Raines Recapped-The Judge & the Headless Wife

Crime scene. Raines VO. Talking about the nice house they’re in. Slo-mo of police putting on gloves, placing down plastic numbers (like they put on your table at restaurants), flash of a camera going off, police officers doing the procedural thing. Raines says that when you feel vulnerable in your nice house, sometimes you buy a gun for protection so that if someone breaks in you’ll “bust a cap in their asses or something”, but then you’re faced with the interloper and the gun is shaking in your hands and you’re REALLY gonna do this thing and suddenly they take your gun away and they shoot you with it. Because “they’re not quite as circumspect as you when it comes to the vagaries of human existence” and then you’re “this”. They show us what “this” is: a woman laid out on a coffee table as his VO states just that, “with no head”. Ew. He goes over and opens the curtains and we’re at normal speed.

One of the police officers says that the casings were 20 gauge. Raines helps us out by saying it’s a “smaller bore. Less recoil. Home defense for the modern woman. Nice lady cop tells “Boyer” the not-so-bright cop we’ve seen in other episodes, not to track his shoes through the crime scene.

Nice lady cop starts to say who her husband is. Turns out Raines knows him. L.A. Criminal Judge Lionel Webb Raines says he’s the best. Boyer says the judge hates him because every time he’s in the guy’s courtroom he dings him for small procedural stuff. Cue Raines’ sarcastic shocked comment about Boyer missing a procedural beat and needing to lay down because he’s dizzy. Boyer accuses them of being “homeboys”. That the judge once ruled against Raines and he was in a crappy mood for a week. Raines insists it was because the judge was right.

Nice lady cop fills us all in by saying the judge came home and found her like that and confirmed that the gun was hers. Boyer basically re-iterates Raines’ VO by saying she heard something and goes to investigate with the gun. Intruder takes it away and kills her. There was forced entry through the kitchen window, perhaps looking for pharmaceuticals. At this point Raines delicately lifts her blouse to reveal some carvings on her stomach. Ew. Raines surmises that since the killer had enough time for an art project, he must not have been in a big hurry. He immediately understands the meaning of the letters and numbers. It’s basically the Aryan code. Also “88” stands for the 8th letter of the alphabet: H. So, HH. Boyer: Hugh…Hefner? Of course it’s “Heil Hitler”. Boyer points out that she’s white, but her husband sentenced the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood to life in Pelican Bay for hiring hitmen to kill certain people and start a race riot. Nice cop lady surmises this bullet may have been meant for the judge, but Raines isn’t so sure and thinks it may be “a signal for the troops” and may be the first shot in a race war and it’s going to get a lot bloodier.

Raines is talking to the judge. Now, I have to admit from the moment he appeared onscreen I suspected him. I watch Court TV. I know that when the wife winds up dead, 9 times out of 10 the husband did it. Maybe that’s why I’ve never gotten married. Oh, note to all you married ladies: If your husband just up and suggests, out of the blue, that you get a $100,000 life insurance policy? Pack your bags. Get the hell outta there.

Judge is talking about how the Aryan guy basically told him in open court that he’d kill the judge. Judge (Lionel) says that if trial judges panicked every time a criminal threatened them, they’d get nothing done, but that he was scared of “LeVay” because he was like a trapped animal. He clawed and spit. He was crazy. So the judge did panic and buy the shotgun. He’s crying now, talking about “Connie” his wife. That he never should have left her alone. That he wishes Raines had met her because she was fearless. At this point Raines looks up and sees his wife’s headless bloody body walking around and freaks for a moment. Judge says she told him not to worry about her. That she could take care of herself. (ooh! The episode is directed by Paul Michael Glaser! (AKA “Starsky”) I LOVE HIM!) Raines keeps seeing headless wife and Judge has to bring him back. Judge says LeVay took away the only woman he ever loved. He says it sincerely. I totally don’t believe him. Now his nice headless bloody wife is standing behind him while he’s telling Raines he wants LeVay to die for what he did. Raines, still focused on headless wifey, tries his best to sound non-chalant as he asks for a picture of his wife to know better who she was. The judge agrees and as he gets up to get the picture, he’s hit by some crippling back pain he got from an accident that happened “last Spring” that never really healed. This also made me suspicious. I’m a very suspicious person. I thought it was from something else, but it was from the accident. This would play an important role later, just not the way I thought. (i.e. struggled with his wife).

Judge hands a framed photo to Raines as he laments that they should have had Raines over for dinner. That it seemed like there would always be time.

