In Memoriam

In the life of this blog, I haven't ever really talked about super personal things. Sure, I've discussed school and the writing process and the trials and tribulations of writer-hood, but never anything extremely personal. But today, I feel the need to do so. I was going to write this post a couple days ago but I wasn't ready. I think, now, I am.

On Monday, I traveled home for one of the hardest days of my life. We (my parents and I) had made the extremely tough decision to put our dog, Wiley, to sleep. My mom and I were with Wiley at the vet while they put him down and it was peaceful. But heartbreaking nonetheless. I think he was ready. He'd been sick for the last few weeks (gastric problems) and he was really unhappy and uncomfortable. He stood by the closet door where his leash was all morning. And he was calm while we drove to the vet (normally he'd be shaking like a leaf and whining the whole way).

He and I grew up together. We got Wiley after I had a rather tough year in 4th grade. My teacher wasn't exactly stellar and so my parents decided we needed something to make up for it. And a puppy seemed the right choice. He was the cutest puppy. A tiny little ball of fur with brown eyes and a short snout and black nose. He had the softest head and ears, like velvet. Even at 14 it hadn't changed. It was one of the things I thought of as we said goodbye. He'd gotten thinner and his fur was falling out in places (and his tail hair was completely gone) but his head and ears were just the same.

We were a little worried Wiley might not remember me when we first got him because I spent nearly back-to-back weeks away at sleep-away summer camp but there was nothing to worry about. He remembered me. I was his girl. And boy was he protective of me. And my mom. He'd bark and get all jealous whenever my parents hugged or my mom and I hugged. He had a strong dislike of workmen and loved to bite boy's bathing suits during pool parties. He'd chase kids around the pool in our backyard and into the pool. He didn't like going in the pool though. He'd put his feet in and drink the water (we didn't have chlorine in our pool don't worry!). But being a rather furry breed, Wiley went from looking like a rather handsome dog to a drowned rat when he got wet. He would get all mortified and run off and hide if we tried to dunk him in or give him a bath.

He was never much of a fetch dog. He'd chase things if you threw them but you'd be hard pressed to get them back. He was rather gifted at volleyball though. it was rather astounding. You could throw a ball at hi and he'd bounce it off his nose back to you. It was one of his favorite games. So was getting a rawhide stick and having you chase him to try and "get it" from him. He also loved Christmas. I don't know how he knew but on Christmas Eve he would be dancing around the living room while we put out presents and filled stockings. He loved presents. We would have to put his stocking out of reach until morning so he didn't open everything before we got up. He didn't care what was in the presents (though he did steal a toothbrush from my dad one year). He just loved to rip off the paper. And he was really good at it!

Wiley was my first and only dog so saying goodbye was a really hard thing to do. I know it was the right decision and that it was hiss time but I'm going to miss my puppy. I really have lost a member of my family and it's never going to be the same without him. I've got a nice photo of him that my dad took a few years ago (he's smiling in it...well as much as a dog can smile) sitting on my desk within reach and view. This way, even now, he greets me when I come home. He's with me in spirit and I'm trying to remember the good times. But even as I think of all the fun he and I had as I grew up, I can't help but cry. He was a good boy and he will always be loved.

R.I.P. Wiley (4/28/1998-6/13/2011)

Summer: A Preview

So I thought I would take a little time to just decompress and let you all know what's going on with me for the foreseeable future (aka the summer). I'm actually going to be quite busy. I am working full time for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. I'll be working in the Enforcement Division, so I'll be evaluating claims of discrimination (mostly in employment but some in housing as well). It's pretty much what I did last summer for the EEOC, but at the state level. We finished day 2 of training today. It is really intense. At my previous job, I didn't really get much orientation. I just jumped right in. But since we have more responsibilities with MCAD, we have intensive training. Not to mention there's thirty of us in the office. It is really cool because there are people from various law schools and colleges around Mass. as well as a few other states. It's a diverse group so I hope to make some new (and lasting) friendships over the course of the summer.

But that's not all that's happening on the work front this summer. I'm also working at the front desk at my law school's library on weekends. Yep, I'm working seven days a week right now. It may change once I get into full swing at my full time job and see how tired I am. I'm getting paid at the library which is nice but I need time to myself too. Working at school, though, allows me to see friends from school who are taking summer classes or studying for various state exams (either the bar exam or the MPRE). I will be studying for the MPRE (to be taken in August). I'm hoping I do well on the first try as it's a pain to submit everything again to take the test again. I know the law fairly well thanks to my ethics class so I'm currently cautiously optimistic.

I will also be blogging a Summer TV Rewind for More TV, Please!. For those of you who followed me last summer, you'll remember I blogged the first series of BBC's Merlin for MTVP. I enjoyed that experience, as well blogging the occasional episodes of Glee and No Ordinary Family as well as the freshman run of Body of Proof. So I decided I would blog a different show this summer. I thought about doing series 2 of Merlin (to keep it consistent) but then I decided that I would change things up. So I will be blogging the first series of BBC's Robin Hood. Notice a theme? Yes, I love some British TV shows. A lot of them in fact. If it weren't only three episodes, I probably would have seriously considered blogging series 1 of Sherlock (on a side note, they are now filming series 2!). I discovered Robin Hood over the Christmas holidays and fell in love. A few of my writer friends had been talking about it and then I got a Netflix subscription and found all three series were on instant watch. So, naturally, I marathoned. It is a fun retelling of the old story of Robin Hood and his band of Merry men (and a couple women in this case). it also makes it rather adult in that the romances are a little more flirty than would be for a children's show. The fight scenes are really well choreographed as well. So I will likely be posting up a post at some point when a few of the recaps have gone up on MTVP.

