artners of the Month
artners of the Month
Upon leaving his wife, Schanke moves in with Nick, expecting to lead a wild bachelor's life with his partner. But the two are soon at odds over the investigation of a wealthy business-man's murder. Feeling that Nick is once again trying to keep one step ahead of him, Schanke vows to solve the case on his own. Acting on a sudden revelation while drowning his sorrows in liquor, Schanke rushes to apprehend the murderer without his partner and captures the killer single-handedly. Or, so he thinks.
This episode comes the closest I've seen to a standard murder mystery. We aren't actually shown the murder, just a short scene before and after the fatal event. Early on, two suspects appear as equally likely candidates -- the wife, Victoria Levy (played by Victoria Aidlman), and the mistress, Julia Winwood (played by Deborah Rennard). Clues turn up that point first to one, then the other, woman. Even the mysterious new will (the motive) doesn't indicate who the murderess is.
Schanke, oddly enough, is positive that the wife is guilty, and wants to bring her in for questioning, even without any hard evidence. Usually he's at least a few steps behind Nick, and Nick is the one making rash claims -- which might explain the Captain's comment, asking them to "stay in sync on this one". It didn't seem right at first, since they're often not at all in sync, but it's the reversal of their roles that must be confusing her.
At the first viewing, I was disturbed by the number of comments and scenes that seemed to denigrate marriage as an evil institution that traps you, but later I realized that other scenes (Nick giving the painting back to Janette, Schanke making up with Myra at the end) work to cancel them out. And the images of Schanke taking off his wedding ring, putting it back on, shifting it around in his hands... definitely a nice touch. Even so, the Captain's "stop acting like you're married" to Nick and Schanke (when they're arguing in the precinct) seemed just a bit gratuitous.
Placing the suicide note on Paul Levy's computer before killing him seems awfully risky. What if he finds the note? And why wasn't it set up to timestamp the note when it was being printed?
After Nick's "betrayal", why does Schanke go to the Raven to drown out his sorrows? Nick's hangout? Still, I can live with the strange action for the sake of the great anti-conversation between Janette and Schanke, where they sort of talk in parallel at eachother, never quite hearing what the other is saying. This has to be one of the top three Raven scenes this season. And it's a damn good thing that Schanke didn't catch most of what Janette says, as when he asked "what happens to a person when they leave the love of their lives, looking for cheap, quick thrills?" and she replies "in my case, usually homicide".
Episode rating (0 to 10): 8
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