Behavior Is Reputation

S02E01

Obsequious campaign strategists Jamie and Gwen spend the day in Richmond's hospital, wondering if he's going to live. Eventually Gwen comes clean about rescinding his alibi for the night of the murder, but at least confirms for us that she was telling the truth. Jamie's in no position to get pissed at her about this... Until, at the end of the day, we learn that Richmond is now paralyzed from the waist down. Gwen goes home to wipe his blood off her bra, and Jamie does that intense career-hunger face he always does.

Over at the Larsen's, things are the usual nonstop cavalcade of fun. Aunt Terry moves in to replace the vanished Mitch as the household's "single functioning adult," so the kids spend most of the time blackly hating the bummer that is their lives.

They didn't have very far to take Belko Royce for booking, considering his Jack Ruby act was right outside the station, but that doesn't mean that Belko Royce doesn't go pretty far all on his own. Crazy, I mean. He goes very crazy. Shoot your mom, shoot a public figure, shooting spree inside a police station crazy. After a soft interrogation by Holder, poor old wonderful awful Belko Royce gets a visit from Stan that's pretty heartbreaking, once he realizes that Stan has come to think of him as a sort of rabid animal that's outlived its usefulness, rather than what he really is, which is a three-way cross between The Blind Side, Of Mice & Men, and like the perfect date.

You will not go broke betting on Belko Royce doing the most trainwreck possible thing at any point, of course, so -- just as Holder's connecting another lead on this officially closed case -- you can't be surprised when he takes a hostage in the middle of a police station, and eventually shoots himself in his beautiful face.

Linden... I mean, you know what Linden does. A whole lotta hustle, a lot of yelling into the phone at well-meaning people, some terrible police work, several pieces of gum, and a lot of mixed messages for her former partner and her kid. She follows the faked-photo lead just far enough that she sets off a million bells, she is so freaky around Holder that he instantly knows she's figured the whole thing out, she alienates Jack's dad some more, and then eventually -- once she comprehends that she has kicked the hornet's nest of whatever conspiracy involving higher government and God knows what -- goes into hiding in a motel.

Here's the deal: The faked photos, like Belko's gunplay, were both predicated on bringing Richmond down by any means necessary. Holder thought he was doing the right thing when he got the pics from his former mentor, Gil Sloane, who put him in Homicide in the first place (and within this episode makes Holder a full detective). What's more dubious, however, is where Gil is really coming from, because it is clear that his interests are not connecting up.

Linden has reporter friend Jill call up Gil -- after spending the episode chasing him around in the usual abstruse, off-putting ways -- and congratulate him on providing the photo evidence that got Richmond arrested (and then shot, pretty much). This freaks out Gil enough that he runs to his contact who was actually calling the play... A representative of Richmond's opponent, the incumbent Mayor!

Oh, and of course by this point she has made damn sure she's also under surveillance, because making herself a target comes as easily to Sarah Linden as motherhood comes to people who are not Sarah Linden.

PREVIOUSLY ON THE UNSOLVING

Andy Cohen was the beautiful husband we're all fighting to this day; doesn't change my end goal. Holder procured photo evidence that corroborated the campaign manager/mistress's story that Richmond came back the night of Rosie's death soaking wet -- but the cameras on that toll bridge had been out for months, meaning Holder's part of a larger plot. In the end, that cute crazy Belko Royce had a Jack Ruby kind of gun pointed at Richmond, Linden was actually belted in on the plane she'd kept missing all season, and Mitch left Stan, the better to spread her special kind of cheer.

NOW

Sarah's washing her face in what you can tell is an airport bathroom, which lends itself to two possibilities: Either she is getting off the plane in Sonoma to meet the boyfriend who more than likely doesn't exist, Or she is still in Seattle, because guess what, she is a crazy person. There's just something about that bathroom that screams Seattle, but I can't tell what it is... Oh wait, a bathroom in Sonoma wouldn't have Sarah Linden standing in it. It would lack that essential quality.

Jack, outside: "I am fed up with your shit as usual."
Sarah: "I think I just broke up with my boyfriend -- who can keep all the ultimata straight? -- so I guess we're going to live in Seattle now. Like we already do."
Jack: "Does that mean we can stop being homeless and actually live somewhere some time?"
Sarah: "Look, I'm just really sorry."
Jack: "Is this because Councilman Richmond, whom you arrested, is now dead?"
Sarah: "No, it's because I'm nuts. What's this now? What's happening?"

