Murder in the First Season 3 Episode Guide:
3.01. Normandy, Bitch - Review!
3.02. Tropic of Cancer - Review!
3.03. Black and Blue - Airs July 10
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
3.09. Daddy Dearest - August 21
3.10. Rise of the Phoenix - August 28
Murder in the First 3.02 - Review:
Directed by Rick Wallace & Written by Daniele Nathanson
The first episode got off to an interesting note by giving Hildy an interesting dilemma in the fact that she apparently had advanced breast cancer. This could have given the show a new direction to take with Hildy's newfound problems but the writers apparently decided to sidestep it fairly quickly by having the tests be revealed as a mistake. It didn't quite have the transition that it needed to and felt kind of like a rushed resolution, but it did pave way to a potentially major development in that Terry and Hildy hooked up, leading to both of them having sex. Its something that could potentially lead to a relationship between the two in the future and it will be interesting to see what happens going forward, but for now both Hildy and Terry are faced with bigger problems. But we'll come to those later.
Silietti, whose arguing-while driving led to the death of a girl last week, now finds himself turning to a specialist in DUI cases. His case suffered a setback when he learnt that he couldn't defend himself in court, and he's going to have to rely on somebody else to do the job for him. Silietti is basically doing all the work for his attorney, but it'll be interesting to see how far this gets him against Melissa Danson, a lawyer who won't back down easily and is going to give Silietti a fighting chance, having been at the party where she saw how much he was drinking. This show has tackled court-cases with mixed results in the past and it will no doubt be interesting to see what twists and turns this storyline continues to give us going forward. At the moment I'm not as invested in Silietti's character as I am Hildy and Terry, but there is potential for him to grow on me going forward.
The third storyline also concerns Molk and Navarro who find themselves moving from Silietti to the aftermath of a convenience store shout-out. The tape includes Billy James, the prime suspect in the Normandy Parker case. It's also important to note that Terry and Hildy also dug up some new information earlier in the episode whilst interviewing Alicia Barnes, Parker's girlfriend, that Billy was apparently sleeping with Daphne, Billy's wife.
And then for Terry, this is where things go horribly wrong when he and Hildy join a SWAT team to bust the building where Billy is reportedly staying following a tip that Molk received . He chases a man who he thinks is Billy and shoots him in self-defence after he looked to be pulling a gun on Terry. However, Koto breaks the bad news to Terry and tells him that not only was there apparently no gun used in the shooting but also the man isn't actually Billy James at all. This promptly leads to protests at the police station, sparking light to a tragedy that probably won't go away as quickly as Hildy's breast cancer scare.
It also leads to an interesting development that will no doubt give Terry plenty of baggage in future episodes and there's plenty of potential for the writers to tackle this relevant case and see how it emerges going forward, throwing a fresh new twist in front of our characters that continues to make things interesting.
What did you think of Tropic of Cancer? Let me know in the comments section below and be sure to check out the next episode of Murder in the First next Sunday on TNT.
Overall Episode Verdict: B+
Positives:
+Terry/Hildy
+New development with Terry's storyline.
+Silietti having to work through a lawyer.
Negatives:
-Hildy's Breast cancer resolution rushed?
