And Now it's Time For... Pillow Talk with Grace!As we open, the camera pans around to emphasize, yet again, the way that Grace's not-so-tidy housekeeping reflects her many vices. Beer bottles, dirty ashtrays, and other crap are scattered about as we hear the distinctive sounds of Grace's, er, involvement with a man. When it's all over, we pan to the couch, where a balding bear of a guy is attempting to afterglow-cuddle with Grace. She's not so much into it, tossing him his clothes and saying she needs to get to a stakeout. The guy, Wally, wistfully reflects that they used to do stuff together besides... this. Does she want to go fishing on Saturday? Grace turns down the offer (again with the work). She practically tosses him out, grinning when he hollers one last "Yee-haw!" back through the closed door. The moment she turns around, there's Earl, raiding the cupboards. This is one nosh-lovin' angel. He comments that she's a big fat liar, 'cuz she doesnn't really have to work. Grace snits that she has a right to some solitude. Ahem...? "We're gonna need some onion dip," comments a cheeky Earl, deliberately ignoring her insinuation.
Earl and Grace have gotten into a game of Truth or Dare. Earl insists that he can't tell her how old he is, because he honestly doesn't know. So Grace wants to know what "his boss" looks like. Earl's all, "You yell God's name during sex but you won't use it now?" and Grace is all weirded out that he's watching her have sex. Ummm, yeah, I don't blame you there, honey. Ewwwww. Anyhoo, Earl claims that God's looks are a cross between Halle Berry and George Clooney, a.k.a. so pretty it hurts your eyes. Grace calls bullshit, and decides it's dare time for Earl. She wants him to go to Morocco and bring her back some spices. Earl sighs long-sufferingly (you can tell he's been all over the place tonight - the house is littered with other exotic goods) and heads out the front door as Grace gets a call from the office about a homicide. Earl's instantly back with a fragrant bag of spices, and asks if she's ready to accept God now. Finally. Smug-ass Grace is all, "you bet your patoot I'm not and now I really do have to go to work." It's Earl's turn for a dare. He dares Grace not to lie. For one week. "I don't lie that much," scoffs Grace. Whereupon Earl whips out a big old roll of paper. It spirals to the ground, a list of the maaaany lies Grace has told. Dude, this thing is longer than Santa's Naughty or Nice list. Not many lies, eh, Grace? Riiight.
Crime scene. Their victim is a black woman in her mid twenties, who is wearing a flight attendant's uniform. She's been beaten to a bloody pulp and possibly raped. Grace chats with Rhetta as they get ready to examine the scene; Rhetta's nervous because she and her family are sorta strapped for cash. Grace distracts her by giving her Earl's Moroccan spices, and Rhetta's all, "ooh, ooh, did you ask him my question?" Turns out that she's the one who wanted to know what God looked like. Grace still thinks the Halle Berry/George Clooney thing is a steamin' pile o' crap, but lets Rhetta know that Earl wants her to stop lying and make amends to people she's wronged.
The body is in pretty bad shape, and everyone wonders if the victim was a working girl. A shy Henry (last seen naked except for his white tube socks, lying on Grace's floor) says hello to Grace, and she kind of blows him off. When he asks her to dinner, as a thank you for getting him through Molly's death, Grace rather coldly suggests that it's time for him to get a new cat. Ouch, Grace. You can be one cold beeyotch. Using a sweet, shy guy like Henry, when he's most vulnerable? That's low, man. Meanwhile, Ham and Buddy are mucking about in a Dumpster, looking for evidence. Ham gets a fright when he finds a dead, small bird. I am mentioning this because it's the second time they've brought up Ham's issue with small birds, and more than once definitely means even such a stupid detail going to end up being relevant in the future. I have learned my lesson about having to backtrack plotlines in recaps! Back at the station, Perry decides to have a computer reconstruction done of the victim's mangled face. They chat about the retirement party of a dude named Smithy, and Perry banters with Butch about football rivalries, which I do not understand because I care know zilch about football.