Outside, the wife, a pretty blonde, is looking a whole lot better in a white flowy dress, and asks if this is a better look for her. Raines tells her anything with a head would be an improvement. The wife wants to talk about how she looks, but Raines is ignoring her, beginning to put the case together. He says to himself that the sheriff’s department knew about the threats and they were responsible for the security. They could have posted a car. Wife says you can’t show fear with these people and besides “you know how Lionel is”. Raines: “Tough judge”. He says that she was caught in the crossfire of a war she had nothing to do with.

Back at the office, Matt Craven (I forget his character name) comes in to the room and says that the press was in love with Judge Lionel over the Aryan trial, which means they’re all over this wife being murdered thing (which means extra pressure on the PD) and asks what they’ve got. Boyer says no hair, no fibers, used the victim’s gun, etc. That the murderer took the bullets so no ballistics for “the hit”. Matt takes exception with the word “hit” but Boyer sticks to his guns and they move on. He wants to know about LeVay. Nice lady cop gives the rundown: Age 33, prison since 15, Assault, theft, arson, murder, hate crime statutes…etc. You name it, he’s been in jail for it. He’s currently at Twin Towers pending his transfer to the “Shu” at Pelican Bay. Matt wants to know if he could pull off the hit from behind bars. Cop Lady says that the Feds cracked down on “Brand Leaders” which left a “Power Vacuum” and LeVay might have seen an opportunity for advancement. Boyer, through a mouthful of food, suggests that they have to offer something to LeVay to give up the shooter. Matt informs Boyer that they have to find the shooter first and thanks him condescendingly. He suggests working the “Aryan Angle” as a priority but to keep their eyes open for other possibilities. Raines, who’s been just staring out the window through the whole ordeal, finally snaps to life and says he’s gonna go to to LeVay. Boyer, still munching away, is skeptical that Raines can get anything out of LeVay, but Raines insists he has his charms and in five minutes he’ll have him eating out of his hand. Yeeeeah…we’ll see about that…

Cut to an extremely EXTREMELY crazed Charlie Manson type with hair that looks like he’s been in a cave for the past year, and sure enough, as the judge said, spitting clawing and generally looking totally batshit crazy as he says, very close to the camera, “I’M GONNA KILL YOU, YOU ZIONIST BITCH. JUST LIKE I KILLED THAT WHORE. BEG ME FOR MERCY! BEG ME NOW, PIG!” Raines, who’s doing what you should do when faced with a crazed lunatic, is sitting perfectly still and calm during the tirade and when LeVay finishes, says “You mentioned that a few times already and maybe-maybe later for the begging. Um, but first, let me get this straight; You ordered a hit on the judge’s wife as a call to arms?” LeVay says, as he strains against the chains holding him to his chair, that it’s a wake-up call for his Aryan brothers and that it’s just the beginning. “THE WAR IS ON NOW, PIGS! LET THE MUD RACES BEHOLD THE GATHERING STORM AND TREMBLE!”Raines wipes some spit away from his eye and Levay acts crazy some more until they freeze-frame on his crazy-ass face.

Outside, victim-wife, who’s sitting on the hood of Raines’ car and putting on make-up , tells him “that went well”. Raines says he didn’t expect the guy to roll over and confess. She says that’s a good thing. He tells her it’s detective work. He’s “detecting”. She continues to apply lipstick as she asks if he thinks LeVay killed her. Raines says he couldn’t tell if LeVay was jerking him around or really that crazy, but either way, any confession he makes won’t stand up in court. Victim-wife asks what they’re going to do now. Raines wants to talk to other Aryans who had a beef with her husband. Victim-wife, still obsessed with her own reflection and applying eye-shadow, says that it’s “all about him (Lionel) and that they wanted to get back at him but they came after her. Raines says it happens. Back in the car, she asks why it happened to her. He says that killing a judge is one thing, but coming after his family shows they’re not playing games. She continues to apply make-up. He can’t take his eyes off of her. His cell phone rings. Turns out “Lewis” thinks he may have found her shooter, so off they go!

Ahhhh! Lewis is Matt! OK, back at the station Lewis is telling Raines that there’s an Aryan contingent holed up near Oakwood in a derelict building used as a clubhouse. Raines wants to know if there’s a secret handshake. Lewis says he can ask them that after he smashes down their door. Raines wants to know why he thinks they’re the shooters. A neighbor says one of them got drunk and belligerent and started waving around a shiny new gun. Boyer comes in at that point to ask how many there are. Lewis says 4, maybe 6. Boyer is worried about all the nasty boys with shotguns and maybe they should call in S.W.A.T. Lewis says that they’re gonna stand by, but he wants a small entry because he doesn’t want “WACO 2” which…I don’t see how 6 Aryan assholes holed up in an abandoned building compares to a large group of people, including women and children.o, but OK. Whatever. Raines is all set with his vest bullet-proof vest and runs past Lewis and spills a cup of coffee all over him.

