Chain: Episode 3 – “Miss Brinkwell” (1990)

 

I’m finding it just a little convenient that the random cases we see Cassidy trying at the start of each episode wind up dovetailing into the larger fraud investigation.  The link here is more tangential than in episode 2, but it’s still there.

 

The Miss Brinkwell of the title is a septuagenarian with potentially-vital information.  Once again, I’m not quite sure how it all fits together – when they start going on about fraud, my eyes tend to glaze over – but it’s something to do with property being intentionally undersold.    While it’s true that I’m not watching with the world’s most attentive eye, it seems that the mystery should be further along with only one episode to go.  I still can’t tell how the disparate elements of the case are going to fit together.

 

This episode does feature some nicer character stuff for Cassidy and McRae.  Both of our heroes are feeling the case wear on them.  Cassidy is deeply unsettled by some of the things he’s seen, and his wife is upset about his recent spate of increasingly-late nights.  Meanwhile, McRae has dived headlong into the case, even going for the trope of working until the wee hours and falling asleep in his office.  The two men have a good scene together in McRae’s hotel room, commiserating and opening up a little.  I think Cassidy senses a risk of becoming more like McRae if he stays with the case much longer.

 

Wrapping things up tomorrow!