Rosewood - Amparo & The American Dream - Review: “Brotherly Love”

Rosewood - Amparo & The American Dream - Review: “Brotherly Love”

2.21 - “Amparo & The American Dream”
Directed by Vahan Moosekian
Written by Andy Berman & Michael Notarile
Reviewed by Kelly Anne Blount

“Amparo & The American Dream” opens with a quick recap. We revisit Villa’s situation with her brother, Slade and Rosie’s surgeries, and Hornstock hugging Rosie and Villa, telling them that Slade is going to be okay.

We cut over to Rosie driving late at night and listening to some great music. Meanwhile, Villa is having a nightmare about being at the shooting range and seeing her brother in distress.

Rosie pulls off to the side of the road where Marcos pulls up next to him. Marcos has a fancy car. Rosie invites Marcos inside. He tells Marcos that he had a terrible craving for some macadamia nut ice cream, so he had to go out and get a tub. He wants to know why Marcos was out so late. Marcos tells him he couldn’t sleep. Rosie tells Marcos he needs to get his shoulder looked at. Marcos tells Rosie that he isn’t a fan of the VA hospital and quickly changes the topic.

Marcos asks Rosie what’s up with him and Villa. He thinks Rosie likes his sister. Rosie half-denies it and adds that she’s with Adrian anyways. Rosie says that they’re “partners.”

Oh my! Marcos takes a serious turn! He tells Rosie that he’s, “taking up a lot of space in her (Villa’s) head.” He tells him if he isn’t going to step up, that he needs to get out of the way. WOW! I did NOT see that coming! Marcos says that he’s “all she (Villa) needs.”

As Marcos and Rosie are treading into dangerous waters, we see a police officer pull over a woman. He asks her how much she has had to drink. She tells him, “Nothing,” that she was just grading papers. She’s a teacher at a local school. The scene ends with the officer tells her to get out of the car.

The next morning, a man walks out to get his paper and finds the teacher’s body in his front yard. YIKES! Villa and Rosie get to the scene, where Rosie notices that Villa isn’t her normal self. She admits that she had a dream about shooting him. Rosie surprises her by telling her that he saw Marcos last night and he definitely didn’t have any bullet holes in him. Villa is thrilled. She thinks that Marcos and Rosie are connecting, which he doesn’t do with many people. She thanks Rosie. If she only knew…

Rosie checks out the victim, Thanny Torres, while Villa talks to her fiancé, Sherman Camp. Villa tells Sherman that Thanny was arrested on suspicion of a DUI. He seems shocked.

Slade is back and he’s driving a fancy new car! He hops out with a cane and makes his way to the body. Villa and Rosie immediately tell him that they have things covered and that he should go home. Rosie reminds him he’s supposed to be on strict bed rest. Slade isn’t hearing that and as he kneels down next to the body, he almost touches the vic, without gloves. What is going on here? Does Slade have a fever? Is he delusional?

Mitchie shows up late to the lab. Oh my, he has news and BIG news! Mitchie tells Pippy that he flew out to the west coast because Rosie is thinking about opening up a second lab out in Los Angeles. What in the world? Pippy knows nothing of these plans and immediately asks Rosie what’s up as soon as he walks down the stairs.

Pippy found evidence that Thanny had liver damage. Rosie points out that her liver showed signs of healing, so she most likely was an alcoholic in the past, but not present. Villa points out that Thanny was arrested multiple times over ten years ago for prostitution.

Rosie makes an interesting discovery. Thanny had the letter A branded on to her heel. Rosie and Villa want to know what it stands for right away. I think I know where this is going… and it’s not going to be pretty!

Villa and Rosie head to the precinct to meet Hornstock, who is visibly upset. He says he has something to show them, but he is struggling to bring himself to do it. Finally, Villa grabs the flash drive, which was given to Hornstock from a buddy, and he plugs it in his computer. OH. MY. GOSH. The flash drive has video footage of Thanny being released from jail and getting into SLADE’S car! What is going on here?

Rosie says that they are going to find his finger prints on the body. Ah, remember when he “accidentally” touched Thanny without gloves on? Villa says that the three of them better find out what’s going on before anyone else gets wind of the latest development.

Ha ha! Hornstock tells Villa that she needs to work on her “library” voice. Slade approaches them and asks what’s up. I’m weak! Slade doesn’t like hearing Hornstock say the word “moist.” Personally, I also hate that word and don’t think it should be allowed to be spoken out loud, but I digress.

Villa follows Slade into Slade’s office. She asks him, “Where were you two nights ago?” He asks her if she’s trying to make him feel bad. Slade says that he was at home watching “Narcos,” but then quickly admits he was secretly watching “Season Four of the Bachelor.” He jokes that if she tells anyone, he’ll kill her. Ykes… There’s an awkward silence as Slade sits down. Villa presses on, she talks about the victim. Slade plays it cool. He tells her to go “catch the killer,” to which she responds, “I always do.”

Rosie tells Pippy and Mitchie that Slade saw the victim the night of her death. They are shocked. Thanny had oxycontin in her system when she died, but no signs of ingesting it or shooting up. What happened to Thanny?

Villa and Hornstock visit Slade’s old Captain. They ask if Slade had a thing with “streetwalkers.” The Captain says that he was clean and with a “face like that” he wouldn’t need to hire prostitutes. He admits that Slade stopped by two days ago to look at a Jane Doe. The Captain isn’t sure why Slade was interested in the Jane Doe, but he knows that he spent time in the morgue.

Villa and Rosie head down to the morgue. He says that Slade was the Jane Doe’s second visit. Her first visit was from Kitty, a woman the M.E. assumed was a prostitute. The victim was undocumented and the M.E. was getting ready to send her body off. Rosie tells him that there’s been a change of plans. He needs the body sent to his lab as part of the murder investigation. Villa takes a closer look and spots what caught Rosie’s attention, the Jane Doe also has a the letter “A” branded into the bottom of her foot.

Rosie and Villa find Kitty. Villa shows Kitty Slade’s picture. She admits that she knows him and that he practically paid off her mortgage. She said he was rough. WHAT. IN. THE. WORLD. IS. HAPPENING?

Kitty says that Slade terrified her and all of the workers. We flashback to a scene where Slade is being overly aggressive with the women on the street. Villa tells Kitty if she’s lying, that she’s going down. Kitty tells Villa that she’s telling the truth. Rosie and Villa want to see the bottom of Kitty’s foot. She’s hesitant, but finally shows them her own branded “A.” Villa asks if the “A” stands for Amparo, her pimp. Rosie points out that she has shackle marks on her ankles. She was brought over as a human trafficking victim. She says that Amparo’s human trafficking ring is back. She admits to visiting the Jane Doe because in a way, she’s her sister and if she didn’t say goodbye to her, no one would.

Back at the precinct, Hornstock and Villa are meeting in the basement. Hornstock tells Villa that he’s found out Amparo’s real name, Matt Baldovsky. Hornstock says that he’s currently serving a long sentence in an in-state prison for sex trafficking. So, if Baldovsky isn’t behind the Jane Doe’s murders, who is? Baldovsky’s court records are sealed.

Slade stops down and questions them. Hornstock and Villa tell Slade that Thanny’s husband was surprised about his fiancé’s past life as a sex worker. He has an alibi and isn’t a suspect. Slade tells Hornstock that he needs to borrow him and brings him up to an interrogation room. THE SUSPENSE IS INTENSE HERE, FOLKS!

Slade sits down next to Hornstock and pulls out some liquor. He pours them each a cup. He wants to know what Hornstock is hiding. Hornstock flips it on Slade and asks him, “What do you want to tell me?” Slade responds by asking Hornstock if they are close. He says, “Yeah, we’re close.” Slade tells Ira, “I want your help.” He continues, “I want to know how important this job is to you.” WHAT. IS. GOING. ON? Slade tells Hornstock that he has a far reach. Hornstock says he doesn’t want Slade’s money or his means, he just wants to know what Slade wants to tell him. Slade doesn’t say anything, so Hornstock gets up and leaves.