In semi-related TV news, I thought I'd share what shows I'll be watching this summer. Most of them are shows I've watched for a while (White Collar, Warehouse 13) but I'm adding a few new shows. This past spring I got in Eureka so that will be joining the schedule. It's a fun and quirky show that is cheesy but kind of interesting an I've come to find I really care about the characters (and it made the crossover episodes with Warehouse 13 make so much more sense). Obviously, I'll be watching Torchwood: Miracle Day (series 4). For recaps of that, you can visit More TV Please! as Jen will be blogging that. The other new show I will be adding this summer is Alphas. It will premiere on SyFy on July 11 at 10pm (with a 90 minute pilot). I hadn't really considered watching this until very recently. I saw some press on it on one of my trusty TV news websites and I realized that one of my favorite interns from Bones is one of the core cast (it so happens his character on Bones died so he could be on this project). It's good sci-fi drama (much like X-Men). I'll give it a shot because it has a lot of great genre people (including producers and writing staff from other shows I've watched).

And lastly, I'm doing a rather intense reading campaign. First, I am re-reading the entire Harry Potter series prior to the July 15 release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I am nearly done with Order of the Phoenix, leaving me only Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows to get through in the next month and a half. I am anticipating success. I am also reading The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series and the latest in Steve Berry's Cotton Malone series (The Jefferson Key) and Kelly Meding's latest in the Dreg City series (Another Kind of Dead). My ultimate goal is to read at least 14 books before I have to start doing homework for the fall semester.

So, that's what I am going to be up to for the summer. I'll be one busy bee but that's not such a bad thing if you ask me. I like to keep busy. So, I hope you join me in some fun TV watching and check out some of the books I'll be reading if they interest you.

The Series Dilemma: Big Plots or Small Plots?

So, now that Body of Proof's freshman run has ended (and I am a little sad that it ended at episode 9 instead of 13 but we'll probably get those other episodes tacked on the season 2 if we're lucky), I thought I would write up a post about a topic I've been thinking about a lot lately; series. Not the TV kind. The book kind. Both as a reader and a writer, series fascinate me. And as I've discovered, there appear to be two main types of series. So I will take a little time to discuss each, including what's difficult for writers, what readers can expect from each and a few suggestions of series I've enjoyed (or know of that fit the category) in case you're interested in taking a look.

The Arcing Series

The first series type I'll be discussing is what I've dubbed the arcing series. In this type of series each book may have it's own distinct plot but each book builds on the ones before to tell a larger tale. As a writer, this type of series takes a lot of planning before you even sit down to start composing book 1 (no matter if it's a trilogy or a fifteen-volume opus). The majority of this type of series tend to fall into the genre categories of science fiction and fantasy. And with those genres comes lots and lots of world building. If you're creating your own universe (as if the one we live in didn't exist) you're going to need to have everything thought out. That doesn't include the plot. Before you can start fleshing out your characters, their dilemma and journey, you have to know as much about your world as you can. Of course you're not going to put all of that information in your series. Just what's essential to the story. But you won't know that until you've got it all laid out.

Then comes the storyline itself. Series are an ambitious thing to attempt for any writer, especially the arcing series. You have to make sure that at least the first book can stand on its own. Publishers and readers may be more willing to accept cliffhangers (though not gigantic ones) in later volumes. But to keep your audience, you should try to tie up the plot of each book by the end. The fact that you're working with a larger tale to tell will allow you leave some hints, clues and threads along the way to tie up by the very end.

In terms of being the consumer of this type of series, you have to really think about whether you're willing to wait a year (or more given the pace of publishing) for the next installment to get your fix. Personally, I hate the wait. It's why I enjoy discovering new series where a few of the books have already been released. I was quite young when Harry Potter hit the shelves and I apparently have blocked out that I got super anxious in between releases. I was reminded of that longing when I read the first book in Rick Riordan's "Heroes of Olympus" series (spin-off of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series). I'd read the preceding 5-book adventure of Poseidon's son after all 5 books had been released and therefore didn't have to wait. Below you'll find a few suggestions for arcing series (some finished, some not).

Reading Suggestions: Harry Potter (complete), Percy Jackson and the Olympians (complete), Heroes of Olympus (incomplete), The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (incomplete).

The Character Series

This type of series follows the same main character (or set of characters) over the course of numerous adventures. It is far easier to jump into a series like this mid-way and not feel totally lost. Certainly, there may be call back to prior plot lines or characters but in general, they're far more stand alone than the arcing series. This type of series comes with its own set of writing difficulties. You are more than likely going to be anchored in the real world so you don't have the world-building issue of the arcing series. But, you do have to do your research. These types of stories focus more on the character development than the larger story. It can be difficult, especially if you are under contract with a publisher for a certain number of volumes in a series of this type, to come up with enough unique and interesting plots. This also has to do with branding. You have to tell a consistent type of story with these types of series.