With no warning, they bust down the door. Said Aryans are a bit startled and scatter in all directions. One guy is taken down. One flies through the window and Boyer chases after him. Raines comes in and sees a nice Aryan mag with a Swastika on the front and begins to leaf through it. Boyer comes back in to say the place is clear. He got the runner and he thinks he got everyone. He identifies one guy with a moustache as the one he thinks is the shot caller. Raines asks about weapons. He found one stiletto but no guns. Raines tells him to keep looking and Boyer runs to another part of the house to search. An older officer goes to check behind a curtain and says he found the basement and…SURPRISE! A guy comes crashing through the door as everyone takes cover. The guy has a HUGE shotgun which he uses to shoot up the room. Cop lady comes back in and blows the Aryan asshole away. He’s not dead, but in a world of pain. YAY! Boyer approaches him carefully and takes the gun away. They put the cuffs on him as Raines gives a serious look to cop lady and she looks a bit freaked.

We’re back from commercials and Raines is questioning the moustached-guy Boyer thinks is the shot caller. Raines is asking him who shot Connie Webb. If it was one of his buddies or “his soldier.” Then he says it’s a shame they had to put so many bullets in him because if he dies, it all becomes all about moustache guy. MG just sits there looking daggers at Raines. Suddenly he asks if his brother is going to die. Raines wants to know if it’s his real bro or like “Aryan bro-bro”. It’s his real brother. MG demands to know if he’s OK. Raines tells MG to tell him something that doesn’t totally waste his time and he’ll tell MG what he wants to know.

At this point Connie pops up right next to MG and says the guy didn’t kill her. Raines says “shh!” MG is rightfully confused and says “what?” and Raines makes the “shh” noise again and bats a pretend fly away from his face. Raines demands to know who took the order from LeVay on the Webb hit. MB basically says what we already know: LeVay can’t really give orders to anyone. He’s batshit crazy. He’s a joke and nobody killed her on his mandate (pretty big word for a punk Aryan dude). MB demands to know about his brother. Raines: Well, you’ve still got other family, right?” Then he makes the “ooh, sorry” face and walks out.

Raines comes across cop lady and calls her “Lance” which I’m assuming is her last name. He asks if she’s OK. She insists she’s fine, but Raines tells her she doesn’t have to be there. She can take a day or two. She again insists that she’s OK. Just then Boyer, not quite as sensitive as Raines, comes up and calls her the “Asian Assassin” (she’s Asian). Raines screams Boyer’s name repeatedly as Boyer backs away. Raines tells him that the next time he clears a room to make sure it’s actually clear. That now he has to deal with the ADA, IAD, FID…and many other agencies…because Boyer didn’t bother to peek in a closet. Boyer can only offer Raines a Bear Claw from his box of doughnuts. Raines stares him down and Boyer starts to walk away before remembering he actually had some news. The bikers are clear for the night of the shooting. Drunk tank in Culver City. Also, the new gun doesn’t match the one she was shot with.

As Boyer leaves, Lance asks about the guy she shot. Boyer tells her it doesn’t look good. The bullet pierced the intestines and he’s septic. Recovery (if he recovers) will be nasty. Boyer seems extremely gleeful as he gives the news. Lance is not. Raines says it’s good news and offers to buy her a doughnut.

A TV is on in the station. The judge is holding a press conference (DING! Another clue he is SO guilty). He’s talking about how his wife would insist that he continue on his quest for justice. He believes that he must persevere in his goal to make a safer Los Angeles…blah blah blah…politispeak. Boyer notes, quite rightly, that this whole wife murdered thing isn’t slowing him down. Raines moves closer to the TV and he sees dead-wife looking on proudly at her husband and then directly at Raines, as he reaches tentatively towards the screen.

Raines’ bedroom. She asks him who he believes. The guy who swears he didn’t do it or the guy who swears he did. Raines says he’s not crazy about either choice, but leans towards “Marcus” (MG) because he has nothing to gain by protecting LeVay and because LeVay does come off as a major loon. Also, everyone saw LeVay ranting from the stand and the real killer could just point to the scary Nazi and say he did it. It’s a perfect deflection.