Hallelujah! Rhetta's prayers for some extra dough have been answered, as she's been tapped to be an expert witness in a trial in L.A. The D.A. there is going to pay her $2,000 to testify that it's possible to get DNA off of a cigarette butt. Rhetta intends to cite a case they worked on two years ago, where Grace found the cigarette butt of a serial rapist and they got a conviction. Rhetta dreamily wonders if the run of monetary luck has anything to do with Earlistic intervention, and Grace promises that the next time Earl shows up, she will stall him and call Rhetta so that she can get a look at him. When they're done gushing over personal crap, the ladies move on to discuss their victim. She's covered in blue fibers, and had a newspaper stuffed in her mouth. Grimly, Rhetta lets Grace know that the woman was gang raped and also violated with a piece of wood. Grace fittingly decides it's time for a drink.
Over at Rhetta's house, her husband Ronnie's got plans to sell a cow to make some cash. Fortunately, it is not the Jesus cow, a.k.a. "Holy Cow." We meet Rhetta's daughter, who looks like a tiny, plaid flannel-clad clone of her mom. The kid is whip smart, too. Precocious kids on TV shows, man. This one is cute, but they can get kind of irritating if it's laid on too thick. I'm watching you, Saving Grace. I'm not afraid to bust out the snark arsenal. Anyway, Rhetta's family is all happy that she's making two grand in the trial, and they dance around and even sing a happy little song about it. Grace, for some reason, isn't eager to partake, and makes a quick exit, saying that she has to go to work.
When she gets out to her car, though, there's a note on the windshield. Grace whips out her cell phone and calls Rhetta, letting her know that Earl is in the barn. She races in and finds him examining Holy Cow, though he doesn't really see the resemblance to Jesus. He thinks it looks more like Jerry Garcia. Hee! Earl scolds Grace for her continued lyin' ways. He wants her to straighten up and fly right. Grace, for her part, isn't paying any attention to his message, but rather is trying to stall him until Rhetta gets there. She does so with a ridiculous question about why God made milk come from a cow instead of a horse. Earl knows exactly what's up, and trickily lets a pig out of its pen to distract Rhetta on her way to the barn. He disappears just as Rhetta shows up. "Shit!" shouts Grace. "Shit!" shouts Rhetta in return. Har! These two are the Laurel and Hardy of TNT.
Grace and Ham sex it up in a bathtub full of suds as they theorize about how the victim died. Twisted, man. Seriously, twisted. Ham gets a look at the clock and leaps out of the bath, shouting that he needs to get home to his wife, Darlene. We get a fine shot of some wet Ham ass (mmmm) as he grabs a towel, then freaks out because the elderly neighbor is staring in the window. Who needs Skinemax when you've got Grace living next door? Grace thinks it's all absolutely hilarious. I think she should really invest in some miniblinds. Or maybe a curtain or two.
Further examination of the newspaper that was stuffed into the victim's mouth has revealed an exposé article about a call girl named Pixie, who goes on dates dressed as different fantasy figures. The crew thinks that Pixie could be their flight attendant-costumed victim. If so, then the reporter, Maggie Tanner, would know and be able to identify her. They have another lead from a man who hasn't seen his girlfriend in two days, and recognized the computer-enhanced image on TV. Perry meets with the editor of the paper, who says that Maggie Tanner is a freelance writer and therefore hard to reach. She fearlessly throws herself full-force into her writing projects, and is an outstanding. Meanwhile, the boyfriend shows up and says that his girlfriend is none other than... Maggie Tanner. Maggie herself is the victim.
Grace canvassas the neighborhood where the body was dumped, and finds a homeless woman who witnessed a blue car in the area. Buddy interviews the boyfriend, who says Maggie's work was dangerous, and that she would throw caution to the wind to immerse herself in the story. The newspaper editor confirms that Maggie often embedded herself to write from a victim's point of view; he believed she may have actually been Pixie. The story Maggie was writing was three-part; the first had already been published, the second was due out in a couple of days, and Maggie was still working on the third. She was supposed to meet a source on the night she died. Maggie's boyfriend says that her apartment was broken into a few days before she died, but all that was stolen was her Journalism diploma. Weird.
Grace and Rhetta check out Maggie's pad, and while feeding the dead woman's fish, Grace finds a computer backup drive sealed in a plastic baggie in the tank. Rhetta's excited about what will be on it, and Grace talks her in to coming to Smithy's retirement party that night. Seems like she needs the friendly backup, because Ham's wife Darlene will be there, too. At the party, Grace says hello to Henry, who has taken her advice and gotten a new "cat." Her name is Emma, and she's 21. SNAP, Henry! I didn't know you had that in you. The crew talks case shop; someone at the lab is trying to unlock Maggie's computer files as they speak, and the boyfriend's semen was one of the samples they found inside the victim. That leaves two other men who had sex with Maggie.
