Stalker -- Sins Of The Father
Who shoot the cop's daughter?
The episode opens with a wedding. It's a same-sex wedding and just as the bride, Kara, is about to be married to her partner, a shot rings out and she goes down. Her father Jimmy is a cop and he's not taking it well. He, in fact, is blaming Beth for what has happened to his daughter.
It seems Paul Watson, Kara's ex, was stalking her and Beth handled the case. He feels she should have known this was going to happen and been able to stop it. He's convinced it was Paul Watson who shot Kara, but that's not actually who it turns out to be.
Beth and Jack get on the case and track down Paul Watson. Paul had been spotted roaming around the vicinity of where the wedding was to take place a few hours before the wedding took place. So it's hypothesized he just waited for the right moment and shot Kara. Paul, however, swears he's gotten therapy and just wanted to come to the wedding to wish her well.
A couple of weeks before the wedding Kara thought she was being followed and that it wasn't Paul.
It becomes clear to Beth and Jack that Kara wasn't the real target, it was Jack. Someone wanted to make Jimmy suffer by making him watch his daughter shot right before his eyes. And that person isn't finished. Beth and Jack figure that out when they trace the bullet that shot Kara as coming from the same gun that shot a gang member named Jesse, who Jimmy arrested and became friends with. So that's two people Jimmy cared about that the stalker has tried to kill.
They figure out the stalker is someone that sat in Jimmy's office, as both Jesse and Kara are displayed in Jimmy's office in pictures with Jimmy. Jimmy's best friend, Frank, is also displayed in pictures with Jimmy in Jimmy's office and they figure he may be the next target. Meanwhile, the stalker slips into Frank's house where his wife and son are. Beth and Jack arrive in the nick of time and get everyone out safely. Unfortunately, the stalker manages to escape.
The stalker is identified as Silas Martin. Jimmy fired Silas two years ago when he was accused of shooting an unarmed teen. To this day Silas is convinced the perp had a gun. And that's why he's doing this to Jimmy. He thinks this will somehow vindicate him and clear his name.
Silas finally decides to go after his real target, Jimmy. He comes to the hospital and attacks a doctor. Then he gets the drop on Jimmy and drugs and kidnaps him. Silas takes Jimmy to the OR and demands he admits that he lied and that teen had a gun.
Jack and Beth thankfully find Silas and Jimmy in the nick of time. Jack shoots Silas, and it seems like it's over, but just like in the horror movies after you shoot the villain and think the threat is over, Silas pops back up and Jack has to shoot him again.
On the Jack stalking front, Amanda tells him he has two weeks to get out of Dodge. He claims he just wants to know his son, but she says he's 7 years too late, whatever that means. But that doesn't deter him. Later that night he's peeking in her windows and almost gets caught.
Beth is starting to notice there's something off about Jack and Deputy DA Amanda. She sees the two together when Amanda is giving Jack her two week ultimatum and couldn't help but see the tension between them. When she asks Jack about that he naturally lies.
One thing I really wish the show would stop doing is having Jack show his knowledge of how a stalker's mind works. It just reminds me he's a stalker himself. And that just gives me the creeps.
Beth's stalker Perry took the episode off as there was no hide nor hair of him. Last we saw he was moving in on the former stalker victim Beth is friends with. He seems to have the same mentality as Silas does. Go after the people Beth cares about first, and then go after her.
I like this show, don't get me wrong. It seems a good companion piece with Criminal Minds. But I'm not sure how long a show about stalkers can last. I mean, how many ways can you show someone being stalked, before you run out of ways and the show starts to get stale?
A lot of the cases that have been presented as stalking cases aren't what one would traditionally think of as stalking cases. Like the ex-cop after the cop that fired him for shooting an unarmed teen. Or the psychotic mom that killed her own kid and then starts stalking the neighbors son since she thinks he's her son.
I also wonder how long and how far they're going to take this Stalker Jack story. When Beth finds out what he's doing, since she's so pro-stalking victims, I doubt she's going to come out on Team Jack's side of things. Of course, they may pull a 180 and make it okay Jack is stalking his ex cause she won't let him see their son. I've seen fans on Dylan McDermott online trashing Amanda and free passing Jack for being a stalker and victim blaming since she won't let them see their kid, without knowing if she has a legitimate reason for not wanting him near their son.
Anyway, it'll be interesting to see where this show goes and if they can keep it fresh.