As a reader (as said previously) it is easier to come into a series like this mid-stream. But if you're anything like me as a series consumer, I like to start at the beginning. Which meant when I started reading Steve Berry, I had to go and pick up all of the series to read it in order. I like this type of series (usually thrillers or some sort of genre like that) because you really get to know the characters. They become like old friends in a way. I've read far fewer of this type of series because I do love my sci-fi/fantasy, but I have given you a couple recommendations.


Reading Suggestions: The Cotton Malone series (incomplete), Alex Cross (incomplete)

Now you may be wondering if it is possible to mix the two types of series. The answer is; yes, of course. They're more about elements and you can have a character-driven series that also has a larger overall plot. You can even cross genre lines. These aren't hard and fast rules. Just observations about the way stories get told. I would urge you if you don't do a lot of reading to try picking up a series. It's so much fun to get wrapped up in the same group of characters whether you're in it for the longer journey of an arcing series or the real deep character work of a character series.

Body of Proof - "Broken Home"

Body of Proof 1.09: “Broken Home”

“Funny thing, you always go straight to the bodies. Whenever something is bothering you, this is where you are drawn for solace.”
- Peter

We begin (what the network claims is the season finale) with a somewhat blurred view of a man pronouncing a young woman dead. We quickly fade to someone flipping through pictures of the dead girl on a phone. It turns out Lacey was looking at them on a paparazzi website. The Principal is not pleased one of his students is using her phone in class. He doesn’t think it’s appropriate to be looking at dead bodies at age 12. Megan has no problem with it and quickly commandeers the phone when she learns the girl was the daughter of some big socialites. She also discovers in one of the photos something that looks suspicious so she calls in the pronouncing doctor. He says when he saw the girl (Nikki Parkson), she was lying flat on her back when he pronounced her dead. She’d been very ill for the past 2 years. He promptly tells Megan he had better things to do and leave. Enter Peter and Megan explains that the blood in Nikki’s ear should have flown down her neck if he was lying on her back. So now Megan wants to interrupt the funeral. Megan attempts to ask Kate for permission/assistance but she’s not around. And Curtis says he wants nothing to do with her schemes. Smart man that Curtis. Megan’s on her way out of the building when he runs into Todd. He wasn’t happy that she just ran off from the school and left him to be the bad guy. Megan promises she’ll talk to Lacey and be the bad cop. I have to wonder what Todd is doing there anyway.

So Megan and Peter are at the funeral home and they walk in to find one of the morticians touching up Nikki’s make up. Even with the blood gone, Megan discovers evidence of foul play. Ligature marks on Nikki’s neck. And in typical Megan fashion, she informs Nikki’s mother and brother that they can’t bury Nikki because there is now a murder to solve. Her brother is pissed off and admits that Nikki hung herself. Lucky for Megan, Kate swoop in to handle things. Back at the lab, Megan confirms that the marks on Nikki’s neck are consistent with suicide by hanging. Peter, Kate and Sam are at the Parkson house talking with Nikki’s mom and brother when Nikki’s sister, Sarah, shows up. She and Peter talk and we learn that Sarah was thrown out of the house five years earlier after her dad died and she got caught with some drugs. She and her mom no longer get along. I have to say I don’t blame Sarah for not liking her mom. She’s kind of uptight and all about herself.

Sarah shows Peter Nikki’s room. She points out where Nikki hung herself and what she used to do it. Sarah says she and Nikki kept in touch a little after he left and Sarah came back to try and cheer Nikki up. Peter and Kate get back to lab to find Megan examining the body. The rope from the curtain matches the mark on her neck but it turns out there is bruising on the muscles of her neck and throat. She was manually strangled and we’re now back to murder. Sam and Peter show up at the Parkson home and after Sam acts kind of badass, they get into the house with a warrant. They figure out that whoever strangled Nikki then had to put the rope around the beam first to make it look like a real suicide. Meanwhile at the lab, Megan tells Ethan to change the death certificate. Curtis also discovers Nikki had gout. And we also bring back the other storyline in the episode. Lacey ha arrived so Megan can yell at her and be bad cop. It turns out Lacey thinks that Megan and Todd are getting back together. Megan is a little freaked out about this and rightly suspicious.

Megan has every right to be suspicious. After she leaves a voicemail for Todd to call her back, we cut to him and Kate in a hotel room. They’ve apparently been having a fling for a while and they think it might be time to come out. Megan’s clearly distracted when Ethan says that Nikki did have gout. Which doesn’t make sense since the meds she was on was used to treat gout. So they test her pills and find he was being given placebos. It also turns out there was semen found in Nikki’s sheets. Sam also learns that money wasn’t motive for the murder because all of Nikki’s money was going to the rain forest.

