Case #4.09: "Mike's POV"

A teenage boy wakes up and pours himself a bowl of Ninja Turtles cereal while he watches a Jane Fonda workout show. He gets on his bike and starts his ride to school. Nearby, a woman pulls out of her driveway and honks. A man, presumably her husband, comes down the front steps and heads for the car.

The bicycling boy pulls a ski mask down over his face. He stops next to the car, takes out a gun, and fires it twice. He rides away casually. In a classroom, a teacher calls roll. Mike, the boy who just killed someone, is sitting in the back of the room. Theme song.

Mike is ignoring the teacher as he lectures. From the mentions of Reagan and Nixon, I assume it's an American history or government class. The teacher hears a commotion across the hall to investigate. "Mr. Tompkins didn't show up today," a boy explains.

Later, Mike rides past the Tompkins' house. There are several police cars out front and it's cordoned off with crime scene tape. That night, Mike is either celebrating or having a fight of rage in his living room. He's throwing his textbooks, homework, and pillows off the couch and knocking a candy dish off a table.

In class the next day, students gossip about Mr. Tompkins' murder. A boy, who I realize is a young Vince Vaughn, says, "The neighbors said it was a kid who rode away on a bike." He wonders if it could be someone from school. This worries Mike. The murderer tried to shoot Mr. Tompkins, missed, and killed his wife. "Just because he was on a bike don't mean it was a kid," another boy points out.

A red-haired girl can't believe what happened. Young Vince has heard that "Tompkins was into some pretty weird stuff." An announcement is made over the PA asking any student with information about what happened to Mrs. Tompkins to come forward. Tom hands the teacher a note. The students observe a moment of silence for the teacher's wife.

After class, Mike goes to his locker. Tom bumps into the red-haired girl and helps her pick up her books. After school, Mike asks the redhead, Helen, is she's going to Mrs. Tompkins' funeral. Helen says probably, but she's riding with a guy named John. Mike admires Doug's yellow truck in the parking lot. Doug tells him not to drool on the paint job.

Mike asks how Doug got the truck. Doug proudly says that he rebuilt the engine. Mike offers to buy it. Doug says, "I'd sooner sell my pancreas." Mike wonders if they can talk shop sometime. Doug agrees and says he's easy to find; he's the substitute gym teacher. Mike goes to the bank and gets a safe deposit box. He puts a stack of $100 bills in it. 

Mike, now in a suit, parks his bike outside a church. Doug approaches. Mike confides that he's nervous; he's never been to a funeral before. He asks if you have to pray. Mike's family has never been to church and he doesn't know how to pray. Doug tells him, "You're just here to pay your respects, however you do it." 

Mike notices Tom is there, who he thinks is a "brown noser who tries too hard to make friends." He introduces himself to Doug and they go inside the church. Helen passes out pink carnations for the students to put on the casket. Mike doesn't get one because Helen didn't know how many people from school were coming. She tells him not to worry. Mike apologizes to Mr. Tompkins for not having a flower, then leaves immediately. Outside, Mike sees Tom near his bike and tells him to get away. He rides off.

Mike goes to the bank, counts his money, and goes to another teen's house. There's a red sports car with a FOR SALE sign on it in the driveway. Mike asks the owner if people think it's a cool car and how much he wants for it. The kid wants $2,000 but Mike only has $1,500. The owner agrees to accept it.

That night, Mike drives his shiny new car to an alley and throws his bike into a Dumpster. At home, Mike's mom is sitting at the kitchen table smoking a cigarette and drinking. She asks where he got money for a car. Mike earned it working at the ice rink. Mike's mom cracks open another beer and says, "It's a nice car."

In American history or government, Mike is watching the classroom across the hall. Mr. Tompkins is back at work. After school, Mike poses next to his car in the parking lot, hoping Helen will notice it. She smiles but keeps walking. Mike smiles back. Doug asks what kind of car Mike has. He answers that it's a '68 Mustang. Doug congratulates Mike and agrees to go for a ride with him.

Outside a cafe, muscle cars dominate the lot. Mike explains to Doug, "You're not anybody until you have a car. The cooler the car, the cooler the guy." He doesn't know any of the other people with sports cars. Doug asks if Mike plans on talking to any of them. Mike doesn't; "it's enough just to be here."

