Major Crimes - White Lies Pt. 2 - Review: "The Lost Soul of the Year"

I was a little too exhausted last week to take in all of the episode the first time I watched it. After watching a second time, I found I really like the slight difference in tone from the first episode of the three parter.

I really can’t think of another show where the writers are so good they can go from a hard moving action episode to a flashback-framed episode in the telling of a single big story.

Raydor recounts the bulk of story as she confesses to her priest. In the end he tells her that she may not be feeling the need for absolution because she’s received it from everyone already. He asks who else she needs absolution from, and we find that she’s also received it from Dwight Darnell’s mother.

This episode was about the puzzle pieces. An undercover cop named Detective Wes Nolan filled some of those pieces in. This guy got himself pulled in, in a very interesting way. He tried to punch Flynn in the middle of the near riot in NaziLand. The poor man was undercover for almost six years! I cannot imagine.

Anyway, he was able to provide some insight on the power structure of the Z-Brotherhood. The lawyer we met in the last episode is the new head of the Z-Brotherhood. Except, according to Nolan, that it has always seemed as though there was a silent partner. It’s Flynn who first posits the idea that that partner could have been Deputy Simms.

The more we find out the more logical that idea sounds. The Asian court clerk, Hi Sun, who loaded the gun, was having an affair with Deputy Simms.

He was present for all of Dwight’s interviews with Dr. Joe. (The perfect position to determine if Dr. Joe needed to be removed.) Simms was the one who manipulated the situation so that Dwight’s mother, Winfred, would have to communicate with her son through another prisoner, Jerry Vogal.

All of this information seems to point to Simms being the actual leader of the Z-Brotherhood, but, Provenza is still trying to figure out why Simms would participate in his own murder. It is suggested to check Simms' DNA to make sure he wasn’t also Dwight’s father. Seemed like a good idea to me.

Det. Nolan scares Jerry Vogal into helping the police. Unfortunately, they send a not too bright drunk in to try and trick Graff into incriminating himself. Intellectually speaking, it was not a fair match. The guy (Graff) who was smart enough to send 10 men to order the same dish just to muddy the case of who killed Hi Sun was not going to fall for the amateur attempt to get him to say something incriminating. That final shot of Graff walking through his soldiers was kind of creepy.

Buzz got the name of the man who killed his father and uncle. Interrogator Buzz is kind of frightening. He not only got the name of the man, William Jones, but he managed to find the specific William Jones (it’s one of the most common names in the country) Hecht was referring to.

It would be solid good news except that Buzz wonders why Hecht was trying to protect him. I have to confess that the White Lies storyline has been so strong that I have lost interest in Buzz’ storyline.

I finished the episode convinced that the courtroom shooting was a coup. Someone wanted Simms off the throne. But there is still the question of who the new king is. There was a moment, early in the episode, that I actually thought Dr. Joe Bowman was the man behind the Z-Brotherhood. But the more we found out about Simms, I happily realized I was wrong.

There is still the question of who is the new leader of the Z-Brotherhood. My current vote is for Dwight’s mother. I’d love to hear your theories. Who do you think is now in charge of the Z-Brotherhood? Overall, what did you think of the episode?

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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