Megan and Sam are back at the Parkson home to question Nikki’s mom. Megan confronts her about wanting to keep Nikki sick o she (her mom) could feel important and wanted. That’s why she gave Nikki the sugar pills. Nikki’s brother has had enough and tells them to get out. Back at the lab Megan still can’t believe that Nikki’s mom could do this to her. Todd shows up and he and Megan have quite the shouting match about him sleeping with Kate. He makes the decision to tell Lacey. I knew he was a jerk. Sam and Peter are interrogating a guy who apparently slept with Nikki (it was his semen on the sheets). He’s got a record including pot possession down in South America. This has me thinking there’s some relationship to Sarah. He says that he and Nikki were in love and he did sleep with her the night he died but he couldn’t have killed her. Sarah confirms this when Sam and Peter go to talk to her. She says she walked in on them and then threw Shane (pot guy) out of the house. She also says that her brother went up to Nikki’s room and was yelling at Nikki. Too bad the brother has lawyered up and now the cops can’t talk to him.

So they’re trying to figure out how they’re going to determine whether it was the mom or brother that killed Nikki when Kate tries to approach Megan. But Megan blows her off and head down to the morgue. Peter makes the observation that she always goes to the bodies when she’s frustrated and she tried to make him see how wrong it is for Kate to be sleeping with Todd but he doesn’t get it. Then, while she’s examining Nikki’s body to calm down she discover that the polish on Nikki’ toenail doesn’t match her hands and he take a swab to try and match it to Nikki’ brother. Kate and Todd are out to lunch and are trying to figure out how their relationship is going to work with Megan. Todd doesn’t want to complicate things at work for Kate. He still doesn’t seem to really give a crap about Megan.

Kate gets back to the lab and she and Megan get into it about Todd. They really are good at yelling at each other. And classic Ethan bursts in at the worst possible moment. It turns out the DNA under Nikki’s toenails belongs to Sarah. I guessed it would be her. It turns out Shane was in it too. He and Sarah were going to get Nikki’s money that she put in a fake rain forest fund. But Nikki wanted to change where her money was going so that’s why Sarah came home and killed Nikki.

At the funeral (back where we first started) Megan and Peter go to pay their respects to Nikki while Sam and a bunch of cop arrest Nikki’s mom for interfering in her medical care. And we learn the brother isn’t a complete jerk. He made sure that Nikki’s money is going to help fund research for her disease. And Megan and Lacey are out to dinner as a thank you for Lacey helping Megan solve Nikki’s murder. And quite happily, Lacey understands how Megan feels about Todd dating Kate. We end with the two sharing a dessert and enjoying their time together and their newfound relationship.

Body of Proof - "Buried Secrets"

Body of Proof 1.08: "Buried Secrets"

“We’re more alike than you think, Megan. I just follow the rules.”
- Kate

We begin this week with a woman driving at night, and it’s pretty clear she’s exhausted. She ends up dozing for maybe a second or two, and her car swerves dangerously. Next we see Megan is zipping through photos on her phone of Lacey horseback riding while meeting her mom for breakfast. It doesn’t take long before Megan and her mother are bickering. Megan apparently rode when she was younger and her mom didn’t want her to. Thought it was too dangerous. And in short order, Megan gets called away on a case.

The scene is more than just your normal crime scene. The victim, Joe, was a cop. So Sam and Bud are out for blood. Megan and Peter arrive and quickly notice that something is off. The blood should have coagulated by now, but it’s still dark red and wet-looking. So of course Megan is going to run it at the lab. Before Kate walks off, she warns Megan of the high profile nature of the case (read: don’t screw it up). Back at the precinct, Bud and Sam are starting to go through traffic cams and tips when the driver (the woman we saw at the beginning of the episode) turns herself in. Apparently, when her car swerved she hit the cop. She didn’t think it was a person. At the lab, Megan, Ethan and Curtis have a bit of squabble over testing the blood (it could be contaminated with oil) when Sam and Bud show up to share the news of the driver. Megan does a cursory exam and reveals that Joe was dead before the car hit him (good news for the driver).

Things are not going to be easy with this case. Joe and Sam go all the way back to the academy. She even got him and his wife together. But Peter promises they’ll find out what happened. Based on the skeletal injuries, Megan surmises that he was pushed or tossed off the overpass before being run over. And since there was blood basically everywhere in his body (including his joints), Ethan’s off to do another blood test. But that’s not all that’s odd. Joe’s been on desk duty after a drug dealer filed assault charges against Joe. So Bud and Peter go talk to the dealer while Megan and Sam inform Joe’s wife. Both visits are useful. The dealer said that Joe beat him up for not having info Joe thought he would. And Joe’s wife said he’d been working a case lately (and hoping he wasn’t having an affair). It turns out Joe was working an old unsolved murder where the drug dealer was the primary suspect. The victim was a star lacrosse player. Megan’s examining Joe’s heart, and she finds something that’s odd. It appears to be generic filler for a drug. And we see our little dealer selling them. And then it gets rather ugly. Sam and Bud are tag teaming the dealer in interrogation until he gives his side of things. He saw the girl the night she died, but she left with her lacrosse coach. And he also says that Joe tossed his place a bunch of times and could have gotten the drugs then. Sam is not pleased to hear the kid saying Joe would do drugs.

Sam and Bud have gone to talk to the lacrosse team that the victim played for and find out that Joe had been coming around almost every day for the past month. One of the girls had a theory that the victim was seeing a guy but wouldn’t tell anyone (could have been a teacher and that was strictly forbidden by the school). Meanwhile, at the lab, Peter’s having a hell of a time trying to find her autopsy file. Sam shows up at the lab and bullies Ethan into giving her the results of the second blood test. Joe died from being poisoned with a drug usually used to treat thrombosis and embolisms. Not long after, Curtis finds the girl’s file, and Megan discovers two inconsistencies with the prior ME’s findings. What he assumed to be tan lines was really evidence the victim had been moved before rigor set in and there was a mark on her neck not documented. And that’s enough to exhume the body and do another autopsy.

Megan walks in on Kate watching herself on the news (great crimson colored blouse she’s got on- really nice). Megan explains she wants to exhume the girl’s body but, Kate says to get Joe’s body on the table since that’s the case they’re working. Megan’s not stopping there. She tells Peter to notify the girl’s family of the pending exhumation, and then Peter pawns the task off on Ethan. That’s not going to end well. Meanwhile, Megan pays another visit to her mom. This time in chambers. Megan’s mom is a judge, and she signs off on the exhumation order. The exhumation goes smoothly, I guess. They find a weird little animal-skin ball in the coffin and bag it. Before they leave the cemetery, Megan pays a visit to her dad’s grave. We learn that he killed himself. At least we’re getting some pay off from the previous episode.

Sam is interviewing faculty at the girl’s school. They’ve brought one guy in, and he seems to be their guy. At least, he admits to having a relationship with the victim. And it turns out the ball from the coffin was a 19th century lacrosse ball he used in his Native American history course (which she and two other girls who accused the professor of coming on to them took). But he says he was out of town the day she died.

Megan and Curtis have begun to examine the body and the find a solid plug of particulate matter that would have been loose and uncollectable by the previous ME when the girl died. Before they can get farther than that, Kate bursts in and tells them to stop what they’re doing. They’ve just broken the law. Kate is furious that they broke procedure by not notifying the family. Ethan claims he’s been trying but has had no luck. Kate says Megan better hope when she (Kate) notifies the family they don’t want to file a complaint. I have to say, I saw this coming, but Kate has every right to be super pissed off. Megan doesn’t seem too fazed by the whole thing and tells Ethan he can make up for it by identifying the particulate matter from the girl’s nose. He discovers that while the bottom layer is mud from where her body was found, the top layer is clay. Green clay. And it matches the sample found on a piece of paper in Joe’s pocket. So Sam, Bud, Megan and Peter head back to campus to the tennis courts. They find that the courts were in between the party the girl was leaving and her dorm room. Megan still doesn’t understand why Joe had become so withdrawn and moody. She figured if the case hit him so hard because he had a daughter of his own, he would be home every night tucking her in. So she races back to the lab and tells Curtis to run a chromosome test. And then she heads down to the lab and finds Kate suiting up. The girl’s family gave their blessing for the second autopsy. Megan’s a little miffed that Kate didn’t tell her, but all’s fair in love and war. They begin to examine the girl’s body together and find that there’s a strange absence of fungus on her neck. They roll her and find an imprint of her killer’s hand.

It turns out that Heather, one of the girls on the lacrosse team, broke her finger when the victim ran into her at practice. So Heather followed her and ended up killing her. It was a mistake, but she let the coach talk her into lying about it and then the coach killed Joe when he got too close. Megan says he’s poisoned by the same stuff and he’s going to die. Bud and Sam bring him in for questioning and after he confesses, they give him a bottle of cranberry juice. Apparently that’s enough to cure him. Later, Megan swings by her mom’s chambers to tell her how it all went. Joan (Megan’s mom) says she wants one hour brunch that Sunday with no cell phones. Megan says she’ll do it if her mom signs an exhumation order for her dad. They fight over how Megan needs to move on, and Megan storms out. Back at the lab, Curtis hands over the chromosome test. Megan and Sam inform Joe’s wife that he had Huntington’s disease and all of the changes he’d been going through were related to that. But Megan did find that the paper in his pocket was origami for his daughter. At least they’ll have some peace now.

Body of Proof - "All In The Family"

Body of Proof 1.07: “All In The Family”

“I know what it feels like to be forgotten. And I’m sorry that I made you feel that way again. You have every reason in the world to doubt me. I just hope that you never doubt that I love you.”
- Megan

We begin with a rather disturbing scene. A baby is safe in her playpen while the sounds of a fight echo all around her. We see shadows and a blood trail. The baby is unharmed. Next, Megan and Peter arrive and we learn Peter grew up not far from thee. He spent a lot of time in the nearby park to get away from his three sisters. They walk in to find a woman holding the baby. Bud shows them to the victim, Ed. There’s a pretty big blood pool and his watch his missing. The wife was home to feed the baby and he was a stay-at-home dad. Their fifteen-year-old son, Mike, wasn’t home yet. Bud offers to go inform Mike but Megan says not to. It should be news that comes from his mother. We get a quick flashback of a very young Megan coming home and being told by a cop that her father is dead.

Back at the lab, Curtis runs into Todd, Megan’s ex-husband. He’s there to talk to Kate about a case that he needs a forensic anthropologist for (why not pop over to Bones?). But he also needs Megan to play kid taxi and pick Lacey up from a sleepover the next day. A short while later, Megan and Peter are examining Ed’s body. At least five stab wounds plus multiple abrasions to his chest, stomach and arms. They also discover, with Ethan’s help, that he had ulcers. And she finds that the body was exposed to hydrogen peroxide. Megan races off to tell Sam that the wife is lying. She didn’t just touch the body, the phone and the baby. It’s likely she tried to clean up. Ed’s wife says it wasn’t her. She wouldn’t want to kill her husband. But with the new baby and money tight, it’s probably why he was so stressed.

Meanwhile, Bud’s picked up their son from football practice. He doesn’t actually get to play because he has asthma. But he plays in a touch league on weekends. Not that his parents ever go to see him. His dad’s too busy with his sister and his mom works all the time. So his mom coming home in the middle of the day to feed the baby was news to him. They get to the station and his mom breaks the news to him about his dad.

Back at the lab, Kate is meeting with Todd. She’s a little skeptical about the case he’ brought her. It’s not his typical rich white client. In fact it’s a teenage illegal immigrant who went for a joyride that turned bad. And Todd needs Kate to verify his age. But she has to do it tomorrow since the case starts on Monday at 9am. Megan gets back to lab and is on the phone with lacey when she spots Kate and Todd. Todd didn’t ell Megan that she was just playing kid taxi to Lacey and her friends. And Megan has to work tomorrow. We’ll see how that works out.

She’s examining the body some more with Peter and Ethan and they discover that the stab wound to his heart is what killed Ed. The other wounds were post mortem. And the funny thing about the blade is both side were serrated. Even I picked up on the fact that he has tools to make furniture. Even before Peter figured it out. Back at Ed’s house, Bud and Sam are walking the wife through what she did to find the body. They’re still not convinced she didn’t do it but Sam finds a partial bloody shoe print leading out the back door that could match Mike.

Megan’s gotten to Ed’s house and she and Bud are trying to get her to admit that she’s covering for her son and determine why. Mike skipped school the day before and now they can’t find him. But Bud figures out pretty quick where he is. He learns that Mike skipped school to meet a girl he met online. And he insists he didn’t kill his dad. He does admit they fought the day before Ed died and that Mike got grounded. He gives Bud the name of a day laborer named Jake that sometimes helped his dad. It’s a lead.

Megan’s at the office still trying to piece things together when Peter stops by with a carpool survival kit; namely snacks. Pretty soon she realizes she’s late. She ends up making Peter tag along in the company car. Bud and Sam are pretty obviously getting tired of looking for Jake until they find him, complete with Ed’s missing watch. Lacey and her friends are kind of annoyed at Megan for being late. Well, mostly Lacey. And I have to say, it’s now become obvious they aired something out of order because Lacey asks who Peter is, even though she met him “Helping Hand”. Anyway, Peter tells the kids they’re working on a homicide and it seems to get them a little interested.

Back at the lab, Todd’s arrived with his client, Manny. Kate rattles off some convincing-sounding scientific jargon about determining Manny’s age. He appears pre-pubescent (so still a teenager) but she says there’s one way to know for sure. And apparently that involves Curtis taking a look at Manny’s man parts. Curtis does not look happy about this request at all. Todd insists they need the determination as soon as possible.

Bud and Sam are interviewing Jake and like everyone else, he insists he didn’t kill Ed. He liked Ed and says Ed gave him the watch as payment. They did find a double serrated tool in Jake’s toolbox and they’ve got Ethan trying to match it to the wounds, as well as test for blood. Ethan says the tool is a match to the wounds but there was no blood. Upon closer inspection, Megan finds something in the tissue that look like fish scales. This reminds me of a recent episode of Hawaii Five-O that involved fish scales in wounds.

It turns out what they found in the wound wasn’t fish scales but flakes of human skin. And almost immediately, Megan has to run off to pick up Lacey and her friends from riding practice. She gives Peter a pleading look (they seemed to like him and I don’t blame them. He’s pretty easy on the eyes) but he says she can handle it on her own. So she’s off but she wants to know the results on the skin as soon as possible. It doesn’t take long for Ethan to call. The girls seem really impressed with Megan working the case from the wheel. Even Lacey is impressed (though she tries not to show it). It turns out the person who killed Ed has peeling skin.

Curtis has agreed to examine Todd’s client. And Ethan ends up walking in just as he’s about to begin the exam. You have to love Ethan for his penchant for walking in at the worst possible times. Ethan tries to leave but Curtis drags him back in. There’s something not right about Manny and Ethan says they need a full body x-ray. Now I want to know what’s going on!

