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The show opens with Lindsay in L.A. at the behest of an "acquaintance," Dennis Mills, who is facing trial on a first-degree murder charge for the violent death of Stacy Kingman, with whom he had a cybersexual relationship. Dennis is justifiably nervous because (1) the trial is less than one week away; (2) California has the death penalty; (3) his lawyer thinks he's guilty; (4) oh yeah - the body was found in the trunk of his car; and (5) the murder weapon was found wrapped in rags in his garage (don't you hate when that happens?).

[Before I comment on the specifics of the episode, I'm going to come right out and wager that Dennis not only killed Stacy but also was responsible for the decapitated head in George Vogelman's bag (in the murder case that drove George to become Lindsay's Dressed-To-Kill slasher). In keeping with the cliffhanger nature of this "to be continued next week" episode, I will hold my reasoning until the end of this review.]

Since his lawyer seems distracted by an important antitrust case (read: $$$), Dennis calls on Lindsay, with whom he shared an art class two nights a week for three months over one year ago. This poses the first of many intriguing questions: What's the real story with these two? Both Dennis and Lindsay repeatedly state that they don't know each other very well. Also, Dennis admits that he doesn't even know if Lindsay is a good lawyer. This scenario becomes even more curious as Dennis reminds Lindsay that he hired her because she once told him that she could determine if a person were guilty by looking in his eyes. (A nice trick if you can pull it off!) This seems to have been a pretty deep conversation for mere acquaintances. Finally, did anyone else notice that the victim was a dead ringer for Lindsay? Coincidence? I think not!

Lindsay trots off to Mr. Jacobs, the current attorney of record, who clearly hasn't done much with Dennis' case. Lindsay asks if a stack of paper on Jacobs's desk is Dennis's file; Jacobs replies that, in fact, the papers relate to his multimillion dollar software antitrust case. Dennis's file, it turns out, is much thinner. Even if Jacobs's antitrust case isn't DOJ v. Microsoft, the mere six-inch stack of documents on Jacobs's desk wouldn't even cover the technical expert witness reports. Moreover, although I haven't handled a capital murder case, I can safely guess that Jacobs is a few hundred documents short on that one, too. Jacobs is apparently totally incompetent--and probably on the hook for a malpractice action by Dennis.

Jacobs's negligence is demonstrated again when he seeks a continuance from Wallace Cooper, the aforementioned Wicked Witch. Unknown to Lindsay before she agreed to take this case, Jacobs had asked for six prior continuances. It's no surprise, then, that this request ticks off the judge and gets denied. (How could Lindsay, after seeing the flimsy file, agree to substitute as counsel without a guarantee of a continuance?) The trial is only days away, so Lindsay calls on the troops to come in from Boston.

Once Bobby arrives in Oz, he musters the troops and starts barking orders, firm in the conviction that, as new counsel and as Bobby, he will get a continuance. (Hello! Did Lindsay forget to tell you about the last six?) The incredulous look on Bobby's face when the judge slaps him down is priceless, especially when Bobby objects on the compelling grounds that "you have to give me a continuance." Now, unless he has been practicing in Fantasyland, Bobby knows that, under the circumstances, the continuance would have been denied in Boston, too.

Bobby is similarly stunned when Judge Cooper later denies Bobby's ex parte "there's-no-place like home" request to withdraw as counsel. Wake up, Bobby! You can't withdraw without substitute counsel unless the client fires you. Even then, at this late stage of the game a judge in a murder trial could make you stay on. The real question is why Jacobs was allowed to withdraw, apparently without making a motion before the court.

So, Bobby and Company are stuck with the case. They are also stuck with a judge, a prosecutor, and a lead investigator who have "researched" Donnell and Company and are far from warm and fuzzy. The real problem here isn't that there are mean people in California, but that the prosecution has withheld potentially exculpatory evidence. Under federal Constitutional law, the prosecution has to provide to the defense all evidence favorable to the accused that is material to his guilt--even if the defense neglects to say "pretty please."

