Photo Credit: USA
With Kate (Sarah Shahi) still hung up on Justin (Michael Trucco) even after his cheating on her and with the tensions brewing between Ben (Ryan Johnson) and Kate, it was only a matter time before Justin and Ben came head to head in one big pissing contest. Although I’m sure we’ll see more, tonight was the first of those episodes.
In tonight’s episode, Ben comes to Kate for help in a case he’s working on involving police brutality. Ben’s client, Andre, claims the police beat him up without cause, while the police say he is fabricating the whole thing for a big payday. The case gets even more interesting when the Assistant D.A., Justin, shows up at the initial proceedings alongside the city’s council. What’s Justin’s angle – he’s there to throw salt on the wound by threatening the victim that he’s going to be prosecuted for perjury and faces even more jail time. The big question is whether Ben knew Justin was working on the case too and only brought Kate in to throw Justin off his game. It doesn’t really matter because after hearing both sides, Kate has already decided what she’s going to do and that’s what she does best – find out the truth.
On the surface, it looks like the older Lieutenant O’Hara may be getting set up as a fall guy, since there is evidence he was at the scene, but he swears he saw absolutely nothing.
Did O’Hara actually beat the victim himself and is just lying? Is O’Hara trying to cover for another police officer? Or, is he telling the truth and saw nothing? After doing impeccable investigative work, Kate discovers that another group of police officers were responsible for the beat-down and O’Hara’s partner saw the whole thing but was too afraid to come forward. In the end, O’Hara got to keep his job, Ben won his case and got a huge windfall, and Kate won just like every other case she has worked on.
But, the best part of the episode didn’t come until the last 10 or 15 minutes. Justin said something very weird at his office to Kate, and we knew it was going to turn into something big later on:
WTF is that? Kate may have laughed it off, but we all knew what that meant – it meant that Justin had moved on, and this is a hint to Kate that she needs to move on too. That becomes crystal clear that evening when Kate is out celebrating with Ben and sees Justin with a new (and very beautiful) woman.
And, this is where Kate royally pissed me off, and where I am betting Ben scored major points with the viewers. Kate Reed, I love you, I really do, but sometimes it is better to think before doing. After getting pretty much wasted at the bar with Ben and asking him to take her home, Kate invites Ben to stay for what he later calls “meaningless, revenge sex”. At that particular moment, Ben isn’t the one on Kate’s mind – the only one she sees is Justin, and views Ben as a way to get even for the hurt she is feeling. Kate, Kate, Kate – have you no shame!! But, the huge shocker is that Ben says “No”. Only one in a million guys would have turned that down, but Ben does. And, what Ben tells Kate as he is leaving is priceless:
“People may call us passionate for what we do. Or, they may call us jackasses. But, no matter what, I am NOT empty” – Ben
On a positive note, this episode was huge in setting the stage for a Kate/Ben relationship. Kate is still hurting because of Justin’s betrayal, and so, until she heals and is ready for a relationship, I guess we’re going to have to live with some pretty intense flirting between the two. But, that’s OK, these two are fun to watch, and I look forward to it.
Go, Team Ben!
Some memorable quotes and observations:
