In the latest episode of “Murder in the First,†Blunt finally got his act together and started cooperating and stopped acting out, even to the point of going to lengths to re-secure his former defense attorney, Daniels, by taking a polygraph. Blunt managed to pass said test, but, as pointed out by the DA at the end, so did a lot of killers over the years. It probably didn’t hurt that he offered Daniels ten million (!) plus expenses to rejoin the team.
What was much more interesting to me, though, was the implied politics going on behind the scenes, as Blunt’s regular attorney, Hertzberg, met with the Mayor himself. Next thing you know, the judge in the case is recusing himself and a new, more sympathetic one is being brought in, who promptly allows Blunt to reinstate his bail at double the price, plus forcing him to wear a GPS tracking device/ankle bracelet to boot. Note also the presence of the Mayor’s Chief of Staff at the proceedings, who dropped off a file to Hertzberg- a fact not unnoticed by the DA.
To that end, the DA doubled-down on Blunt as a suspect, claiming that the truth and evidence would eventually bring him down. Luckily for her, the main suspect on this episode, Cindy’s ex, Mark Strauss, was eventually cleared from wrongdoing, after some highly-suspect security footage had him slipping out of the bar he used as his alibi the night of the murder. Turns out he was meeting up with a married cougar-type that went there trolling for man candy on the sly. After understandably initial resistance, she came clean about the situation, clearing Strauss in the process.
However, he had a ton of prescription drugs on him when he left the precinct, yet no drugs in his system. Not sure what that’s about, but it would certainly seem like there’s more going on there than meets the eye. Might he have been the source for Blunt’s off-book pill needs? He does seem like he might be a drug dealer type. Maybe he’s the one that really killed Blunt’s dad, despite that other guy’s confession. Either way, they wouldn’t have mentioned it, if it didn’t mean something, so clearly there’s something there.
There was also developments with the pilot, Wilkerson, whose wife went on the lamb and sought out Blunt’s help in the matter, off-book. He acquiesced, saying he’d have his back if Wilkerson had his- interesting- and Wilkerson was able to track her to a dive motel. Unfortunately, she was none too happy to see him, and it turned out she had good reason: video of her husband and the late Cindy having sex that someone had sent her. No word on who, but that can’t be good. Of course, we already knew that the two had an affair previously, so that’s nothing new, but that someone had video of it is certainly interesting, don’t you think?
That was about it, save Terry and Hildy having some very awkward moments after their kiss sesh on the last episode. Things got even more awkward when Terry all but serenaded her at Molk’s birthday fiesta, with a sultry version of “At Last,†even after they agreed to let the moment slide. Alas, Hildy should have let the chips fall where they might when, upon arriving home, she found a lovelorn Blunt waiting for her, wanting a follow-up after this whole murder business was put to bed. Um, because nothing says potential dating material like a guy on trial for murder, right? What a tool.
As ever, my favorite moments were the bits with Hertzberg, including the acerbic opening bit with the Mayor and especially the scene in court where he amusingly tore into Blunt and said what we’ve all been thinking: Blunt’s a big old douchebag, but a murderer? Probably not. For some reason, I also got a kick out of the pickle plant guy, and his NSA conspiracy theories, as silly as it all was.
The lie detector scene was also pretty interesting, especially when it was revealed what the real reason for it was: to release to the public as a countermeasure to make Blunt look less guilty. Well played, Daniels. I don’t know if he’s worth ten million, but that was pretty smooth thinking. I’m with the DA, though: polygraphs are iffy at best these days, what with everyone under the sun knowing that there are ways to beat them. I still don’t think Blunt did it, though.
We are officially halfway home as of tonight, and the plot is definitely thickening, with some characters falling away as suspects, and others coming to the forefront. Who will it be? Who killed Blunt’s father? Who killed Cindy? Is it the same person or different people? What was the motive in each case? Will Blunt be found guilty in the end? What’s Strauss up to? What’s the Mayor have to do with it all? What does Hertzberg have on him? Let me know what you thought of tonight’s episode of “Murder in the First†below and I’ll see you next week!