(S01E08) So you get out of prison for a murder you didn't commit. You get a hefty settlement from the police department that falsely arrested you, you buy a dung-load of stuff, and you return to the force as a detective. Things seem to be going you way. Then, the head detective of your criminal case gets shot twice -- once in the head and once in the heart. And, it's seemingly done on police property. So, where does that leave you?

Pretty much back in the same boat you were in 12 years ago.

Man, I knew Charlie was starting to make connections between all of the people on his Conspiracy Wall, but I didn't realize that he was getting that close. That's the only reason I can think of that Ames was shot. He had evidence, delivered by Crews himself, saying that Rachel Seybolt was in the house when her family was murdered. Perhaps Ames' murder was to prevent further investigation into this.

I don't think that's going to stop Charlie, as he seems to be a pretty persistent boy. In fact, I'm starting to feel that Crews knows who one of the big players in the Conspiracy is: Dani's dad. In one of Charlies' Conspiracy photos Ames is seen talking to Jack(?) Reese about something. On top of that he led the S.W.A.T. team during the Los Angeles Bank robbery. It seems to me that the missing money and Mr. Reese are connected in some way to the Seybolts. We'll just have to wait and see. Unfortunately we may have to wait a while if the Writer's Strike isn't resolved soon.

Anyway, I had a sense of deja vu this week when Lt. Davis and Reese were talking about getting Charlie hauled off of the force. It was pretty much the same conversation they had back in the first episode. Yet, there was something a little different. The Lieutenant wasn't as harsh about Crews as she was earlier. She admitted that he had done some very good police work since he returned to the force. Add to that the fact that she seemed to be defending Charlie in an argument with the IAD officer and it looks like she may be having second thoughts about her initial feelings.

It was a weird episode of Life because two of the secondary characters, Ted and Constance, finally had something to do. Ted got to save Charlie from certain interrogation at the hands of the IAD by tearing down all of the information on the Conspiracy Wall. This is probably the first time where we got to see Ted as someone other than a schlub and it made me respect him a bit more than I have previously.

Constance got to help Charlie by calling Ted and telling him that IAD was on the way to the house. A few weeks in New York seems to have hardened Constance and made her come to the realization that she can't have Charlie. By taking a position with the District Attorney's office she is pretty much solidifying the fact that she wants nothing but a professional relationship with Crews.

Believe it or not there was actually a crime to investigate this week and the producers of the show managed to keep it an 'A' story on par with the murder investigation of Detective Ames. We've probably all seen other criminal procedurals where the one man has two wives. But, they usually weren't trying to stop a serial bomber from striking again. I really enjoyed the cross cuts between Charlie, Dani, and the two wives of Rudolph Farthingale. While other criminal procedurals like to draw out big evidence when it comes to solving a crime Life likes to take the smallest things as a connection to a murder, as was seen with the five baseball caps and five bottles of wine.

Next week -- well, nothing. It's the eve of the Hallthanksmas holiday and the show is taking a break after two months of uninterrupted episodes. So, relax, mull over the Conspiracy, and I'll see you here in two weeks.