Back at the lab, Pippy and Rosie have found an RFD chip in the victim’s neck, essentially, “a human ID tag.” They pull the data and find that he belongs to Amparo. The new sex trafficking pimp must be using the old pimp’s name. The data from the chip tells Amparo exactly where the girls are at all times.

Villa and Rosie head to a fancy hotel, where their Jane Doe was last seen. There are two suspicious men at the pool. Rosie is going to pretend to be a tourist and see what he can find out. He sits down next to one of the suspicious guys and tells him that he’s looking for a lady. He tells him that “Amparo sent me here.” The man looks up and gives a signal to a guy on a hotel balcony several floors up. The guy tells Rosie to, “Wait here.”

A large man with a gun approaches Rosie. He takes him into the elevator and tells him, “When it stops, get off.” Villa is freaking out, she’s trying to find Rosie. Another man escorts Rosie to a hotel room, where a young woman comes in with a small dress and high shoes. He tells her that he’s there to help her. Villa heads down the hallway on the floor where Rosie was last scene. Ah, Rosie left his sunglasses outside of the door for Villa to find him. The man that walked Rosie to the hotel room knocks on the door. Villa hops into bed and takes her shirt off so it looks like Rosie and the young woman are in bed together. The bad guy tells them to, “Wrap it up!”

Rosie and Villa share an intense stare. There is definitely chemistry between the two of them. But, there’s not time to figure out what’s going on. Instead, Villa, Rosie, and the young woman sneak out of the hotel room. The bad guy quickly sees their missing, but it’s too late. They are driving away in Rosie’s car.

Rosie is treating the young woman at Villa’s house. She shows her an array of pictures, but she doesn’t recognize anyone. The girl suddenly gasps! Villa looks up and locks eyes with Marcos, he says that he’s heading to the range. He asks Villa, “You good?” To which she replies, “Yeah, I’m good.” There’s a lot of weird tension in the room. Is it possible that the girl knows Marcos? Is he involved in this case somehow?

Rosie wants to get the girl to a hospital, but Villa wants to see if she can hang on at her house a bit longer. She’s afraid if they bring her to the hospital, they’ll never find the other girls and women that Amparo has trafficked and forced to work as sex workers.

As Rosie pulls out the girl’s tracking device, the girl says that she recognizes “him.” Is it Marcos? NO! It’s Slade! Villa has a picture on her refrigerator with Slade. The girl says that she has seen him at the hotel. Before Villa can ask her anything else, someone drives by Villa’s house and shoots. Luckily, everyone is okay, but they need to get out of there and fast!

Rosie and Villa bring the girl back to the lab. Villa brings up what happened back at the hotel, but before they can say anything, Mrs. Rosewood interrupts and says, “I missed walking in on these moments.” I love me some Donna, but I want to scream, “GET OUT!” right now and have Rosie and Villa go back to the hotel talk! Alas, it isn’t going to happen.

Interesting, Rosie visits Marcos at the shooting range. Marcos tells Rosie that he isn’t surrounded by family, fancy billboards, and loads of friends, instead he says that he’s, “only got two things, my mother and his sister.” Rosie tells Marcos about his relationship with Pippy and figuring out when she needed him and when she didn’t. Marcos isn’t budging. He is not into Rosie spending time with Villa as “partners,” and he’s made that very clear.

Villa heads back to Slade’s old precinct and talks to Captain Marino. Something about him isn’t sitting right with me. How about you? Anyways, Villa asks him to keep the conversation between the two of them. He agrees. Villa tells him about the human trafficking ring in his jurisdiction and that all signs point to Slade being involved. That’s why they are doing their own investigation first, before brining anyone else in. Villa asks if he’ll help them. He agrees, adding that he has a daughter, “So, he’s willing to do anything she needs, including taking down Amparo.”