He asks what she was doing at the press conference. She goes through the whole routine about standing by him and trusting him. Raines confirms that’s what her husband said. That everything he knows about her he got from Lionel. She points out that this might not necessarily be who she is. She says that the way “this” works is that she’s supposed to be picking up on what he lets slip and then asks him what’s slipping. He says it’s something he’s missing. That he’s been concentrating on who wanted to kill him when maybe he should be concentrating on who wanted to kill her. He calls the station and asks Carolyn for a bunch of info on the wife. He hangs up and asks what she was doing that could have gotten her killed. They just stare at each other.

Alcohol is being poured into a glass with ice and a very shaky hand picks it up. Raines is watching the shaky hand bemusedly. The hand belongs to the judge who offers Raines a drink, but he declines because he’s working. The judge asks what he wants to know about Connie as he walks by Raines and nearly falls over, and uses Raines’ shoulder to steady himself. . He tells the judge he wants a better picture of her. She is now languishing on the couch fretting because she’s not a good enough picture for him.

He goes through their history. She was 24 when he met her. She was a witness in a drug case he was prosecuting. He looked at her and knew. She had some problems. Not a great family life. Acted like she didn’t care what happened to her and lived fast. He found this quite intoxicating. He did a Henry Higgins on her. Set her straight. She changed herself and got some pride in who she was. Raines guesses that’s when he married her. He tells Raines that life can get “too perfect” You can have too much and be too happy and God finds out and snatches it all away.

Raines is back at the station and Carolyn (Nicole Sullivan) has the skinny on wife. No job or kids. Did her time at social functions. Generally thought of as nice. He wants to know if there’s anything the husband didn’t know. Turns out she opened up an account at a credit union under her maiden name. He asks about her cell records. Two numbers pop up a lot. One to a Mitchell Parks who owns a salon and the other is anonymous. Pay as you go. He tells her to have Lance do some digging and gets the address of the salon and leaves.

Lance is on the phone asking for those anonymous cell phone records when she spots a guy being led in to the station by a police officer. There’s something shiny sticking out of his front pocket. She freaks, takes out her gun and yells GUN! All the other officers pull their guns and begin to look around for the person who’s not supposed to have one. Boyer spots the shiny object and picks it up. It’s a stapler stolen by a klepto because it was shiny. Lance puts her gun away and looks ashamed.

Back from commercials. When Boyer is trying to make YOU feel better for screwing up, you know you really screwed up. He explains about how klepto guy picks up anything shiny and she’s holding her head and saying “oh my God”. He asks if she really thought it was a gun. She’s duhs that yeah she did, which is why she yelled GUN at the top of her voice. He jokes about her serious lungs. Boyer, ever the compassionate one, starts imitating her with little girly screams. Grrrr…. She says it’s not funny considering she almost blew a hole in him over a stapler. Boyer then tries to console her by talking about how she shot that other guy and it’s normal…like she’s in PTSD. Lance stops him and says the last thing she needs is sympathy from HIM. Amen to that, sister. He says that she’s in front of the coffee machine but not to shoot him for pointing that out. She says that’s more like it and laughs.

At the salon, Raines is talking to Mitchell who says he loved and adored Connie. Worshipped her. Raines adds “slept with”. He wanted to, but no. He says the whole time he knew her with the husband she was all mopey and depressed. Hair was dull and lifeless. It was unbearable. Then three months ago all of a sudden she’s like a new woman. She started showing up with another woman. He says she and this other women had something beautiful going on he’d like to have a video of. He has a picture of both of them, which he gives to Raines. You know what’s coming. Mitchell admits she never said what was going on, but he thinks he knows and given more time, he might have “gotten in there’. Men are pigs. He asks if Raines “can imagine” and sure enough, Raines can as wife strikes a sexy pose on the couch by the window and the other woman (also a pretty blonde) lies down on the couch and over the wife.

Raines is back with Lionel saying he needs to know what’s going on. Lionel says he knew it was a mistake and the word “discreet” doesn’t mean much these days. Raines asks how they met. Lionel says that after nine years of marriage, the sex was kinda predictable and since she was so young, he wanted to keep her interested. She had talked about another party. He thought “maybe a woman”(yeah. I bet he did. Like a man says “let’s bring another man into the picture so I can feel even more inadequate”. Righty-O) and she was receptive. Judge says he couldn’t get it out of his head. Cue Raines seeing the women in white nightgowns, wife in front pressing her back against the other woman and the wind blows their hair and they spin around. He says, eyes wide, “tell me about it”. Judge looks at him. He comes to his senses and asks the judge to “tell him about it” in a more policeman-like way. He says they called an escort service and they sent over this woman. They had her over a few times. He said it didn’t feel right after a while and they stopped. Raines asks if it was the same woman every time. It was. After a few times, they called it off. That was it. Raines says he needs to know who she was. Judge says he got rid of all the evidence and doesn’t know who she was, and then gets all indignant about how his wife’s killer is “still out there” (hi OJ!) and Raines says he has to explore all the possibilities. It’s his job. Judge just says he has to go to court.