Bud and Peter are checking to see if Jake have the shedding condition but he’s clean. There are other symptoms that come with the condition, including sweating and breathing issues. So it looks like we’re back to Mike as the prime suspect. I kind of want to know more about Megan’s past that’s dredged up by this case. So Megan and company head back to Ed’s house. Mike didn’t go home after his football game. But they’ve got a warrant to check his room. His mom confirms he has the shedding condition and they find out why Ed and Mike were fighting. Ed wanted to take away Mike’s computer. Bud and Sam find a message on his computer saying he hated his dad and wanted to make him disappear.

Bud, Sam and a computer tech are going through the chats between Mike and Carla (the girl he was going to see the day his dad died). And now it seems they’re meeting up at a coffee shop. So Bud and Sam head over. Meanwhile, Curtis fills Kate in on why he did a full body x-ray. They tell Todd that Manny’s been abused over the last two years (since his mom died and moved in with his uncle). They refuse to send him back to his abuser so Kate tells Todd to figure something out.

Bud and Sam catch Mike soon enough at the coffee shop and bring in to interrogation. At least he’s got an attorney present. Anyway, Peter swabs his arms so Megan can compare it to the flakes they previously found on Ed’s body. Watching from outside, Bud says he’s never going to have kids. Megan just looks kind of sad but says she’ll let him know when she confirms a DNA match.

We have a quick scene between Kate and Megan in the break room where Kate tells Megan to find out why Mike killed his dad. Big departure from the pilot where Kate said they weren’t interested in the ‘why’. Curtis stops in to tell Megan that Ethan needs to see her. And Curtis gives Kate a brochure of some kind. I’m guessing for foster care or something to do with Manny. Downstairs, Ethan makes a revelation that he doesn’t even get at first. Ed wasn’t Mike’s biological father. It turns out Ed’s wife, Jen, fled from Arizona fifteen years earlier after filing domestic abuse charges. It looks like her ex killed Ed. Megan goes to try and talk to Jen but en refuses. It turns out Tim (her ex and Mike’s biological father) is holding Mike’s little sister. He’s definitely one scary dude.

Megan is stubborn and ends up in the house. Lucky for her Bud and Sam and a bunch of back up are on their way. She finds the baby in her crib and Tim drags Jen out the back. The cops corner him and Bud ends up shooting Tim in the leg. We get a little reunion with Jen and Mike after Jen says she never would have thought Tim found them. We also get a little replay of what actually went down when Tim showed up. As Megan watches mother and son reunite, she flashes back to watch the coroner take her dad away and she sits down on the front steps alone, waiting for her mom.

Kate meets up with Todd in her office and gives him the brochure from Curtis. It turns out it’s a children’s home. Manny would need a sponsor (a professional who could give him a part time job). Todd seems unsure. I really don’t like him. he’s kind of a jerk. But I guess we’ll see if it works out. That night, Megan drops Lacey off at home and they have a rather important conversation. Lacey was mad that Megan messed up so much in the past but today her mom actually came through. And they both agree that Lacey’s friends thinking Megan is cool is kind of weird. Megan tells lacey that she knows what it’s like to be forgotten but that Lacey needs to know Megan will always love her. They part ways with Lacey asking Megan to do carpool the following week and Megan saying she’d like that. Not as much Megan back story as I thought coming into the episode but overall, a good show.

Body of Proof - "Society Hill"

Body of Proof 1.06: “Society Hill”

“Where were you?” “I was right here for you, Megan.” “No. You were too embarrassed. You were too worried about your friends.”
- Megan and Joan

We begin in what looks like a pretty nice enclosed yard. Until we see an overturned table and chair and a dead woman floating in a pool. It turns out the dead woman lives in a really rich neighborhood. Peter makes fun of Megan for saying she didn’t really miss all the perks of living there as they walk in to find Bud working the case solo. Sam’s dad is sick so she’s visiting him in DC. I kind of miss the fun Bud/Sam dynamic. We quickly learn that the victim is Daphne Zimmer, an old friend of Megan’s mom. Bud tries to impress Megan by saying she died that morning. But Megan proves him wrong. She’s passed rigor and has been decomposing for at least two days. At the lab, Peter reads off her past like a fact sheet. Fairly impressive resume but not a lot of personal life. Megan hands over some maggots to Curtis to see if he can confirm time of death and the errant hair sample they found in the pool to Ethan for full analysis. And with that, Megan and Peter are off to see if they can find a match for the sample while Daphne’s body dries out.

Bud, Megan and Peter show up at the fashion magazine where Daphne worked to find pretty people scurrying all over the place. Apparently the show must go on. They run into a guy with dark hair that at least from far away matches color-wise to the sample fished out of the pool. He tells them that he can’t disturb Daphne because she’s in a meeting.

And then everyone at the magazine learns that Daphne is dead. Megan goes through pointing out all the various problems people have, from nail biting and excessive drinking to compulsive hair pulling. Turns out the hair puller, Steve, was Daphne’s assistant so Bud takes a crack at him first. We discover that Daphne would disappear for days at a time and not tell anyone where she was going so the assistant would inform interns that if anyone asked, Daphne was in a meeting. And the last time he spoke with Daphne was five days earlier. Back at the lab Ethan walks in on Kate making a rather private phone call. She hangs up and after admonishing him too knock next time, asks him what he has on Daphne’s case. All he knows is that the hair is human. Just as Megan and Peter get back to the lab, Megan’s mom calls. She’s heard about Daphne and want to know what’s happening. Megan of course can’t say a word and turns down going to a black tie event with her mom that night because she had a miserable time at the last one.