A car is Mike's first step to getting what he wants. He has a crush on Helen. Doug asks, "Why don't you take the next step now, killer? You're almost at the top of the stairs." Mike still has another step.

Mike goes to a ticket agency and asks the woman what concerts are in town next week. She lists Bo Dean, 10,000 Maniacs, and Whitesnake. Mike asks which band girls like best. The woman says it depends on the girl. Mike asks which concert he can get the best seats for. The woman can get him 4th row seats at Whitesnake for $100 each. Mike wants them. This character reminds me so much of my dad: same first name, sports car, same method to impress a girl. Helen isn't my mom's name; however, it is the name of my dad's mom.

After school, Mike spots Helen leaving with her friend Marcy. He asks what she's doing Thursday night. Helen says, "That's the night we put the school newspaper together." Mike asks if Helen wants to go to the Whitesnake concert with him. "I'll go!" Marcy says eagerly. Helen parrots, "Marcy will go." Mike is obviously disappointed. Helen apologizes; she doesn't want to back out on the paper after promising Mr. Tompkins it would be finished. Marcy thanks Mike for giving her the extra ticket.

Mike walks over to his car. Tom asks what happened to his bike and offers to buy the bike. Mike says it's not for sale. That night at home, Mike lies awake in bed. He gets up and drives his Mustang to the alley seen earlier. He climbs in the Dumpster to try to retrieve his bike, but it's no longer there.

The next morning, Mike goes to Mr. Tompkins' classroom. He wants to talk about what happened to Mrs. Tompkins. Mike has a feeling someone knows the truth, then says, "I did it." Mr. Tompkins doesn't seem to believe him. Mike leaves.

In the parking lot before school, Mike scans the rows of bikes chained to the racks. In class, Mike doesn't so much as pick up his pencil during the test they're taking. He locks eyes with Mr. Tompkins across the hall. Mr. Tompkins pulls his classroom door shut and yanks down the window shade.

At lunch, Young Vince and Mike discuss the test. Young Vince asks Mike about his job at the ice rink that Tom had mentioned. He implies he doesn't believe Mike works there. Mike says, "Did he ask you to ask me that?" Young Vince wants to know if Mike would let him and some guys in to play broom hockey one night after closing. "Helen wants to play too," adds Young Vince, "You could be center and she could be your left-winger." Mike will check with his boss. He tells Young Vince not to invite Tom.

At the ice rink, Mike's boss tells him that insurance won't cover anything that happens past normal business hours. The kids would have to rent the rink for $50/hour. Mike offers his boss $200 in cash to rent the rink from 11 at night 'til 1 in the morning. The boss agrees. Mike goes to the bank to get the last of his money out of the safe deposit box. Mike drops groceries off at home.

Mike tells Helen and friends that he got the rink rented for Friday night. Young Vince joins the crowd at the cafeteria table. He heard a rumor that Mrs. Tompkins was killed by a hitman. Another guy pipes up that the neighbors said it was a kid. "Some kid from out of town," Young Vince theorizes, "He flew in, he killed her, he took off." Tom wonders who'd want to kill her. Mike says whoever did it tried to shoot Mr. Tompkins but missed.

Young Vince's face lights up. "Whoa!" he exclaims, "What if Mrs. Tompkins was trying to kill her husband and the guy double-crossed her?" Helen doesn't think so. Mike had done yardwork for the Tompkins and heard them fighting a lot. The kids discuss who they would make disappear if they could. Mike would go for his dad, since his dad isn't in his life anyway.

The kids run across the ice rink in their street shoes, shouting and laughing as they play broom hockey. Tom is there too. Someone invites him to join the game at the next face-off. Mike is obviously angry. When they start playing again, he hip-checks Tom rather hard. Mike's boss waves him down: "It's after 1. Rates go up. $125 an hour instead of $100." Mike asks if they can finish the last period.

The rink owner tells the kids to leave. Helen tells Mike that broom hockey isn't worth getting fired over. "Fired?" says the rink owner, "He doesn't work here." Everybody is surprised. The rink owner hustles the kids out. Mike stays where he is. He's on the ice by himself when the owner turns off the rink lights. 

At school the next day, Mike ignores a girl who calls out to him. He once again goes over to stare through the window into Mr. Tompkins' class. Later, Mike catches the teacher alone and asks why he doesn't go home. "I don't like it there anymore," says Mr. Tompkins. Mike tells Mr. Tompkins he has a problem. When the teacher tries to leave, Mike blocks the door and shouts, "Don't turn your back on me! I am not Mrs. Tompkins. I won't go away that easily. That's what you want, isn't it?"

