Murder in the First Season 3 Episode Guide:
3.01. Normandy, Bitch - Review!
3.02. Tropic of Cancer - Review!
3.03. Black and Blue - Review!
3.04. The Barbers of Seville - Airs July 17!
3.05. Follow the Money - Airs July 24
3.06. Sam I Am - Airs July 31
3.07. Let's Make a Deal - Airs August 14
3.08. Daddy Dearest - Airs August 21
3.09. Rise of the Phoenix - Airs August 28
3.10. Kat's Meow - Airs September 4
Murder in the First 3.03. Black and Blue - Review:
Directed by Eriq LaSalle & Written by Corinne Marrinan
After Terry ends up killing the wrong man after believing that he had a gun and was ready to shoot, public protests began to erupt across San Francisco. We see protesters outside the San Francisco Police Department Headquaters, and Terry has been forced into doing everything incognito, including retracing the crime scene in a bid to attempt to find the gun. Hildy testifies that the victim did have a gun along with Terry, even though she didn't see one. It turns out that Terry was right after all and the gun was dropped, only to be carried off by a young boy who found it and ran. This is enough for Terry to return to active duty after this incident, but he has to make a speech at a press-conference first.
His speech is hard hitting and one of the better moments of the season so far that shows the best of what you can do when you have a good cast like this show does. Taye Diggs' speech was incredibly well delivered, with Terry going off what he was meant to say to tell the public that not only would the situation be different had he not fired and Calvin Jackson fired at him, with the same community response due to his death, but also states that the killing couldn't have been racially motivated because he and Jackson were both black. This show has always tackled real-life issues like this one here and for the most part, it handles it pretty well showing that actions do indeed have consequences.
We then learnt that Billy James was in fact found in a homeless encampment following a tip, but he wasn't answering to questioning despite Hildy's best efforts. They need Billy to admit that he killed Normandy but they don't have any evidence that puts him at the scene of the crime. However we learn that Billy may have had another reason behind staying in San Francisco rather than vanishing right away, because he was found with a significant portion of money, that would normally be enough for him to get out of the city on his own, but if he had more money it would have provided him with a better safety-net and it's clear that whilst Billy may have pulled the trigger, someone else may have hired him to do the deed. At first Billy looks like the obvious candidate for the death of Normandy, but there's got to be others now as well that will cause the investigation to expand further.
Meanwhile Siletti finds himself digging deeper and deeper into a hole, trying to talk to the attorney general Dansen and the acting D.A in an effort to try and get them to reduce the charges. He then decides to go to his wife and apologizes, breaking down in the car, telling her that she shouldn't hold herself responsible for arguing with him in the first place, and that it was all his fault. His lawyer after all has told him that it is very important that his wife doesn't testify against him, so it's in Siletti's best interests to repair his relationship with her. If it were not for the good acting on display here from Currie Graham I probably wouldn't care that much about what's going on with this disconnected storyline, but it's an interesting diversion that makes good use of Siletti's character. With six episodes to go before the end of Season 3 I wonder how long they can keep this trial up, and whether the writers will try to connect it with Hildy and Terry's storyline further, but for now we'll have to wait and see.
Also, Terry stayed round Hildy's house to watch Back to the Future with her daughter at the end of the episode, which made a nice final scene. We'll have to find out on Sunday at 10pm on TNT where the show takes us next, but for now, things are pretty good as the show is now well into Season 3. I'm not sure whether the series has been renewed yet for a fourth Season but based on the strength of the last few episodes I really hope it does, because the show has been in very good form so far.
Overall Episode Verdict: B+
Positives:
+Terry's speech.
+Currie Graham.
+Billy James interrogation scene.