He's not dead, but he is being rushed to the ER. In a spectacularly jagged and jarring fashion, falling off his gurney and bleeding through several layers of Gwen's clothes. The best slash saddest part is when wormy little Jamie ties his BFF routine and clambers onto the ambulance, and the guys fully shove him out into the windmilling air like Wile E. Coyote and thence onto his ass, and Gwen's just like, "Don't rush cops or EMTs, I guess, is the moral of that story."

CHEZ LT. OAKES

This is the thinking: If the photos were faked, then Holder is part of a larger, scarier thing that was trying to get Richmond blamed for Rosie's murder, meaning that Richmond is likely not the killer, but more importantly therefore, Sarah Linden -- and Jack -- are in an ongoing trouble from this conspiracy. Therefore, it's best to yank her kid off that plane and go running back into danger. First, though, she stashes him at the Lieutenant's house while she's telling her nice boss about how Rosie's killer is still at large.

By Jacob Clifton

Oakes: "Think of this from a moderately well-meaning cop's point of view. Faking a little evidence doesn't mean that suddenly Richmond didn't do it. Maybe it just means that Holder got impatient with the case and supplied a shorter route from A to B. Maybe the million signs that Richmond is a self-destructive cuckoo bird mean that he was the one that did this. Hey, maybe we're all just acting out so you won't leave town, for the thirteenth day in a row, because you are just that special and fun to be around. There are a million things, each of which is this likely."

Linden: "Or. Because Holder couldn't have done this by himself, because he is too unhealthy to use Photoshop. So he was a pawn, a tool, a catspaw. Who placed him in Homicide with us to begin with?"
Oakes: "His old supervisor at County, Gil Sloane. But he's been Vice in the Sherriff's Department for twenty years!"
Linden: "First of all, it's simply a fictional and real-life truism that all vice and undercover cops are sleazy. Most of them make Holder look like a Yalie, so that's not helping your case. But also, the Sherriff oversees Bridges & Tunnels. Meaning the cameras that cover them, that seem to go out of service at times perpendicular to the evidence we receive. So... I still think Richmond is part of something bigger -- he's a patsy, a maroon, a fall guy -- and Rosie too. A whole season of that, probably."

Oakes: "Is this like that time you went crazy?"
Linden: "Every episode somebody mentions that, and every episode I'm like, 'What's this going crazy?' Bitch, we have arrived. We never left."

HOLDER/SLOANE

Sloane: "Good work handing over that fake evidence."
Holder: "As long as the real culprit went to jail, where he'll safely wait out due process."

Phone: "Holder, Richmond got out on bail and has now been shot. Also, Belko Royce's creepy mom got shot. Brains everywhere."

Holder: "Why, it simply strains credibility that once again by cutting corners and jumping the gun, I have set someone up to be attacked by Belko Royce. And yet it seems this is what I've done. And possibly just permanently broke him, also."

By Jacob Clifton

LARSEN

Stan: "It is such a bummer that my little Belko went nuts and shot everybody. I am worried about him and his mental health. Perhaps I am late to the train on that one."
Holder: "Sorry about your fucked-up horrible family of waifs and strays and bummers. Oh, also your daughter was a prostitute, okay? I have to go."

HOSPITAL

Gwen: "I really gotta put like a light sweater on over this gory mess I call a shirt."

Medical Personnel: "He's bleeding internally in his abdomen. Most of his blood of his entire body is soaked through Gwen's clothes."
Jamie & Gwen: "But so that means he'll be fine, right?"
Medical Personnel: "Um... You should probably get his sister Elyse to fly down."
Jamie & Gwen: "You mean like for the big party celebrating how he is fine?"

SHERRIFF DEPT

Linden: "I am gonna need some gum for this one."

