In terms of "things I'd never willingly watch unless I had to," the beginning of this episode is right up there. Two guys are following a GPS signal to a house to try and find their dog via his GPS collar. They hear barking from inside and flag down some cops, one of whom realizes they might want to go inside. They barge in and find a ton of men around a ring watching a dog fight, and heartbreakingly one of the men yells, "Nathan!" and runs to his dog -- or rather, what's left of his dog, lying in a puddle of blood on the floor. Excuse me while I go cry, or vomit, or both. Later, Green and Lupo are called to the dog morgue where they look upon the mutilated bodies of one of the fighting dogs as well as Nathan, who was used as bait to get the dogs riled up before the fight. And...now I have to go vomit again. It turns out they were called because the doc found a human finger inside the stomach of the dead fighting dog. This is going to be an awesome hour of TV, boy howdy.
The boys head up the courthouse steps where there's a crowd of rowdy protesters and their dogs chanting against the eight men who have just been arraigned for dog fighting. Green comments on the fact that they don't get these crowds for people who kill humans. Yes, it makes no sense, but I'm right there with them. They walk up to the guys and ask to see their fingers, which turn out to be all accounted for. Then they're accosted by a reporter, played by Lara Flynn Boyle, so we know for sure she'll be important later. They brush her off and head off to go see their own doc, who hands them the finger, which still had some nail polish on it and was pinpointed as belonging to a victim in (probably her) early thirties or younger, who was recently dead. There was some sort of chemical burn on the skin, and the finger was in the dog somewhere between four and eighteen hours.
The boys walk in on a meeting between the eight and their lawyers to let them know the detail about the finger, but don't get much out of them. Green assures them he doesn't care about the dog fighting case but that cops are searching the house now for other body parts. The owner of the house, Carlin, tells them where the kennel is that the dogs came from, and while he does the camera zooms in on a guilty-looking dark-haired guy fidgeting in his seat. They go out to the country somewhere with the actual dog owner, Mr. Mackey, in tow and meet another detective, Cabrera. Mackey is showing them the house to try and convince them he didn't feed them any body parts before he shipped the dogs to the city. Some cadets are apparently straining all the dog droppings and have come up with a pile of bones that Mackey insists are from cats. Is that the point where you think about a possible career redirection? There's a lot of description I won't repeat about the conditions in which the dogs were kept -- the pertinent info is just that he insists he didn't run the show himself and begs them to make a deal with him.
Connie goes to talk to Anita and the boys about making an example of Carlin if he's involved in the ring. Turns out he's a wine consultant and Anita says it best: "Nothing like watching a couple of dogs tear each other to pieces while sipping a nice chardonnay." There's tension since she seems unconvinced that this is a murder case, seeing as they have no body, which Green doesn't like since he seems to think she's just doing it for good public opinion. She points out that regardless, they have a case about appalling animal cruelty and wants to show rich guys can't just get away with this with a fine. I'm Team Connie tonight, as is Lupo. Anita sends them off to talk about the dogs.
Carlin defensively assures them he's not involved, and has them ask his buddy Marty about it since Marty was there when Carlin went to meet Mackey. When they doubt Marty's ability to tell the truth, Carlin admits they can also talk to his estranged wife who is still living in Marty's townhouse and heard them talking, assuring them she won't cover for either of the guys. I suppose if there's a silver lining, you wouldn't have any second thoughts about your divorce after hearing something like that... Ah, turns out Marty is Mr. Shifty from the meeting. When they ask to speak to his wife, he says she's at her sister's in Miami. Ah, Miami -- looks remarkably like a dog's stomach this time of year. He then backtracks and says she doesn't know where she is. They go and check out her bathroom where she's left her toothbrush even though she's supposedly traveling. She also has a bottle of nail polish that corresponds nicely to the shade on the mystery finger.