Back at the station: Nicole (Carolyn) says she has the info on “one deceased victim’s hot lesbian lover” because she “redialed her phone for six hours till she just couldn’t take it anymore”. She’s at the station and waiting for Raines. Carolyn notices he “primps” just before going in. Raines gets this embarrassed teenage-boy smile on his face. Cute! Carolyn says she’s sure the woman is just waiting for the right man to show her the “glory of switching teams”. Raines: I have no idea what you’re talking about. Then looks like a little boy about to unwrap his Christmas presents as he walks into the office with the woman.

She’s a blonde with big hair smoking a cigarette. Raines tries to pronounce her name (Russian?). Yeah, I think so, because she’s got that Hollywood Russian accent with no articles down pat. He tells her the cigarette is a no-no, so she gives him her best seductive gaze, hands him her ciggie and blows smoke in his face. He laugh/coughs. “Your female detective. She calls again and again. It is annoying.” Now he’s telling her she can help with the investigation but loses his train of thought when he sees the victim practically pressed against the woman, running her lips about a quarter-inch from her face and then puts her cheek next to the Russian woman so they’re both looking at him. Russian lady has to get him out of his reverie.

He informs the woman Connie was murdered. She’s already heard. Says it’s “tragic”. He says he hears she and Connie were “close”. “What do you mean this ‘close’?” Aye carumba. He finally just says it: they were lovers. “Friends, yes. Lovers, no.” Oh make her stop. Please. “I was sponsor”. STOP! Connie was a drug addict. Now he sees Connie tying a tube around her arm with her mouth. She looks dirty and strung out. A far cry from the Marilyn Monroe look she had going on before.

She was a “heavy user”. “Cocaine, yes?” Alcohol. You name it, Connie put it into her body. Raines asks her about her little “transaction” with Connie and the judge. She explains “business is business. That is not same thing as love.” PLEASE. Did they read up on all the “beautiful Russian woman” cliché’s and throw them all into one scene? He asks if she is a “call girl”. BRW says she’s a sex worker. She makes no apologies for it since it isn’t her choice. Raines says he isn’t condemning her for it. He’s just trying to understand the relationship.

She was contacted to have a date with them as a couple. He likes to watch. She goes back a few more times. One time Connie offers BRW drugs since it helps her get in the mood. Now we are treated to a flashback to what happened with BRW narrating. The two women going up the stairs with the judge waiting down below. Upstairs in the bathroom, Connie has a mirror and is snorting her little heart out while BRW is applying make-up at the mirror. BRW says she isn’t interested. It was her “birthday”. Back at the station, Raines makes her clarify. It’s her sober birthday. She’s clean and sober (as of her meeting with Raines) 464 days. Raines congratulates her. The next time BRW comes over, Connie says she wants to stop using. BRW says she can help her if she’s serious. Invited her to a meeting. They became friends. Connie told BRW her story and was totally honest. BRW says Connie had 90 days sober when she was killed and seems sad. Connie was feeling happy and free and wanted to help BRW pay off her debts to the people who brought her to this country so she could live free too (I guess that’s what she meant by not having a choice about “being sex worker”). She says sadly that’s not going to happen now.

Raines and the victim. She asks if he’s disappointed. He tells her no. That the sponsor/addict relationship with all that sincerity is very sexy. Connie says that isn’t what got her killed. Raines says that he can’t prove anything since forensics are “kaput”, the person who did this was a pro and her husband didn’t have that much to lose by her just being in the (AA) Program, unless there was something about Connie that was “particularly bothersome”. She asks (flirtily-this is Raines’ fantasy) “is there?” He says she has her moments. She wants to know if “he” thought so. Raines says no. He thinks the judge was in love with her. That he knew about her past, so the using was no big surprise. Connie says maybe she disappointed him. Let him down. Raines starts going through the facts. She was working the steps with BRW. She recites the first sstep. “admit we were powerless over drugs and alcohol. That our Lives had become unmanageable”.

Raines starts to say, “look, just because he couldn’t pass a bar without walking in doesn’t mean that-“ and just stops and gets a “a-ha!” look on his face. Then he says “pass the bar” with a look of dawning realization.

