We continue our Life series with the second season.
Episode 4 Not for nothing
The episode takes its title from the surveillance recording Charlie has of an unidentified male having a conversation with Jack Reese and it is there we begin with Charlie so absorbed in listening that Ted has to answer his phone. It is Reese calling as they have a case.
Charlie and Dani are called to investigate the death of a student who was taking part in a psychology experiment where some students take the role of guards and others take the role of prisoners. Destro was a guard. The Professor running the experiment ensured it was being filmed, but there was a blackout and that is when the murder took place. The other guards and students are now suspects.
As Tidwell is struggling for officers because of several parades, Charlie asks Ted to come down to the scene to help look through the footage. Ted finds footage of Will taking the blame for another prisoner (Perry) for contraband that was found and being put in solitary for his troubles. Charlie realises neither Will nor Perry could be responsible for the contraband.
The Professor in charge of the experiment planted it to “heighten the dynamic”. The Professor is quite the manipulator, who it turns out provided the dead guard with the personal files of those students playing the part as prisoners so he could exploit their weaknesses and ‘break them’. Charlie discovers that the Professor called Jen fishing for information on him and he isn’t best pleased about it. Ted and Charlie frighten the wits out of the Professor and talk about the guard that died while Charlie was in prison. Sometimes people get hurt and no one knows who did it. The insinuation being Charlie did something to the guard, possibly killed him.
Will took the blame for something he did not do, but then willingly took on the role of con when he felt the guards were stepping over the line. He accepted who he was.
If Will is Charlie in this scenario, then which person in Charlie’s life does the Professor represent? It has to be someone who likes observing and manipulating all around him. Charlie takes great delight in arresting the Professor for incitement to gross bodily harm.
Fruit count: Apple, oranges
Episode 5 ‘Crushed’
We delve deeper into the conspiracy by starting again with the surveillance tape of Jack Reese.
“There was 6, there is 5, it could just as easily be 4.”
Charlie looks specifically at James Francis Dunn who was at the Police Academy with Jack Reese and who committed suicide 1988. Charlie visits James’s wife who is reluctant to tell him anything and denies knowing the men in the picture.
Dani and Charlie pick up the case of Mike Brody who has been crushed to death and enter the world of online dating where Mike has been dabbling much to the horror of his fiancé. He had been IMing with a woman called Bethanie.
Dani, Charlie and Tidwell use the information in the IMs to track Bethanie and we are introduced to the Grey family: Bethanie who was taken out of College for sleeping with one of her Professors, her mother who seemingly leaves matters to her husband and the father who is a real hard case.
Bethanie had problems with the online world previously but swears she is not online anymore. The realisation that someone who knows her is pretending to be her upsets her greatly.
Charlie receives a call to say Rachel is speaking. When he arrives at the hospital, it hits Charlie hard to see Rachel so comfortable with Jack Reese, who is visiting her. Jack tells Charlie that “this is your mess now, Crews”.
Bethanie comes to see Charlie as she thinks her father killed Mike. Charlie gets Tidwell to let Rob, someone else who had been IMing with Bethanie out of lock up to speak to the real Bethanie. He quotes a line from the messages he had received. “If you saw me, would you know me, I look for you wherever I go.” It is this line which reveals the identity of the killer as Charlie has an album with this song on it and a girl on the cover who looks like Bethanie, but could not be Bethanie because of when the album was produced…it is her mother. She got pulled into the online world while she was supposed to be closing all of Bethanie’s accounts. She eventually met up with Mike who laughed at her and she lashed out, killing him.
James Dunn’s wife admits to Charlie that she does not believe her husband committed suicide nor does she believe it was an accident. She tells him that one of the men in the photo is Mickey Reybourne. She doesn’t know who the others are.
Rachel was Jack’s insurance policy, but he was also keeping her safe. Now it is all Charlie’s responsibility and Charlie realises that in the photo of James Dunn’s funeral there are 5 officers carrying his coffin…“There was 6, there is 5, it could just as easily be 4.” Charlie realises this is a threat against Jack Reese.
Fruit Count: Apple (wax – not real!)
Episode 6 – Did you feel that?
We have a blast back to Charlie and Dani’s first case in the Pilot. Arthur Tins, who murdered the 10 year old son of Mark Rauls, manages to escape during an earth quake. They receive a call from State Corrections warning them of this. This gives Dani and Charlie a problem as now Tins and Rauls are both out there at the same time and they worry that Rauls will go after Tins. In order to prevent it, they attempt to bring Rauls into custody since they know where he is. Unfortunately, they only succeed in leading Tins to Rauls and Tins shoots Rauls before fleeing the scene in a Police car, dressed as a Police Officer. It was in fact Tins who had called earlier pretending to be from the State Corrections department.
Crews and Reese track Tins down at an armoured car Company to find he has taken hostages. Charlie is forced to allow him to leave.
One of Arthur’s associates unexpectedly calls Charlie and Dani for help, but when they arrive at the destination, Chip is already dead. There is another charred body which we are supposed to believe is Tins, but Charlie doesn’t buy it. Bobby nearly sets off a bomb that Tins had planted in the car he left behind for them to find. Luckily for Bobby, Charlie is paying attention.
Dani and Charlie discover that one of the employees at the armoured car Company helped Tins get away and they decide to pay her a visit at home. As she speaks with them at her front door June tells them her favourite movie was the Beatles second movie (Help). Dani catches on, but Charlie doesn’t and the chance is missed. Arthur invites them in where he has all of June’s family as hostages.
Arthur tells Charlie it would be better if his partner came in (Dani had stayed outside to call for back up) and Charlie tells Arthur it would be better of Arthur’s partner joined them. Charlie had guessed that Arthur had come to this house right after escaping and set up camp. There is a stand-off as Charlie tells Arthur’s partner that Arthur had killed the third man they escaped with. Charlie signals to the child who Arthur is using as a shield. The child counts down with his fingers so Charlie can see and pulls himself away so that Charlie can get a clean shot at Arthur, taking him out.
Fruit count: Basket of Fruit from Arthur Tins
wonderful description, Life episodes, because I love this series, it is a pleasure to read your comments!
Thank you!
Monique
I can still remember, vividly, every time I was in an earthquake in California. They were so scary, mostly because there was nowhere to got to be safe from them, they could happen at any time and with any varying degree of severity. The unpredictable nature of them always bothered me.
Episode 4: So Will is Charlie. But then, really, who is the professor? I LOVE the way you make the connections between Charlie and the crimes he solves and the characters he meets in different episodes. I don’t know if the writers intended these connections; they are, regardless, brilliant!