Something is happening on Rosewood and it is not helping the series out. At all. “Benzodiazepine & the Benjamins” may have ultimately been about team work, or “family” but, once again, the show tipped its hand right off the bat.
The villain of the piece, a woman, was clearly seen in the first scene. Despite the balaclava, aka “mask” being worn by the silent shooter, the murderer was obviously a woman. Later, when Erin turns out to be Marcellus Vega, there should be no surprise.
Since those curves were female until Erin was tricked into revealing her identity, the female FBI agent; Harrows, looked pretty good for a time. She was unpleasant and had a long backstory that she eventually trotted out to explain some of that hostility towards the precinct and the criminal she was after.
Perhaps more surprising was the plot line where stolen black market maple syrup was being bought and sold down at the dockside warehouses. This exact same plot device was used on “Elementary“although to be fair, on the CBS show the stuff was being moved by the barrel and someone died to keep the crime a secret.
In Rosewood the product was being transported in gallon jugs and was merely a red herring, as the real crime being committed had to do with counterfeiting $100 bills, aka “Benjamins.”
Despite the villain being all too easy to spot, if one paid attention at the start of the episode, there were some nice touches throughout.
Ira seemingly killing Pete Harmon (an old classmate of Villa’s), the fake Marcellus an this shyster lawyer being shot on the steps outside the police precinct and the animosity between Villa and Harrows were all well played, entertaining and each helped the episode lead up to the big payoff.
Just as satisfactory was the Dirty Harriet vibe that Harrows emitted. The agent sticking her thumb into the shady lawyer’s bullet wound, a’la Dirty Harry to get him to talk was spot on.
The move to have Rosie act the tough guy was yet another excuse for Morris Chestnut to flex his muscle and act like Villa’s enforcer.
Stepping away from the main storyline of Pete Harmon and his tragic high school years and tendency to be a wannabe bad guy, there was the continued worry about Rosewood’s health. After destroying his kidney’s during that Tawnya binge partying episode, the pathologist is in dire need of a new one.
All the team members, aka Annalise, Pippi, TMI, et al, have been tested, voluntarily, to see if they could be a donor. Rosie gets a call and learns that a match has been found.
Viewers who stuck around to see the previews of coming attractions already know that Captain Slade is the match and he will not be taking no for an answer.
The numbers for Rosewood have been consistently dropping. Whether this is down to the new yellow hued look of the show, or the current tendency to make the mysteries all too easy to solve is not clear. It could even be down to the move from Thursday to Friday.
With MacGyver being a solid hit for CBS and airing at the same time as Rosewood, it seems that FOX have doomed their own cop/pathologist show on purpose.
The series is still airing on Fridays and fans of the show should enjoy it while they can. This move by the network to put Rosewood up against a strong series may have doomed Chestnut and co to a quick death.
Cast:
- Morris Chestnut – Dr. Beaumont Rosewood Jr.
- Jaina Lee Ortiz – Det. Annalise Villa
- Eddie Cibrian – Captain Ryan Slade
- Gabrielle Dennis – Pippy Rosewood
- Anna Konkle – Tara Milly Izikoff (TMI)
- Domenica Lombardozzi – Det. Ira Hornstock
- Lorraine Toussaint – Donna Rosewood
- Sam Huntington – Mitchie Mendelson
- Robert Wisdom – Gerald Kelly
- Leroy Luckett – Tawnya
- Eric Winter – Adrian Webb
- Lisa Vidal – Daisie Villa
Guest starring Dawn Olivieri as Agent Harrows, Felisha Terrell as Erin Given, Aaron Himelstein as Pete Harmon, Thom Rivera as Mayer Monteverde, Jean Paul San Pedro as Jude Manifort and Andy Milder as Howard Godfrey.
Please do not let captain Spade die and please never cancel Rosewood, Love this show!!?