Directed by: Michael M. Robin
Written by: Ralph Gifford, Carson Moore
First aired: December 2, 2013
A young man who was convicted of rape and placed under house arrest goes missing and turns up dead. Major Crimes has no shortage of suspects as they try to find out what happened. Meanwhile, Rusty starts his psychological evaluation with Dr. Joe.
Once again, the case is a tough one. Not so much the murder itself, but what we learn about the victim. The fact that he raped several young women makes it difficult to feel bad that he’s dead. And once again, the case of the week has parallels to Rusty’s past and what is going on in his life. I mean, is there any other reason to tell a story?
The main Rusty-related plot in this episode is the psychological evaluation that Sharon negotiated for in the last episode. We meet Dr. Joe, a child psychologist who, we learn later on, seems to work for or at least closely with, the LAPD and who can deal with Rusty’s most important issue right now—playing chess. As coincidence—or maternal plotting—will have it, he is also very well equipped to deal with Rusty’s other issue. You know, the one he’s very much not ready to talk about yet.
Of course, Rusty is being a little shit about the entire thing at first, because he is convinced that he does not need a therapist. Those are, after all, only for crazy people. His reluctance to deal with the mental health industry does, at least, give us a little glimpse at Sharon’s past, told in her own(!!) words.
What I love about this scene is how her question about their session almost comes across as some kind of unimportant bit of small-talk, when we can be pretty sure that she’s dying to know how it went. Even her reaction to Rusty’s info-dump on Dr. Joe’s chess qualifications seems suspiciously understated. He explicitly requested a shrink who can play chess, so I assume that the question of his skills in that area came up when she talked to him? But she allowed Rusty the pleasure of telling her about it as if it were news to her. Just as she didn’t make any fuss about his therapy session, she also talked about her own experience as if it were no big deal. It is a story that is perfect for making him understand the difference between therapy for mental illness and emotional trauma and very relevant to his own situation as a witness. She could have told it to him long ago in order to get him to go to therapy, but the fact that she waited until he asked probably made it way more effective. To end it by reassuring him that he’s just being evaluated was also very smart, even though her tone was almost a little too innocent?
Later in the episode, during their second session, Dr. Joe drops a bit of a bomb on Rusty. He leads him to the idea that what happened to him would be legally defined as rape. The scene is brilliantly done and truly heartbreaking. I love that they actually went there so explicitly, because it puts a focus on a very common misconception among survivors of abuse and people in general. You do not have to be forced at gunpoint in order for it to qualify as rape. We clearly see Rusty struggling with the concept, which is not unexpected. In “The Deep End” he told Sharon that he knows what he did and why he did it which, according to him, makes therapy unnecessary. Looking at his time on the street from this new perspective will undoubtedly kick loose a lot of issues that he buried under layers of defensiveness, so it should not be surprising that, later on, he will decide to keep seeing Dr. Joe even after his evaluation is over.
Despite the serious subject matter, this episode also offers quite a few lighter moments that are noteworthy. There is of course a tipsy Dr Morales asking the captain not to expect his usual genius, a request that obviously triggers some rulebook-related anxiety in our dear captain.
Speaking of Captain Rulebook… When they interview their initial suspect, a Sherif’s Deputy and the father of one of the dead guy’s victims, Sharon says the funniest thing ever. She claims that she’s “not the kind of person who gets bogged down in all the rules.” The faces of Provenza, Sanchez, and Flynn are gold!
During the same scene, Deputy Diaz moves in a way that makes the team suspect he’s going for his gun. Sanchez and Flynn draw their weapons on him right away. What I find remarkable is that, while Provenza moves away from Diaz, Raydor does not even flinch. The trust that she must have in her guys to handle that situation in order to remain so unfazed, at least outwardly, is amazing. The only movement we see from her during that entire moment is that she takes the gun that Sanchez places on the table and gives it to Flynn. Other than that, she doesn’t even really look at any of her team to make sure they are responding. The only possible sign of tension is in her voice when she finally speaks.
One of the funniest scenes of the episode is DDA Hobbs casually sitting on Provenza’s desk. Now, we already know that Provenza is a little particular about his desk. His face when she perches on the corner of his desk is priceless. To her credit, she moves as soon as he gives her the stink-eye about it, but not without throwing him a glace of her own, one which is definitely not an apology. When Provenza puts his toy teeth in the spot Hobbs just vacated, Raydor throws him her own warning glare. I just love this wordless communication that is happening while they’re discussing the case. It gives off big family vibes!
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