First Deputy: "Yeah, those cameras have been down since August, so there wouldn't be any October footage." The Whole Place: (Buzzes like a fridge; the Sherriff Himself -- I think -- comes out after getting yelled at on the phone.)
Sherriff: "That guy doesn't know what he's talking about, sorry. There were totally cameras working, which is how we know that Richmond was on the bridge at that time. Sorry about totally indicating that this is a conspiracy."
Linden: "Uh, this is totally a coverup of a conspiracy that got a widower arrested and possibly murdered."
Sherriff: "Look, Detective Sarah Linden of Homicide, don't make me call your lieutenant."
Linden: "Yeah, I totally didn't tell you any of those infos. So who are you taking orders from?"

He just makes her same face back at her, which would be really unnerving I think, and so she runs straight to Oakes's house, grabs the kid, it's only just about sunrise on DAY FOURTEEN and she's back on the run, even as the phone in Oakes's house is already ringing because of the bullshit she's set in motion. Oakes watches her leave, because as usual he's protecting her but also can't take the actual steps necessary to do anything about any of this. Boy, I hope he doesn't get fired and replaced with somebody who is actually anti Sarah Linden and her ten metric tons of hot mess she brings to each situation.

By Jacob Clifton

HOSPITAL

Jamie: "Well, he's still in surgery, and I am not otherwise going to talk about the election."
Paps: "So wait, did he kill Rosie Larsen? That would be a good reason to drop out of the race."
Jamie: "Jamie OUT!"

He drops the mic and runs inside, where Gwen has indeed put a sweater over her gory mess, and screams, "You should be ashamed!"

Gwen: "Why, because I told Linden my alibi was bogus? And that got him arrested and shot?"
Jamie: "These bastard children of the fourth estate! These parasitic media goons! These bloodsucking mosquitos!"
Gwen: "Oh, I thought you meant me. Never mind what I was just thinking."

Medical Personnel: "Hey, do think Councilman Richmond would want like a priest or a rabbi or..."
Jamie & Gwen: "Why would he? Since he is fine?"

MAYOR

Blows smoke in Ben Abani's face, horribly, and tells him that oh this is too bad and he didn't want to win this way. So does that mean Ben Abani is actually higher on the conspiracy ladder than even the Mayor? But the Mayor is so scary!

DAYCARE

Jack: "Where are we going? Regi's?"
Sarah: "No, I burnt that bridge bad."
Jack: "Uh, are we going to eat food or something?"
Sarah: "You really should, son. You need some healthful nutrition. God knows how you will acquire that. I wish you had parents or even one parent."
Jack: "Okay seriously, where the fuck are we going?"

CHURCH!

Sarah: "I know church is stupid and gay but just trust me. Your safety is actually at issue."
Jack: "What's that now?"
Sarah: "Hmm? Nothing, never mind."

Holder Calls Ignored: About 57 at this point.

BELKO INTERROGATION

Oh, Belko Royce. All the good ones are either married or have permanent brain damage, am I right? If it's not the wife and kids, it's the habit of accidentally beating and murdering people for no real reason at all. Story of my life!

Holder: "I talk to Belko like I would talk to a cat stuck in a tree, which is coincidentally exactly how I talk to women I'm trying to sleep with. Basically, I will play this like a seduction. White trash carny playing George to your Lenny. Just like on my favorite class-fetish porn site, grossthingshappeningbetweenpoormen.com."
Belko: "I am too busy rocking back and forth and humming like a detuned radio to really get what you're saying."
Holder: "How about now I crawl into your lap and talk about how I wish I was the one that shot Richmond and that your mom deserved to die and you are a hero among men, because really I have to believe you're innocent because that means I'm innocent since we both crossed the same line for the same reason... Oh snap, now I'm talking about myself and don't really care about you."

When Belko Royce cries, which he does like all the time, I get the most confusing feelings. If I believed in pets or had a pet, I would name it Belko, in the hopes that that would make me love it more. But also that I would believe in dating.

Belko: "Is he here? Can I talk to him!?"
Holder: "I don't know what you mean? But sure."
Belko: "I gotta tell Stan why I shot Darren Richmond. In case he hasn't put that puzzler together yet."
Holder: "Yeah, okay crazy. You can go back to rocking in place if you want."

LARSEN

Terry: "Stan, brother-in-law, please don't blame yourself because Belko killed another person you told him to. And please don't blame yourself for your shitty wife running off. And please don't blame yourself because your kids have finally noticed their horrible mother is missing. And please don't blame yourself for the fact that you let a mental case act as the uncle of your children, and now he's gone off and shot his mother and gone to jail and is right now cracking up even more than usual."
Stan: "Terry, like everyone in this family, I am too busy feeling sorry for myself to feel all that bad about anything else. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go make Belko's situation all about me."