Daphne’s body has dried out by this point and Megan finds nail marks in her skin. Square and deep. Made by acrylic nails. One of the women at the magazine had fake nails. So Bud interviews her. Apparently Daphne ran an award and opened it up to everyone this year. It pissed off a copy editor and he went after Daphne. The officer manager (acrylic girl) had to pull Daphne away. So next up is the copy editor. Bud also discovers a hidden camera in the wall clock in Daphne’s office. Megan still doesn’t know what killed Daphne. Her lungs are clear (including no water). But she did have some kidney damage and high calcium (which apparently can lead to mood swings and paranoia).

He takes the videotape back to the station and a CSU tech finds video from when Daphne’s assistant talked to her last. He looks really upset and ends up throwing the phone off the desk. Bud talks to the guy again and the guy says he was pissed because Daphne demanded he get a scarf for the mayor’s wife’s birthday and so he spent the weekend in Chicago trying to find it. Bud basically tells the guy he’s full of crap but the assistant claims he didn’t do it. He says there are plenty of high society people who Daphne has pissed off with magazine content in the past.

Megan’s examined Daphne’s corpse a bit more and discovered that she suffered some health issues related to being assaulted. She probably saw a private doctor for it. And based on the x–rays, it appears the injuries occurred about a year ago. And she died longer than two days ago so her assistant couldn’t have killed her. Megan and Peter go through a bunch of issues of the magazine and find a suspect of their own, Colin Lloyd. Meanwhile, Ethan is trying to figure out how to get DNA from the hair sample while Curtis sings to his little maggots. Somehow, I am reminded of Grissom on CSI. Ethan tells Curtis to be quiet so he can concentrate and then weird things happen. The hair follicle just breaks. So he goes to ask Kate for some help.

Meanwhile, Bud’s found out who assaulted Daphne; a guy named Tillman. She refused to testify so he only got three months in prison. Too bad he’s dead. But he did work Lloyd. Maybe he sent Tillman to assault her and then killed her a year later. They’re going to have to go undercover. Guess Megan will be going to that club dinner after all. With Peter as her date. Megan and Peter run into some old friends of Megan’s on their way in to the dinner and Megan manages to convince her mom’s date to introduce her to Colin Lloyd. She makes a scene and snags a piece of his hair and has Peter take a picture. Megan’s mom is mortified as Megan and Peter duck out to continue work on the case. Megan needed to make a scene because she needed Lloyd to open his eyes. It turns out he’s got a disease that affects the irises (benign nodules that form in the eye) and the intern that we met at eh beginning of the episode has them too. It’s genetic. He’s Lloyd’s son.

Bud and Megan confront the intern but he claims he wouldn’t have killed her. He went to her with the information that led to the expose on his dad. She gave him an internship in return. He wanted nothing to do with his father. And he would do whatever Daphne asked. After listening to the types of errands he ran for her, Megan says that it was related to her kidney issues. Still, no time or cause of death yet. Megan is leaving the building and her mom confronts her. She yells at Megan for embarrassing her in front of her friends. Megan isn’t interested in listening. It’s clear she and her mom don’t get along (hard to tell if that’s because of the accident or just their relationship).

Kate is just as baffled as Ethan is by the results. Apparently the attacker why high and put resin in their hair. So she tells him too run more tests. Curtis has some information though. Daphne did die about two days previously. She had aspirin in her system (which could make her potassium spike). Te maggots are apparently high on the stuff. Only one person knew her medical history. And we’re back to Steve as the prime suspect.

Steve admits to giving her aspirin but he didn’t think it would kill her. Megan and Bud don’t buy it. Steve says every day he gave her some and she stayed home, he could just focus on his writing. So it looks like things are wrapped up but Megan still isn’t satisfied. She tells Peter that they still don’t have a cause of death. In an attempt to cheer her up, Peter invites Megan out for drinks with a few other people from the lab. She initially declines, saying that her mom wants to call a truce over dinner. She doesn’t exactly reconsider but she realizes she missed something. Back at the lab she reexamines some cells from Daphne’s body and discovers that the cells in her heart changed dramatically in the seconds before death. Daphne was electrocuted (which Megan demonstrates by rubbing a plastic bottle on her sleeve and then tapping it on Peter’s head.

Both Megan and Peter and Bud and the CSU tech are looking for what could have cause the electrocution. Together they discover it was the space heater that her intern (Lloyd’s son) bought her. And Kate has a breakthrough on the hair. It was over one hundred years old. Megan and Bud put it together. It was the office manager. She was upset about the journalism award being opened up to interns and so she confronted Daphne. Daphne fired her and the manager pushed her in the pool and then threw the heater in. The manager burned herself when she tried to unplug the heater and that’s what gave it away for Megan.

So Megan heads for dinner with her mom while Curtis, Peter, Ethan and Bud go for a boys' night and Kate presumably meets the guy she’s been calling/texting throughout the episode. Seems everyone’s ending on a high note this week.