Meet Rosie Larsen. She's a 17-year-old high school senior who has a few secrets hidden up the sleeve of her pink sweater. And she's dead. When the aforementioned sweater turns up in a seedy park near Seattle, Rosie becomes a roablock for Sarah Linden's exodus from the Emerald City. Sarah was mere hours away from quitting her dreary job as a homicide detective and moving to gorgeous, sunny Sonoma with her son and fiancé. Then Rosie came along and screwed that plan up. So now Sarah's stuck in Seattle with Stephen Holder, her cocky, uncouth replacement. Sarah spends the episode looking for Rosie or her corpse -- whichever comes first -- and questioning Rosie's parents, teachers, and friends along the way. Rosie's blue-collar parents went on a camping trip the weekend before and thought Rosie was with her friend Sterling. For her part, Sterling cracks like a fresh egg during questioning and admits that she hadn't seen Rosie since Friday. When Rosie's rich, a-hole boyfriend Jasper turns out to be a dead end, her disappearance becomes high-profile enough to attract the attention of Mayoral Candidate Darren Richmond. Richmond's advisors counsel him to energize his bid for office by campaigning as the tough-on-crime candidate who will find Rosie's killer. The political scheme gets personal for Richmond, however, when Rosie's body is found in one of his campaign cars.
It's a typically dreary November Monday morning in Seattle as 30-something strawberry blonde Sarah Linden takes a jog. Whether it's to relieve stress or purely for pleasure, it's definitely better than the running Rosie Larsen was doing the night before. Sarah and Rosie's runs are crosscut. Sarah huffs and puffs, Rosie screams and staggers. Sarah picks up speed as Rosie stops to hide behind a tree. A flashlight flickers ominously behind Rosie, finally catching up to her. Sarah's run also stops when she comes across an animal carcass. She stares at it grimly, almost blankly. You get the sense she's been around death before. Linden's phone rings, and she picks it up nonchalantly. She gets a call and heads to work. Credits.
Still in her running gear, Linden drives up in the drizzle to a crime scene as some punks nearby rubberneck to get a glance of the gore. The cop on duty apologizes for calling Sarah in. He briefs her that the body is a Jane Doe and the coroner is en route. He directs her through the crime scene, offering to walk with her, but she says she can handle it. He asks if she's leaving Seattle and her job on Friday. She corrects him with a smile -- today is her last day.
Linden clicks on her flashlight as she walks through the forbidding warehouse. Birds flap away as she surveys the blood-stained walls and clothing dropped slipshod on the floor. She approaches the corpse cautiously, creeping up to it in the dark. Jane Doe is hanging in a clear tarp that's soaked in blood. Linden puts on her gloves and carefully removes the covering. Just as it's falling to the ground, the lights click on, and her colleagues jump out of the darkness. Underneath the tarp? A blow-up doll with a sign that reads, "Bon voyage, Sarah!" Sarah smiles broadly as the guys pour her a glass of champagne, blow noisemakers and sing "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow!"
After the celebration, she heads home with Jane Doe under her arm. She calls out to her fiancé Rick to ask if he's still home. They horse around until he notices Jane Doe and says, "I'm not even going to ask." They kiss playfully. Sarah stops to ask where her son Jack is. Rick assures her he dropped Jack off at school. Sarah wonders if Jack's mad that they're moving. Rick says tersely, "He's 13. It's his job to hate us." He promises that Jack will come around, then jokes what Jane Doe thinks about Sonoma. She brushes it off as he tells her the movers are coming in an hour. He also says her friend Reggie wants to take Jack on one last spin on the boat before they leave. She kids that Reggie should give her away at their wedding. Rick doesn't seem to care, he's so excited to marry her in the first place. He asks one last time, even though he seems completely certain of the answer, if she's ready to change her life for him. They kiss, and she says, "You know I'm not one for words." He replies, "That's a good thing. I only need two of them." A car honks outside. Sarah wonders why he can't wait and fly with them, but with a cab waiting downstairs, it's a little late for that. As he hurries out the door, she tells him, "I do... want to marry you." He happily reminds her that the tickets are on the refrigerator, and their flight is at 9:30 that night. She smiles as she watches him leave, then heads over to the fridge, where she kisses a picture of herself with a younger Jack.
Later that morning, she's packing up her office and planning Jack's boating trip with Reggie when a strange man busts in. He's a gangly, dirty blonde who looks a little strung out. Nonetheless, he immediately adopts a defensive tone and asks what she's doing there, though she should probably be the one asking that question. After they have a pissing contest over whose office they're standing in, he introduces himself as Stephen Holder, her replacement. They exchange territorial glances as she allows him to start moving his stuff in. They banter awkwardly about her move to Sonoma. He says sarcastically, "Nice weather, ocean, beaches... hate that shit."
