Not the kind of call you ever expect to get, regardless of what part you play in police work. Yet, Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) received such a call and set off an episode which explored death, and the acceptance of it.
At a lab, a scientist was purposely exposed to a virus which would kill her in a matter of hours. There was no cure, and so, though she remained alive for half the episode, her death was already certain. Neither she nor her husband panicked, however, although her daughter, reached via webcam, was more distraught and angry.
Jane intervened on the daughter's behalf after the death, sending her to seek comfort from a friend through hypnotic suggestion. She had refused to leave the computer, to cut the link that attached her to the lab where her mother's body lay dead. I was sorry that we did not get to see more grief from the husband after his wife was dead - before, as he stated, it would not have helped her - but there was so much going on that distraction is no wonder.
The virus was released a second time, making victims of the entire compound, including Jane and Lisbon (Robin Tunney). Though Lisbon begged Jane to tel her it was one of his tricks, he assured her it was not. But, no surprise, he was lying. He did it so that the murderer, who would be the only person to survive the attack, would try to escape before the place was firebombed to prevent the spread of disease.
He let Lisbon accept her fate, though as gracefully as most other's in the building, before revealing to her that it was, indeed a hoax. She was so angry that she threatened to punch him in the nose. And when it seemed that his trick had not paid off, she did punch him. It was beautiful. Finally there was some sort of consequence for Jane's ridiculous behaviour. Though, he still succeeded in both his goals - the murderer was apprehended and Lisbon felt a little more invigorated and grateful to be alive than before.
The most tragic part of the entire episode was the motive for murder: money. But not the usual way. The death of the scientist did not bring the murderer any money, but was designed merely to disguise theft of the drug. A fellow scientist exposed her so that an inspector would not be able to notice that some of the drug had been stolen, since an entire vile had been accidentally opened.
He had no malice towards her, her death was only a mask for his other crimes, and yet he did not care that she had died. Then again, he was selling a deadly virus on the black market - what is the murder of one innocent compared to that.
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