Episode 40
Cruel & Unusual  (03-31-03)

Brief Synopsis: Jordan reunites with a past love while investigating the alleged suicide of a young woman.

So I don’t even know where to start with this episode.  So much went on and all of it ‘emotional’—a very character driven plot line.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not complaining.  ‘Emotional’ episodes I usually find the most interesting because they reveal more about the characters than we normally get to see.  Between Garret, Jordan and Lily I might be writing for a while.

I’ll start with Lily.  Lily has a tattoo on her lower arm/upper hand.  She’s counseling a mother whose son died of AIDS, which he contracted from a dirty needle used while getting a tattoo.  The mother gets one look at Lily’s tattoo and she goes running—insisting that she can’t talk with her.  Lily feels horrible.  She starts to question whether she can do her job.  She’s thinking about removing her tattoo, and goes to Nigel to talk to him.  I think he hit a homerun with his comment.  He tells Lily that nothing’s that simple—you can’t make the past go away.  She goes ahead and removes her tattoo.  I wonder how it will affect her.  She’ll probably always live with a little bit of regret at changing herself because of someone else’s image of her.  But she felt she had to go through with it to do her job. 

Garret and Rene—now with these two I truly don’t know where to begin with.  They’re traveling together in close confines.  They can bicker over anything.  (It’s truly amazing.)  You’re bond to have some explosions—pardon me—many explosions.  There wasn’t one peaceful scene between these two.  Even when Garret’s trying to be nice Rene’s making sure she pisses him off.

Then on top of that they’re examining an execution gone wrong.  It’s hard enough to watch someone be strapped down and intentionally killed.  But then things go wrong with the execution and the parents claim ‘cruel and unusual punishment.’  At first it seems like that, though we eventually learn that it was an allergic reaction—caused by the mother.  Emotions are already running high and then you throw in an execution…well something was bound to happen.  Rene and Garret were either going to end up killing each other or sleeping together.  They slept together.  And oh this is going to be interesting to see how it turns out because the two of them together is like oil and water...it’s just not meant to be.  Despite that frosty exterior, Garret is a sweetheart inside and I’m betting you Rene is only going to end up hurting him (intentional or not).

And lastly: Jordan.  Information overload.  We got a lot of insight into Jordan.  So I’m going to break this down into two parts.  Jordan’s relationship with Tom Crane and Jordan dealing with issues about her mother—even though the two stories were all connected. 

We learn the lady that’s committed suicide is the wife of the man Jordan had an affair with 6 years ago (and supposedly the first man she’s ever let herself love).  Jordan (being typical Jordan) leaves Boston one night after Tom’s wife calls her.  Jordan learns that Tom’s wife has tried to kill herself before (in fact almost 6 years ago to the date that Jordan received that fateful’ phone call).  This self blame leads to Jordan’s memory (is the cause of) of her mother. (Jordan’s family was one dysfunctional family if I’ve ever met one.  So all in all I guess we can understand why Jordan is as she is—and we wouldn’t love her any other way).

Jordan remembers seeing a man (the man her mother had an affair with).  To add a side note here – Jordan remembers a Yankee’s cap.  I have to say the writers threw in a clever one here.  I’m a Yankee fan living in Boston—so I’ve experienced the rivalry between the fans first had—and it’s brutal.  Jordan’s family is from Boston and obviously Red Sox fans.  Yankee fans in their eyes would be considered ‘The Enemy’.  The man Jordan’s mother was having an affair with was wearing the Yankee cap—their way of saying he was the enemy/bad guy. Clever.  They don’t outright say it – they use the most heated rivalry in baseball as a metaphor.  Of course you know the guy isn't 'good' but they added a little twist.

Anyway back on track.   So Jordan gets a memory of her mother, finds a reason for why she has ‘commitment’ issues, and is still not dealing with the issues.  It’s one big emotional mess for Jordan that really didn’t leave us with any answers, just more questions. 

Okay, I didn’t do such a great job with this review, but I think it’s as I stated earlier—information overload for me.

4 out of 5 Dead Bodies.  I debated a long time over this I finally decided it was worth 4.  The storylines in themselves I found average, but the insight into the characters was worth the fourth star.