Mr. Tompkins grabs Mike by the arm. He whispers, "Don't think you know what I want." Then he casually asks what the problem is. Mike doesn't want Mr. Tompkins to get mad, even though that boat has pretty much sailed at this point: "I think what I did for you was worth more than what you gave me." Mr. Tompkins says they had a deal. "You scammed me!" Mike says angrily, "It was worth $10,000! That's what I hear! That's what I want."

Mr. Tompkins isn't willing to re-negotiate. "What are you gonna do, turn me in?" he challenges, "You'll go with me." Mr. Tompkins tells Mike to do him a favor and kill him. "I already did you a favor," Mike points out. Mr. Tompkins paid Mike $5,000 to kill his wife; he doesn't think it would be hard to find someone willing to take less than that to kill Mike. Mike saw Mr. Tompkins talking to Tom and demands to know if he told Tom anything.

"Don't you get it?!" Mike yells, flipping over a desk and kicking another. He advances on Mr. Tompkins. The teacher looks scared. Mike leaves the room, slamming the door behind him. That night, Mike follows Tom. He sees him being greeted warmly by police officers outside the Chapel.

The next morning, Mike sits at the kitchen table, repeatedly playing with a spoon. Next, we see Mr. Tompkins coming out of his house with his briefcase. Mike drives up. Mr. Tompkins rolls down his car window and Mike rolls down his. Mike apologizes about asking for more money. Mr. Tompkins tells him to leave. "I know what the problem is and I'm gonna take care of it," says Mike before he drives away.

Mike hopes everyone will forgive him for what happened at the ice rink. Marcy invites him to sit down. Tom tells a stupid story about his driver's ed teacher at his old school.

At home, Mike paces in his living room. He goes to what looks like a park, opens a storm gutter, and takes out a small bundle. Inside it is the gun he used to kill Mrs. Tompkins. In the school parking lot the next day, Mike is sits in his car. Doug approaches, asking what's wrong, if Mike's in trouble.

After a minute, Mike asks, "You ever get an idea? And it seems like a good idea at first. You know, like it's gonna make your whole life better. And you start to do things. First thing goes great; second thing doesn't." Doug looks confused. "And then, like, you wonder if it was even a good idea in the first place," Mike finishes.

Doug doesn't understand. Mike babbles that it's too late to start over, that he's stuck. "Why don't you tell me what's wrong?" asks Doug. Mike plays off that it's about his failed attempts to impress Helen; he doesn't like her anymore. He knows what he has to do.

In the hallway, Marcy tells Mike how excited she is about the Whitesnake concert. Mike tells her he can't go and hands Marcy both tickets. She asks Mike if he wants her to pay for the tickets. Mike says no.

Mike stops Tom as he's leaving a classroom. He apologizes for being a jerk. He asks Tom to come over that night and help him write a paper. Tom agrees.

Close to 7:30 that night, Mike calls the operator. He thinks his phone is broken and asks to test the line. He hangs up. The phone rings once, he answers it and thanks the operator. In the kitchen, Mike's mom is smoking and watching TV.

Mike lies that Mr. Tompkins called. "The one whose wife got killed?" his mom asks interestedly. Mike picks up his coat and says he's leaving to help Mr. Tompkins with the school paper. "If this guy Tom comes by, tell him where I am and that I'm real sorry and I'll talk to him tomorrow," he says. Before leaving, he looks over his shoulder at his mom.

Mike drives over to the school, which is, of course, abandoned at this hour. He gets out of his car and uses a crowbar to pry open a side door. He goes to Mr. Tompkins' classroom, pulls the shades, and turns on the desk lamp. Mike sits at a desk, takes off his gloves, and pulls the gun out of his coat. He covers his face with a ski mask. He waits for what seems to be ours.

The doorknob starts to turn. Mike picks up the gun, aims at whoever is coming in, and fires. He runs into the hallway. "Mike! Police!" Doug calls, "Drop it!" Tom tackles Mike. Mike gets up and pushes Tom against a row of lockers. They trade punches. The gun is knocked loose. Mike runs over and grabs it. "Stop!" Doug orders. Mike shoots at him again. 

