Episode 52
Missing Pieces (04-04-04)

Brief Synopsis: When the prime suspect in a 10-month-old kidnapping case is found stabbed to death, Jordan studies the body for clues to the whereabouts of the victim.  

So it was obvious that this story was taken from the headlines of the Elizabeth Smart case.

I wasn’t too impressed by the story.  Granted we weren’t sure who the kidnapper was, but we didn’t even meet him as a character until half way through, and once they started their search for this man it became kind of obvious that he was the guilty party.

I did like Jordan’s role of devil’s advocate.  She raised good questions to cause doubt in our minds—they weren’t just random questions, they all made sense.  Jordan and Detective Capra work well together.  I like Capra, but she almost seems too meek to me.  She gets along with everyone and gets the information out of them that she needs, but it’s almost more fun to watch them coroner’s crew when they’re arguing or causing grief (in Woody and Jordan’s case) to the Detectives’ of Boston.

Jordan reacts well with Marie—but Jordan is always compassionate and caring.  It was easy to see why Jordan suspected the father.  His reaction when he walks in on Jordan and his daughter in the hospital was enough to make me think he might be guilty at first too.

A lot of scenes feel false to me.  Garret’s scenes just didn’t come off very well.  I never felt like he was really sincere.  He was the boss making speeches—or so it seemed to me.

Peter’s case was interesting.  He gave away the solution to the case with his first few words at the scene of the crime (when he says he gets a scent and it reminds him of his childhood) I didn’t pick up on it as being significant until Peter gave his cause of death to Lily/Garret.  I suppose I should have picked up on it a little sooner when Peter reacted to the name, but I didn’t know about the Slovakian tradition so it’s okay that I didn’t pick up on it.

Anyway, it wasn’t a bad episode, but it was a little slow moving and torturous for me to watch.

A side note:  Could Garret really have let Lily see Peter’s personnel file?  That request really seemed off the mark…who knows, maybe she has the right to ask that, it just doesn’t seem like it to me.

2 out of 5 Dead Bodies.