One "minor" piece of exculpatory evidence is whether and to what extent Stacy corresponded with others besides Dennis. Bobby and Jimmy track down one such pal, a teacher who freaks out when asked where he was on May 12. (Mr. Letterman is questioned in front of a blackboard with the alphabet streaming beside his left ear. Gotta love it!) More ominously, Bobby and Jimmy find an e-mail "beau" who, in several of his e-mails, threatened to kill Stacy. When Bobby confronts the detective with this information, the detective states that he didn't think it was credible. I don't think he gets to make that call.

There is also a little issue with the detective himself. Receptionist-extraordinaire Lucy does a little investigating and finds out that the detective has been suspended twice for alcohol-related incidents. Upon realizing that the lawyers are doing some investigating on their own, the detective angrily points out to Jimmy that he's been in AA for six months. Well, since the murder was committed on May 12, I'm willing to bet that the detective wasn't in AA when he started investigating this case. We'll have to see how this plays out.

The best fun is watching Lindsay as she hysterically and fervently declares the client's innocence. Despite the fact that she barely knows him, she knows that he is not capable of committing such a crime. Aside from the fact that she didn't buy Elinor's "I know he didn't do it" position regarding George Vogelman (and I don't think George, in fact, did the first murder), you would think she would understand the term "sociopath."

Lets sum up the facts about Dennis:

1. Dennis was having an e-mail relationship with the deceased, as evidenced by copies of some very dark, apparently sexually explicit e-mails.

2. Dennis's wife finds the body in his car and calls the cops.

3. The murder weapon is found wrapped in rags in his garage.

4. His fingerprints are found on several of Stacy's possessions, despite his claims that he never met Stacy.

5. The prosecution has a photo of Stacy standing behind Dennis in public, though Dennis claims he never met her.

The case against Dennis:

1. The circumstantial evidence against Dennis, listed above, is awfully compelling. While she continues to emphasize that all of the evidence is circumstantial, Lindsay doesn't point out that, absent an eyewitness to the act or a confession, a murder case must be based on circumstantial evidence. On any other show, the prosecution would run with the evidence; at the last minute, the defense would charge to the rescue with proof that the crime was done by Col. Mustard in the Billiards Room with a candlestick. On this show, there are plausible explanations for all of the evidence, including the picture (which I think looks doctored), except for the body in the car. However, I think that Dennis has masterminded this to look like he was set up.

2. Dennis gets angry easily and got physical with Lindsay. A red herring?

3. Dennis seems to have a weird hypnotic effect on Lindsay.

Other suspects:

1. Mrs. Mills. Dennis's wife found the body and called the cops. When asked by Elinor if she thinks Dennis could have killed Stacy, the wife replies that, until recently, she wouldn't have thought he was capable of having an affair. This could be a woman scorned scenario.

2. Sister Sister. The victim's sister is a nun with a troubled past, i.e. drugs, arrests, etc. She also snaps pretty quickly when Elinor asks her if Stacy would have met with someone she encountered in a chat room. Sister Sister spits out that if Stacy had met with someone from a chat room, maybe Stacy should "burn in hell." The whole nun-as-a suspect scenario appears to be (I must say it) habit-forming for these folks.

Points suggesting Dennis was the decapitator:

1. Lots of mention of the whole George Vogelman case (which was tied up too neatly for my taste), including references to the Plan B fiasco.

2. Dennis was in Boston at the time of Susan's unfortunate beheading, as he was in art class with Lindsay around that time.

3. I believe evidence came out during the Vogelman trial (from the victim's brother) that the victim might have been involved in an e-mail relationship with someone other than Vogelman.

As the episode closes, our heroes are in a real bind. They have a freaky client; Lindsay is going a bit nuts; Bobby and Jimmy are engaging in alpha dog contests with the prosecutor and lead detective; and they are all in unfamiliar territory--Los Angeles, the true land of Oz. However, as Jimmy the Grunt illustrated in his episode-closing pep talk, these guys are at their best when pushed to the wall. I can't wait until next week to see how this turns out.

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