Episode 3 of Season 2 of "Elsbeth" kicks off with a dramatic scene plucked straight from the silver screen: a woman, in a moment of desperation, fires a shot at a masked individual who had been tormenting her. The following day, the enigmatic figure is unveiled as Mac Altman, once a cherished child actress now shrouded in obscurity. Mac is apprehended by the authorities on accusations of criminal misconduct, later clarified as a drunken bar drama orchestrated by Altman herself. Her manager and legal counsel, Danny, swiftly secures her release, but Mac confides in Elsbeth, burdened by the haunting suspicion that she might have taken a life.
The duo embarks on a quest to piece together Mac's vague memories from the previous night, as her recollection remains a blank slate. Mac's evening began at a lavish party, where she secretly slipped away with a fellow actor. Once he departed, Mac unleashed chaos at a bar, culminating in her arrest. Relief washes over the partygoers upon learning she might not be a murderer—until a masked corpse is discovered in a nearby alley.
The deceased is none other than Sonny, Mac's personal trainer and, according to her, a cherished friend. Danny crafts a narrative of self-defense, painting Sonny as a clandestine drug dealer. When Elsbeth visits Mac, she pours out her heart, revealing that though she had maintained sobriety for some time, her memory of the preceding night is a void—including no recollection of her mysterious new tattoo, a peculiar mark on her neck, or how she accessed her gun, securely stored in a safe whose password she frequently forgets. Only she and Danny possessed the safe's combination.
Mac also confesses that, under Danny's guidance, she had invested a substantial amount in an overseas club, an endeavor that has proved far more costly due to delays and unforeseen complications. Intriguingly, she doesn't recall encountering Sonny at all. Sensing that Mac may have been drugged, Elsbeth and Blanke resolve to bridge the gaps in her memory.
Through a devoted fan, the team unearths a clue: Mac stumbled into a tattoo parlor during a bachelorette bash, where she acquired the tattoo and a bold new hairstyle. At this revelation, Mac discovers her friend betraying her trust by selling her clothes online, shedding light on the exploitation she had suffered at the hands of her so-called "friends," Sonny among them.
Detective Smullen subsequently uncovers that the club Mac had mentioned is a mere figment of imagination, hinting that Danny might have been bilking her. Further investigation reveals that the bloodstains on Mac's dress belong to Sonny, and the mark on her neck was mischievously traced to a monkey. Intriguingly, they also detect a zombie-inducing drug named Devil's Night in Mac's bloodstream, which is notorious for manipulating people's actions against their will, predominantly used in Colombia.
Elsbeth reminisces about Danny's heroic act of rescuing a client in Bogotá. They interrogate Danny's former client and uncover that he had been ensnared in the Devil's Night drug saga when a gangster exploited him to retaliate against his rival. Danny had indeed come to his rescue, but his gratitude was short-lived when he found out that Danny had been embezzling his money.
In a subsequent conversation with Mac, Elsbeth and Blanche gather that one of Mac's friends owned a monkey. The narrative unfolds that Mac had stumbled upon her friend's Halloween bash, where she crossed paths with Sonny. Meanwhile, Danny had sneaked in disguised in a mask and administered Devil's Night to Mac, compelling her to terminate Sonny. The motive behind this sinister act was Sonny's blackmailing against Danny, threatening to expose his theft from Mac. With Mac exonerated, the case is conclusively wrapped up.
The episode concludes with the Captain confiding in his wife about his office woes, lamenting that no one in the office holds him in esteem. Moreover, Connor is breathing down Elsbeth's neck, scheming to get her dismissed.
