Directed by: Steve Robin
Written by: Adam Belanoff
First aired: July 1, 2013
Flynn and Provenza get in trouble when the witness they’re supposed to pick up from the airport and deliver to the courtroom is accused of murdering a shopkeeper. While DDA Rios sees her case going up in smoke, the team scrambles to figure out what really happened. An additional mystery is provided by Rusty’s new study partner Kris—decidedly not a boy—and the question of whether or not Lieutenant Provenza will win the bet he made with his captain.
A major plot point of this episode—apart from the case—is Andy Flynn’s ongoing diet, and we finally find out why he’s been obsessing about his health so much lately. Apparently, he fainted during a fight with his ex-wife and was diagnosed with high blood pressure. As he doesn’t want any issues at work and refuses to take the medication his doctor recommended, he’s attempting to get a handle on in with exercise, a healthier diet and a rather long list of other measures. Basically, he’s so determined to improve his health that the stress is about to kill him—an argument that his future wife will still get to have with him years later. All in all, this episode gives us a lot of Flynn and Provenza fun, as Flynn is constantly about one minor inconvenience from exploding and Provenza keeps running after him, trying to put out the flames. At least Flynn no longer runs around with his damn cleanse. His stressing about lowering his blood pressure does end in another blood pressure-related faint, however. This time in the middle of the murder room. So much for keeping things quiet…
In between arguments about the way Andy is managing his health issues the two old geezers are lusting after a young witness who is absolutely not a prostitute, but a professional conversationalist. We also learn that, even without medication, Provenza can still talk like a teenager. Do we think he means that he’ll be done talking after two minutes?
It wouldn’t really be a ProFlynnza episode if our two favorite lieutenants didn’t end up in the principal’s office for a good talking to—and not the kind their attractive witness is known for. I love how Sharon is very protective of them in front of DDA Rios but once Rios is gone, she at least has to glare at them a little as she gets the information she needs. I also love how she reacts when Andy explodes once again. The way she tries to calm him down and then looks at him all what crawled up your ass today. In the end, she doesn’t really chastise them since it wasn’t their fault, but she does aim a little of the Darth towards Rios when the DDA gets in a cheap shot at her about Rusty.
Rusty is another main focus of this episode (what else is new?), as he introduces his study partner Kris. He has obviously mentioned her before, but Buzz’ reaction lets us suspect that he neglected to mention pronouns and Buzz assumed they were talking about a boy. It is extremely obvious that Kris is interested in Rusty as more than an SAT prep partner. The question of whether or not Rusty’s interest in Kris is similarly unrelated to school occupies several team members, but mostly Lieutenant Provenza, who is convinced that Rusty will ask Kris out. He is so sure of it that he goads his captain into a bet.
Sharon is so adorably unsubtle about her interest in Kris and the kind of relationship that is developing between her and Rusty, even though she is certain that her foster son is not interested in anything romantic. She already knows, or at least suspects, that Rusty is not interested in girls, so it makes sense that she would take Provenza up on his bet. Sharon doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who would agree to a bet if she wasn’t completely sure of the outcome. I love how, in the previous scene, she acts all scandalized when she discovers Provenza and Buzz spying on the kids, and she even playfully slaps the Lieutenant (something that becomes a bit of a habit for her), but then she’s still very interested in what’s going on. Later on, she’s the one sitting in Electronics with Buzz, watching the monitors, so her earlier objections were obviously just for show. When Rusty finally leaves the Interview Room—presumably to ask Sharon if he could take Kris out—her little scramble to get outside of Electronics and appear nonchalant never fails to crack me up. She’s lucky that Rusty is so incredibly self-involved because, I hate to break it to you, mama, but you’re so very, very obvious. I mean, the empty folder she grabbed? Or the suuuuuper subtle way she asks him if there’s anything else he wants to ask her? If Rusty had been even semi-present in the situation, he would have noticed that she was being suspiciously weird. Not that I’m complaining one bit about getting some cute, awkward Sharon moments. Especially when she realizes in the end how very ridiculous she’s being, staring at an empty folder. And then that triumphant smile when she rubs her win in Provenza’s face.
Another funny moment between Sharon and Rusty happens at the condo when she oh-so-subtly asks him about Kris. The scene itself is really just lots of maternal curiosity and a little bit of snark being tossed back and forth between them (I love that dynamic so much!). What I never realized before is that the end of that scene has some similarity to the last scene of Acting Out in season 3, when it is Sharon’s relationship that is the focus of the discussion. While in Acting Out it is Sharon who is on the defensive and Rusty who gets in the last word as Sharon leaves the condo (“Several times a month.”), here it is Rusty who tries to get out of the maternal inquisition and Sharon who gets the last word while leaving the condo. The image is remarkably similar, only that here, Sharon gets to be a little smug, whereas in Acting Out she appeared more confused.