Tom manages to disarm and overpower the teen. Mike falls to the floor. Tom handcuffs him and reads him his rights. He gets Mike on his feet. "Why'd you do it?" Doug asks. Mike is panting, a tear rolls down his cheek. His perplexing answer: "I thought it was a way to get those guys to like me." 

The history/government teacher calls roll. A boy taps Marcy's arm. She looks across the hall. Two policemen are arresting Mr. Tompkins. Everyone gets up to see what's happening. The teacher tells them to sit down. The policemen, flanked by Cap'n Rufus, frogmarch Mr. Tompkins down the hall. End of episode.

Case #4.08: "Stand By Your Man"

At what seems to be a police academy graduation, one of the instructors is giving a speech. Tom, Blowfish, Doug, and Cap'n Rufus are in the audience. In a hospital, a young man in green scrubs wheels a gurney to an elevator. The nurse asks what happened to the person under the sheet. "Cerebral hemorrhage. Laid his bike down doing 85 at an intersection," the man explains. The motorcyclist wasn't wearing a helmet.

The speech continues. We see Judy among the people on stage. Back to the hospital, where the man pushes the gurney into an elevator. Cut to the ceremony. Fuller gives Judy a thumbs-up. Hospital. The man wheels the body to the morgue; inside, a bunch of men and women about his age are drinking sodas and eating pizza. All wear lab coats.

The academy instructor states that the gold shield is "both a reward for past achievements and as an incentive to future excellence." He challenges them to continue to protect and serve.

In the morgue, the person under the sheet sits up. It's a shirtless guy with blond hair named Jim. He holds up baggies of drugs and asks, "Future doctors of America, who's buying?" The assembled med students cheer, all except a brown-haired guy named Evan who looks like a cheap knockoff of Tom Cruise.

Back in the auditorium, the officers onstage receive a standing ovation. Each newly promoted detective is holding a box containing their new gold shield. A photographer takes a picture of Judy, who's beaming proudly. Theme song.

At medical school, Judy, sporting a white coat, correctly identifies a preserved ruptured appendix. She says the next specimen is a pancreas. "Try a male sex organ," says the instructor. Judy makes a face. Evan, who's been watching the exchange from across the room, smirks.

After class, Judy and Evan walk across campus together. He tells her not to worry about incorrectly identifying the, um, male sex organ. Judy asks Evan to take her to the morgue for study lab. Evan says the mysterious "they" wouldn't like it because they don't know Judy. She thinks it'll be all right as long as she's with Evan. "We study 20 million hours a day," she says, "I could use a little chemical assistance...and some fun." "You wanna shove your entire future up your nose?" asks Evan. Judy replies that she only wants to get through midterms. 

Evan claims he really does go to the morgue to study and he doesn't like being there at night by himself. He imagines that he's in Dawn of the Dead with 100 zombies after him, "all suing me for malpractice." Evan promises to take Judy to the morgue if she'll be his lab partner. Judy agrees. Evan kisses her on the cheek.

In the cafeteria, Tom, dressed in green scrubs, tells Judy that two med students have been "torturing lab rats with cocaine." Tom orders roast beef with extra gravy, then sniffs the plate. Judy picks up a fruit cup. He tells her the lab rat torturers Jim and Dusty are the only students with keys. Tom puts the roast beef back.

Judy hopes they figure out who's behind the drug ring before her test over the spinal cord. "You think that's killer, try changing a few bedpans," says Tom. Judy thought orderlies just restocked supplies. "I wish," says Tom before ordering another plate of roast beef. Judy has study lab the next day: "If Jim and Dusty are our guys, we are as good as out of here." She tells Tom about Evan kissing her. Tom picks up a piece of pie, puts his face in the plate, and eats it. 

Judy finds Evan studying on the quad. He offers to let her copy the answers to the biochem questions. Judy wants to talk to him about the kiss and gives him the "I just want to be friends" speech. Evan sighs: "It's cool. I'll probably get more done in lab without you. You're only coming down to the morgue for the coke, right? Give me the money and I'll get it for you." Judy asks why friends can't be lab partners. Evan thought Judy didn't want to be around him. Judy says she didn't say that. Evan confirms that they're still on for that night.

