Major Crimes: Conspiracy Theory: Part 1 starts off with more suspects than answers
“When a well-known attorney, celebrated for her defense of oppressed women is found dead, there are no shortage of high-profile suspects. Meanwhile, Rusty and Gus confront issues in their relationship.”
The episode started with the squad at a new crime scene. The tone of the beginning of the episode is humorous and light; however, it immediately turns serious. The victim is Bonnie Pearl, a lawyer representing women who are oppressed (who looks like Hobbs). She was shot in the head in her vehicle and when she was found she was wearing a fake pearl necklace, despite it being her signature. At the time of her death Pearl was representing multiple women who were wrongfully terminated from the waitressing jobs at Tackles restaurants when they reached the age of 30.
At the morgue, the first two suspects is discovered: Craig Curtis, a former professional football player who started the Tackles restaurants, and her ex-husband Jerry Pearl, who she pays $15,000 in alimony per month. Following a trip to Bonnie’s firm, the squad discovers another suspect in Bonnie’s son, Stan, who cares more about what his mother left him than her death. He sees her death as an opportunity for himself.
This is a turn of events as this case is handing out suspects, whereas during the case of the St. Joseph’s Three the squad had a hard time figuring out more than one. This case also gives the impression that despite the less serious tone, there’s more to this case than meets the eye.
As the episode goes on, Stan is discovered to have colluded with Craig Curtis and thus Sharon sends Detectives Paige and Sykes to investigate him more. During his interview, Curtis is more an jerk than the squad realized; yet, he does give the squad access to the opening of another restaurant. At the same time, Tao discovers that Bonnie was in contact with a sort of whistleblower in Tackles.
At the opening, Sharon interviews Jerry Pearl, who informs the squad that Eric Walsh, a film director who undressed in front of his cast and crew because he wanted the female star to strip naked for her scene, was visiting Bonnie’s home more often than the team knew about. In addition, the squad figured out who the whistleblower is: “Dallas” from the Burbank location (named Vanessa), who the squad met earlier.
The latest with Rusty
Meanwhile, Gus and Rusty finally meet face to face and the result just about breaks your heart. It’s finally revealed that Gus had an affair with Aiden and that the two have broke up. However, Gus tells Rusty that he is working in a diner because Aiden fired him after Gus broke up with him due to his love for Rusty. Gus leaves upset and the audience can tell that the whole situation has left him heartbroken so that wanted to hurt Gus the same way. Although hurt by Gus, Sharon informs Rusty that Aiden firing Gus because he stopped sleeping with him is a crime and Gus could sue. By episode’s end, Rusty threatens to sue Aiden over wrongful termination.
Overall
The first episode of the arc ended with the squad discovering Vanessa was murdered. Overall, we were entertained by this episode. It was a good start and we knew the hour wouldn’t go deep into the personal lives of the characters because that’s not James Duff’s style. So as this episode arc continues, we are looking forward to becoming confused and entertained all at the same time.
Major Crimes returns tonight for Part 2 on TNT. For more news about Major Crimes, be sure to visit this link.
This story was written by Samantha D’Amico. If you want to follow her on Twitter, you can do so at SAM_iamXO. (Photo: TNT.)