Rhetta does indeed show up for a drink, and Ham and Darlene come over to say hello. Darlene, a tall redhead with a drawl, greets everyone like they're old pals. Except for Grace (who, oddly enough, can't stop staring at her), that is. In an awkward exchange, Darlene asks what perfume Grace is wearing. Grace is all, "I'm not, yo," and Darlene coolly says that scents can linger on clothes or hair. Oh, hells yeah. This woman knows exactly what's up. Grace knows it too, and she and Rhetta grab a table to themselves to get away from Guilt Trip Darlene. Rhetta's still very excited to be a witness at the trial in L.A., and she credits Grace with providing the opportunity. "Yeah," Grace says awkwardly. "About that..." Grace admits that she didn't find the cigarette butt on a windowsill as she originally claimed. She did indeed follow the suspect, but the cigarette butt was in an ashtray. With a sense of foreboding, Rhetta asks if it was still smoldering. The look on Grace's face is guilty as hell. Without a word, a furious Rhetta stands up and throws her drink full-on in Grace's face! She storms out, leaving Grace to wipe her face and get a look like a puppy who has just been drop kicked out a third story window.
Later that night, Grace stumbles home with Butch's help. She's totally wasted, falling all over herself and slurring her words. She tries to get Butch to spend the night, but he's been down this road with her. He leaves, and she turns around to find Earl in her kitchen, helping himself to some cereal. Grace slurs that she's not speaking to Earl, because it's all his fault (damn his stupid ideas about honesty) that Rhetta's not speaking to her. Earl insists that he was talking about telling the truth to Darlene, not Rhetta, but Grace flings off her shirt and proceeds to pass out face down on the bed. Earl tries to talk to her some more until he sees a thin scar on her shoulder blade. He traces it with his finger, and apparently something about it makes him feel that he should leave her in peace. Ooh, backstory, plz!
The next morning, the detectives learn that the fibers are from a blue American model 1980smobile. Maggie's files on the computer drive were encrypted, but they've manage to crack them. Part two of the article is verrry interesting, indeed. "Pixie" worked for company called Reverie Escorts, which was owned by one Pody Pope. Pody is well known in Vice circles as a knuckledragger who is too smart to get caught; he knows how to cover his ass. The source for the article was Pody's only son, Junior, who told Maggie over pillow talk that Pody was molesting his seven (!) daughters. The allegations are heresay, and Perry frustratedly says that they don't have enough to connect Pody to Maggie's murder. The story gets even worse; apparently Maggie had written that when two of Pody's daughters got tired of the molestation, he killed them and buried them in cement in a garden shed. Sounds like a helluva nice guy.
A chagrined Grace encounters Rhetta in the hall. Rhetta furiously gestures her into their usual fire escape chat area. But this time there's no friendly banter. Rhetta can't do the trial anymore, because the evidence Grace gathered was tampered with. It wasn't yet out of the suspect's possession when Grace collected it. Why couldn't she have waited a few more minutes, until the cigarette butt had been truly left behind? Grace whinily asks what Rhetta wants her to do... write her a check? A very angry Rhetta seethes that Earl was right. Grace is a liar. She storms out, and Earl appears behind the devastated Grace. She blames the situation on him, and justifies what she did with the evidence in the rapist case. Again, she bitterly criticizes God's "do-nothing" attitude, which pisses Earl off. He leaves in a huff, "accidentally" causing a downdraft which showers Grace with her own used cigarette butts. Symbolism, y'all. Symbolism.
Ham, Grace, and Buddy discuss Pody Pope. His wife died of cancer, and according to Maggie's article, sicko Pody expected his daughters to take over all of her wifely duties. Grace has crossed paths with Pody before, and knows that he's a crafty one. His son Junior, on the other hand... not so much with the brain smartz. Junior has an older blue Chevy, which is enough to get a warrant. As they get ready to go out to the Pope residence, Grace escorts Maggie's parents into the precinct to claim their daughter's body.