It breaks the tension until Holder notices a case file open showing a brutal picture of a dead woman and a piece of artwork. He snarks that the crack head must have thought she was Picasso. Linden corrects him that the six-year-old son drew it. He asks indifferently, "Did he get iced, too?" She says he didn't, but we never learn what happened because Sarah's boss comes in to give her one last assignment. She is reluctant to take the case just hours before she has to leave, but he assures her she'll be able to pass it off at six o'clock. He urges her to take Holder along to show him how to work a scene. Linden is too much of a lady to groan at this suggestion, but I couldn't say the same for myself given Holder's general presence thus far.
Linden drives to the crime scene as Holder tells her about his background. He went straight out of the academy to undercover work and was especially effective in narcotics. Surprise, surprise. She asks if he thinks homicide will be any different. He says, "At least you've got a bad guy." Linden replies wryly, "Yeah, who's that?" They stop at a light, and Holder locks eyes with a down-and-out teen. He puts up a peace sign. She flips him off, so he returns the favor. Not such a good guy himself, eh? Holder asks if that's why Linden is running away, because she can't pinpoint the bad guys anymore. She looks on blankly.
They reach the scene, a park that Holder immediately pawns off to being full of hookers, tweakers, and baseheads. The officer on-scene hands Linden a blood-spattered sweater, and she schools him that their vic is no crack ho if she was wearing a recently cleaned, baby pink, dry-clear-only, wool sweater. There's also an ATM card with the name Stanley Larsen on it. Holder reformulates his theory that a guy lost his wallet while getting serviced. Linden steps aside to take in the scene. She tells the cop to walk the scene and call in sex crimes. Holder wants to stay, but there's no body, so Linden wants to walk away and finish packing her office. Holder promises he won't let her miss her flight, then swaggers off, revealing a serious crucifix tattoo on the nape of his neck.
Elsewhere in town, we meet Stan Larsen. He owns his own moving company and works with a younger guy named Belko who might be as offensive as Holder. To wit, they go into a Halal grocery, where Belko says the place gives him the creeps and dismissively calls the owner Osama within the first 30 seconds. The irritated owner tells Belko his name is Feza, not Osama, then lets them make their pick-up. Stan laughs that Belko just got his ass handed to him. As they step inside, Stan gets a call from his wife, telling him to come home immediately. Dun, dun, dun...
Over at the Larsen house, it was a false alarm. Stan's wife Mitch had a mishap with the dishwasher and is now mopping up the floor. They have an easy rapport that is about to change forever. For now, though, they're enjoying the simple rhythm of nagging and flirting the way people who have been married for years can remember. Stan tries to turn the sink on and gets a face full of water. Mitch laughs at him, so he drags her down to the floor, where they kiss and tumble around in the water. The shot zooms out to show a shelf full of family portraits featuring ear-to-ear grins.
They're still laughing as Mitch walks Stan out. They share one, lingering last kiss before Mitch proudly tells Stan that Rosie wants to apply to colleges out of state. Stan thinks she's too young, but Mitch says she's got to grow up some time. He begrudgingly agrees to think about it and heads back to work. Well, save for one last kiss.
Elsewhere, Mayoral candidate Darren Richmond leaves a cemetery and heads to work. His campaign manager Jamie and campaign adviser Gwen meet him at the top of the escalator. Jamie immediately starts drilling him with the latest poll numbers. Ricmond kids, "Good morning to you, too, James!" Jamie asks why Richmond is late to work. He says he slept in because he lost his watch. Jamie hurries ahead to organize a trip to a school Richmond is taking, giving Gwen opportunity to slip Richmond the watch he left on her kitchen counter the night before. Bow chicka wow wow.
They reach the board room where they're discussing strategy for the school trip. It's a televised forum on crime between Richmond and the incumbent, Lesley Adams. Richmond thinks Adams is going to get hammered for being too soft. Richmond turns the subject to an announcement that he secured a key endorsement from fellow City Council member Ruth Yitanes. It hasn't been announced yet, but he's confident that she'll go public the day. With Yitanes' vote, Richmond thinks he's got the election in the bag.
