Hudson and Rex - Prescription Rex - Review

“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

The case:
In Prescription Rex, Briane, the founder of World Healing, has been poisoned with the opioid hydrocodone, slipped into her morning coffee via the sugar. Another member of World Healing, Rachel, is missing from the office that morning. The two had an argument the night before. Could Rachel be responsible for Briane’s opioid overdose?
Another suspect comes into play: Dana. Dana spent time in Zimbabwe, and when World Healing didn’t supply much needed medicines, Dana sent angry e-mails to Briane and World Healing.
Plot Twist: Jesse and Dana have a history. This past relationship means Jesse gets out from behind the digital board, into interrogation rooms, and out on the picturesque streets of St. John’s.
Rachel turns up dead in her apartment, lying in a pool of blood from a head wound. While sniffing around the couch, Rex sniffs opioids up through his snout and is incapacitated. Charlie rushes Rex to the veterinary clinic, where he is treated with naloxone for an opioid overdose.
Back at Rachel’s home, without Rex, the team finds a leather notebook. The notebook turns out to belong to Dana.
Three million dollars raised by World Healing is gone, moved out of the foundation’s bank account by unknown people.
By tracking Dana’s scent, Rex and Charlie find Dana’s drug lab. But all Dana ever wanted to do was cook knockoff drugs to provide affordable medicines to people in need.
Lab results show Rachel’s death as a PCP overdose, and not the head wound, changing the timeline of the crime. Rachel was alive when the money was moved out of the account and into a digital wallet.
Rachel found evidence Briane, whose real name is Jackie Parsons, was embezzling her own charity. So, Dana and Rachel moved the money before Briane could steal any more.
At Dana’s drug lab – that’s been cleared out by the SJPD – Dana and Jesse talk. Briane/Jackie arrives, pointing a gun at them and demanding the money. When Briane threatens Jesse’s life, Dana gives her a thumb drive that will access the wallet and the money. Dana throws it to Briane, but Rex intercepts it, catching it in his mouth. Charlie steps into the room, Jesse disarms Briane, and Charlie is about to arrest Briane for Rachel’s murder when she swallows a vial of opioids and overdoses. Charlie commands Rex to go get the naloxone from the car, and thanks to Jesse showing the item to Rex earlier and allowing him to sniff it, Rex retrieves it like the good boy that he is.
Briane is revived and arrested for this and other con jobs up and down the country.

Jesse:

Prescription Rex allows Jesse to truly shine. All of Jesse’s previous experience with suspects, and everything he has learned about detective work while working with the SJPD, come together in this episode. Having a history with Dana, Jesse is entrusted with questioning her in an interrogation room. Charlie knows Jesse can do it, and its nice seeing that faith in Jesse’s abilities, beyond his tech skills. And Jesse, in return, does a solid job at questioning her. It lacks the awkwardness of past interviews he has done with strangers. It’s nice growth for this character, seeing him out, playing a detective, and doing it well.
Later, when Dana assaults Jesse with an umbrella, hitting his face hard enough to send his glasses flying, he recovers quickly. He’s injured, his vision is impaired, yet he still makes an attempt to chase after Dana.
When Rex finds Dana’s hiding place, Jesse is confident as he urges Dana to come out. With covid forcing the show to get the crew outside more, there are more moments like these where Jesse, and Joe in last week’s Under Pressure, get out of the precinct and shine.

“You really are a cop, aren’t you,” Dana asks during an interrogation. Jesse is confident in his questioning, but also approachable and attentive. Are these the hints of a possible career change in Jesse’s future?
We also see Jesse’s confidence in dating improve. Early in the episode he hesitates before asking Dana out and the moment passes. At the end, he doesn’t hesitate and gets the date.

Joe:

Joe is a calming presence for Charlie. When Rex is poisoned, it is Joe who is the first to assure Charlie that the team is on the case and they’ve all got both his and Rex’s backs during this. It is Joe who reminds Charlie that it’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay to be worried about Rex. The character may not be as in amongst the action this week as he was in the previous episode, but his advice keeps Charlie going through tough times.

