Major Crimes - Family Law - Review: "You Know That Spongebob Isn't White"

This week a divorce attorney is found dead in an open-air theatre. It’s pretty easy to declare that it was a very personal crime because the killer bashed the victim, divorce attorney Robert Cushing’s head against the cement at least 15 times. I didn’t think this case would interest me at all, but it did grab me.

This guy seems to be the only honest divorce lawyer in the state of California. No one has filed any complaints against him, but he has filed a restraining order against Joey Bowie, the ex-husband of one of his clients. This is where they took the type of left turn I came to love this show for. Joey was following Cushing around. He was looking for evidence of infidelity to send Cushing’s wife. Bowie discovered that Cushing had a thing for hookers.

Tao gets to go undercover! How hilarious was the expression on his face as , started undressing him. The whole scene makes Provenza squirm and Andy, sweetheart that he is, just had to needle him a little. Speaking of Provenza, I have to mention something that stuck out to me earlier in the season. In my review for the episode with the British couple in the US on a “second honeymoon”, I complained that Provenza hadn’t made his ‘it’s the wife’ prediction. Happily, Provenza was singing his tune in this episode and I was happy to hear it.

When Brie went into detail about how Cushing’s wife treated him and Tao said he’d found out that Mrs. Cushing was moving money from their joint account to an account, in her name, in Panama I was certain she’d ordered the hit on her husband.

One of my favorite scenes was when Raydor was talking to Mrs. Cushing. While Mrs. Cushing explains that their daughter knows nothing about her father’s betrayals, Raydor watches as Brie gives Cushing’s daughter a hug.

Turns out Brie and Cushing’s daughter spent a lot of time together when they were kids. When Cushing spotted Brie’s website, he had no idea who she was because her face was blurred out on the website. But once they met in the hotel room, they decided that it wasn’t enough of an issue for them to cancel the deal.

Turns out that Brie’s father spotted her, at the hotel, with his golfing buddy and lost his mind. He thought his friend was taking advantage of his baby girl and killed him. His world continued collapsing when Raydor, Flynn and Tao showed him the proof that his baby girl was a pro.

We also got some more movement on Buzz’ murder investigation. The strongest movement for me was my very strong desire to smack Rusty up-side the head. Happily, Sharon did it for me. Rusty is in with Buzz as he processes the fingerprint data gathered from all of the ATM robberies. The partials from Buzz’ father’s crime scene are fit together with those from the other crime scenes to reveal someone who could, realistically, be more than just a witness to his father’s murder. He could be a suspect.

Rusty gets excited and wants to go to the prison to confront him and force him to confess. Buzz, who is a more considered personality AND knows the ins and outs to what’s required in the situation, tells Rusty to back off. Rusty, typically, ignores him and films the official files on the guy, then runs to his mother to talk her into going over Buzz’ head.

Sharon’s having none of that; she orders Rusty to delete all of his video. (I wonder if he actually did as he was told.) Personally, I was frustrated that the discussion didn’t include why he was over the line and how disrespectful he’s been to Buzz during this whole case. If he’s going to be a reporter, it is a balance he needs to start learning.

Buzz, aware of all of the intricacies and potential problems involved in this case, has pulled his research and information together to present to Raydor for official processing. He also saw the problem of letting this suspect, who is known to work with a partner, know about the investigation. Yay Buzz. Rusty back off!

The subplot that made the greatest impact on me was the fact that Julio got a foster kid. I suspect that you guys are as happy about this as I am. When Cynthia told Julio that she had an emergency placement and, if he accepted, it would rush his application through final approval, my first thought was, ‘Is this a way for her to punish Julio?’ When we met Mark, I was sure of it.

When she said Mark had some behavior problems, I was expecting a traumatized 8 year-old, not an in your face racist. The discussion about his first night with Mark was absolutely hilarious. ‘When I hid the remote “Poor Little Mark” called immigration…and they came!’

The other thing that’s happened with Juilo since he found out the truth about his wife’s death is that his sense of humor has been more front and center. When the neighbor, who had agreed to watch Mark, was forced to drop him off at the office, Rusty agreed to stay with him. Julio told Rusty that no matter what the kid said, don’t drop him off at the zoo. Unfortunately, as I expected, when they find Mark’s mother, she’s dead. It looks like they will make her murder a major crime next week, because of the connection to Julio.

About the Author - Prpleight

Prpleight is a screenwriter and senior software engineer with solid geek cred. When not writing code, screenplays, or watching TV (sometimes she does all three at the same time), she uses her broadsword Bessie to battle evil. She's been a frequent contributor to the SpoilerTV discussion boards for several years now.

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