Paparazzi: "Mr. Larsen! Mr, Larsen, do you think your family's shitty attitude about everything might have something to do with your constant bummer bad luck? Mr. Larsen!"

HOSPITAL

Gwen & Jamie: "Our cyclical detente has reached its apex, as we share watch for the man we both love. I'm so glad his speech was going so great before he got arrested and shot, that was a high point."

Jamie: "Why weren't you at that rally?"
Gwen: "I ate bad shrimp or something. Do you have pets? Any reason for you to go away and let me sit this vigil alone for a sec and figure out all my situations?"
Jamie: "I don't have a cat. I don't believe in pets. Maybe if I named it Belko. But no, I just don't like animals. Or people. Or sex."
Gwen: "I wish I was asexual like you."
Jamie: "Who knows if I am even joking."

Gwen: "Hey, apropos of really nothing, did Darren ever cheat on his wife Lily? Perhaps you have heard of her."
Jamie: "Silence is my only response to how many different ways that's not okay for you to talk about right now."
Gwen, crying: "Jeez. But no, this all makes more sense in retrospect."

By Jacob Clifton

SHERRIFF'S DEPT

Linden: "So you don't even know where Gil Sloane is right now?"
Amazing Gay Lady: "Men, I tell ya."

Ex-Husband: "Blah blah taking my son out of state..."
Linden: "...You haven't seen him for ten years, don't blah-blah me..."

Then she sees Gil's picture hanging in the trophy case and recognizes him, so we get our first patented Sarah Linden Hangs Up In The Damn Middle Of A Conversation moment of the season. Just hangs that shit right up. I love when she does that. I like to imagine her in the grocery store with a basket of items and then she's like, "Forgot mayo!" and just drops the basket and wanders off into the aisles to look for mayo and when she gets there she's like, "My car needs a tuneup!" and just wanders out into the parking lot. "I forgot to go to grad school!" "I gotta DVR my shows ... but I totally forgot to have a house where I live!" "I don't like these shoes, I'm takin' 'em off!" And that's why sometimes you see just one shoe, on the side of the road: Sarah Linden wasn't feeling it that day.

AA MTG

This show doesn't really expect you to remember every little thing, does it? I'm going to assume that she saw Gil the day she was stalking Holder on his day off (I think) and went to AA. That's basically what I think the episode is saying here. I mean, Sarah Linden remembers things better than you or me, right? That's part of her overall deal. So I'm not going to question it or do any more homework than the average viewer would be expected to do, but the show seems pretty game to meet you halfway on that.

Jack: "No..."
Linden: "You're not drunk or high, are you. You're just buzzed on being with Holder, like usual."
Jack: "What can I say? I'm so desperate for male contact that I will even take the sketchiest person who ever lived."

Holder: "Hey, Linden. I have your child. I wish you would talk to me."
Linden: "Those could either be two neutral and unrelated facts, or a serious threat. I am going to play it like it's both, making myself look totally fucking weird as usual."

STATION

Holder: "Day Fourteen, still in town. The only way to kill you is to chop off your head, like Jason!"
Linden: "You have to know how that sounds to me, considering you falsified evidence behind my back and then kidnapped my kid, and yet."

Jack: "Anyway, I have to go to the bathroom, leaving you here alone with Holder."
Linden: "I'll come with you! To the bathroom."
Jack: "Uh, no you fucking will not."

Holder: "Linden, haha, you left a mess in this office!"
Linden: "Yeah, I guess we both did."
Holder: "We shouldn't blame ourselves for Belko once again going after the person we accused of the crime."
Linden: "I guess so."
Holder: "Okay seriously, why are you back?"

Jack & Holder: Big cute hug. They love each other so much, it's so sweet.

Holder: "When you do actually leave, you're karmically fated to have that same stewardess you no doubt abused to get off the plane tonight."
Linden: "Good luck with cleaning up the mess. Hope it was worth it."

Aw, sad Holder. But also, stop being like that and you won't pay the price for being like that. Behavior is reputation. I mean, when Sarah Linden is giving you tips on overcoming your personality flaws? That is a moment for introspection, my friend.

