Before starting college, I worked at a local camera store for a summer. On my first day, I was completely inept with our pricing, couldn’t run a check to save my life, and had to stay late dealing with a woman who demanded her pictures that evening and not first thing in the morning. It was a disastrous first day, but at least it wasn’t as bad as Detective Bayliss’, who ends his first day by taking on the brutal murder of 11-year-old Adena Watson. My issues with the price of a 5×7 print had nothing on that.
“Ghost of a Chance” directly refers to a case Howard was investigating, but it seems to have more to do with Bayliss’ trial by fire of a first case. No homicide case would be easy, but to have to start with one that has the attention of the entire police force and local media is like learning to play golf at Augusta National. Bayliss hasn’t gotten used to the idea of seeing a dead body or telling a family, heck he doesn’t even have a desk. Making matters worse, Pembleton wants to take over the case and Gee is on his case about not showing enough fire about the case. Then the local media finds out that this is his first ever homicide case. Oh, and there’s no evidence at the scene and every lead goes nowhere. Here comes Bayliss’ chance to prove himself and solve a big case in the spotlight, but he doesn’t yet have the stomach or the confidence to do it. He barks orders at Pembleton, Lewis, and Crosetti, but he goes silent in a group meeting and in the coroner’s office. It’s easy for the other detectives to ask the contents of Adena Watson’s stomach or whether or not she was raped, but Bayliss still can’t differentiate between Adena Watson the 11-year-old girl and Adena Watson the case. It’s perfectly understandable, and I think in a lot of ways, Bayliss is the a stand in for the audience, who also may not have the steel facade to cover up for their own emotion in the murder of a little girl.
While Bayliss is wrestling with his internal demons, Howard is dealing with the supernatural, much to the amusement of Felton. After being visited by Ed Danvers, a prosecuting attorney (played by a not yet bald Željko Ivanek, who has become in recent years my favorite go-to villain), Howard makes it her mission to get enough evidence out of a suspected murderer, Ralph Fenwick, to convict him of a brutal murder. Without any new leads and not knowing where to start, Howard tells Felton she was visited by the ghost of the murder victim, telling her where the murder weapon is hiding. She can’t find it though, and Felton enlists Lewis and Crosetti to help mock her for her ghostly tips. But Fenwick isn’t sleeping and is incoherent when they go to talk to him again, and they nab him trying to move the gun late at night. They catch him thanks to a tip Felton got from a tarot card reader, which helps patch things up with his partner.
The best humor of the night came from the adventures of Munch and Bolander, who are investigating the possible murder of an elderly man. They show up to find that the man is in fact alive, having just passed out, and when he wakes up, he begins yelling at his wife, with her retorting that she wished he didn’t wake up. It’s a hilarious scene that turns gruesome a while later, when they’re called back, this time with the man actually dead in the cellar. It seems he collapsed again, and this time, his wife dragged him down the stairs and out to the cellar. Bolander doesn’t think it’s a homicide, which conflicts with the opinion of the coroner, Blythe, who he’s also working up the courage to ask out. Munch is looking out for his friend though, and he arranges to have flowers sent to Blythe under Bolander’s name, and things seems smoothed out. Munch again had my favorite moment of the episode, this time coming as he yells at a rat.
“Ghost of a Chance” was again filled with moments where it’s shown that homicide is just as job, mostly seen through Lewis and Crosetti, you alternately joke about the true events of the Lincoln Assassination and filling old Memorial Stadium with water. And yet, the episode is much heavier than it’s predecessor, mostly with emotional scenes of Bayliss telling Adena Watson’s mother her daughter was dead and the powerful scenes like the one where Gee and Bayliss argue over his lack of intensity. Homicide in just two episodes has found the line between the lighter side of a dark job and the super dark side of a dark job. I’m looking forward to understanding the characters a little bit better, but already, I’m finding myself comfortable in this show.
Michael’s Grade: 80
TUiW Grade: B+
Michael
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