Does “Poetic Justice,” the fifth episode of Elsbeth‘s third season, maintain the high standard set by the first four episodes? To that I say, “Do firemen like our red-headed heroine?” “Poetic Justice” might even be the strongest episode of the season so far. Carrie Preston is exceptional, as always, and this week’s guest star, The Good Place‘s William Jackson Harper, is absolute perfection. As Gary Pidgeon, director of the non-profit Pidgeon Press, Harper brings sophistication and a quiet intensity that sits just below the surface, and it’s utterly engaging. Add an appearance from Sarah Steele‘s Marissa Gold, a welcome mini-reunion of two characters from The Good Wife, and, well, read on.
Murder Is a Gas in ‘Elsbeth’s “Poetic Justice”
“The arts are under attack!” So says Gary, who is out for lunch with Dolores Feinn (Lois Smith), a curmudgeonly, extremely wealthy woman. He’s trying to get more funding from her for Pidgeon Press, over and above the $200 million bequest in her will. Only she’s decidedly reluctant, unhappy that Gary won’t publish her epic poem, and if he can’t make room in the poetry journal for it, she’ll find someone who will, “if it’s the last thing I do.” Gary sighs, and offers to come over and make some cuts, if she’s willing, that will make it perfect. She agrees, and then sticks him with the lunch bill. It’s the price one pays for schmoozing, but it means that his associate, Hannah Lee (Megan Haley), has yet another bounced paycheck. He assures her that things will get better soon, adding that Dolores was choking up a lung during lunch, even on an oxygen tank, and it’s unlikely she’ll last long.
Cut to Dolores’ apartment, where Dolores is ranting at Gary about the cuts he made to her epic, a poem about her experience as a fetus (yep). She sets off to fix her poem but not before lighting up a cigarette, which she says is the only time her poetic muse will come to her. Gary asks if she’s put any more thought into a donation, but she hasn’t. He leaves, and on the way out he crosses paths with his rival, Fred (Arnie Burton) of Tumbleweed Press, on his way up to visit Dolores. “We’re publishing her poem,” Fred smiles, “You were dragging your feet, so I jumped in.” That bequeathment isn’t so sure now, and Fred knows it, mockingly inviting Gary to his benefit Friday with a comp ticket, adding, “We can afford it.”
But she wouldn’t really pull her endowment from him, would she? Her accountant can’t tell Gary if Dolores is changing her will next week. At least not directly, that is, but her suggestion to start looking for alternative funding sources says it all. Later that day, Gary visits Dolores again, saying he was wrong to suggest any cuts. As they’re talking, Gary opens the valve of Dolores’ oxygen tank and unplugs it, allowing the gas to fill the room. He then tells Dolores he has to get to the benefit, but insists she invites the fires of inspiration to consume her by lighting a cigarette and continuing to write. His deadly plan now in play, he calls her from the benefit and is surprised when she answers the phone. “What do you want, Gary?” she barks, irritated that he’s interrupted her sleep. He finally convinces her to get back to writing – sleep can wait – and stays on the phone as he hears Dolores light a match and go BOOM.
Elsbeth Meets Cute With a Mayoral Candidate in ‘Elsbeth’s “Poetic Justice”
The next scene sees Elsbeth at a mayoral candidate benefit where she runs into an old friend, Marissa, from Chicago, who is now the campaign manager for Alec Bloom (Ivan Hernandez). It’s his benefit, and she tells Elsbeth about his goal of wanting to make the city affordable for everyone, including non-profit workers. Cue Alec, who cuts in and is introduced to Elsbeth. There’s an instant connection between them, cemented later with the reveal that they share a lot of the same interests. He asks how they know each other, to which they say Chicago, where they had some “good times together” (those Elsbeth writers are fire with that clever reference to The Good Wife). Elsbeth returns to her table, where Dr. Yablonski (Daniel Davis) is sitting, another familiar face from past episodes. “Alec Bloom is quite charming,” he notes, smiling at a blushing Elsbeth.
After Alec’s inspiring speech, Gary walks up to the table to talk to Dr. Yablonski, who is on the board of Pidgeon Press. Yablonski gives his condolences to Gary, who’s torn up, but he can at least play the part, and tells Elsbeth and Yablonski about how he was on the phone with her when it happened. Elsbeth is surprised, though, when Gary says that the police never talked to him about it. But surprise turns to suspicion when Gary says the police knew it was an accident, and it must have been an accident, suggesting that she must have forgotten to close the valve. As Gary walks away, Yablonski tells Elsbeth that he always suspected Dolores never used the oxygen tank, and that it was just a prop to get her corner tables at restaurants. That all but confirms her suspicions, and she now has Gary in her sights.
Elsbeth storms into Wagner’s (Wendell Pierce) office, saying she thinks they ruled Dolores’ death an accident way too fast, adding that with a net worth of $200 million there’s no shortage of people who would want to get their hands on her money. Warner, though, is not really listening, more interested in the flirty interaction between his daughter Julia (Brittany Inge) and Detective Rivers (Braeden De La Garza). He’s not happy about it, but when Elsbeth says she needs a detective to look into Dolores’ death further, he sees a solution and tells Rivers to work on the case with Elsbeth. Daddy crisis averted. Elsbeth entrusts Rivers with the accident report as she goes off to visit Gary. On her way out, she runs into Marissa, who wants to run an idea by her: go out for dinner with Alec, followed by a theater performance, in an effort to broaden his appeal to female voters. Knowing that Marissa won’t let it die, she agrees to go out with Alec.