But then, somewhat happy Holder, as a rando brings him some blown-up photo that took so long to blow up it outlasted the case getting closed: An anime tattoo on the arm of a boy reflected eponymously in Rosie's bicycle mirror. Which caused my heart to sink, because this show does off-putting children better than any show I can think of. They are so gross! Kids on this show are the worst!

STAN

Terry: "Another manic scary voicemail from your sister, sister!"
Stan: "Who's this having an emotional breakdown in my garage? Oh, one of you ladies as usual."

By Jacob Clifton

Jack & Holder: Big cute hug. They love each other so much, it's so sweet.

STAN

Terry: "Another manic scary voicemail from your sister, sister!"
Stan: "Who's this having an emotional breakdown in my garage? Oh, one of you ladies as usual."
Terry: "Hey, nothing is going on here! Chipper and pleasant as usual, the very opposite of my sister. Listen, you want me to stay here while you visit Belko and accidentally talk him into taking his own life?"
Stan: "Actually, could you just move into our house on a semi-permanent basis and replace my wife? I am not equipped to do any things."
Terry: "Sure, I got nothing going on. Playing house with you three downers sounds like an opportunity for real fun."

Terry: "Let me just swing by my apartment and pick up some essentials. You know, just regular everyday items like a precious Waterford crystal goblet and a panini press."
Stan: "...What?"
Terry: "It's possible I'm confused about what kids are into."

HOSPITAL

Medical Personnel: "Paging Doctor Whatever to the OR to do surgery on that guy."
Jamie: "Why page him to the OR when he was already supposed to be in the OR? I know how to do their jobs better than they do! Not really but I am just frustrated!"
Gwen: "Okay, well, since you're already in a crummy irrational mood, I have to tell you something. Darren disappeared the night of Rosie Larsen's death and came back to our bed soaking wet. So."
Jamie: "I'm sure that's a coincidence."
Gwen: "Yeah, which would be nice, except also I told Sarah Linden all of this. Which is why they arrested him at the rally."
Jamie: "Nngh!"
Gwen: "I mean, we're in a foxhole together right now, you can't be that mad. I still have his blood caked all over my shirt and bra and torso. Cut me some slack."

She walks him down to the vending machine and it's super weird because she puts the coins in and watches him choose his snack meal, and then he asks for additional items, so she puts the coins in again and watches him choose again. I don't know why they are like this. Jack doesn't seem particularly bothered by it, but I guess when you're her kid you get used to certain things.

STATION

Sloane: "Stop looking at comic books about this closed case and come with me to Denny's."
Holder: "I just don't understand why Linden didn't call me out. She knows I faked that photo and lied about it, but all I got was her usual stony nonsense."
Sloane: "File it under control issues. Also, here is your shield, you are now a detective."
Holder: "Both literally and figuratively a shiny distraction."

BELKO

Belko: "I am overjoyed to see you, Stan!"
Stan: "I will do whatever I can to make sure you're okay, because you are the best."
Belko: "Really? Because I killed my mom and shot a public figure in the abdomen."
Stan: "I know, but I'm used to just saying whatever crap to make you happy because you love me and don't have much in the way of critical thinking skills."
Belko: "Tell me about the rabbits, Stan."
Stan: "...It just occurred to me that you have now attempted murder on a bunch of people because of me. And the total futility of everything we've ever tried to do to change the way things are."
Belko: "Why are you looking at me like that? Stop looking at me like that!"

It's the high point of the episode, in terms of raw emotional drama, and then since it's Belko it's about ten times more affecting. He screams it, over and over, and Stan is too numb to do anything but keep looking at him like that. Belko trips the light fantastic, wigging to the nth degree, and Stan realizes that there is pretty much nothing he can do for my darling Belko at this point except stare and feel really gross about everything. Acting!

As dreary as the Larsen/Royce side of this show has always been, you have to think about it like you're one of the actors involved, like, what an opportunity to be amazing and put all your skills on shout. It's so enjoyable on a technical level that you can almost overlook how relentlessly horrible and sad the obsessive grief is. A good day with the Larsen storyline is like, that time Mitch stopped staring out windows and tried to murder her two remaining kids, because at least there was something else to look at -- but everybody involved is so marvelous to watch that it's really just what it is.