Mitchie is freaking out about Slade as he drives Rosie’s car. What is going on here? He’s swerving in and out of his lane and doesn’t stop until he gets pulled over by a police officer. Ah, that looks like the same police officer that pulled Thanny over in the beginning of the episode!

Mitchie pretends to be drunk. The officer brings him down to the precinct and gives him a breathalyzer. Ha ha! Another officer says, “Well, there’s definitely something very, very, wrong with you, but it’s not something this precinct can fix.” Aw, Mitchie!

Rosie is on the other side of the glass. He gives Mitchie the sign and Mitchie swabs the breathalyzer machine. They are proud of their undercover work and not to mention adorable.

Back at the lab, Pippy runs the swabs. It turns out that Thanny was given oxy when she blew into the breathalyzer. She was drugged at the precinct! Hornstock points out that Slade was at the precinct the night Thanny was arrested. Maybe he did drugged her? He was also at the hotel, where the sex workers were based. The team wants to get on to Slade’s boat and check for signs of oxy. If they can find it, they have a case against him.

Rosie invites Slade over, while I’m assuming the rest of the team heads over to his boat. Rosie serves wings and beer, under the premise of thanking Slade for his kidney. Slade tells Rosie that he can thank him by slowing down his lab work on the second Jane Doe in his lab. SAY WHAT? Rosie asks Slade, why. Slade just tells him to “slow it down.” Rosie tells him he took an oath as a doctor and that he can’t do that. Slade isn’t happy. I’m just throwing this out there, there’s no way Slade is a bad guy. There just can’t be! I bet he’s secretly helping the women, I just don’t know how… That’s my answer and I’m sticking to it!

Over at the lab, Villa is eating dinner with the young woman they rescued from the hotel. Villa asks the girl when was the last time she saw her mother. The girl tells her over two years ago. She says that they put her on a ship to America with the hopes and dreams that her life would be better here. She’s afraid that her parents think she’s dead. Villa comforts her.

Hornstock is on Slade’s ship when he misses a call from Rosie. OH NO! Slade shows up! Hornstock isn’t playing anymore. He asks Slade about the night he picked Thanny up, the hotel, and he confronts him about the bribe he offered him in his interrogation room.

Slade says, “Oh, Ira. You’re a simple man and I don’t mean that in a good way.” WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE? Slade threatens Hornstock and says a lot of hateful things. Hornstock tells him, “I’m the only one that believed in you!” Hornstock says the only way he’s getting off Slade’s boat is if Slade makes him!

Oh my gosh! They get into a fight and start throwing punches! In the process, they throw each other into a wall and knock loose several photographs of women and possibly the device used to drug Thanny.

Hornstock heads directly to the lab and with a large cut above his eye, he tells Rosie and Villa, “It’s time.”

Slade shows up to the dock in his fancy car. He meets Captain Marino, who is waiting for him outside. Slade’s old Captain confronts him about the sex trafficking. Slade tells the Captain that he put him undercover because he didn’t have any ties to anything, after all, he was, “practically an orphan.” Slade admits to going undercover into the ring several years ago. He says, “You left me there for so long, that I forgot what the outside felt like.”

Rosie and Villa enter the scene. Villa, with her gun pointed at Slade, takes his gun and tells him that, “Thanks to Captain Marino,” they have all of the evidence they need and they know that the girls are being held somewhere at the docks.

We flash back to Slade undercover ten years ago. One of the women tells him that he needs to hit her to make it look realistic. Otherwise, she’s done and she won’t be his CI. He promises to save her.

Back to the present, Slade tells Marino that he, “rose through that world” and that he did things he didn’t think he was even, “capable of doing.” He continues, “I found Amparo and I gave you everything you needed, didn’t I?” Slade says that Marino put Amparo away, gave Slade a promotion, then knowing how much money there was in it, he took over as Amparo. I knew it! I knew he was the bad guy!

