Rosewood episode 15, titled Atherosclerosis and the Alabama Flim-Flam uses the age old practice of the confidence game to solve a murder that Rosie instigates and is more humorous than usual. The pathologist speaks at the FOPAC conference at Coconut Beach and he describes a murder, a woman shoves a broccoli floret down her sleeping husband’s throat, the next day, one of the attendees dies and Rosie gets a hunch.
Calling Villa, Rosie tells the detective that he killed someone. Annalise drops everything to help her “partner” and heads to meet Rosie at the Coconut Beach Medical Examiner’s office to help. The local M.E. is not impressed with Rosewood or Villa and they must take another avenue of investigation.
Hornstock’s wife has thrown him out and when Rosie asks for reinforcements to solve the crime the captain and his friend Floyd Butters (Kurt Weller) joins him. The four team up to run a number of confidence games on the suspect in order to catch the killer.
Rosewood and Villa come within a gnat’s whisker of kissing and earlier, while dining with the suspect and his wife, Rosie came as close to proposing as it is possible to without actually doing it. The pathologist does, however, show how much he feels for Annalise and what her coming to his aid means to Rosie.
(The two other actors in the scene, Shannon Lucio; who played Casey Reed, and David Julian Hirsh, who played Dr. Reed, both looked teary-eyed at the oh, so romantic moment and it is easy to believe that they really were affected by Rosewood’s speech.)
After the meal and that “almost” kiss, Villa decides to head to Rosie’s room. Her romantic move is torpedoed by Rosewood’s cardiologist, who, apart from her clinical interest, is also interested romantically in the pathologist.
While the episode feels like a sort of homage to the 1973 film The Sting it was more about relationships; between Rosie and Villa, between Tara and her father (Henry Czerny), and Ira Hornstock and his pal Fuller. It could even be about Rosie and Dr. Kincaid (Joy Bryant) another relationship that may stop the Villa romance in its tracks.
Back at the lab Tara’s dad shows up to pledge his support at the upcoming wedding and she coldly tells him it is not wanted.
The whole Rosie/Villa dynamic keeps stumbling at the point of committal. At the end of the show, they each have a chance to salvage the situation and blow it. The cardiologist has not given up either so she may ultimately win Rosewood’s affections if Annalise does not shape up.
A clever episode with many references to confidence tricks, aka Alabama Flim-Flam techniques, but the murder device lacked originality. The old melting weapon of death gimmick, usually a knife made of ice which melts to leave no trace, was in this instance an ice cube.
But this is Rosewood and he checks for abrasions in the dead man’s throat and finds the killer.
Note: It was, not the doctor suspect (Kip) but his wife who did the other pathologist in. Her motive? The poor girl did not want to move to Portland and leave all her friends and relatives behind.
While episode 15 was a cute addition to the season one run, hopefully the next murderous event that needs solving can involve a more original plot device. In terms of humor, however, Atherosclerosis and the Alabama Flim-Flam gave the viewer a great double act with Weller and Domenick Lombardozzi as the aged versions of Newman and Redford in this episode.
Director David Crabtree made this one fun to watch and kept the pace moving at a cracking pace. The other “underlying” theme in the episode could well have been confidence, or a lack thereof. Hornstock’s confidence has been shaken, as has Villa’s (after the intercept by Kincaid).
Even Rosie has also had his usually unshakable confidence knocked by the two women; one actively pushing for a relationship and the other hesitantly holding off.
Pippy, Tara and Mr. Izikoff. Menage a awkward.
Rosewood airs Wednesdays on FOX.
Agreed! They so obviously should be a couple that the “will they, won’t they” thing should move on!
The “love” game between Rosewood and Villa is getting old. This show would be SO much better with these two being a couple.