Marty files a missing persons report with Green, who fires all sorts of disbelieving questions at him. He seems worried only at what's happening and not really about her being gone, and it comes up that they're basically fighting over the townhome. Aw, her name is Lauren! It's like a mini shout-out. From someone who really doesn't like these weecaps. They aren't so lucky with the DNA from Lauren's toothbrush, that only sort of matches, definitely not conclusively. And it turns out the chemical on the finger was chlorine. Green then gets a call to carry us nicely to the scene with Lauren's sister here from Miami. She both hates Marty and insists that Lauren wouldn't go away without telling anyone, and as she makes a list of friends she begins to cry that she knows something has happened. She then asks what she can do, which turns out to be making a plea for her on the news. They watch the news at the station, which includes Lara conducting an interview with Marty, who is offering a $100,000 reward for information. Anita gets them brainstorming, as she does, and between the finger showing up in another county, no blood in the townhome, and the fact that Marty would know about DNA, begins to think he didn't do it. She sends them to talk to the lawyer to find out if the divorce was friendly, as Marty claimed.
The lawyer informs them that she was looking into Marty's assets, since a lot seemed to have disappeared. Since he invested in the wine business with Carlin, Lauren told her lawyer she was going to go talk to him. Back at Carlin's they admire his wine collection, and he boasts that some bottles are worth $30,000. Seriously, just buy a car at that point and a nice $100 bottle if you want to celebrate the purchase. There are many things I'd do with a lot of money if I had it, but that just seems like flushing it down the toilet for sport. Everything just goes in a circle - Carlin claims that he knew Lauren was fishing for info about Marty's investment, and admits he then went back and told his friend what she was doing. Back at the office, Green whines to Anita that now they have motive. She reminds him of the little details they're missing -- evidence, witnesses, and a confession. Marty's also back on TV, and Lara announces that she's learned exclusively that Lauren was being treated for depression and suicidal tendencies. Since this is a surprise to them and also not anything Lauren's sister knew about, they go to ask Lara where she got her info. She won't reveal her source -- not to protect the source, but to keep ownership of the story -- and then she gets in a cab neatly ending the conversation. Or so she thinks, because they follow her to a building called Ajax Properties. Green realizes his partner has some peeping tom skillz when he quickly realizes they can see the building from neighboring roof. From there, they get a nice view of Lara and Marty making out on a patio, and then getting in a spa where she removes her pesky bikini top and begins to devour him. Lupo calls in for a search warrant, but never taking his eyes off the show below.
With backup, they head to the apartment and, to Marty's exasperation, make their way outside to greet Lara, who has the good grace to be shocked. She tells them defiantly that it isn't what it looks like, clearly having no idea she was the afternoon entertainment. They also find a giant bucket of chlorine, and we fade to commercial as they set their people to work securing the possible crime scene.
Lara's pissed at the idea that other news outlets have been called, while Marty's just pissed in general and tries to convince Connie and Green that he doesn't own the apartment and also doesn't know anything about chlorine. They assure him they'll find out if it's a hidden asset and Green implies what happened. Just as Marty assures them he just works in real estate, his lawyer arrives and shuts him up, then pulls him away when they say he's not arrested. Back at the office Cutter tells Jack that Marty does own the loft and was hiding it. He's like Green, sure that Marty did it, but Connie reminds them that they have no actual evidence. The suicide report comes up, and Cutter is sure that Lara made it up. Jack isn't so sure, but has them convene a grand jury so she has to testify.
Lara's all smooth and polished while she asserts that she doesn't have to reveal her sources. She maintains that she was doing everything as part of her "profession," and Connie asks what profession that is. Lara answers, "Thank you. It's always so nice to be called a whore." Connie just raises and eyebrow -- she's completely out-smoothed and out-sassed Lara all the way. She reiterates that she'll use what she has to get the truth, and asks Cutter how far he would go to convict a murderer, saying he'll go that far for a story. Connie asks again about her source for the psychiatric story, and she says it was Marty himself. She says she was trying to figure out what was up because she thought the cops were taking the easy way by going after the husband, and either she proved them wrong or she'd get a confession. She mentions that she found a map to the kennel and a local wooded area where he'd taken a drive to relax. Cutter asks, "What wooded area?" So off we go. Lupo is looking for a dog and seems to think that maybe one of the former fighting dogs would be good, even though Cabrera repeatedly warns him off of it. A nice conversation about dog ownership with Connie is interrupted by the discovery of a body, which just happens to have no hands attached.