Judge’s chambers. Judge comes busting through the door screaming at a couple of lawyers trailing behind him about bringing contempt charges against them when Raines walks in. Judge Lionel is like “dude, I’m being a judge right now, can it wait?” Raines says it’s important and pulls the “friend” card. Judge lets the lawyers out and turns on Raines telling him he’s getting tired of this. Raines hits him with Connie’s drug problem. That she was in recovery and the woman he brought into the relationship was her sponsor. Judge Lionel tries to deflect, saying, that it had nothing to do with her death and “you saw what they did to her. It was revenge.” Raines is backing him further into a corner, is saying that it wasn’t revenge, it was to keep a secret. Judge tries to protest, but Raines just keeps getting in his face and saying he’s seen his share of people in recovery because with cops there’s “no shortage of addiction problems”. He says to consider this an intervention as Judge Lionel tries to move physically away from Raines, but he just keeps on coming, talking faster and faster. He says Judge got to thinking about the 12 steps and in recovery the way to help yourself is to tell your story. He says he’ll tell the judge his story. Judge, pacing and frantic, goes to the phone, saying he wants Raines off the case and he’s going to call “Daniel” right now. Raines hits the receiver and gets in Judge Lionel’s face some more, saying “I know a thing or two about secrets because I’ve got one of my own” and that if anyone found out about his secret, he could be booted off the force. He says he doesn’t care about that if talking about his problem will help the judge with his. He starts telling the judge about seeing people who aren’t there. The victims of the crimes he’s investigating. He says he sees the judge’s wife sitting in his office chair (sure enough, there she is looking serious and wistful). He says she’s counting on Raines to get justice and she won’t leave him alone until he does. (The judge actually looks towards his chair! Funny!) Raines says this is his motivation. The judge tries to protest, but Raines talks over him, saying she’s not a ghost. She’s in his head. Which makes him certifiable. He says he has to cover up that secret every day and so far he’s done OK. Judge keeps trying to physically get away, like a caged animal. Raines keeps going. He says he solves the case and they go away. They make a deal. He asks how far the judge would go to keep a secret and would he kill for it.

The judge turns on Raines and asks what the hell he’s talking about. Raines says when he first came to see the judge he had the horrible pain in his back from the accident (they show the first visit with the judge wincing in pain). The next time he came to visit, his eyes were all sunken and he was stumbling around (they flashback to the shaky hand lifting the glass). The judge says it’s because he was in shock over his wife’s murder. Raines says there’s no better way to deal with shock than pills and booze. Judge, being the sensitive guy he is, reminds Raines that he admitted he’s crazy. He says if he didn’t believe it before he does now.

Raines continues: “Law school, 1986”. Judge blew through a red light in Berkley after an orientation and got a DUI. He was a party guy. Everybody knew it, so much so, that in order to pass the bar he had to prove he was in recovery. So he did the 12 steps. He passed the bar with flying colors. Worked his way up from a job in the DA’s office to the bench. Twenty years later he’s married. He gets his wife in recovery (they show a crying distraught Connie in Lionel’s arms). Until the car accident. Then his back gets tweaked. Pain pills. Raines says this is how many addicts fall off the wagon, but once he’s on the pills, he rationalizes that drinking won’t hurt, so he starts that too. Then no more recovery. Gone. Now he’s using like crazy. He brings Connie back down with him (in other words, he gets her to go back on the shit he got her off of). He makes questionable decisions, like the female escort. (they show BRW coming into their home.) But BRW winds up turning Connie around and gets her clean. Judge thinks he can still get high and function. That it’s different now because he’s running the bench like this. Now Judge is in denial and paranoid. He believes Connie will tell BRW about his little problem (we see BRW undressing Connie while the judge sits on the couch looking really messed up and not even looking at them). Raines talks about the fifth step and admitting God, ourselves and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. That God knows who that Russian hooker is going to tell. If any of it gets out, he’s finished. He’s got to get rid of her. At this point Raines drops a picture of the Judge’s headless wife on the desk and the judge starts crying.

Now, I need to stop right here for a public service announcement. The entire full step ends with “except when to do so would injure yourself or others”. Also, any sponsor worth their salt would tell her she’s taking someone else’s inventory if she started blabbing about what HE did and tell her to cut it out. I do understand, however, that he was hopped up on drugs and not thinking rationally and the Russian chick was a hooker. END PSA.

