Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Aw, Tom, It's Not Even My Birthday!
By Couch Baron | Season 2 | Episode 1 | Aired on 07.12.1998
Case tells Glynn that McManus wasn't shot with a SORT rifle, but with a certain type of handgun. Glynn recognizes the make, and says that it's the kind of gun that Said had. Back to solitary, then? Yup, as Case accuses him of shooting McManus. Said denies it, and says he won't admit to having a gun, but Case threatens him with an extended vacation in solitary. Said goes all Let's Play A Game, saying that hypothetically, if he had a gun, he might have tossed it over the side of the control panel when the SORT team started beating him, so as not to kill anyone. Where someone else picked it up? "Theoretically speaking, yes." Does anyone else think this episode is starting to feel like The Amazing Race? Well, our next stop is McManus, so I guess there's nothing "amazing" about it. Maybe just a scavenger hunt, then. Case says that McManus had balls to negotiate personally with the rioters and to trade himself for Armstrong and Mineo, especially since he put himself in Ross's power. He notes how ironic it is that Ross shot him. McManus asks who told him. Case: "That Ross was the one who shot you? You just did." Have a nice day, chump!
All the pieces together, a smiling Case goes to see Diane, who tries to put a brave face on even though it's pretty clear that she knows the game is up. He tells her he knows about the cigarettes and McManus, and then, somberly, explicitly says that she killed Ross. Diane denies it, but Case says Ross picked up Said's gun and shot McManus, and in turn, Diane took Officer Heim's pistol and shot Ross. She tries to claim that her hands were tied, but he trips her up with her earlier admission that she cradled McManus in her arms after he was shot. She tells him that when you're in a riot, you get carried away and stop being human. She gives an impassioned speech about the fact that she's made tons of mistakes in her life, but they were her mistakes, and she's never been a victim. If you think back to "A Game Of Checkers" when she said she couldn't sit around to get raped, this speech seems quite resonant. She finishes, "I do not regret what I've done. No regrets, no remorse. I just keep going." Isn't her action at least partially justified by the fact that she was defending herself and McManus? It's reasonable to assume that Ross would have killed him, and possibly her, isn't it? Case turns to go, but Diane asks him what he's going to do. "When I know, you'll know."