Back at court, Marty enters a not guilty plea. As he leaves, Carlin tells him they'll get him out, while his lawyer turns to Connie and says she believes him, and assures Connie that she doesn't always believe her clients. At the office, Connie goes over, for the billionth time, the no evidence that they have. There's nothing to show Marty was up there where he could dump the body. Cutter won't let it go, but they move on to talk about Lara. Turns out she's actually a good journalist, and Connie goes over the stories she's done, including one about price fixing in the wine business. She notices there was an unnamed source and mentions it could have been Carlin -- now it's her turn to be dense. She notes that a year after this story, it's a coincidence that Carlin and Lara are now the witnesses against Marty, really seeming to not entertain any idea about it being more than a coincidence. Cutter sees it though, and points out that everything they have against Marty could also be used against Carlin: they knew where the kennel was, they saw how violent they were, and Lauren looked into Carlin's wine business finances. Connie points out the chlorine, so Cutter asks if there's any connection with chlorine and wine. Turns out it used to be used to wash corks before they were put into bottles.
The morning, Jack walks into the office and is handed a glass of wine by Cutter. They have a wine chemist, Parsons, on hand to talk about the vanilla and persimmon notes as well as the tannins. I suppose this is also why I wouldn't buy a $30K bottle of wine -- trying to recognize the ingredients is a talent I don't seem to have whatsoever. I love wine, I just can't pinpoint why, apparently. Basically, Parsons can tell that the wine in this supposed $2,000 bottle is fake, and they realize that Carlin has been running a scam selling counterfeit wine. Cutter points out it's the perfect crime since the people buying don't know how the expensive wine is supposed to taste, and so they don't know they've been duped. I feel this is another point to add to my "not worth it" argument against buying these bottles. I mean, unless I have so much money that I'm sitting in a solid-gold suit on a sofa upholstered with diamonds, I'm going to go with the $80 wine that had been poured into the $2,000 bottle. (Okay, let's be honest. I'm going to go with the Two Buck Chuck, actually.) He has to use the chlorine to cork them like they did in the years when the wine was supposedly bottled. This is all well and good, but Jack points out the problem, which is that they might have just arraigned the wrong guy.
Cutter takes care of that by claiming to the judge that he has to fill in for someone else in court that day, and asks for the jury selection to begin the morning. Marty's lawyer is pissed, which the judge points out is unusual for the lawyer of a murder defendant, so she grudgingly agrees. Cutter goes off to fill in on some totally easy motion and sends Connie to light a fire under Lupo and Green to find evidence at Carlin's house that afternoon. No rush. Green's a bit nervous since the warrant is to look for body parts, so Connie tells him blandly to look for body parts, starting in his datebook. They don't find any fingers, but they find the letter "D" written on a lot of weekends. Lupo finds a video with "D" on it as well, and Jack and Cutter watch it back at the office -- "D" stands for "Lara." The video is them in bed, and she tells him it's time to move in together, which is clearly something they've talked about before and he always pushes off. Cutter tells Jack that the part that came earlier, "You aren't old enough to see." Hee. It may be easy, but it doesn't get old. Jack asks if their relationship was enough for her to help Carlin frame Marty for murder, and Cutter has to admit he was totally taken by her zeal for the truth and totally played. Jack's actually really classy about it and notes that's because the zeal for the truth is like Cutter, and tells him he's not the first lawyer that's happened to. He even admits it happened to him.
He's interrupted from telling the story by Connie announcing they proved the wines are fake. Jack asks, "Was that the persimmon I didn't taste?" I'm a little in love with Jack this week. It was actually that a chemical was found in a 1933 bottle which wasn't actually around until the fifties. Jack reminds them that still none of this makes him a murderer. Cutter now is on the Carlin train as zealously as he was against Marty before, and he keeps throwing out theories until Jack tells him to figure out who he wants to prosecute.