Raines tells him that this is his moment of clarity. His life has officially become unmanageable. He orders the judge to look at the picture of his headless wife. She was shot and beheaded on his orders. In his house. The judge tells Raines he’s wrong, but he’s not all that convincing what with the hysterical crying. He says he couldn’t hurt her. He could never hurt her. Raines says to tell him who did. No more secrets. Finally the judge screams IT WAS ANONYMOUS! He cries some more. He says he never saw the guy’s face. It was a money drop. He just told the guy to make it look like Aryans did it. SOOOOOOOOB! He says once he got started, he couldn’t stop, but he TRIED. HE TRIED. Screaming. Sobbing uncontrollably. He’s on his hands and knees. He begged them, but it was too late (I’m assume to call off the hit?). He says it wasn’t about him and being disbarred. It was about two years of decisions that could have been overturned because he made them while he was high as a kite. He put away murderers and rapists. If those decisions were overturned, those animals would be back on the streets. That this was about justice. He fought his whole life for it and shouldn’t it supercede all that other stuff. Raines is like, uh no. Not the whole wife-beheading thing. (wife appears behind the judge, distraught) Raines says he had her killed for justice. The woman he loved so much and loved him so much. Raines asks if this is the lie he’s been telling himself. Judge cries that BRW would have told. He knows it. It had to be stopped and this was the only way. Raines says Connie never told anyone and he doesn’t think BRW knew. His secret was safe. What the hell was he thinking?

Suddenly the judge starts babbling about “killing them both”. Raines is understandably alarmed. Judge gave them two names. His wife’s and BRW’s. Raines gets on the phone as the judge runs from the room. He tells Lance to get BRW in protective custody and put her place under surveillance. He thinks someone might be…mid-sentence there’s the sound of glass breaking…trying to kill her…Raines finishes his sentence looking alarmed at the closed door of the room the judge went into. “GO! He yells into the phone as he hears a car alarm going off. This can’t be good. He busts into the judge’s office and looks out the window and sees the judge splattered all over the hood of a car, people crowding and screaming. I guess this means Raines’ secret is safe.

Raines is in his police car rushing to BRW. He’s talking with Carolyn who says BRW is not answering any of her phones. Police are at the scene already. There’s possible movement inside her place. Raines is two minutes away. He tells her to do a 2 block perimeter.

Raines is outside her apartment. He gives Boyer the signal to enter. He does and begins to go through the place. Raines is behind him. Boyer and another cop start entering the bedrooms and declaring them “clear”. Raines goes over to a picture on the wall. It’s the definition of “Insanity” “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Connie appears to say it’s true. Boyer comes out and declares the place clear. Raines wants to know if he checked the closet. He did. Place is empty. Raines walks around a bit and hears a child crying. He goes down the hall to see a little African-american boy crying his eyes out and saying “he” took his mom. At first I thought his mom was BRW, but it’s not. He said the guy told his mom to get him past the police and he had a gun.

Cut to an African American woman trying to drive a car with a gun shoved into her jaw, begging for her life. Cut to scary dude in the back seat. He’s telling her to shut up. To get him past the cops or he’ll kill her. For once, the cops are actually stopping people the way they’re supposed to. She stops her car. The officer comes to her window and asks to see her ID. She babbles about going to the supermarket for something she forgot, but she’s looking more than a little freaked and holding back tears. Cop looks worriedly at a blanket in the backseat. He tells her to drive safely and waves her on. Once she drives away, she starts talking to the jackass with the gun, saying that her son is scared and at home alone. She tries to beg some more when BLAM! A police car comes out of an alleyway, cuts her off and she crashes right into him. She’s screaming help. The cops come to get her out. The jackass is in the trunk reaching through the backseat for his shotgun. He gets it and shoots a hole through the front windshield. She’s screaming for the cop to get her out of the car. He’s struggling with her seatbelt. Jackass is taking aim again when there’s a bunch of gunfire and it’s Raines shooting at the trunk of the car (I wanna hear her conversation with her insurance company). The cop finally gets her free of the seatbelt and they roll to the ground. Raines comes closer to the car, gun drawn. He appears to be unloading his gun into the trunk. It finally pops open. Boyer opens the trunk and says “whoa” to what must be a VERY dead jackass (they don’t show him).

Raines’ cell phone rings. It’s Carolyn saying BRW is safe. He tells her to put BRW on. WHY? NOOOOO! “Detective Raines. What is happening?” comes BRW over the phone. She says “what is this protective custody?” ARRRRGGGHHH!! EVERY cliché? EVERY one????? He just says they’ve been trying to get a hold of her. Asks where she’s been. “What? I was at meeting!”. C’mon. NO gratitude? They must have given her somewhat of a rundown on what’s going on. She knows enough English to understand a man with a gun is trying to kill her, right?