SLOANE

With Sarah watching his windows from the street outside, Gil receives a call. At first I thought it was Sarah doing voices, but no, it's just Jill Jennison from the Seattle Daily Record, calling with the timebomb Sarah asked her to deliver.

Jill: "Hey, I just wanted to congratulate you on providing the photo evidence that put Richmond in the car with Rosie's body."
Sloane: "WHO TOLD YOU THAT?"

He runs around like a chicken with its head cut off while Sarah watches Sherriffs drive by and wonders if she's already being surveilled, and then Jill calls for a quick chat about how fun it is to make Gil Sloane crazy. While Sarah pops some more gum in her mouth and waits, Gil's upstairs reformatting his entire secret hard drive, and then finally she pulls out onto the road to follow him to wherever he's going .

LARSEN

Boys: "We are understandably piqued! First mom, now Belko, and now Aunt Terry's here cooking golumpki, and we just want things back to how they were before our sister the prostitute got murdered."
Stan: "I look back on my unhappiness and dissatisfaction as a member of the working poor as a sort of golden time in our lives at this point."

Everybody stares around the table at everybody else, presumably thinking about how much they hate Mitch. That's what I'd be doing.

HOSPITAL

Medical Personnel: "Councilman Richmond has made it through surgery okay."
Jamie & Gwen: "Mutual relief and hugs, wiping out all the trouble between us -- and that bombshell about the alibi -- for at least the moment."
Medical Personnel: "...But also he is paralyzed from the waist down, and won't wake up until episode."
Jamie: "...Gwen, get the fuck out. I can't deal with this, my disintegrating career, and your turncoat ass too."
Gwen: "Fine. I was going to take a shower anyway, eventually."

STATION

As Linden watches Sloane get out of his car at a construction site for a secret meeting, Holder watches them move poor Belko to a cell and then gets snotty with a coworker, just long enough that you sort of relax... Which is why the gunshots are such a surprise.

Because old Belko, he has just about had it. Holder runs out into the hallway, where Mr. Royce has gotten himself into a hostage situation with a passerby, and would very much like to go home and see what it's like without his mother always there making him feel awful and molested. But that's not happening. And once Belko figures out that that's not happening -- that the only thing he ever wanted, approval and validation, are now off the table permanently -- he just shoots himself in the head.

By Jacob Clifton

LARSEN

Everybody stares around the table at everybody else, presumably thinking about how much they hate Mitch. That's what I'd be doing.

HOSPITAL

STATION

Every episode last season, I feared would be Belko's last, because he was always such an imminent sacrifice. Just this Boo Radley cannon fodder in the war between life (survivors) and death (grief). But I agree, this is the right time for him to go: He is the boosting rockets on the season two missile, if you see what I'm saying. I'm just hoping we'll get someone equally wonderful in the cast this year that will take the sting out. (Answer: Yes.) Still: Belko Royce, I loved you the most. I blame you not even a little bit.

By Jacob Clifton

MONTAGE

Jamie waits for Richmond to wake up. Gwen takes a long look at herself in the mirror, covered in blood. The Mayor goes on TV to say basically that while vigilantes are no good, this is also one more horrible thing in God's ongoing pissing contest with the Larsen family. Stan gives Terry the bed and takes to the couch. Holder feels bad about poor dead wonderful doomed Belko Royce. And Sarah Linden...

Ben Abani, who's always been too good-looking to have been cast as a sideline player (and is probably worth reviewing in past episodes, because I don't think I'd twigged to that) is the person that comes out to meet Sloane at the secret rendezvous. I don't know how much she can hear -- Sloane bitching about her pressure on him, about how maybe he's getting played -- but I do know she has no idea that somebody is watching her while it goes down.

episode: The true story of Darren Richmond's night that night; Jamie may or may not be losing it; Linden does some good cop work; Holder learns he is the new Belko Royce whipping boy for the conspiracy.

Jacob Clifton is a freelance writer and critic based in Austin, Texas. He currently recaps Gossip Girl, The Good Wife, Pretty Little Liars and True Blood for TWoP. Jacob can be found online at jacobclifton.com, on Twitter, and on Facebook. IRL work appears in BenBella's SmartPop series of anthologies, most recently A Friday Night Lights Companion and Fringe Science.