Back at the Larsen homestead, Holder swaggers up to Mitch to ask where Stan has been since last night. Linden tries to make the dance a little more delicate, but it's clear they're asking if Stan is accustomed to stepping out at night. Mitch insists that he's not and that he was with them all night after they got home late from a camping trip. Linden hands Mitch her card and tells Stan to call when he arrives back home. Unsatisfied, Holder asks one more time if Stan was home the night before. Mitch says she's sure. Holder asks how. "How do you think?" sasses Mitch. As she strides back inside, Linden notices a pink bicycle inside the garage and eyes it, putting together the pieces. She asks Mitch if she has a daughter who went on the camping trip. Turns out, Rosie stayed at a friend's during the weekend, and Mitch hasn't talked to her since Friday.
Over at Fort Washington High School, Rosie's friend Sterling is desperately asking people if they've seen Rosie and texting Rosie, "Rosie, Where r u??? Call me 911! Seriously." Their teacher, Mr. Ahmed, gathers together the students' questions for the candidates in today's forum. The principal interrupts to ask if anyone's seen Rosie. Out in the hall, Sterling lies pathetically that Rosie spent the weekend at her house and might have slept in that morning. The stress of uncertainty gives Sterling a nosebleed. The principal leaves abruptly to wrap up preparations for the political forum, allowing Mr. Ahmed to call out Sterling for lying.
Larsen home. Mitch tells Holder and Linden that she had dinner with Rosie on Friday, then Rosie went to a high school dance. They ask typical follow-up questions about what she was wearing (a pink sweater), whether she had a history of running away, etc. It only puts Mitch on edge, but for now she takes it more as an indictment of her parenting than a sign that something is wrong. Then she gets a call. As she takes it, Linden checks out Rosie's room. It's an explosion of pink, with a butterfly-shaped photo collage. Mitch returns from call and says the school confirmed that Rosie hasn't been seen by anyone since the dance on Friday.
FWHS. The students sit patiently in the auditorium while Richmond anxiously prepares for the forum. Gwen thinks something is setting off Richmond other than his stance on gangs. He abruptly asks her to move in with him. She tells him calculatedly that she doesn't want to make their relationship public until after he gets the single female vote. He presses her again to move in with him. She tells him she knows he was visiting his wife's grave that morning and says she wishes they could talk about it. Before he can respond, Richmond is escorted to the gym to speak with the police and Adams about Rosie's disappearance. The Mayor is peevish that his time is being wasted, but Linden tells the candidates they only have a 72-hour window to explore the abduction site. They call off the forum. As they are about to leave, Mayor Adams asks Richmond if he was involved with athletics as a teen. Richmond says loadedly that he "never much cared for games." Adams smugs that Councilwoman Yitanes does and cautions Richmond not to trust her word.
Back in the auditorium, the principal cancels the assembly. Sterling makes a beeline for the exit. Out in the hall, Mr. Ahmed tells Linden and Holder that Sterling isn't in class, so they plan to get her home address. Holder takes the opportunity to question Mr. Ahmed about the events of the past weekend. Mr. Ahmed says he saw Rosie at the dance. She stood out because she was dressed up as a pink-haired witch, not a glorified stripper like the rest of the girls. Holder presses harder, asking Mr. Ahmed about his relationship with Rosie, including some not-so-subtle implications that the teacher might have a hard-on for the 17-year-old. Mr. Ahmed is appropriately grossed out and offended by this line of questioning and makes it clear that he doesn't take an interest in his underage students. He tells them to ask Sterling whether Rosie had a boyfriend. After they wrap up, Linden gets a call to head to Jack's school. She strands Holder at the high school -- instant karma for that assy interrogation, sucka! -- and tells him to get a K9 unit for the crime scene and station a car at Sterling's house.
Meanwhile, Sterling finds a strung-out emo punk named Kris and asks him where Rosie's boyfriend Jasper is and whether he hooked up with Rosie that weekend. Kris is less-than-cooperative, demanding a cigarette before he'll give her any information. He tells her that Jasper scored Ecstasy then went to his island house while his parents went out of town that weekend. He guesses Rosie was probably with him since Ecstasy makes Jasper horny.
Out on the island, Jasper is playing a video game. His phone vibrates, but he can't hear it for the loud metal music playing in the background. A naked, faceless brunette stirs and groans in the bed behind him. Is it Rosie? (Anyone who has seen even a smidgen of advertising for this show knows it won't be, but we'll humor the suspenseful ending for the moment...)
Linden takes Jack to Reggie's boat to stay. She is unhappy that he was smoking cigarettes at school, but he only issues a glib, "It's not like I was smoking crack, mom. God!" She tries to encourage him to get his friends' addresses so they can stay in touch, but he obnoxiously reminds her there's this thing called Facebook nowadays. She tries one more time, telling him Rick's going to throw a party for him when they arrive and invite all t
he neighborhood kids. He replies curtly, "He's not my dad." With that, her phone rings. She leaves Jack with Reggie, then heads back to the crime scene to meet Holder.Over at the Larsen house, Mitch leaves Stan a frantic message to call her back. Her sons bust in looking for Rosie, who promised to take them bike riding that afternoon. Mitch's sister Terry lies that Rosie's still at school and offers to take them instead. Mitch says, "That girl's gonna get the ass-kickin' of her life when she shows up." Just then, Stan calls, and Mitch updates him on what they know -- which isn't very much.