Raines and Connie on a freeway overpass. Magic hour. I just love that time of day. Everything looks so beautiful. Even the graffiti and guardrail they’re standing next to. The way Raines is standing, kind of leaning, right leg going into the left, with his bullet-proof vest open, is muy sexy. She says Lionel was right and they should have had him over for dinner. Raines says it always seems like there will be time for that sort of thing. She says just like that there’s no more time and she’s gone forever. Raines looks down at her the way I want a man to look down at me one day (did I mention I like my men really tall?) and says “you know, this thing I do in my head. With you…and he smiles and there’s dimples and cuteness and just…I love him so. Ahem. ANYway, he says that he really liked having her around. He says, “you know what I mean?” Oh yeah. That look says it all. She tells him he’ll always be his own best company. She’s just his imagination. She says, “still, thanks anyway” and the look he gives her…great chemistry between these two. If you told me they were really dating, I’d totally believe you. Just then Boyer calls his name and we see Raines standing alone. We see Boyer as Raines tells him he’ll be there in a minute and turns back to where she was, but she’s no longer there.

Raines VO: “Each time you pull the trigger, every round you fire into a person, it takes a little bit out of ya, a little piece of yourself that you never get back.”

Raines is at a bar as he says out loud: You shoot somebody, even if they had it coming, that’s not a natural thing to do. It has consequences. Lance is there and her hair is down and she’s in street clothes drinking a beer. She looks really pretty. She says she doesn’t feel bad about shooting the guy. Raines says that’s good, because the guy was gunning for him which is why she’s drinking free this particular evening. She says that she fired three times, twelve feet away, center mass, just like she was taught and she only hit him once and that pisses her off. Raines is asking if she’s mad that she didn’t kill the guy. She explains that the perception is that female officers are more prone to shoot than men because they don’t have the physical strength to get the job done any other way. She just doesn’t like the stereotype of the little Korean girl who couldn’t take the heat. Raines says this is how it works, but then gets distracted. She wants to know how what works? Then we see his dead partner at the bar. He does answer her question: the consequences. It hits you in ways you never see coming. Makes you question your judgment and your ability to do the job. Lance looks up at him, confused. He tells her “you do your job, and little by little, it gets better. She wants to know if it goes away. His eyes roll a bit as he assures her it goes away. You wake up one morning and you’re as normal as blueberry pie. Everything’s just ducky. LIAR! He tells her to just keep doing her job, clinks his glass against hers, and starts to move past her. She calls his name as he’s walking away. He looks back, but they just look at each other for a moment and don’t say anything. They walk away from each other. He goes and sits down on a stool next to his dead partner. Partner says “One face you wear for the people you know, the other just for yourself, right?” He turns and smirks at Raines, then he holds up a shot glass and says, “a toast to the detective, to justice, whatever the price. To secrets well-kept. They drink and Raines looks in the mirror and appears alarmed to see he is indeed alone. There’s the strains of Johnny cash singing “There’ll be peace in the valley “ as Raines looks very sad and lonely and having a huge crisis of conscience. Awwwww.

Thanks so much GE!! This was such a good episode and you did it such a great justice! It was great to relive it. Makes me sad though to think that this wonderful show and character is not returning to our lives

Thanks FC. It's an homage. I think I have another episode as well (the one iwth the little girl) which I'll try to recap as well. This show was so awesome and brilliant, it had to be cancelled. It seems people don't want quality programming. Sigh.

I won't have time until the wee hours of Fri/Sat to read this, but boy am I looking forward to it!

Awww Frazz. Everything I do, I do it for you.

Okay now. YAY GE! One of the things you are doing is identifying characters by the functional role, as in Victim Bride, Nice Lady Cop.. This makes it so much more understandable than many of the recaps for something like Heroes on TWOP, where they come up with nicknames for people and places based on some in-joke thing so that there is no way to understand what they are referring to if you are not "in."

Is recapping a potential money making endeavor? If so, I'll give it a shot, too (obviously the actual scrpt writing has stalled). I do believe in teamwork for infiltating a closed group. (I am indeed getting up to speed on Heroes).

Let me know if you want detailed notes on this (if you are going to submit as a sample somewhere).

Frazz,thanks! What I had in my head at one point was starting a website where I could blog and rant about Hollywood stuff (like the current Lohan incident) and do recaps and stuff. I didn't have the money to start one and I really don't know how to build a website, so I figured I'd try my recapping skills here.

I've read over at TwoP for years (yes, I do have to go back a few recaps to figure out who they're talking about sometimes) and thought that I could do it, but was never sure until now.

I'm a Heroes nut. If you don't understand something, I can certainly be a resource.