Congratulations to Detective Kaya Blanke on your well-deserved promotion! It's about time, and your stylish suit is the perfect embodiment of your newfound status. May this suit, along with your adeptness in unraveling the who, how, and why behind Tim Pearson's murder, mark the beginning of many triumphant cases to come! (Of course, we don't condone murder; we merely acknowledge that in a world where it persists, Detective Blanke's exceptional competence and compassion are invaluable assets.)
This week's murder mystery is crafted with remarkable cleverness and a touch of dramatic charm. As the credits roll, we learn that Tim (played by Max Jenkins) was killed by Marilyn Gladwell, brought to life with a blend of humor and unexpected heartfelt moments by the talented Tracey Ullman. Marilyn serves as the on-call psychic for Tim's stepmother, Phyllis, whom Phyllis has been relying on heavily since the passing of Tim's father two years ago. Phyllis consults Marilyn, at a rate of $200,000 per year, to connect with the spirit of her late husband, George. Let me do the math for you (yep, I whipped out my phone's calculator); that translates to about 133 hours of consultation annually, or just over 2.5 hours each week. For those with a sharp memory, you'll recall that in "Tearjerker," Jordana Brewster's character earned around $250,000 from her most loyal client for her exclusive services. Like Nathan Jordan, Phyllis Pearson (played by the fantastic Jill Eikenberry!) is Marilyn's biggest fish.
Despite Marilyn's apparent lack of motive and her seemingly ironclad alibi on the night Tim was fatally struck by an arrow in a city park while waiting for his internet date, there's something distinctly off about her. Her enigmatic, vaguely Eastern European accent, her evasiveness regarding her upbringing, and her uncanny yet selective ability to tap into the spiritual realm don't quite add up. Moreover, her supposed lack of motive smells fishy. Phyllis herself notes that Tim was adamantly opposed to her continuing her sessions with Marilyn, arguing that the cost was exorbitant and that she should seek the help of a therapist like else. Furthermore, George's advice—relayed through Marilyn—to refrain from selling the family business, Bakewells, to their rival Snackerdoodles, paradoxically everyone stands against Tim's intention to do just that at an upcoming Bakewells board meeting.
Nonetheless, the team has numerous leads to pursue and a fresh perspective to guide them. With Kaya's promotion to detective, Elsbeth's new patrol officer is Nikki Reynolds, who strikes a balance between Kaya's lax demeanor and Lieutenant Connor's stiffness. Kudos to Nikki's coworkers for effortlessly acknowledging and respecting everyone's pronouns. It's heartening to witness such collegial respect! Nikki, played by the actor known simply as b, values keeping her work and personal life separate. While Elsbeth initially perceived this as judgmental, she has grown as a person over the past year, realizing that her warm and open nature can sometimes come across as aggressive, despite her intentions of fostering camaraderie. Their eventual bonding over dogs—Nikki harbors aspirations of transferring to the K-9 unit and happily accepts Elsbeth's invitation for walks with Gonzo—might just be the catalyst for Elsbeth to appreciate and collaborate effectively with someone whose communication preferences and style diverge sharply from her own.
As Nikki and Elsbeth pay another visit to Marilyn, Kaya delves into the Park and Recreation department, unearthing a treasure trove of video footage from the park where Tim met his untimely demise, along with an enlightening encounter with the comedy duo of independent rodent control, the Abbott and Costello of the trade. The Rodent Death Society's representatives (a moniker that would make an exquisite name for a humorous metal band, should the opportunity arise) impart crucial insights, including advancements in rodent-terminating arrows equipped with blunt tips incapable of piercing a human chest, and the perilous impact of rat poison on birds of prey. This reminds me of a similar plot twist in an episode or two of "All Creatures Great and Small," where a dog succumbed after digging up and consuming a strychnine-laced rat shallowly buried. The more we uncover, the more we learn!