Pizzas and beer are laid out on the morgue tables. Evan drinks one as they stand over a gurney and offers Judy the scalpel. "You cut, I'll write," she says. Evan introduces her to Dusty. Dusty tells her not to worry about nosebleeds; if she burns a hole in her septum, she can just get reconstructive surgery. Unfortunately, he and Jim are out of cocaine, but they'll have some in time for the next study lab. "Until then, imbibe, incise, be merry," says Jim. 

Later, Judy and Evan walk through campus. Evan is shuffling and turning as he goes. Judy asks where he learned to dance. "Arthur Murray. My mom made me," Evan replies. Judy thinks it paid off. Evan runs into a nearby building to get some lab notes that Judy left behind earlier. She sits on a bench to wait.

That night, someone knocks on Tom's door. He shuffles to open it, wrapped in a blanket. Judy is on the other side of the door. She apologizes for waking Tom up, but she can't sleep because of odd noises in her apartment. She asks to spend the night so she'll feel safer. Tom lets her in and gives her a pillow and a blanket. 

Tom sleepily asks if she's all right and if she went to lab. Judy says she did and Tom was right about Jim and Dusty. She promises to tell him more in the morning. Tom tells her good night and goes back to his bedroom. Judy goes into Tom's bathroom, starts the shower running, and takes off her clothes. There's something frantic about her movements. Judy piles all her clothes in the wastebasket and covers them up with tissues. She climbs into the tub, sits on the floor with her legs pulled up to her chest, and cries quietly.

At the Chapel the next morning, Judy fidgets at her desk. She sees Rufus's shadow through the frosted glass in his closed office door. Blowfish wants to know when Harry is coming back. Judy says he gets out of rehab in a few days. "So he's feeling better?" asks Blowfish. Judy ignores him, gets up, and heads for the office. Inside, Cap'n Rufus is reading the department newsletter, which says Judy is the youngest person to make detective in the past 5 years.

Cap'n Rufus asks what Judy wants to talk about. Judy thinks she and Tom know who's been stealing drugs from the hospital, but they aren't sure how the drugs get to the customers. Tom is staking out the morgue that night to find out. She'll be waiting to buy the drugs. Rufus tells Judy that he's proud of her. 

That night, Jim takes a gurney past the nurse's station, unlocks a door, and puts the gurney instead. When he's gone, Tom sticks his head out of a nearby closet. A hand appears from under the sheet, picks the lock on a drug cabinet, and grabs a bottle of medical-grade cocaine. Tom ducks back in the closet.

In the morgue, Jim and Dusty's customers have lined up. Judy enters with Evan and Tom behind her. Jim tells her new people aren't allowed in the lab without permission. Judy and Tom show them their badges. Uniforms arrest Dusty and Jim. Evan catches Judy by the arm as she leaves. "Nice job, cop," he says angrily.

At a bar, Cap'n Rufus, Tom, Doug, and Judy are sitting together. Rufus toasts the successful bust and Judy's promotion. Doug can't figure out why anybody would want to hang out in a hospital. Rufus says his mother wanted him to be a doctor, but he got Ds in biology. Judy is quiet. A slow song starts. Tom gets up. "What?" Judy asks. Tom indicates Doug and says, "I would ask him, but his feet are too big." "Your ears stick out," Doug fires back.

Judy gets up and the two of them go to the dance floor. Tom asks what's bothering her. He tells her to relax because the case is over. "It isn't over," Judy whispers in his ear, "He raped me." 

Judy goes to the hospital. A couple of nurses are in the room to do a rape exam. A man's voice asks if Judy was drinking when the rape happened; she wasn't. He asks if the rapist was; Judy says yes. She went to her apartment after it happened and she didn't make any stops. She got a change of clothes, went to Tom's, changed, and spent the night on the couch.

A detective asks Judy why she didn't immediately report the rape. Tom is in the interview room with her for moral support. Judy doesn't know why she waited. Tom drops her off at her apartment; he wishes she'd stay the night with him again. Judy thanks him for supporting her. Tom asks to stay: "I don't think you should be alone." "I gotta be," Judy says. She wishes she'd talked to Fuller about it when they were at the bar. Tom wishes there was something he could do to help.

Frankly, I think he did help by sitting with Judy while she talked to the other detective. Judy tells Tom good night and he reluctantly leaves. She looks out her living room window. Tom hasn't really left; he's sitting on the trunk of his Mustang outside.

