fake IDs.
Villa uses her charm with the judge and shares that her husband turned his life around, just like the victim, after brushes with the law. The Judge Walters wishes there were more success stories like this out there in the world.
Judge Walters points them in the direction of his old friend Louie Van Winkle a.k.a. Louie Runs A Lot. I think I need a fun nickname like that. Kelly Types A Lot? Somehow that just doesn’t have the same ring…
Anyways, Rosie and Villa make a stop by Louie’s house. The actor looks super familiar. I had to stop to IMDB him, guess which movie he was in? The Fast and the Furious! He played Jesse. Aw. He’s also been in about 90 gazillion other shows, but he’s really throwing out that Jesse vibe. Sorry, I digress.
Rosie and Villa are talking about their date again. Villa says she’s going to make him pizza. That’s sweet.
They roll up on Louie, who looks like he’s running an illegal gambling ring in his backyard/antique business. He is shocked to hear that Joe Campos is dead.
WHOA! Bomb dropped in the men’s room! Some mysterious guy calls the Captain by his first name and accuses him of some wrong doing when he was a rookie at 2242 Oriel Lane. The mystery man tells the Captain he needs to make the Joe Campos investigation go away or he will expose him. Uh oh! I wonder what the Captain did?
Louie is lying about not knowing Joe Campos. Surprise surprise! Villa and Rosie call him on his lie. The victim called Louie three times the night he died and in the past, Joe Campos repeatedly bailed Louie out of jail.
Captain is acting strange and Villa picks up on the weird moment.
Oh my! Andre Warden, the owner of the pharmaceutical company sent Villa a dress he saw in London. FYI – It’s a super hot and expensive looking dress too! He wants her to come to his party wearing it. Villa says she’s not a doll and she doesn’t get why men want to dress her up.
Now the Captain is getting all serious with Villa about her date with Rosie. He says, “It’s a big deal!” Well, duh!
Tara and Pippy are all adorable and talking about their wedding. They’ve both finished their vows and Rosie is officiating. Aw! I can’t wait to see it! I wonder if we’ll see it tonight?
Mitchie has done some good detective and pathology work. He found out where the victim last ate. It’s an Asian-Mexican fusion restaurant. Turns out Joe Campos met the high-powered female associate, Carla Reid, at the restaurant. Interesting! Carla has lied about hanging out with the victim.
Carla Reid won’t answer Villa’s calls. Rosie comes up with the idea for Villa to attend Andre Warden’s party, with him as her plus one. Villa lots hot in the dress Andrew bought her!
Villa and Rosie are talking about their date again. She’s going to make him her father’s special pizza recipe. Turns out it was the last thing she made for her late husband, Eddie, the night he passed away. They talk about Villa and Eddie doing adult things. This is getting weird. Luckily, the awkwardness stops when the elevator brings them to the floor the party is being hosted on.
Rosie sneaks in a quick call to Mitchie, who has found out which drug was in Joe Campos’ system when he died. Way to go, Mitchie! He also asks him to do a top-secret favor… Hmmmm! Wonder what it could be?
Guess what? The drug that was found in Joe Campos’ system came from the pharmaceutical company he worked for, surprise, surprise!
Villa goes after Andre Warden and Rosie tackles Carla Reid.
Carla rolls over like my puppy when he wants his belly rubbed. She the judge who sent Joe Campos to juvie as a kid is involved. Uh oh!
Wow! Pippy is trying on her wedding dress. Her mom is there, but only for a few minutes because she’s driving to Daytona to meet Gerald. Ooh la la! OMG! Pippy looks B-E-A-U-TIFUL!
Uh oh… Tara just lost her mind. She says that she’s lost and confused. She doesn’t know who she is without Pippy. EEK! She says she only knows who she is when she’s with Pippy. She said she’s scared and doesn’t know who she really is. OH MY GOSH! She ends things with Pippy! WHAT? I did NOT see that coming! *insert sad face* NO! This can’t be the end!
My mind is still reeling over the Tara and Pippy thing as another bomb is dropped. Andre Warden, the head of the pharmaceutical company, owns the juvenile detention facility that Judge Walters sentenced Joe Campos to as a kid.
Turns out Judge Walters was giving out harsh sentences to minor crimes. I think this happened in real life and possibly on a Law and Order SVU episode as well… I’ll need to look back into that!
So, Andre Ward was paying Judge Walters to help keep his juvenile detention facility full. What horrible human beings!
Rosie and Villa figure out that Joe Campos hid evidence at his buddy Louie’s house. They find a flash drive, but before they can get back to their car, someone starts shooting at them. EEK! Rosie offers himself up as bait to draw out the gunman. Villa doesn’t want to risk it. In between shots being fired at their heads, they clarify that Saturday night is an official date night, then, Rosie goes for it. Villa brings the man down with her only remaining shot. Phew!
WHOA! It’s the guy that was talking to the Captain in the beginning of the episode! What is he doing there? Why is he shooting at Rosie and Villa?
Back at the station, the Captain won’t let Villa interrogate the shooter. Interesting… Is it because he has something on the Captain or is it because he’s afraid he’ll lawyer up and they’ll never find figure out what happened?
Pippy is drinking at work. She has a heart to heart with Rosie. She says that she can’t work with Tara aka T.M.I. She tells Rosie she’s quitting. I hope this is just a bad dream. I love Tara and Pippy together!
Aw! Villa’s mother is actually acting like a grown up. She gives Villa a “love basket” and lets her know that Eddie would be happy that her life didn’t end when his did, because she’s finally found someone worthy of her love, Rosewood.
Meanwhile, back at the lab, Rosie and Mitchie are talking about some secret side project. Hmmmm… What are these two up to?
Rosie finds a clue. He finds cuff links that didn’t belong to Joe Campos. Villa also finds a clue; she finds prisoner numbers on the flash drive. They have hard evidence that each prisoner Judge Walters sent to the juvenile detention facility Andre Warden owned, came with a big paycheck. BUSTED!
Captain goes to interrogate the shooter, who Rosie and Villa both think is the owner of the cufflinks found at the scene of the explosion.
ANOTHER BOMBSHELL! We found out what the Captain did at back when he was a rookie at 2242 Oriel Lane. He went to the house and nearly beat a man to death for touching his nine year old son. Wow! It was brushed under the rug by the Captain’s captain back in the day.
Captain tells the shooter that he’s been caught. They have his DNA in the car. They have his cufflinks. He’s done, but not before he tells the guy they are going to negotiate. Eek! Don’t turn bad, Captain!
Rosewood interrupts Andre Warden’s meeting and tells him that he knows what happened. He puts all of Andre’s dirty laundry out there. Villa and several officers walk through the door and arrest Andre. It’s over for this evil man!
Uh oh. The Captain is sitting with folded hands in his office. He glances over at a letter before picking it up and walking down to Internal Affairs office. Holy cow! He tells the officers working there that after they read the letter, they are going to want his gun and badge. He walks away without another word.
Rosie is getting ready. Pippy is crashing at his house. Aw, poor Pippy! It must be hard watching her brother go on his date.
Mitchie calls Rosie. The mystery side project they are working on just got even more mysterious! The blood work of the person they are investigating shows that the victim died of a vitamin K overdose. The other medical examiner missed it. Who the heck are they investigating? I NEED TO KNOW!
NO! What is happening on this show! Rosie and Pippy’s mother is in jail, VISITING GERALD! Is this her new man? My jaw seriously just dropped.
It’s finally here! Rosie and Villa’s date night! She looks stunning! Rosie says he needs to tell her something first. STOP IT ROSIE! STOP RUINING THE MOMENT! He tells Villa that Eddie, her deceased husband, died of a vitamin K overdose. He believes that Eddie did not die of natural consequences; he believes that Eddie was murdered.
Villa does not take the news well. She accuses Rosie of pushing her away. She says that Eddie wasn’t murdered, she would have known.
Things are getting intense. Villa is pissed! She kicks Rosie out and tells him they are done! Not only with the night, but she wants him out of her life! NOOOOOO! This can’t be happening!
The episode ends with Rosie looking at Eddie’s information in his lab.
***
My Take On the Episode:
This episode was an emotional rollercoaster! Our hopes and dreams of Rosie and Villa hooking up were shattered. The Captain might get fired. Tara and Pippy’s wedding has been cancelled. Rosie and Pippy’s mom is potentially dating a convict. Eddie was possibly murdered. Talk about a cliffhanger ending!
Even though the episode ended with so many unanswered questions, I think they did a phenomenal job! I seriously cannot WAIT to see what Season Two brings!
Two thumbs up from me!
