Not That There's Anything Wrong With Pseudoscience

S18E15

Kate's doctor is unusually eager to tell the detectives about the circumstances of baby Lucas's death: Kate called her in hysterics; the baby was dead when Dr. Landry arrived. She blows off their questions about suspicious circumstances, huffing, "Lucas died of sudden infant death syndrome," as if that's a conclusion no one can argue with.

At the precinct, Lupo fills in the rest of the story -- no autopsy, body was cremated -- while Anita looks over a copy of the Systemotics manual, The Life System by Ellison Conway, and snorts, "How did I get through life without reading this?" Sofia's notes lay out the shape of this supposed Systemotics plot against her and Bradley, but Anita suspects it's all just conspiracy-theorist nonsense. A pretty young woman -- is that Lupo's sister-in-law? Oh, who cares -- delivers some phone messages from Bradley Cameron. Bernard tells Anita that Bradley's alibi checks out with the fire department, the arguing couple across the alley, and the neighbors who heard him drilling in his studio. (You know, I miss the days when we got to see that part of the investigation.) And the gunshot residue on Sophia's glove indicates that she "suicided after all." Anita leaves, but Lupo is still stuck on "the fact that she bought cupcakes right before she suicided." And I'm stuck on the continued use of "suicide" as a verb. We'll have less of that, if you don't mind. So Lupes thinks they should check out one of the free Systemotics seminars for new parents, just to see if there's anything to this dead-baby angle. Bernard wants to follow boring old procedure -- isn't that just like a former rat-squadder? -- but we all know Lupo don't play that.

So who's that sitting at Systemotics headquarters, watching an informational video featuring the great Bill Irwin as Systemotics guru Ellison Conway? It's undercover Lupo and the pretty secretary from the scene! They act very interested in the whole Systemotics thing, especially the part about babies. But once they inquire about the detox program for newborns, which they claim to have read about "somewhere," the heretofore eager interviewer suddenly tags out. Another guy comes in to ask where they heard about this "program," and when Lupo claims not to remember, the guy politely but firmly shows them the door, explaining, "Your resistance troubles me."

Back at the precinct, party-pooper Lou gives Lupo a hard time about breaking the rules, with no authorization or backup or anything. "The chief of D's will be in touch with you," she threatens. No! Not Lupo! Take Bernard! Of course, sullen Lupo assumes Bernard snitched, but Bernard denies it, and Lupo realizes his "administrative assistant" partner was the real leak. The cell phone of plot advancement saves Lupes from the rest of this embarrassing conversation.

So the boys go to see Sofia's publisher, who tells them she had recently put Sofia's book "on the back burner." Publisher-lady doesn't think that could have driven Sofia to suicide, though it did piss off Bradley, who believed that Sofia was being sabotaged by "Kate Westwood, of all people." Scoff! Of all people! Wait -- who's Kate Westwood? Publisher-lady tells us she's a popular indie actress who recently wrote a children's book.

Kate, whom the detectives visit , turns out to be stiff and monotone and unsure what to do with her arms -- the indie audiences love that in an actress! She's an old friend of Sofia's, and she says the Camerons were held back by their resentment. Lupo guesses that Brad and Sofia were "burned" by Kate's publishing deal -- ah, yes, because nothing confers legitimacy on a film actor like writing a children's book. With his uncanny nose for relevant minutiae, Lupo checks out some galleys and notes that the book, Panda Bear Gets a Haircut (hee), is dedicated "to my Lucas." Kate says Lucas was her son, who died three months ago. Then she changes the subject back to the Camerons and their resentment, and how it "kept Bradley and Sophia from opening their hearts to their own destinies." O-key.