They bring in Carlin under the guise of prepping his testimony. Connie tells him they need him to establish Marty's motive, but Carlin backs off of saying that Lauren told him she was looking for hidden assets. They continue on him and Carlin jumps in to say that he doesn't think Marty is a murderer. Connie plays it all nice and talks about the holes they have to fill, like, how did Marty get the combo to the lock on the dogs' gate when he went up there with Lauren's hands? Carlin asks that if he helps, can he get a break on the dog fighting charges, and Cutter tells him they'll consider it. Carlin weaves a story about how Marty could have seen the combo when they went up there.
As for the other witness, Cutter meets with her in his office. She apologizes to him and they talk about her testimony, but she pleads again that everything she did was to get a story, and that he should understand. Cutter just tells her that he's, "not sure the jury will be made up of high achievers." Having been on a jury myself, I assure her not, in fact. I'm sorry, I've tried to be nice, but I have to mention how distracted I am by Lara's appearance this episode. I can't tell if it's her lips, or if her whole face is fuller -- except something about her gives a whiff of bad plastic surgery. I can't put my finger on why she looks so different (though the fuller cheeks are actually a nice change, which I think is why I tried to be a better person and not talk about how weird she looks.) Anyhoo, back to the action, Cutter offers her a drink, saying it was a bottle of wine that Carlin sent over. As she takes a sip, Connie pulls Cutter out of the room and tells him Mackey is now saying he found footprints by the kennel. Cutter brushes it off and sends her away to make a statement. She asks benignly about the footprints. Cutter brushes it off, so she changes tack and tells him how the fighting dogs are not like regular dogs -- in all normal dogs and also wolves, when two meet one will lay down and make a submission signal, but the fighting dogs don't work the same way and just keep going at each other. Lara seems interested and manages to get him to talk about details, but Cutter reiterates that he's not interested since he thinks it's not pertinent to his case and Mackey is clearly already just guilty.
Cutter's trap worked beautifully, and when Carlin and Lara start to snoop around the kennel for the footprints later that night, Cabrera catches them and arrests them for trespassing. Once at the station, they're joined by Cutter and Connie. Cutter is savoring getting back at the woman who was able to push his buttons, and admits that there were no footprints -- it's the first time Lara has looked any less than perfectly contained. Carlin demands his lawyer so Cabrera offers to put on a movie while they wait. Connie holds up the sex tape so Lara can see it and she gets more uncomfortable, but Cabrera puts on the video of them trespassing and talking about the nonexistent footprints and his trip to there. But the last straw for her, of all things, was that the wine was actually counterfeit. Murder, pshaw, but don't give this woman a bad glass of vino. She then offers to help Cutter, and he reminds her of all the "help" she's already given. Lara starts to offer real help, crying, and Cutter comments that this must be the submission signal. He whispers, "But I'm not like the other dogs. I don't stop." My goodness, is it warm in here? That was one sexy little moment for Cutter. He orders her to be arrested for perjury and hindering prosecution and leaves while she cries.
Back at court, the judge can't believe that they are dropping the charge. But when Cutter explains that they charged someone else and have a motion hearing -- and when Carlin and Lara are brought in so Marty can see them both -- he declares, "I love it when the system works." He bids Marty adieu and gives him Cutter's "profound apologies," which Cutter agrees to. Outside the room, Connie points out that if she wasn't a slut and an accessory to murder, Lara and Cutter might have really hit it off. If I hadn't already read that this episode was originally intended to air as the seventh episode of the season, that right there would have tipped me off right there since the dynamic between these two has gotten so much different lately. Ah, sexual tension.
Perhaps as a move to wrap up the nauseating dog fighting aspect of the episode, outside Lupo clips a leash on a white pit-bull type dog who wiggles and tries to lick him, and turns to walk him home. It's the most my heart has been warmed at the end of an episode this season, by far, and I think I'll be able to sleep now.
And sometime, Dick Wolf... well, let's face it. Dick Wolf is probably enjoying a glass of $30,000 wine right now.