Elsbeth makes her way to Pidgeon Press, where she sees Hannah pulling a large chair across the room. She doesn’t mind the grunt work, though, given the “arts are under attack” (that comes up a lot), and besides, she just got a raise. Hannah brings her to Gary’s office, where Gary is busy redecorating, prompting Elsbeth to marvel at how he has the resources to redecorate and give raises. He chalks it up to his generous and loyal donors, but quickly changes topics when Elsbeth asks if Dolores was one. Elsbeth steers it back, asking what they were talking about the night she died. “Poetry,” he replies, noting that she was a poet herself, and a talented one at that. “I’m not well versed in it,” Elsbeth laughs (and earns my undying affection with that beautiful pun), and asks Gary to read one of her pieces: “Nipples of the Sea.” Gary reads it in a stilted delivery, practically gagging at how truly awful it is. Elsbeth knows it too (it’s a brilliantly awful piece). Gary, however, won’t admit it’s awful, and instead suggests Elsbeth just doesn’t get it.
Where There’s a Will, There’s No Way Out in ‘Elsbeth’s “Poetic Justice”
Back at the office, Wagner reads it aloud and agrees that yes, it’s awful. Elsbeth observes that money was the only reason Gary would publish her, and maybe the reason he killed her. Furthermore, Rivers confirmed that Dolores didn’t use the oxygen tank and that it would take several hours for oxygen to saturate the area, meaning Gary could have done the deed hours before. Wagner knows they can’t make that connection yet and asks if there are any other suspects. Fred is the only other name, so they bring him in. Fred notes that Dolores never donated, which is why every non-profit tried to get on her good side for a cut of her estate – because the “arts are under attack” (Elsbeth drinking game, take a sip!). It’s also clear that he couldn’t have done it: the will wouldn’t be signed over to him until the following week, in exchange for publishing her poem, so he’d have nothing to gain by killing her before. And when talk turns to Gary, Fred admits he was surprised to see him at the benefit, given their tense encounter, but more surprised that he bid $12,000 on a trip to Paris.
Elsbeth tracks Gary down to a shop, asking him about his trip to Paris and how he can afford it when the “arts are under attack” (sip). She then asks to see his phone, but he just smiles grimly, saying she’ll just have to take his word on calling Dolores back after the line went dead. Unless she has a warrant. She doesn’t, at least not for his phone, but she did for Dolores’, and he didn’t call her back at all. Gary doesn’t bite, saying that he was actually waiting for her to phone back, and acts indignant and upset at the idea that he killed her for the money. She doesn’t have her gotcha, so she walks away, saying she’ll see him at the reading of the will.
Cut to said reading, and the accountant reveals that Dolores bequeathed a generous gift to help Pidgeon Press survive for generations: her unpublished poetry. The look on Gary’s face is priceless, stunned and aghast, and gets worse when there is a cash bequeathment of $413.17, less accounting fees. In fact, that’s all she even had, practically penniless in a rent-controlled apartment, getting by on meals bought by the sycophants vying for her “fortune.” After the reading, Elsbeth heads back to Gary’s office, where he says he had to fire Hannah because of “unexpected budget cuts.” As in expecting to get money in Dolores’ will and didn’t, Elsbeth cracks. Still nothing, so Elsbeth reads one of Dolores’ poems, saying it’s her own (the word “father” times 9, shoerack, mouse, Saddam Hussein), getting a mild “gotcha” by having Gary admit he hated her work… but it still doesn’t mean he killed her. So Elsbeth turns to Alec, a former fire marshal (go figure), and learns that oxygen discolors fabric. NOW she has her “gotcha.”
William Harper Jackson’s Gary Reveals the Truth to Elsbeth
With the help of the doorman at Dolores’ apartment, Gary hears about the oxygen discoloring fabric reveal, and rushes off to the dry cleaner to get the tweed jacket he was wearing when he opened the valve. He needs that jacket, with his life depending on it, so the dry cleaner runs the rack, but eleven minutes later there’s still no jacket. That would be because Elsbeth has it, courtesy of the ticket Hannah still had. She tells him it was sent to the lab for testing, and then reads a poem she wrote:“The sleeves of your jacket are faded; But they are supposed to be plaided. Just admit it, pal, you opened the valve; and Dolores fell for the trap you baited.”
Gary snaps, barking that Dolores had been torturing him for years, and she didn’t even have any money. “I’m glad I killed her,” he says, calmly. With that, Elsbeth produces his jacket. It wasn’t at the lab at all and, in fact, wasn’t even discolored. It’s a moot point, though, as he’s already confessed. Gary is taken away, and the scene cuts back to the precinct, where Wagner asks what’s going to happen to the Pidgeon Press. Hannah is taking it over, Elsbeth explains, thanks to an endowment from her parents, heads of a dental floss empire. As she leaves Wagner’s office, she runs into Marissa again. She’s the one that leaked photos to the press, the “mysterious redhead” seen with Alec, and now she needs Elsbeth to go all in, telling her not to talk to anyone about her and Alec… because the future of New York is in Elsbeth’s hands.