Bradley is another one of those people, so common in the L&O-iverse, who don't see any reason to stop working while they talk to police officers who are investigating a murder, but Bernard calls him on that shit and makes him shut off the noisy power drill he's operating. Thank you, Bernard. Then the Nard-Dog goes on to insinuate hanky-panky, as is standard in these investigations, however flimsy a red herring it may be. Was Bradley involved with Kate? Brad says no, and offers an alibi for the murder -- he heard fire trucks outside the window after Kate left and saw some neighbors across the alley arguing. Lupes promises to check that out, but wants to hear more about the Camerons' problems with Kate. The camera follows Bradley as he walks away, revealing a studio full of more hilarious "sculpture," including one piece with an old-school deep-sea-diver's mask affixed to it. Bradley says he doesn't know whom he can trust; Lupo gets in a dig at his new partner: "I don't know about him, but you can certainly trust me." Oooh, burn! Here comes the good part: Brad says Kate is a member of the "Systemotics" cult, and that they did a "purification ritual" that killed baby Lucas. Kate told Sofia, who wanted to go to the police, but Kate refused. Now Bradley is convinced the Systemotics people killed Sofia, and he offers to dig up some notes Sofia made for an article on the topic of Scientology, I mean, Systemotics.

The boys show up at a hospital, where Bradley Cameron lies bloodied and beaten up, having fallen from a hotel balcony. The cop who picked him up found Lupo's card in his pocket, as well as a key card to the hotel. The cop also says Bradley told him he was thrown from the balcony. So the detectives search the hotel room Bradley reserved. Lupo finds a printout (or, as he puts it, "a download") from the Systemotics website announcing a meeting for "Level A members" in that very hotel, and guesses Bradley took the room just to break into the closed meeting.

Bill Irwin and his unsettling tight smile explain that Bradley did indeed try to disrupt the meeting, but was bounced by Conway's "facilitators." The security had to be tight, Conway explains, because Level-A members are so super-actualized that they inspire much resentment and anger in the less advanced. Unimpressed, the detectives demand the facilitators' fingerprints and the film from a nearby camera. The video shows Bradley breaking into Conway's lecture, shouting about how Systemotics killed his wife, and being facilitated right out the door. The fingerprints Lupo collected don't incriminate anyone in the balcony incident, though, and now Bernard gets another one of those fateful phone calls: two 911 calls have surfaced from people who watched Bradley jump from the balcony all by himself.

At the hospital, the boys play one of the 911 calls for Bradley. He tries to blame it on Systemotics, but the detectives have already checked out the caller, and when they lean on Brad he basically confesses setting the whole thing up to frame Conway. "He killed my wife!" Bradley says. Bernard tells him they're pretty sure it was a suicide, since they found "GSR" on Sofia's glove. "What glove?" asks Bradley. He says she was allergic to wool, so the gloves they found her wearing couldn't have been hers. (Of course, if she did plan to shoot herself in the head, she might not have cared much about a possible allergic reaction to her chosen costume. Since she'd be dead.) Outside the hospital, the detectives confirm that yes, Sofia was allergic to wool. I'm so glad we don't get to see them conducting many interviews anymore, because I can't get enough of these guys on their cell phones. Can you?

At the station, Lupo tells Anita that the lab found "GSR" on the inside lining of the glove, suggesting the shooter wore the glove, then transferred it to Sofia to stage a suicide. Bernard finds something interesting on the Systemotics Level-A lecture video: it's Dr. Landry, she of the overconfident SIDS diagnosis, right there in the audience! Their faith in Bradley's theories renewed, the detectives confront Kate Westwood, who breaks out of woodenness to say her beliefs are none of their business. She explains that Dr. Landry (whom Lupo, kind of hilariously, keeps calling her "baby doctor," making me picture an infant in a tiny white coat) talked her out of doing an autopsy to confirm the cause of death, since it would look bad for Systemotics. Kate went to her good friend Sofia for comfort, but Sofia just threatened to expose Systemotics' role in the death. The detectives have to threaten Kate with prison before she'll admit that she told Dr. Landry about Sofia's investigation into Systemotics.( She does this while sitting at a table with some sides from a script in front of her -- a realistic touch? Or a sign that the actors in this scene were shaky on their lines?) Dr. Landry went to Ellison Conway, and Kate says they pledged to protect themselves by following the Camerons, running background checks, etc.