Cap'n Rufus tells Judy that ADA Edwards will be assigned to her case. He gives her the business card of the local rape crisis center; there's a counselor who specializes in date/acquaintance rape. When Rufus tries to hold her hand, Judy sees Evan's face. Judy asks if Evan has been interviewed. He has and says Judy consented. Rufus is sure the evidence will be on Judy's side. However, Judy is now strictly on desk duty. She's not the least bit happy about it.

Later, Doug is talking to his boss: "That cop is just gonna push some papers around and then bury this thing. We can't let that happen to her. We owe her." Fuller says there's nothing else they can do; Evan gave a statement and so far there's no evidence to back Judy up. They can't re-arrest him. Doug corrects Cap'n Rufus; they can't bring him in to talk about the rape, but...

Evan sits in an interview room with Doug and Tom. He's angry about being taken to the station over unpaid parking tickets. Evan has figured out this is about the rape and wants his lawyer. He eventually agrees to talk, claiming he has nothing to hide. 

Blowfish puts some folders on Judy's desk. Like Tom, he wishes there was something he could say. 

In the interview room, Evan says Judy had started spending a lot of time with him recently. "So you assumed it was romance?" asks Tom. Evan liked her, but didn't know what Judy wanted. Tom thinks it's clear Judy didn't want to date him. Evan hoped they could turn into more than friends.

Judy goes to the basement to file the folders.

Evan says he and Judy had a great time in the lab. They stopped by his dorm afterward to pick up Judy's notebook. Judy waited downstairs for a while, then came up to his room. 

Flashback. Judy tells Evan she's been waiting a while and can pick up her notes in the morning. Evan promises her book is in a stack of papers and offers her a beer that he made in the chemistry lab.

Evan recounts they each had a few sips of beer: "She looked at me the way girls look at you--you know...that way. She had that look in her eyes."

Basement. Judy drops the files on the floor. Flashback to Evan giving her the beer. She starts to cry and runs upstairs.

Evan finishes his side of the story: "So I slipped my arms around her. I kissed her. The next thing I know, we're on my bed making love. I don't know why she's doing this to me." He swears to God that Judy was willing. 

At a bar that night, Tom and Doug have a few drinks. Doug asked if he ever told his partner about Cindy Mueller. "Probably," says Tom dismissively. Doug took Cindy to the senior dance: "Afterwards, I took her up to Crestview Drive, kind of like an inspiration point. You know, so that we could, you know..." "Look at the Big Dipper?" Tom suggests, which sounds way more sexual than the writers probably intended. 

Doug says they made out and "I started to grab her--" "Corsage?" asks Tom. Doug nods: "And she says no. So I stopped. Then we're talking for a little while and she leans over to me and she starts kissin' me and she says, 'What's wrong?'" Doug thought she changed her mind. He and Cindy made out some more. Doug tried to grab her "other corsage" and Cindy said no again. Doug, being a gentleman, backed off. 

"So this goes on for like an hour," Doug says, "Yes, no, yes, no. What am I, a light switch? So I figured she didn't know what the hell she wanted and I took her home." Tom thanks Doug for the inspirational story.

Doug and Cindy's saga did not end there: "She told everybody at school I was, like, a major homo because I took no for an answer." He asks if Tom ever had his own Cindy Mueller. Tom didn't; when he was in high school, he didn't understand girls. He doesn't think guys and girls are supposed to understand each other.

"If anybody says no, that's it," says Doug, slamming his beer bottle on the bar for emphasis, "Right?" Tom thinks Evan is lying. Doug knows he is. On the written statement, Evan said Judy grabbed the beer. When Tom and Doug talked to him, Evan said he got the beer out. Doug looks thoughtful.

Judy sits in her apartment alone, wearing a hooded sweatshirt under her bathrobe. She has flashbacks to Tom's smile as he closed the door and going to the hospital. The phone rings and she lets them machine get it. It's a rape counselor, wanting to make an appointment. Judy turns the machine off. She looks out the window to make sure nobody is watching her.

Someone knocks on the door. Judy grabs her gun and turns the lights off. It's only Tom and Doug. She lets them in. Tom tells her about the discrepancies in Evan's account of what happened. They aren't officially assigned to the case, but they want to help their friend. Judy is meeting with the ADA in the morning; Tom and Doug offer to go with her. She says no, even though this would go a long way toward helping her get justice. Judy wants to feel in control again by going to meet the ADA by herself. The boys leave.

ADA Edwards has gotten copies of Evan's written statement and the verbal one Evan gave to Tom and Doug. He says the reports should help the case. Date rape is difficult to prosecute; he's not sure they have enough evidence to convict. Evan is a straight-A medical student who's never been arrested, but it helps that Judy is a detective. There's going to be media coverage about the case.

Judy worries this could jeopardize her career because Jump Street is an undercover unit. Evan wants to make a plea deal. Judy says hell no. Edwards warns that Evan's lawyer will put Judy's sexual history on trial. Judy is willing to do whatever it takes. ADA Edwards points that Evan also has a lot to lose. He might get kicked out of med school. "Let's ruin his career before he has a chance to ruin yours," he says.  

In the med school dean's office, Evan has just learned he's been indefinitely suspended. He denies that he raped Judy. The dean explains the school's board of trustees doesn't want any bad publicity. "I killed myself to get this far!" Evan says angrily. I half expect him to start jumping on the dean's couch. Evan repeats that it's not his fault. The dean is unmoved.

Cap'n Rufus meets Judy in the Chapel parking lot. He got a call from Ruth the rape counselor saying that Judy won't call her back. Judy's been busy trying to make a case and she feels she has a fighting chance in court. Rufus thinks she needs to talk to Ruth, as both her boss and her friend.

Judy explodes: "Great! So I can sit around with a bunch of hand-holding crybabies bitching and moaning about how rotten men are?! Oh, big help!" Fuller doesn't understand why a trained police officer didn't report the crime right away, threw out her clothes, and took a bath. "I don't have to answer that...to you or to anybody," she says coldly.

At the rape center, a support group meeting is going on. A woman in a blue blazer says it's been a year and a half since she was raped and recently went on a date: "Granted, I knew he was gay." On the couch, Judy rolls her eyes. Ruth asks if Judy would like to introduce herself. Judy says no.

A high school or college age girl named Karen wants to talk next. A classmate told Karen that she was raped by Steve, the same boy who raped her; she asked Karen to testify at Steve's trial. Karen wants to help her friend, but she still feels shame about what happened to her.

Flashback. Judy isn't sure she wants to drink the homemade beer. Evan tells her it's safe. Judy says she'd better leave. Evan grabs her and they struggle.

Karen feels like the rape was her fault; she had been drinking and went to Steve's room with him by herself. They made out. 

Flashback. Evan throws Judy on the bed and starts kissing and groping her. She screams at him to stop. 

"How could I have let this happen?" asks Karen. Judy rushes out of the room. At her apartment, Judy screams as she throws her answering machine. She flashes back to screaming as she pushed Evan off her and ran out of his room. In the present, Judy overturns vases and furniture. She tears her curtains down. Suddenly, Judy notices Evan approaching her building. She fumbles in her purse for her gun.

Evan knocks on her door and says he wants to talk. "You get out of here now!" Judy orders. Evan retorts, "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me why you're doing this to me." For reasons unknown, Judy lets him in. Evan asks why she's ruining his life. Judy calls him a son of a bitch. "That look on your face, you wanted it!" he shouts.

Judy starts crying again. "You were just a cop playing a role." says Evan. Judy shouts, "You didn't know that when you raped me, you bastard! You knew I didn't wanna have sex with you and you forced yourself on me anyway!" It's anticlimactic that Evan leaves. I was really hoping he would make it so Judy had no choice but to shoot him. 

Later, Judy sits on the front steps of her building. Tom stops by to see her. She tells him that Evan came over. Judy confronted him about the rape and she doesn't think Evan understands what he did to her. I think her understands perfectly; he just doesn't care. Tom puts a comforting arm around Judy. She thanks him for coming over.

ADA Edwards is happy that the jury found Evan guilty; it's very rare in rape cases. Sad to say, it still is. However, Evan will only serve a year. He'll have a job at the jail medical dispensary, which will count as third-year credit. Judy is disgusted that they let him back into medical school.

Cap'n Rufus, Doug, and Tom approach. They tell Judy they're taking her to dinner. Evan comes out of the courthouse and wants to talk to Judy. The conversation is so contrived and unrealistic I won't bother to recap it. Let's just say no rapist apologizes.

Judy goes to a meeting of the rape crisis support group. She tells the other women she shouldn't have blamed herself for what happened. She feels safer and has stopped sleeping with all the lights on. Emotionally, some days are better than others. End of episode.