Out at the Pope farm, Ham, Buddy and Butch discuss Rhetta and Grace's fight. They're all pretty uncomfortable when the girls are fighting, and hope it'll be over soon. They all shut up about it, though, when Rhetta arrives to process the car for evidence. Big, fat, good ol' boy Pody is presented with the warrant, and he cooperates easily. He claims not to recognize a photo of Maggie, but says his son might know her. The son, for his part, is busy doing whatever his dad says. Clearly, the dude's not the brightest light bulb in the lamp. Butch checks out the shed which allegedly contains the cemented remains of two girls, uneasily watching Pody's other young daughters run around in the background. The car has been cleaned with bleach, and Pody says that he remembers his son being out all night on Wednesday. Clearly, this sneaky, fat, pervy old fart is setting Junior up to take the fall.
Back at the lab, Rhetta has matched the fibers from Junior's car to those found on Maggie's body. Ham tries to talk to her about the fight with Grace, but a no-nonsense Rhetta tells him that her relationship with Grace is none of his g.d. beeswax. Rhetta and Ham are work friends (no personal conversations) and Rhetta wants to keep it that way, kthx. Meanwhile, Grace theorizes about the case to her dog, Gus. She believes that Junior stole Maggie's Journalism diploma to prove to his father that she was a reporter. She has madd planzz to get Junior to talk. Just then there's a knock at the door, and Grace opens it to find none other than Ham's wife Darlene standing on her stoop. Darlene's ready to cut straight through the bullshit: she wants to know about Grace and Ham. "Grace, are you sleeping with my husband?" she asks. Grace pauses for an inordinate amount of time before muttering a very unconvincing "no." Dude. Seriously, Grace. Your awkward pause is a dead giveaway that you're a dirty stinking liar.
Rhetta sits in the barn, crying as she watches Holy Cow in his stall. And... in walks Earl! He's posing as a potential buyer for Robbie's cow. Rhetta wipes away tears and apologizes that she's had a bad day. The cow belongs to a friend of hers, one whom she's very angry with and doesn't know if she can forgive. Earl quotes the Dalai Lama: "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." Ooh, I like that quote. He smiles at her, and Rhetta seems to feel better. They shake hands as Earl goes off to check out the cow that's for sale.
Back at the bar, Grace is playing pool with Junior. She had asked her hooker friend to have a "date" with him. Now, Grace says, she's going to take the semen from their encounter, and match it to the semen that was inside of Maggie. She's also going to want to talk to all of Junior's sisters... all seven of them. Junior fumbles that two of the sisters moved somewhere... far away, and Grace gets down to it. Pody's trying to blame Maggie's murder on him. Grace knows Junior called Maggie that night, and brought her over to the Pody house. But Junior cracks and says that Pody was the one who killed her. He also murdered his two daughters, and molested the other five. Big fat creepazoid Pody Senior gets his just desserts as his daughters' bodies are found under the cement in the shed. He's led away in handcuffs.
Grace goes to see Rhetta. She can't handle the not speaking to each other anymore, and Rhetta admits she misses Grace, too. Grace apologizes for everything, saying she didn't mean to hurt her friend. Rhetta doesn't say it's all right, but with a half-smile she passes Grace a glass of wine. Tentatively, Grace takes a sip and goes to stand next to her friend.
Later that night, Grace gets home and finds Earl. He's disappointed that she seems to take one step forward and two steps back with her lying. She came clean to Rhetta, but lied to Darlene's face. Ah, Earl. You are all over Grace about her vices, but do you notice all of the good things she does? The things that make Grace a very endearing character to watch? Like the way she listens so intently to other people's problems? Or how well she treats homeless people all the time? Or how she does things like adopt a dead woman's goldfish, to be sure they get taken care of? Indeed, there are Maggie's fish, sitting in their tank on Grace's countertop. She may be a liar (among other things) but Grace certainly has her good, almost saintly side. In fact, I would say that day-to-day, she does more than her share of kind things. Interesting that she needs a Last Chance Angel so badly. I wonder if any of Grace's good qualities will be discussed in future episodes.
Aaaanyhoo, Grace long-sufferingly tells Earl that it's been a tough week, so he can either get the hell out or shut up and stay for pizza. Earl sighs. "Extra jalapeños this time," he comments. "No mushrooms."
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