Charlie and Rex:

Charlie has a new house! It’s larger than his old place, and more care has been put into the decor, and it makes sense. The place he had in seasons one and two was likely somewhere he needed to move into quickly after his divorce and wasn’t long-term. He never put much effort into decorating, but it was all this newly single man needed. Not anymore. Having made peace with his divorce, Charlie has moved into a new home, one that’s larger with more space for a German Shepherd and whatever additions there may be to Charlie’s family in the years ahead. He’s moving forward.
And his new place has art on the walls, which we all know is Sarah’s influence.

Rex is moving forward too. In a funk at the start of the episode, and out of sorts throughout it, the final scene shows Rex curled up on the couch with another dog he met at the veterinary clinic. Charlie recognizes his dog needs companionship. I hope he recognizes the same in himself soon.

The Naloxone that Charlie is trained to use and keeps in his car was exactly what the vet used to reverse the opioid effects on Rex when he overdosed. In his state of worry, Charlie didn’t think to use it on Rex. At the clinic, Charlie reassures Rex. He pets him and tells him to rest, and then he apologizes. Charlie blames himself. He promises Rex it won’t happen again. Rex lies on the examination table, quiet, eyes closed. Someone please give this dog all the awards.

Charlie and Sarah:

First time we’ve seen Charlie’s new place, and is this also the first time we’ve seen Sarah’s car?

Sarah always greets both Charlie and Rex with enthusiasm at crime scenes. Rex gets more head scritches than Charlie though. This episode, however, does change the physicality of their relationship.
After Rex is poisoned, and Charlie had kept his emotions under control at the crime scene, Sarah arrives at Charlie’s home. Knowing he isn’t okay, she is there to chat with him about Rex in a more relaxed atmosphere. Somewhere she can coax more truthful emotions out of him. Over a beer, Charlie mentions Rex’s mood lately, and Sarah wonders if he’s missing canine companionship. On a related note, Charlie is missing some female companionship. He doesn’t admit that, but it’s heavily implied in the scene.

In his home, he is honest with Sarah. He admits to being scared. Sarah and Charlie share a hug, and from the look on Charlie’s face as Sarah moves to embrace him it’s the first time they’ve ever done this. Does this mean they have officially made the move to friends who hug? It sure looks that way. But if it took these two roughly three years to get to that point, then we’re in for the slowest of slow burns here, folks.
After ending the embrace, Sarah and Charlie almost end up on yet another of those dates that they don’t realize is really a date. Sarah suggests ordering food and watching the game. Charlie agrees, and looks happy for the first time since Rex was drugged, but then his phone rings. Of course. Moment ruined.

The hug stays on Charlie’s mind. Jesse gives Rex his top to sniff, knowing Dana’s scent will be on it. Charlie questions why.
“I got it when she hugged me.”
“She hugged you?” Charlie asks in interest. Jesse evades Charlie’s questions, but oh, if only Jesse knew that part of the reason Charlie is so interested is because he’s still quietly trying to figure out the hug Sarah gave him. Was it just a friendly, comforting hug, or does it mean more? (spoiler: it’s totally both)

This episode saw the return of aspects of their relationship introduced in season one: the two jogging together, and Sarah spending time at Charlie’s, drinking beer and sharing a meal. And has now added hugs into the relationship.

COVID:
At the precinct, while the team tries to figure the case out, Sarah can be seen running a finger over a bottle of hand sanitizer. It’s a reminder of the world we’re currently living in, and a subtle hint to wash and sanitize our hands.

With the pandemic forcing the characters out of the precinct more, the beauty of St John’s has gone from a supporting character to one of the leads. Meanwhile the characters of Jesse and Joe, who would otherwise be seen mostly in the precinct, are getting out into the midst of the action and being given more to do.
Here’s to those changes sticking long after the pandemic is history.