Crime scene. The K9 unit scours the ground.
Back at the house, Stan wonders if Rosie's still dating Jasper and decides to go out and take matters into his own hands. Before he leaves, Mitch tearfully tells him the cops were asking for identifying marks. She told them Rosie always wore a butterfly necklace. She knows in her heart why the cops asked these questions, but she still asks, unwilling to believe their implications. Stan assures her this is just the lark of a dumb teenage girl. He promises to find her. This gives Mitch the strength to hold it together a little longer.
Crime scene. The dogs have tracked Rosie's scent in a zigzag pattern through the woods, but they're still clueless as to possible burial sites. Linden looks at the map of the area and tells Holder to tell the team to sweep it again. He says they've already done it twice, but now the tables have turned and Linden smells blood. She knows something is up and soon gets a CB message that they've found a possible burial site. Sorry, Sonoma, you're just going to have to wait.
Richmond's HQ. Adams used the cancelled assembly as a soap box to announce his new anti-gang legislation and beat Richmond at his own strategy. Gwen thinks they shouldn't have cancelled the forum, but Jamie cold-heartedly sees it as an opportunity to leverage Rosie's disappearance to make Adams look insensitive. He pants that it'll be an amazing publicity opportunity -- "especially if the girl winds up dead." Richmond tells him he's not going to trade on tragedy. He changes the subject to say that Adams knew about Yitanes' endorsement. As the staffers ponder that bombshell, Richmond gets a cryptic call from one of his old employees. She says media types have been calling about some trips he used to take. She fingers Gwen and Jamie, saying they knew about his mysterious trips too, then insists she's not the leak.
Sterling arrives home and is confronted by Stan. She immediately cracks and says that Rosie spent the weekend with Jasper. Stan calls Mitch immediately to (wrongly) say that he knows where Rosie is and is going to pick her up. She is relieved beyond words. The word travels quickly to Linden. She wonders if anyone has actually spoken to Rosie, but her boss considers the case closed and tells her to catch her plane. Holder calls her over to the burial site, but what they unearth is only a baby doll. Holder googoo-gagas. Linden is not amused.
A bit later, Stan barges into the upper-crust LMFAO crack den that is Jasper's house. He marches up to the bedroom and pulls the cover off of the naked brunette. No surprises, it's not Rosie. Just some tripped out tramp. Jasper gives Stan a smug "I told you so." Prick.
Back at the scene, Linden takes one last look around as Holder honks for her to get a move on. Rick calls her and suggests they have pizza that night after he picks them up from the airport. She tells him that sounds great but can't shake the feeling that she's missing something. She studied the map some more as he rambles on about getting a bouncy castle to entertain Jack during the barbecue that weekend. She loses her patience at the influx of dogs barking, Rick's yammering, and Holder's impatient honking. Finally, an epiphany: She sees some people walking along a road about 50 yards away. She completely checks out of her conversation with Rick to ask Holder where the road leads. He tells her the Puget Sound. She abruptly ends the phone call with Rick. They realize there's a lake on the other side. Linden tells Holder they're heading that way. They reach the lake and quickly discover a black Town Car has been stashed there, submerged underwater.
Stan calls Mitch to tell her the bad news that he hasn't actually found Rosie. She sends the boys off as she freaks out about the possibility that Rosie could have been in that park for degenerates. "Stan, tell me. What is going on?" He pulls up to a police barricade. On the other side, Linden is checking out the Town Car. She orders her men to open the trunk. With Mitch still on the phone, desperately begging to know what's happening, Stan staggers toward the barricade, praying to God that his daughter hasn't been found. But she has. Encased in a watery grave inside the Town Car's trunk. Stan screams out, over and over again, "Rosie!" Mitch has to hear it all. Holder stands back as Linden calmly tells Stan he shouldn't be here. He asks if it's Rosie. She says grimly, "I'm sorry... you can't be here." He charges at the scene, only to be held back by the police officers as Mitch hears his roars and joins in with her own howls.
Back at the Town Car, Holder tells Linden the car belongs to the Richmond campaign, who is schmoozing with his boosters as they photograph Rosie's body. Linden looks at Rosie and sees the butterfly necklace her mom said she always wore.
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