thing you know, our boys show up at the home of Mrs. Norma Silver, where the door is answered by a domestic in uniform (how quaint!). Dr. Landry's office said the doc was at this address, so the detectives push their way in and discover that they've arrived right in the middle of an infant-purification ritual! Steam, wheatgrass in a baby bottle, the whole nine yards, just as Bradley described it. Bernard grabs the baby and rushes out, leaving Lupo to arrest Dr. Landry for "steaming a kid like a hotdog." But maybe it was just croupy! Did you ever think of that?

Now, at last, we get the law involved. Connie informs Jack that the Silver baby was fine; the steam and the diluted wheatgrass in the bottle wouldn't have hurt it. Jack wants the baby to go back to Mom and the doctor to go back to her practice. Cutter is inclined to push on, investigating Systemotics and its surveillance activities, so Jack cautions him not to mount "a crusade against a religion." Quoting what I like to imagine is a favorite song, Jack says that the particulars of faith in question don't matter -- he and his office are okay with "Whatever gets you through the night." 'Salright, Jack, 'salright.

With the help of a warrant, Rubirosa, Lupo and Bernard have an office-ransacking party over at Systemotics headquarters. Lupo finds that the Systemotics people have files on him and Bernard (but not on Connie, yet), and their file on the Camerons includes items plucked from their garbage. One is a flier for a shooting range, addressed to Bradley. So off to the shooting range it is! The owner tells the boys that Bradley brought his wife in to learn to shoot, but she didn't want to be there and sat in the car while Brad did "all the shooting." Lupo has a photo of the gun that was used to kill Sofia, and the shooting range guy confirms it's the same kind of gun Bradley used the day he showed up there. Our boys guess Bradley's alibi may be BS and hurry out to test that new theory.

At Bradley's studio, a tech guy works on the computer, complaining that the memory is a mess. On one of his hunches, Lupo flips open the diving-helmet visor and finds a camera lens inside. Tech guy cues up the relevant video right away -- it shows what happened while Bradley was out allegedly killing his wife. There's also an audio recording of Bradley's drill, which he left running to throw off his neighbors. What will these murderers think of ?

When we move to the courtroom, Bradley's causing trouble at his murder trial arraignment, rejecting his third lawyer because he's worried about Systemotics connections. The judge enters a not-guilty plea on his behalf and remands him. Connie didn't even have to ask! Meanwhile, Jack, like me, is a bit lost in all this shifting-theory-of-crime nonsense. Rubirosa shows him a video that Bradley tried to erase, made the night before the murder, in which Sofia records her second thoughts about the Systemotics investigation and says she's considering leaving Bradley, at least for a while. No one offers, or requests, an explanation as to why she taped herself saying this. Was she auditioning for a reality show? Did she plan to post it to her vlog? The strategizing is then interrupted by a big stack of motions that have been filed by Bradley's new counsel.

The day Cutter reveals that the new lawyer, Mr. Pace, has a history of suing Systemotics, uh, systematically. Judge Laramie does not seriously entertain Pace's many dramatic requests -- he won't recuse himself, and he won't close the gallery to spectators just in case Systemotics sends members to witness the trial and intimidate the witnesses. Despite these failures, Pace remains smug, convinced his defense is killer.

Kate Westwood is on the stand. When she balks mid-testimony, Pace stops to ask that a couple in the audience who admit to being connected to Systemotics be removed from the courtroom. Cutter objects mildly and the judge lets the couple stay, but he agrees to instruct the jury to ignore the staring Systemotics people. Kate stops her story cold, saying, "I can't do this," and Pace lets her step down, whereupon she hurries out of the courtroom.