Their investigation takes an even broader turn when forensics unearths intriguing details about the arrowhead that ended Tim's life. They manage to retrieve a serial number, tracing its origin to a purchase location. Armed with this information, Elsbeth and Kaya organize an enlightening Zoom session with Harlan Wike, co-proprietor of Wike's Hardware Store, nestled in a quaint town in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Mr. Wike elucidates that the particular line of arrowheads has been phased out due to the advent of modern, lightweight, and more precise carbon fiber alternatives. His profound understanding of arrowhead design, technology, and manufacturing is indispensable in his profession, considering Bucks County's distinction as the Northeast's woodchuck-hunting epicenter. Bucks County, a picturesque paradise, also serves as a sanctuary for celebrities seeking seclusion amidst rural splendor, with easy access to Philadelphia or New York. Mr. Wike's woodchuck trivia, including the revelation that woodchucks, contrary to the playful tongue-twister, do not chuck wood, was news to me. This episode stands as one of the most educational Elsbeth adventures I've witnessed thus far.
Nikki's meticulous scrutiny of Tim's dating profile unveils pivotal aspects of his ill-fated existence: he employed the same opening line for everyone he matched with, faced frequent blocking, and his final match, a woman named Kristy Brown, turned out to be a catfish. Instead of meeting him at the park as planned, Kristy blocked him at the eleventh hour. Had she been genuine, she might have been Tim's dream partner, given their eerily similar interests in Italian horror films, basketball, and cryptocurrencies. However, she was merely a figment of Tim's murderer's imagination.
Nikki's relentless examination of the park footage from the night of Tim's murder seems futile until Elsbeth notices a subtle, yet telling detail. A small shrubbery appears to move in an unshrubbery manner, reminding Elsbeth of her duck-hunting father, who donned a full-body camouflage ensemble known as a ghillie suit. Considering the killer's proficiency with a bow and arrow (Mr. Wike helpfully notes that contemporary carbon fiber-tipped arrows offer enhanced accuracy and reduced deviation compared to traditional metal ones), it's plausible that they would also be aware of and utilize a ghillie suit to remain invisible.
Do you recall Wike’s Hardware in Bucks County? As it turns out, Reagan (played by Kate Rigg), Marilyn's loyal assistant, hailed from the very same place, sharing a hometown with Marilyn, albeit when she was still known as Mary Lou Grunderson. Back in those days, Mary Lou had been Reagan's babysitter, forging a bond that would eventually lead them to collaborate as a psychic and her trusty sidekick. Marilyn places such immense trust in Reagan that she occasionally permits her to handle phone consultations with prospective clients. Ironically, it was precisely on the night of Tim's murder that Reagan found herself in such a role. Marilyn's alibi, premised on her purportedly being at the office and using her landline to converse with a client, has now crumbled like a house of cards.
Marilyn possesses both motive – the potential loss of $200,000 annually, coupled with what she stood to gain as a Snackerdoodles shareholder should their acquisition of Bakewells materialize – and opportunity – her whereabouts on the night of Tim's demise remaining unknown. Ultimately, it was the means that dealt the final blow to Marilyn's defenses. One can change their name, but for Mary Lou Grunderson, her local fame as the 1971 Woodchuck Festival Champion for her uncanny accuracy in bowhunting lingers eternally.
Elsbeth, Kaya, and Nikki rope in Phyllis to orchestrate a trap using the fictitious Aunt Bitsy, whose supposed recent demise Tim had always invoked in his dating app messages to potential matches. The hunter soon found herself ensnared, becoming the hunted, and inadvertently implicating herself multiple times in the process.
Once Marilyn was securely in custody, Captain Wagner, though typically skeptical of psychics, asked her to attempt to reach the spirit of a young man whose death he harbored guilt for not preventing. Earlier in the investigation, she had impressed him by inquiring about the significance of an old blue station wagon to him. Scotty Fenton's spirit had transcended our realm, finding true peace, which offered Wagner at least a modicum of solace.
In the episode's closing moments, Marilyn experienced another vision, foreseeing dreadfully perilous times ahead for Elsbeth. The imagery was harrowing – a profusion of blood, vast expanses of water, an evil figure cloaked in darkness, and an eerie, deafening silence. Despite her heinous crimes, I find myself harboring a glimmer of hope that we'll encounter Marilyn once more as we edge closer to the season-long narrative's climactic confrontation with the nefarious Judge Crawford.
