This picture of Tim Roth really seems to sum up the feelings of this episode.
Right off the bat, we open with a chilling suicide, and a very intense case. No opening credits is what immediatly caught my attention. It has never happened before on any other show (besides the pilot) and was deffinatly a first for me. It added to the drama and set off the episode right away.
Our case is finally one out of Cal's interest and not one that has been assigned to the Lightman Group, so we know that he had intense feelings for it as soon as he heard it was a suicide. The fact that it was all connected (not just with the victims, but himself) was his motive. We really delve into his past, and this show was all about him. We learn why he obsesses over the truth like he does. We learn how he 'discovered' micro-expressions, and we learn why he needs to place a reason with every lie. He has dark secrets and at the end, he needed to let someone know, but withought saying anything. That's why he brought Ria into the room and thats why he hired her. There is so much to be said for Cal in this episdode, yet it's all difficult to explain. I'm sure we all have many different feelings for him, and we all see his personality and behavior in a different light at this point, and this episode is no exception. Once again my heart was racing, and that only worsened when he broke down, screaming at the guy for the truth. That's all he wanted and look how far he had to go just to get it. Cal is so complex that already, over half-way into season 1, I'll need a textbook to write about him.
Now, we all know Loker is a funny guy, but he really is a dark character. Once he sees something wrong with the world, he will do whatever it takes to make it right. No matter how many people he has to 'sacrifice'. This is the first episode to show that side of him. Sure we knew that his personal feelings get in the way of things, but his passion for whats right and wrong is really what drives him. That's why he does what he does. And I hate to compare characters, but I coulden't help but see a bit of Chase in him when Ria said that he might lose his job, and although she can't do anything about it, Cal will. That, for some reason, really struck a chord with me. Sadly, I'm afraid that we'll have to wait a little bit longer to learn more about him yet. His character is a passionate one, and this really might interfere with alot that goes on in this series.
Ria and Gillian were both on the same amount of screentime this episode. We never really delved into Gillian's relationship with her husband and Ria's character seems to be stuck in a position where she goes on blabbering everything she sees to everyone. I don't want to make her character seem like an obnoxious one, but ever since she has been learning from Lightman all she seems to do is 'explain' things to the 'audience'. Meaning: she'll state the obvious to characters that already know.
This case was chilling, and very horrific in my opinion. It's no one's fault that Tim does such a great job with dark emotions like those dealt with in this episode, but God, he does it almost too well.
There is way to much to say about this episode, and I seem to have only scratched the surface of this complex case. Dark emotions leaked out, characters were cast in a different light, and secrets were revealed. This is truly the best episode of the season.