Outside at the hotdog stand, debriefing after this display Jack advises Cutter to "steer into the skid" and get Kate back on the stand. Cutter and Rubirosa have a sit-down with Kate, trying to convince her that telling the truth is better for Systemotics in the long run. If she thinks Bradley killed Sofia, she needs to testify and clear Systemotics, he says. He urges her to ask Pace to put her back on the stand.

So here we are again, with Pace once more questioning Kate, and the creepy people still staring from the audience. Kate talks about Dr. Landry and Conway's plans to "protect" Systemotics against Sofia and her ilk. Cutter asks Kate if she loved Sofia; she says she did and calls Sofia "brave." Pace redirects and asks Kate if she herself is brave, considering the whole running-away-from-the-stand episode. When Cutter objects and the judge releases Kate, Pace calls Ellison Conway to the stand. Cutter objects, not for the first time, to hearing this witness. Pace asks Conway about Systemotics' dossier on the Camerons, which Conway claims was meant only to prepare for a possible lawsuit. Then they discuss "Fracture Mechanics," which Conway calls "a core religious activity of Systemotics." He won't go into details, but he acknowledges that "Fracture Mechanics" is a term for the way Systemotics protects itself and its teachings. "What about the jury? Do you have files on them too?" shouts Pace, as the creepy couple look on. Laramie strikes Conway's testimony from the record. Like that ever works.

Jack wants Cutter to fix things with his summation. Cutter isn't sure he can "convince people that Systemotics is no more dangerous than the neighborhood glee club." Whoa! Your neighborhood has a glee club? "People are scared of bogeymen," says Jack, dropping the title of the ep while encouraging Cutter to address the jury's fears. I'm still stuck on that glee club idea when Rubirosa interrupts, announcing that three jurors want off the case. So it's back to the courtroom, where the jurors express their concerns to the judge and lawyers. They don't want to be followed and threatened by Systemotics! Juror No. 3, a young man, claims to have been stared at in the park, so he gets excused, but the judge makes the others stay because there aren't enough alternates to replace them.

Pace gives his summation, appealing to the exact testimony that was stricken from the record to say that, if they think it's possible Systemotics framed Cameron, they have to find Cameron not guilty. Cutter follows up, trying to make distinction between reason and paranoia. In his telling, Systemotics' power is "a self-perpetuating myth." Bradley blamed Systemotics for his wife leaving him, and framed them for her murder as revenge. I wonder why we never heard any more about that whole Bradley-throwing-himself-out-a-window incident? That seems like valuable evidence here...

The lawyers wait in Laramie's chambers. Pissed-off Judge Laramie comes in and tells them that four jurors are refusing to deliberate, so he has to declare a mistrial. Cutter asks for three hours' reprieve, and gets one hour. Cutter uses this time to sit down with Pace and Bradley and offer a plea bargain. Pace thinks this is "delusional," but Cutter just fixes his gaze on Bradley. "You have a destiny, and I'm here to see that you fulfill it," Cutter says, employing his most cultlike stare. Pace is like, Hello, mistrial, you're a free man... but Bradley is mesmerized by Cutter's Systemotics-style speech. "We've all harnessed our personal power against you," Cutter says, pointing out that fifteen years in jail is far preferable to all the terrible things Systemotics will supposedly do to Brad if he gets off. So Brad confesses to killing Sofia. "You'll tell Mr. Conway I took the deal, won't you?" he pleads, promising to "get unblocked" and seek out his "destiny" in jail. Cutter doesn't know what kind of face to make in response to that. Pace, uncharacteristically, leaves without a word. I guess the confession shut him up. It's a pretty cool scene, actually, but of course they ruin it by having Rubirosa explain what just happened for the household pets and other dumb creatures that might be watching. "I'm not sure that was by the book...[You] convinced him you were in Systemotics?" she says. Thanks for clearing that up, Connie! Cutter gets a pretty good curtain line, though: "Well, with all I've achieved," he deadpans, "what makes you so sure I'm not?" Cutter, Cutter, Cutter, you're just -- you're glib. (Don't ever change.)