Marino says, “He’s obviously lying.” Slade points out that Marino knew the new contact’s name in Cuba, not the old one that Slade had access to over ten years ago. Villa and Hornstock quickly point their guns at Marino. They tell him that Slade told them everything the night before. The sting is for Captain Marino, not Slade!

It turns out that Thanny called Captain Marino for help when she saw the Jane Doe in the newspaper with the branded “A” on her foot. By the time Slade picked her up, she was terrified, she thought that Marino was going to do something to her. Marino had Thanny pulled over and charged with a DWI. He then drugged her when she blew into the breathalyzer and killed her with an oxy overdose.

They arrest Marino and find a shipping container filled with girls and women from Cuba. The women are released and assessed by medical professionals as Villa, Hornstock, and Slade walk away from the scene. Slade agrees that he shouldn’t have investigated Marino alone. He says, “With one wrong step, I could have taken you all down with me.” He apologizes to Hornstock for the mean things he said to him on the boat. He says that he was just trying to get him to leave and that he didn’t mean any of it. Hornstock forgives him and says that punching him was pretty nice. Rosie sings, “Teamwork!” and everyone smiles.

Back at the precinct, Marcos storms in and makes a bee line for Rosie. He’s pissed Rosie sent a doctor over to his house to look at his shoulder. Marcos says, “I’m not a charity case.” Rosie says, “We’re not on a battlefield,” and he tells him to chill out. Marcos goes off on Rosie and tells him he’s just a, “Pathologist with a weak ass heart that couldn’t even his protect his sister.”

OH MY GOSH! Rosie and Marcos get into a fist fight! The episode ends as several officers break up the fight and Villa runs over with a shocked look on her face.

*******
My Thoughts:

Seriously, Rosewood can do no wrong! This show is everything! If you haven’t watched it from the beginning, quick head over to Netflix and binge season one!

This episode covered a very real problem that is facing our world today, sex trafficking. The scene where Thanny went to Captain Marino to express her concerns that Amparo was back, was heartbreaking. She went to someone she trusted, only to be murdered. I can’t even begin to imagine what girls and women in her situation have to deal with and how they are mistreated by so many people they are told to trust.

Revealing Slade’s background was handled very well. His experience kind of reminds me of Torres’ (NCIS) time undercover with the Rosewood Boys. Rosewood, Rosewood Boys, do you think there’s some kind of connection there? They both went in deep undercover and had to make choices neither one of them was comfortable with, but did anyways, in order not to break their cover.

I’m surprised that Slade didn’t bring Villa, Hornstock, or Rosie in to help him though. He knows that they have his back. Hopefully he won’t pull anything like this again. I’m also glad that Hornstock didn’t hurt Slade during their fight, who is after all, recovering from donating his kidney to Rosie.

Two more things I want to discuss… First, when are Rosie and Villa going to talk about what happened in the hotel? I mean, there was some serious chemistry and it needs to be addressed! Secondly, what in the world is going on with Marcos? Why is he gunning so hard for Rosie? We still don’t know what’s going on with him staying in that random apartment with all of the pictures and notes on the wall. Would Marcos be okay if Rosie was dating his sister? Somehow, I don’t think he would, so why would showing up to the precinct help anything? I also can’t believe he got in a fight with Rosie in front of Villa! What in the world! Now the real question is, which side will Villa take? Rosie’s or Marcos’?

Oh wait, one more thing! Friday, April 28th is the season finale! Be sure to tune in! I plan to live tweet the episode from my Twitter handle, @KellyAnneBlount. I was lucky enough to visit the set as the finale was being filmed and I’m seriously excited to see how everything comes together! Big shout out to the cast and crew for doing such an amazing job!

What did you think of this week’s episode? Leave a comment with your thoughts below!

Remember, you can access all of my Rosewood reviews and interviews right here on SpoilerTV!